Word association

Our assignment this week is a fun word association game - so here we go

1. Pumpkin Soup
   
2. Owl Hedwig
   
3. Leaf Tree
   
4. Weasley Molly
   
5. Quaffle Quidditch
   
6. Hallow Halloween
   
7. Mad Crazy
   
8. Dragon Wing
   
9. Crystal Ball
   
10. Trees Leaves
    
11. Hermione Books
    
12. Hogwarts School
    
13. Burrow Ron
    
14. Dobby Houseelf
    
15. Horcrux Diary
    
16. Ministry Magic
    
17. Magic Wand
    
18. Sirius Black
    
19. Apple Juice
    
20. Juice Fruit
    
21. Candle Flame
    
22. Ghost Spooky
    
23. Snake Slytherin
    
24. Wand Magic
    
25. Invisibility Cloak
    
26. Tent Camping
    
27. Spell Love
    
28. Umbridge Dolores
    
29. Dursely Idiot
    
30. Prophet Daily
    

Wow, that must be the fastest blog post I ever made

Just stopping by

This week has been crazy, so I'm just going to keep this short or I'll start another rant about it.

I have planned the kit for Hermione, or most of it anyway, now I just need to select yarns and start working on it. Everything else will have to wait until next week, which will hopefully be better than this one.

All new HSKS

It's a new term again and here is my first homework assignment. At least I'll start it now and will hope to get it done tomorrow, everyone in my family including me seems to have caught a cold.

I'm not going to all the information about me here again, I have a separate site for that which I updated already, so please have a look at my About Me site if you want to know more.

1. Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one). Celestina Pettigrew she knits and does crochet and so do I
   
2. Someone who was born in the same month as you. Phelia Ballycastle we are both born in May
   
3. Someone from a different country. Gryphon the Great lives in the US
   
4. A new HSKS Family member. Schmutzerella Oglethorpe
5. Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. Emma Wigworthy
   
6. Someone who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!) Bella Shacklebolt
   
7. Someone who both knits and crochets. Hermione Bagnold
   
8. Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Mystry Moonbleu we both love black and purple
9. Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you. My favourite season is Summer, Fleur Sweeting loves Summer too
   
10. Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you. Genevra Dreamy we both like all kinds of fiber

Now I'll head back to Ravelry to leave a comment for all of them, then I'll curl up under a blanket once more. Still don't feel too good

I received my kit

That's the sight greeting me when I opened the package, lots of lovely, handknit flowers and leaves plus some paper leaves. The smaller flowers are brooches, the black one (hidden under a leave on the pic) is already on the lapel of my purple jacket.



Below, I found a folder with a timetable for our summer camp, plus patterns for the handmade items, instructions for camp crafts etc. All the little packages inside had times on them and held items needed for the activities at that time. That was a really nice idea and gave me some insight into what a summer camp could be like. I've never been to one.



That's everything unwrapped, I'll try to list it all here: handknit sunflowers, leaves, flower brooches, a flower necklace (red flower with dark green on the pic), a crochet wrist band, 3 wooden dinos for my little house elf Philipp, Creole seasoning mix, Graham crackers and marshmallows (to make smores), stitch markers and a knitting magazine. And of course yarn and beads and pattern to make the Lady of the Wood fingerless mittens by Ann Kingston. The yarn is KnitPicks Shimmer, an alpaca silk blend, I can't wait to knit with it. And the colour is perfect for me.



Here is a slightly blurry close up of the stitch markers, cute little leaves and flowers.

Thank you so much Poppy for this beautiful kit, I love every single item in it. And Philipp loves the dinos, he had them all assembled within 5 minutes and hasn't stopped playing with them since.

Now I'm off to fondle the yarn and look through the patterns, please excuse me.

My vacation

I have been on another trip to the UK, mainly to Cardiff via London and Bristol. I met with a friend in London on Wednesday, as my flight was going there anyway. The next day I took a coach to Bristol, where I met up with two friends of mine. We went to Bradford on Avon for lunch - or rather a cream tea for myself, as we were in a tea room called "The Bridge". I just couldn't resist the scones and clotted cream. The night was spent at my friends place in Bristol, we watched the first episode of "Sherlock", chatted and knit, it was really nice.

The next morning we took the train to Cardiff, where we saw a lot of Torchwood and Doctor Who filming locations. We even went to the National History Museum, which we should see on Sunday night in the second episode of "Sherlock" - where it was supposed to be a museum in London. Didn't know London was that close to Cardiff ;-)

Of course I couldn't be in Cardiff without visiting the Doctor Who exhibition, they had a few really nice things on display. I love how real this shot of the Ood turned out:

On Saturday night, we went to a concert at "The Globe" and got to see Spiridion (a Welsh metal band I really enjoyed) and Blue Gillespie (the band of Gareth David Lloyd, who played Ianto in Torchwood). It was a fun evening, even if the location was way too hot.

