Owl Landing!

Check out all the cool stuff I got from my HSS3 partner Mafalda Bagman. Here are shots of the whole package and my new socks. I wrote more about it on my character blog.

Harry Potter Awesomeness

Check out what my HSKS4 partner Olive Bladvak sent me by Owl Post:

I'd tell you what it all is and all about the awesomeness that I received, but I did that already on my Hogwarts character blog. So go on over there and read all about it. Thanks Olive, you rock!!!

Yay Giants, and A Few FO's

I didn't want to but I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. I love football, the only reason why I didn't want to watch was the Patriots. I hate the Patriots!!! I'm so sick of hearing about them, their coach is a jerk and their quarterback isn't far behind him. So I was rooting for the Giants big time. Thank you Giants for showing the world that the Patriots aren't perfect. You beat them even with the challenge (that shouldn't have been allowed because the next play had already happened) they won to get a free set of downs. Thank you for putting Tom Brady on his ass repeatedly! I'm thrilled the Giants won, even though they beat my Packers for the chance!

I feel better now...

Knitting. I have five pairs of socks on needles right now. I need to knit socks, bad. Here are two FO's to show you. They have both been done for a while, one I couldn't show you because it's for a swap, the other I just hadn't gotten to yet. Now my Hot Cocoa Swap partner Sandy has her package, so her project doesn't need to be a surprise anymore.

This is Moe, my version of Mr. Dangly. The pattern is free and can be found here. I didn't get gauge, use the recomended yarn or anything like that, but she still turned out pretty good. She's supposed to make you smile and be a little silly. I think she meets those requirements. Sandy did think she was a horse, so she was happy that I told her Moe is a monkey. Sandy likes her anyway...
Another view. Moe was born to be a model. She's soft and floppy and snuggly.
The baby blanket I finished for my youngest sisters baby. It has been done for a while, but I'm slow with the pictures.

Now, I've got some socks to finish. Of course I have socks to start too for Hogwarts Sock Swap 3. Not to be confused with HSKS4. Same theme, two different swaps. I'm a Harry Potter dork, I can't help it. I did a few Harry Potter quizzes over the weekend. I found out that my Patronus is an otter- just like Hermione, and that my HP alter ego is Harry. I didn't think it would be Harry, I figured Hermione or Ginny or something. Imagine that.

Gotta knit...

Swap Things and Early Morning Mayhem

I just spent the morning wrapping and packing up my Hot Cocoa Swap package. It's all ready to send off to my partner. My knitted buddy came out pretty cool, but I can't post pics until after she gets it.
I am far past the halfway point in knitting my Loopy Ewe swap project. I have all her stuff ready to go but the actual project (it's only the whole point of the swap...) and the edible goodies. There little boys in my house got into my knitting room and stole all the treats- they made rather quick work of them too. I guess I could always send the empty wrappers...
I am very nearly ready to send my HSKS4 package too.
As for the fourth swap- Hogwarts Sock Swap 3- I am waiting for a few "owls" to arrive at my house so I can get started.
The morning mayhem??? Oh yeah, it was great. The twins- five year old boys were in rare form this morning. They wanted toast and yogurt for breakfast. No problem, right? Well, we had two yogurts one peach one strawberry- not good. The youngest of the two snagged himself the coveted strawberry so the other one literally screamed and cried and was so hysterical he almost made himself sick because he did not want peach. Yeesh, it's just yogurt people! So evidently to get back at this brother when it came time to get dressed the one stuck with the peach stole the red shirt and put it on for the day. Red is his brothers very favorite color. Cue next major fit. The blue shirt- same shirt, different color- is just not good enough to be worn. My son was all ready to take his sister to school wearing jeans and Spider Man shoes with a coat. Um...no! So to make the long story short, I listened to at least one little boy throw a fit from about 6:45-7:35 this morning. We got back home from the trip to school and I took some Motrin. What a way to start the day. The good news is that my daughter actually got out of bed the second time I went to get her up. Usually it take about 5 tries to get her up.
It's lunch time now. I hope it goes better than breakfast!

Random

Would you believe that I ordered more stuff from The Loopy Ewe- but no yarn this time I swear. It's not even all for me- I have some secret pal shopping to do! I'm doing the Loopy Swap, HSKS4, and the Hot Cocoa swap- the only one I don't have my partner for yet is HSKS4 since the sign ups are still open. So I'm working on putting packages together, I have to make lists this time since I'm doing three at once and I'll forget what is for who.

