Homework

Homework for Professor Hagrid. The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs have care of Magical Creatures together this term. So far it's gone rather well, no trips to the hospital wing anyway. We're supposed to write six inches on a magical creature we have spent time with, or one we would like to spend time with and why. Here's my creature:

The Kneazle

My great grandmother Broomtwigs had a kneazle. I don't know how long kneazles are supposed to live, but I think he was old when I met him and he's still alive and prowling about. Orion kept my great grandmother company for many years, poor thing he had to put up with Muggles thinking he was an ordinary cat all the time. Now Orion lives with my family. His favorite spot is in my knitting basket, where he can see both the front and back doors. Kneazles are funny that way, always wanting to know what's going on. He has been known to bite at the ankles and tear the pants of door to door salesman. Such a sweet boy. Oddly enough Orion has no interest in the men in the family, he ignores them and would be perfectly happy without them around. He has always been close to the women, and has been terribly useful to us, as well as loyal. He's caught a thief under an invisibility cloak, and digs his claws into the back of those who are lying. He does have one talent that is rather peculiar, even in Kneazles who are terribly smart. I am the only witch in the family who knits. Orion has the ability to detect when I have made a mistake in my work, he sits on my lap and bites my yarn to let me know. He has saved many socks and jumpers from the frog pond. Perhaps he has learned about knitting to have me avoid the frog pond. He eats them every chance he gets and probably would prefer I didn't know about it.

A Very Tired Owl

Holy cats! A very tired owl landed on my doorstep yesterday carrying my package from my HSS3 pal Mafalda Bagman. Anne is her Muggle name, and she's from Finland. No wonder that owl is tired! Her owl is resting in the cage with mine, I'll feed him lots of owl treats and water before he takes off on his return trip.
Oh wow, did I get spoiled! Thank you so much for everything! Anne sent me an awesome package despite many problems she went through last term. She was sick, she moved twice, the list goes on. It makes me feel even more special that she took the time to put together such a great, thoughtful package when she was so busy.

So check out the Hogwarts goodness:

My super cool Gryffindor socks! She designed the pattern herself. There are all kinds of cool details to them. They have an owl feathers pattern on them. how cool is that?
A bit closer up- you can see the stitch detail better.
They fit perfectly! I'm so happy. I put them on yesterday and didn't take them off until bed time. I love them!

Here's the box as I opened it. I'm so proud that I managed to get a picture before the excitement got the better of me.
Here's everything all spread out- the socks are peeking through the bottom corner.
A close up of the kitty approved package (see that white furry thing behind the bag of candy)

You see candy chosen because of its Gryffindor colored wrappers, a package of really cute napkins that match the box everything came in, some really nice Pony dpns 3.0mm size, four chocolate bars (yummy), a children's book from Finland. My poor stitch markers were snatched by Death Eaters! But she got them back, along with the tin box they put them in- they're so pretty, Gryffindor colors of course. There's a pretty angel bookmark- to protect my reading! The sweet letter she wrote me is tucked in there too.
I got a wonderful skein of Opal sock yarn in a pretty heathery-green color. I think it's a wool/bamboo blend. Since I don't speak or read any of the languages on the ball band I could be totally wrong, but I know it's wool. There are four post cards. One is a post card of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Finnish book cover- cool! Two postcards from her beautiful home town. Everything is covered in snow on the cards, but she assures me that it is Spring there now and the snow is nearly gone. The last post card is of a Moomin character, from what I understand Moomin is a very popular author. You can also see the children's book she sent me- great illustrations of cars and boats. I love it and so do my kids.
A closer up shot of some of my goodies. The post cards, book mark, stitch markers, and Death Eater tin.

Thank you so much for everything Anne! I love it all!

I got an owl from my HSKS4 partner Olive Bladvak yesterday. Marty the owl arrived during like a rather large spring snow storm, he was tired tired after his flight from Okinawa, Japan! I let him rest and gave him some owl treats before he insisted on taking flight to return to Olive. I am so spoiled! The box was a little wet from the snow, but nothing inside was harmed. The box was packed with so many knitters wizarding treats I didn't know what to look at first! A good bit of the treats are from Japan, so there was a lot of stuff that I have never seen and never would have seen if she hadn't sent them to me. Everything was all done up in Gryffindor colors with ribbons and labels- so creative and fun! Check out all of my Gryffindor goodies:

There's the whole lot of it together. Look at all the time she took wrapping everything up and making it all look wonderful.
Another shot at all the wrapped up goodness.
She sent me two sock spells, a pair of bamboo needles from Japan, Knit Picks Harmony dpns in the 2.5mm size, and some really great yarn. The yarn is hand painted 100% Merino by All the Pretty Fibers in the Indian Summer colorway. Perfect Gryffindor yarn, and it is also the perfect yarn for the Firestarter sock spell- fitting for a Gryffindor. I didn't have any 2.5mm dpns, so they are just the needles I needed!
Here are some non-knitting goodies. Look at all those sweet little tea cups and mugs from Japan- how cool are they? Each one was wrapped in gold tissue paper and tied with a scarlet and gold ribbon with a label telling me where it was from or what it was for. The mug in the middle was filled with tea for Potions. The red cup is filled with assorted candies from Honeydukes International. The flowered cup has lemon (gold) and cola (red) Gryffindor Goodies. I can't believe that nothing was broken on the long trip, Marty really is a talented owl!
These were tied up with a ribbon that said "Imports from a wizarding village in Asia" Three sets of fancy chopsticks- all very pretty. Two skeins of Gryffindor colored yarn form Japan. I have no idea what fiber it is for sure or anything, the only thing on the labels that's in English is "Space Dyde Knitting Yarn" yes, spelled just like that. I need a spell or charm that will let me read in Japanese for a little while! The chopsticks are great and I love the yarn.

Some treats from a Japanese wizarding village I imagine. Broomstick Snacks, Chocolate Wands, and some really cute little suckers in the shape of cows. I have shared all of my treats and candies with the underage wizards in the house, but not all of them. I'm keeping some for myself! Maybe if I magically lock my trunk they won't find them...
Remember that cute yellow box with the fabric to hold it closed? It's really cool. There are three different sections to put things in. I opened the top and found some darning needles (how did she know I misplace mine a lot?) under that I found a compartment with a box of Gryffindor colored paper clips, and under there I found some beautiful beaded stitch markers in a little pouch.
These four cards came in a package marked "Owl Post" I suspect Olive made them herself- the owl on one of the cards matches the owls that were stamped onto the box all of this came in. Each card is different and they are really well done. Love them!
Last but not least the bag Olive made me. It's big enough that everything in the package was in the bag when I pulled it out of the box, so it's going to be great for keeping knitting in. The fabrics are really great. Not only are they perfect Gryffindor colors, but check out the print on that red- it's fireworks. They remind me of sparks shooting from wands! I love this bag.
Here's the inside. More cool fabric and a great little pocket.

Thank you so much Olive! I couldn't have possibly asked for a better or more fun swap package. Everything is just wonderful. You did a brilliant job on your first swap! I feel so spoiled, it was like Christmas for this knitting Harry Potter geek!

Thank you!!!!