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!!!!

Mischief Managed

Now I can rest easy. Both my HSKS4 and HSS3 partners have recieved their owls. Unless they're telling me stories they liked everything too. I was most concerned about my HSS3 partners package. It had to get all the way to Finland! Then I didn't know what would be silly to send or if some things would be good because she couldn't get them there. The spring IK (Muggle knitting magazine) was evidently a good choice. All was well recieved though, and the socks and wrist warmers I knit her actually fit. Yay!

Owls Away!

I'm ready to send off the owl with my HSS3 partners package today. It will have to fly overseas so I chose a particularly strong one. I sure hope my Slytherin pal likes everything!

Gryffindor House Final Quiz HSKS4

Here are my answers for the final house quiz:
-Grimmauld Place
-Luna Lovegood
-Dolores Umbridge
-Occlumency
-Grawp
-Thestrals
-Extendable Ears
-Scrimgeour
-Prophecy
-Saint Mungos
-Centaur
-Skiving Snackbox
-Room of Requirement
-Dumbledores Army
-Department of Mysteries

That was a tricky one, good thing Gryffindors are rather clever! Number three was particularly difficult due to a spelling error, but it all worked out. I can't believe it's nearly the end of term. I bet the owls really start flying now!

Quidditch- Round 3

The final round of Quidditch fro HSKS4.
Photo scavenger hunt:
Igor Karkaroff
basilisk
Mundungus Fletcher
Amos Diggory
Severus Snape
Now for the trivia/quiz:

1. When Rita Skeeter prints a bad articles about Hagrid in the Daily Prophet, which Professor teaches Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class while he is away?


a. Professor Trisonikly


b. Professor Snape


c. Professor Grubbly-Plank


d. Professor Meshdeh


2. What was the article Rita Skeeter wrote about Hagrid called?


a. The son of Fridwulfa the Giantess


b. The Truth About Rubeus Hagrid


c. Dumbledore's Giant Mistake


d. Half Giant at Hogwarts


3. When the school champions were being chosen from the Goblet of Fire, whose name cam out first?


a. Fleur Delacour


b. Viktor Krum


c. Cedric Diggory


d. Harry Potter


4. What is the spell Ludo Bagman says to magically magnify his voice when he commentates?


a. Sonorus


b. Sonafy


c. Lumos


d. Sonatus


5. What kind of dragon did Cedirc have to face in the first task?


a. A Hungarian Horntail


b. A Swedish Short-Snout


c. A Welsh Green


d. A Chinese Fireball


6. Who raised the trophy after winning the world cup?


a. Troy and Moran


b. Troy and Quigley


c. Quigley and Moran


d. Lynch and Connolly


7. How many bedrooms did Mundungus Fletcher claim to have?


a. 4


b. 8


c. 10


d. 12


8. For what did Moody mistake his birthday gift of a carriage clock?


a. An intruder


b. A basilisk egg

c. A bomb


d. A Blast-ended Skrewt


9. What did Mr. Ollivander produce for the end of Cedric's wand?


a. A bunch of flowers


b. A fountain of wine


c. Twittering birds


d. Silver smoke rings


10. The dark mark is on Snape's left arm.


a. Yes


b. No



There, all done. I had to fix a few spelling errors on the quiz, I just couldn't help myself.
Wishing all Gryffindors good luck catching the snitch. Roar Gryffindor!!!

The Owl Made It!

My Ravenclaw (HSKS4) partner has her owl! She says she likes everything I sent her, even the special Luna-esque stitch markers. There's nothing better than knowing that your partner likes what you sent to them :)

In HSS3 news... My socks are all finished. I have to check through my collection of treats for my Slytherin pal, but I'm pretty sure that I'm ready to send her package by owl post too. I wonder what types of owls do overseas deliveries?