Mushu, my cat, ate some salsa at lunch time. I doubt that it's good for her- that should be fun later! I should know better than to leave anything that could possibly be eaten anywhere that she has any chance of getting to because she is a huge pig and eats anything.

Purple crayon that has been washed and dried with the laundry does indeed come out! Following bits of all the advice posted by other victims of this tragedy online, and getting no help from my mom (even though I know that it happened to her at least once) I managed it. A nice long hot water soak, some agitation, more soaking, with about a cup each of detergent, vinegar, Shout, and Clorox 2. Do it twice just to be sure. After that remember to check all laundry for stray crayons! Crayon comes out of the dryer too. Some suggested soaking a dish towel in water and dish soap and throwing it in the dryer and letting it run. It works, but the process must be repeated several times each followed by scrubbing while the dryer is still hot. Just in case any of you ever need to know...

I started my project for my Loopy Swap partner last night. Then somehow I tangled the yarn up into the worst mess I have seen in a while. I have it untangled now, but I think I may have changed my mind about what to knit...

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!!!!!!!!!

Julianne Rocks!

Just so you know this is quite a long post because there are a lot of pictures!

I had an Owl Post delivery on Friday. My HSKS 3 pal Julianne completely spoiled me! It was like having Christmas come early- thanks a bunch Julianne! As excited as I was, I managed to contain myself enough to take pictures. So here are the package contents before I opened them:
Just look at the big pile of packages all carefully wrapped in Gryffindor house colors. I tried to read the note that came with it, but the note told me not to. I had to open presents first- no problem! I knew I was spoiled as soon as I opened the box, but I had no idea how much until I opened each gift.

Look at all the awesome Harry Potter and Knitting stuff she sent me! What more could a Harry Potter loving knitting freak possibly want? Nothing but Molly Weasleys knitting skills. Thank you Juli, I'm in love with it all! I know there's a lot in that picture, so I took more pictures with all that loot split up for you. First, the Harry stuff:

Yay for candy! There is a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, they really do mean every flavor. A package of Blood Pops, which are thankfully strawberry flavored not blood flavored. A chocolate frog too- I haven't eaten it yet so I still don't know which Wizard Card is inside. Maybe Dumbledore... As if the candy wasn't enough, she also sent me a pad of Harry paper, I've never even seen such a thing before. That's a small town for you. On top of all that I also am the proud owner of an awesome Harry Potter bookmark that happened to come with a rather cool poster. I told you, spoiled. A lot. That's not even the fibery knitting stuff, wait till you see it:

It's like knitters gold! A set of five 5" size 1 Rosewood Sock Stix by lantern Moon, which came in their own little bag. They're beautiful, I've always wanted to try them but never dreamed I would actually own a pair. The yarn, oh my goodness. It's a skein of All Things Heather hand dyed superwash sock yarn in Phoenix. I had my eye on just this yarn at the Loopy Ewe. How perfect is this yarn for a Gryffindor? Great name for the colorway too. I might have to make Fawkes socks out of it, using my new needles of course. Should I decide that Fawkes is not the right pattern for this yarn she gave me lots of new pattern choices:

Oh yeah, and entire new sock book. Lots of great patterns, I have the first one I want to knit narrowed down to two. Decisions, decisions. Then there are the handmade Gryffindor stitch markers. A set of five, with one special to mark the begining of a row, just the right size for sock knitting. I'm pretty sure she made them herself. Talented girl that she is. Did you notice that cute little sheep up there? I love him. He has moved into his new home with three other sheep- he's the only white one, plus a llama, and an alpaca. They all live close to my yarn. As if Juli hadn't shown enough talent and generosity, there's more:

Two shots of the perfect sock knitting bag. She made this herself too. Great Gryffindor colors and a brilliant way to carry it and keep it closed. I love it, a lot.

So once again Julianne- Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love everything! I could not have asked for a better swap pal. Thanks for making it fun for me.

The Muggle post man had a package for me too. My eagerly awaited order from the Loopy Ewe I had my very first skein of Dream in Color. It's lovely:

So on the left is the Wollmeise I ordered before in Tiefer See which translates to Deep Lake. The colors don't show up the greatest, but it's yummy. The other skein is the Dream in Color in Night Watch. Oh how I wish I could be knitting socks right now!

