Merlins Beard!

My package came yesterday from my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 partner Vicky. Wow! She completely spoiled me- more than spoiled me. I didn't manage to get a before photo, but I have lots of pictures of what was in all the little packages she tucked into the box. Being the thoughtful person that she is she even sent along a spell she got from the Weasley twins and treats for the three underage wizards in my house so that I could open all my things in peace! Check all this out:
This is the whole lot of it. I told you I got spoiled! The box wrapped in white with the card in front of it is one of the spells for underage wizards, I managed a photo since one of them was still at school at the time. It was like Christmas for a knitting Harry Potter geek! I had a hard time getting everything into the picture and had to have my husband do it because he is much taller and could get a better view of the whole thing.

Vicky had a good time at Honeydukes. (See the bag?) Exploding BonBons, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a packet of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and four Chocolate Frogs. I've never seen some of these things before. She must have visited a Muggle sweet shop as well, because there were two tins of Choxie chocolates- dark chocolate mints and dark chocolate espresso beans. I have never tried these before either, but can't wait- I heard they are quite good! The spell for underage wizards presented them with a very cool box of candies from the movie Ratatouille (I've probably spelled it wrong) which the little wizards snapped right up and enjoyed. They loved it! Also you will see some cool Harry Potter pens and Harry Potter post it notes, yay!

Now for the knitting stuff. A set of stitch markers in Ravenclaw colors that she made herself, a set of five Leprechaun double pointed needles in size 1 (2.25mm), a new needle sizer (she must have read that I broke mine). There is a bookmark she knit in Gryffindor colors that came in its own trunk! Two skeins of Knit Picks Essential in Shoreline Twist (I love Knit Picks!) great Ravenclaw colors. As if that wasn't enough Vicky sent me two skeins of Maizy from Crystal Palace in the Night Shades colorway. I can't wait to try it out. Maizy yarn is 82% corn fiber! Very ironic since the Muggle village I live in is in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and I am surrounded by corn. Well, not now since it's all harvested... See the label on my socks? There is the Ravenclaw crest on it next to Stacks Socks, and it says "Bookish Ravenclaw, up all night reading for class at least have warm feet" The Hufflepuff crest is on the back, since Vicky is a Hufflepuff, and next to it is "Knit industriously for Minerva Crookshanks by Vicky Bladvak"

Here's the best part- socks! They are a really nice Ravenclaw blue and are nice and soft. Not to mention that they are flawlessly knitted. They fit perfectly too. I love them- thank you Vicky!

Another view.

Vicky, thank you so much for spoiling me in this swap. Everything you did was so thoughtful and creative. Treats for the little wizards, everything Harry Potter themed and so perfect and well done. This has been a great swap.

Thank you Vicky!!!!!!!!!

Bring on the FO's!

I am finally totally finished with all of the gallery bags! I took photos of all but two of them since I promised I would post them before I sent all of the bags off. The bags are getting priced, tagged, and shipped today! Here they are:

That black one has needle felted swirls on it and some fun handles, the gray one has lots of cables and bobbles, and the green one has all those flowers, leaves and vines attatched to it after felting- they go all the way around the bag. My fingers suffered greatly due to the needle felting, I may be too clumsy to realy be allowed to use them!

The brown bag up there has a wet and needle felted covered button attatched that I made. The red one has a black needle felted star on one side.

Some of these guys you have seen before, the purple one with the flowers and the navy one with the white embroidered stars. That big purple on with the fabric covered button was knit out of yarn that I spun myself! The flower on the stripey bag is held on with a pin back and can be removed and worn.

I spent the weekend finishing those guys up. Almost all of them have inside pockets, and the ones that needed it have magnetic snap closures. Now to get them ready to go... If anyone is interested they will be at:

Madison and Main Gallery

927 16th Street (right by UNC)

Greeley, CO

The Art to Wear show starts on September 4th and runs through October 26th.

Other knitting news- the Hufflepuff socks are finished! I can't show photos because that would ruin my pals surprise. I'm still waiting on some things for her package to get here- from Australia. I hope she likes everything.

I restarted knitting The Burrow socks now that the others are finished. I didn't get very far due to a trip to the ER with my son. The one who never gets hurt split his forehead open on his twin brothers head. It was quite the crash. Usually it's the other one who gets hurt- staples in his head three times. So the one who got hurt last night got three sutures after having to have anesthesia to calm him down enough to let anyone touch him. He HATES the doctor! I do so love going to work on my night off!

Random Knitting Stuff

I've been trying to do loads of things at once. I have at least five projects on needles at the moment. He's a bit of what I'm doing and a bit of what I've done.

The sock you see up there is for my Hogwarts sock swap 2 partner. Since you can't really tell what's happening with the pattern I decided it was safe to post pics without totally ruining the surprise! I'm making up my own pattern for these so I really hope they end up great.

That starry bag is one I'm doing for the gallery show. It's Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky with some embroidery done in alpaca lace weight yarn. I think I'm done with it now. What do you all think, does it need something?

Must go be mom now and then get to work on more bags...

A Hufflepuff Partner

I finally found out who my partner will be for Hogwarts Sock Swap Two. She is a Huflepuff, I hope she doesn't mind being paired up with a Ravenclaw too much. I may be a bit eager in my gathering of supplies. This morning I found needles and stitch markers for my partner and yarn to knit her socks with. All of them should be ariving soon. If only I had a wand and could summon it all here now...



I've been trying to re-read all the HP books before the last one comes out. I'm a bit over half through with Order of the Phoenix and still need to read Half Blood Prince. Lots to do, but I don't want to have forgotten something important that I will need to remember for the last book. I really hope Harry doesn't die, or Hagrid because he's my favorite.