I do have some FOs to show:

A pair of fingerless gloves I designed myself. I used Plymouth Boku. The other glove is striped differently due to the way the yarn is dyed. I like them. Think I'll save them for that rapidly approaching October 19th show. In my last Loopy Ewe order my extra treat was a little red sock kit. I knit that up too, it turned out really cute. I forgot to take a picture so you can't see it.

Told you it was a looong post. I'm finally done now. Thanks again Julianne! I hope the person who has you is as good to you as you were to me.

HSKS 3 Quidditch Round 2

Homework for HSKS 3- my answers for quidditch round 2:
Trivia

1. In Deathly Hallows what does Harry step on when exiting his room to wash his cut?
c. A teacup

2. Which two members of the Order of Phoenix came to escort the Dursleys to a safe place?
b. Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones

3. In order to throw off the Death Eaters, several of Harry's friends take Polyjuice Potion to resemble him and each Harry goes with a different member of the Order of the Phoenix to a different location. Where do Ron (disguised as Harry) and Tonks go?
a. Auntie Muriel's house

4. At Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry must disguise himself by taking Polyjuice Potion and takes on the appearance of a redheaded Muggle boy from Ottery St. Catchpol. He was introduced to wedding guests as Cousin . . .
c. Barny

5. Kingsley sends a message via Patronus to warn the Weasleys and wedding guests of the coming Death Eaters. What form does his Patronus take?
B. A lynx

6. In the Half-Blood Prince what drink does Romilda Vane try to give Harry?
d. Gillywater

7. What is the name of the person that heads the Holyhead Harpies?
a. Gwenog Jones

8. What tattoo is Harry reported to have on his chest?
b. Hippogriff

9. What color robes do the staff at Weasley's shop wear?
b. Magenta

10. Where do Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle live?
d. Devon

Picture Scavenger Hunt- Some of these were not easy to find, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in particular, so I hope what I did find works.
A Gryffindor Quidditch Uniform
A Hufflepuff Quidditch Uniform
A Ravenclaw Quidditch Uniform
A Slytherin Quidditch Uniform
A Picture of the Room of Requirement

Quidditch

For HSKS3 we are playing Quiditch to earn house points- Gryffindor in my case. Part of Quidditch is answering these questions and finding pictures of the characters listed below. So here is my shot at it. Go Gryffindor!

Who is the Hogwarts teacher that Voldermort performed the Avada Kedavra curse on in Deathly Hallows?

a. Mad Eye Moody

b. Charity Burbage

c. Irma Pince

d. Quirenius Quirrell



2. Who replaces the Muggles studies teacher in Deathly Hallows?

a. Charity Burbage

b. Irma Pince

c. Alecto Carrow

d. Dilys Dirwent



3. When Harry meets Mr. Olivander for the first time, which wand law is introduced?

a. Wands cannot be shared

.b. Spells can be worked with any want.

c. The wand chooses the wizard.

d. Only one wand will work properly for a wizard.



4. According to Mr. Ollivander, what is not necessary to take true possession of another wizard's wand?

a. to kill the owner

b. one cannot take possession of another wizard's wand

c. to force the wand away from it's owner

d. to ask the owner politely



5. If you know anything about Harry Potter, you will know that Harry's Patronus is a stag. But what is his best friend Ron Weasley's Patronus?

a. Otter

b. Owl

c. Weasel

d. Jack Russell Terrier



6. Now for the third member of the trio. What form does Hermione Granger's Patronus take?

a. Otter

b. Kneazle
c. Tabby Cat

d. Beaver



7. What did Mrs. Weasley make to eat the first night that Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place?

a. Stew

b. Goulash

c. Roast beef

d. Ham and chicken pie



8. In book 5, at the start of term feast, what is Ron eating when trying to talk to Nearly Headless Nick?

a. Treacle tart

b. Pork chop

c. Roast potato

d. Cottage pie



9. A half-giant called Rubeus Hagrid takes you to Diagon Alley for the first time. To get there, you go into the courtyard of a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. There, Hagrid taps a certain brick on the courtyard wall three times with his pink umbrella, revealing the entrance to Diagon Alley. As he decides which brick to tap, he mutters instructions to himself. What instructions does he mutter?

a. Third brick from the left above the dustbin
b. ‘Three up... two across
c. Three down ... four across
d. Four up ... three across



10. The first place you go in Diagon Alley is Gringotts bank, where you can withdraw money from your vault and Hagrid can withdraw a top-secret package from Vault No. 713 on Dumbledore’s orders. On the second set of doors leading into the bank you notice a poem written. These are the first two lines:Enter, stranger, but take heed of what awaits the sin of greed,What is the next line?

a. For you’ll pay dearly in your turn

b. So if you seek beneath our floors

c. Thief, you are being warned, beware

d. ‘For those who take, but do not earn




Picture Scavenger HuntYou may either post these pictures on your blog OR simply link to them. Rolanda Hooch Firenze Argus Filch Moaning Myrtle Colin Creevey
I linked to the ones I found, on some of the pages you'll have to scroll down a bit.

Hope I got it right, I did fix some of the spelling errors from the original quiz that transfered over when I pasted the quiz to my bolg. You should all be impressed I did this at all because I'm still sick!

Very little

I'm pleased to report that it's still cold enough for hand knit socks! For both of my Hogwarts swap partners- your things are coming together nicely and I keep finding more goodies to add.
I ran my butt off at work last night, so today my eyes are burning and I'm tired.
See- very little to say! Here's to not getting called in to work tonight (I hope) the ambulances staying away if I do have to go, and maybe a little knitting time tonight!

Hogwarts Homework

As you know I have both a Harry Potter problem and a sock knitting problem. So I am in two swaps at the moment involving socks and Harry Potter. Yesterdays post was for one swap today's is for another. I must answer the following questions and let a prefect know when I've done it.



What type of pet do you choose as your companion at Hogwarts?



An owl would be rather useful, but I could always use a school owl... So I think a cat because it would be better company than an owl. A very smart cat like Crookshanks of course.



While shopping in Hogsmeade you stop by Honeydukes for some sweets. What treats do you purchase for yourself?



Their best chocolate, of course! Lots of it so I don't run out before the next Hogsmeade weekend.



A potion you are preparing needs an ingredient available only at muggle shops. You don't want to stand out in your wizards robes, so you resort to traditional muggle clothing. Describe your outfit in detail.



I suppose I would wear something very much like I did before attending Hogwarts, being Muggle born and all. Faded and well worn Levi's 501's, fitted V-neck t-shirt probably black, a pair of Converse All Stars. I might bring a hooded sweatshirt along if it's cold out.



What is your favorite subject to study at Hogwarts and why?



Charms or Transfiguration- both would be fun and terribly useful. I think becoming an animagus would be a great challenge!



Likewise, what subject is your least favorite and why?



I imagine I would have a have a hard time with Divination. Mostly because pleasing Professor Trelawney would be difficult- she would know if I was making it up. Perhaps I would drop it later in my studies!



Back to the potion you were shopping for ingredients for, what type of potion are you making, what color is it, what are the ingredients, and precisely what does the potion do?




An Invisibility potion- since we can't all have cloaks. It is a different color to each person who looks at it. It's silvery for me. Some of the ingredients: chameleon blood, Rowan tree bark, light of the full moon, vanilla extract (from the Muggle shop), jewel beetle wings- I would tell you the rest but it's not perfected yet and I don't want to be responsible for any accidental poisonings. It takes precisely 27 days to make and must be stored in a cobalt blue glass bottle. It gives who ever takes it the ability to blend with their surroundings so perfectly as to become invisible, like a chameleon but better.

Gryffindor Trivia

Well, for HSKS3 the Gryffindor prefect sent us all a crossword puzzle to answer. I emailed my answers to her just like I'm supposed to. In order to complete my homework, I must post what I thought was the most difficult question. If 11 across- which had no clue- doesn't count, then my answer would have to be 5 down. I really had to think about that one, and then I couldn't believe I didn't get it right away! Can't tell what it is or that would give away the answer! The easiest, even though no one asked me, was 9 down because the answer to that question makes EVERYTHING better- LOL.
I've already done a bit of shopping for the person I get to spoil for this swap, but I'm still trying to think of other Harry-ish things to send along by owl post.

HSKS 3 Questions

I got my first email from the person who has me for the swap, and have emailed back and forth with my person as well. The person who got me had a list of questions for me, and then these questions got posted on the blog. I'll just answer both!

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?



Gryffindor


2. List your favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length. Or would you prefer circulars?



Brittany, Takumi bamboo, Comfort Zone- all dpns. I generally use the 6 or 7 inch ones and knit with size 1 or 2, although I have needed to go up to 3 before.


3. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?



Sure, I'm sure there are lots I've never tried or heard of!


4. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?



Just ignore that one since I'm Gryffindor!





5. Do you have any allergies?



Not to pets or fiber, but I break out from a lot of lotions, soaps, candles, and other things that smell.



6. If you are swapping scarves - what is your desired length for the pattern? This will help your partner find the pattern that is just right for you and buy yarn accordingly.



Socks for me!


I think everyone in on the swap is really excited about it judging by the blog posts, so this should be lots of fun. Gryffindor has won the House Cup the last two "years" so all of us first year Gryffindors have a lot to live up to! I hope I'm good at Quidditch...


Other than swaps what am I up to? I have the toe to finish on the first Burrow sock, I've done the cuff and a bit of the leg on the Hermione socks and I have the first Ginny sock nearly done too. Right now I have sock knitting ADD, so many new yarns and pattern ideas. I'm going to have to finish a few pairs because I'm using all my dpns now! I really should get to working on more bags for the show I have in October. I think I got a bit burned out on them trying to get all those gallery bags done. Which reminds me I need to be sure they made it there alright!

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!

Six Degrees of Draco Malfoy ans A Tough Decision

A challenge issued by a prefect for Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 - a character must be traced back to Draco Malfoy in six steps. The character must be picked from a list provided by the prefect. So here is mine:
1-Arabella Figg
2-neighbor of Harry Potter who is the
3-best friend of Ron Weasley
4-Rons father is Arthur Weasley
5-who despises Lucius Malfoy
6-who is Dracos father
Hopefully it will win some points for Ravenclaw!

Oh- and to my swap partner: never fear I have stared the second sock. You shall not have one cold foot after all!

The tough decision? Which sock yarn club to join. A Harry Potter book cover art inspired club 7 skeins, one a month plus a book inspired pattern. Or another awesome club done by one of my favorite etsy sellers- five skeins of yarn, one skein plus a pattern and a few goodies every other month. I can't do both and I'm in love with both peoples yarns! If I wait too long to decide I'll miss out in them entirely. What to do... Suggestions welcome;)

Socks and socks

After talking about Lime & Violet yesterday, I thought I would post a photo of a completed Jaywalker done in Lime & Violet yarn. So here you go:


I won't show much so I don't spoil the surprise entirely, but here is a small peek at the finished sock for my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 partner:

To top it all off- I have finished knitting the gallery bags!!! Some still need to be felted/fulled, some just need finishing touches, and five are totally ready to go. Pictures to come when they are all complete.

Another Hogwarts Sock Swap

I can't seem to help myself, I've joined another Hogwarts swap! This one is the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 3. It should be a really fun swap. We get to put together sock knitting kits for our partners in their house colors- bag, yarn, needles, markers, pattern, etc. It's always great to see what other people come up with. The sign ups close when 100 people have joined or on August 29th, whichever comes first. Get yourself over there and sign up now- it's easy! I got sorted into Gryffindor for this swap- the house I belong in must depend on the day!

I'm supposed to earn five points for Gryffindor if I put the button for the swap on my blog. I have yet to figure out how in the world to do that but I'll see what I can do. If nothing else here's the picture of what the button looks like:

What I'm up to

No pictures or anything so probably a boring post. Been knitting bags like mad for a gallery show, I have four completely finished, five in various stages of progress, so three more still to start and finish up. I need to have tweleve shipped and to the gallery by September first. My hands are hurting and I should probably take a break but if I do I'll never finish in time.

My Hufflepuff socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swap Two ran into a minor snag- at the hands of a four year old- but I do have the leg totally finished on the first one now. If no one decides to help me unknit them again they should be done in plenty of time.

Hmmm... I have another show in the middle of October that my bags tend to do well at, so I have more to knit when I finish the gallery ones. Then a show at the begining of December, and I'm hoping my etsy shop will pick up again in the fall. Christmas shoppers should be about soon. Which reminds me of all the knitting I should do for Christmas- aack!

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.