Unfortunately my vacation was over all too soon, I came back home on Monday - which I basically spent in buses, waiting for buses, waiting on the airport and on an airplane.

Cardiff is really a nice city, I definitely want to go again sometime - and to Bristol, London, Edinburgh and so many other regions in the UK I haven't visited yet.

Scavenger hunt

Oh, I love scavenger hunts.... here are my pics:

Isn't that a beautiful campfire?

And here we have a pinecone


The bowtruckle didn't hold still and I couldn't photograph it, so I've been drawing a picture instead


There are four candle on my son's birthday cake, it's been in 2008

not so pretty, but here is some muggle trash

And those water balloons will be a lot of fun

I love rhubarb, so I chose it as an edible plant

Carps do live in a lake

This peacock feather is really pretty

I have dyed this yarn myself

A while ago I made those coffee cup cozies in House colours

And last but not least, here is a cute bathing suit

WINGO

Here a bit more information about the people I filled in:

• Poppy Pluot might live a bit farther away than 100 miles, but as far as I know she is the closest as we both live in Germany
• Gryphon the Great lives in the US
• Celestina Pettigrew loves chocolate - and so do I
• Ambyr Phoenixfire played Quidditch last term
• Hermione Bagnold owns all the HP movies

And now a bit about me, to help everyone:

• I can spin with a hand spindle, but I'm not very good yet
• have been on many trains, mostly to visit my parents in Völklingen, but as well to Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, Birmingham etc
• I speak German, English plus a bit of French and Spanish
• I dye and sell yarn
• have 1 sister
• my patronus is a panther
• collect dragons
• have been to Edinburgh Castle
• make and sell stitch markers
• live in Dortmund, Germany
• love chocolate and almost all kinds of candy except for liquorice
• my Birthday is in May
  

Planning has begun

I will be spoiling Gryphon the Great in Summer Camp and I'm busy planning his kit - or rather I have almost everything I need for his kit, just need to knit for a while and create a few little things. Otherwise I should be all sorted, I can't believe it. Never before I had planned a kit and bought everything I needed within the first week.

This will be so much fun, I'm sure he's going to love this kit.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp will start soon and I just got an owl that I'll be in the Treehouse. I can't wait for it all to start, I want to get to know my cabin mates and everyone else. Summer camps are so much fun.

hurries off to pack everything

Kit received

A rather tired owl arrived today with a parcel for me from Cassandra Goode. Inside I found a big, handknit robot for my son plus yarn and patterns to make two more. For me there was the pattern for Ravenclaw socks from our Emma Wigworthy plus wool-free yarn to knit them... I really think I should learn how to do fair isle now.

I found a pair of straight knitting needles with strawberries at the top, a pair of chain mail earrings with turtles, a beautiful hair comb and a pompom maker in the box as well. Oh, and I almost forgot about the knitting pattern to make a cute little bunny.

Thanks, Cassandra

my SPEW contribution

Those hats are my contribution to SPEW this term, they have been sent today and will be donated to Bonnie Babies in the UK. I have chosen mostly warm and bright colours as I hope they will bring some light into the lives of a family. Small gestures like this can really make a difference - at least I hope they do.

Arithmancy Homework

Arithmancy is not my favourite subject, but I managed to get my homework done. Here are the results:

1. Dobby
2. Harry Potter
3. Hog's Head

I'm glad it's done, give me languages any day, but please no more numbers.

Pancakes

This is what I make, when I want pancakes to be special - a cake made from pancakes, jam and decorated with gummy candy.

Ingredients (for 2 people):
3 eggs
6 - 7 tablespoons flour
1 -2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup of milk
jam - whatever you have at hand or like best
powdered sugar
small gummy candies
oil for the skillet

Instructions:

Mix flour and sugar in a bowl, add egg and half of the milk. With a wire whisk or mixer mix for until you have a smooth dough. Then slowly add more milk until the dough is easily running from a spoon - you will need a rather liquid dough to make thin pancakes.

Heat a bit of oil in a skillet, add enough dough to make pancakes about 2 - 3 mm high (you'll need to experiment about how much dough you need, it depends on the size of your skillet). Lightly brown pancake on both sides, put on a plate.

While the next pancake is baking, thinly spread some jam on the finished one. Repeat until there is no more dough left. Don't spread jam on the top pancake, but dust it with powdered sugar and decorate with gummy candy.

Is this week over yet?

Since I blogged last week, everything in my house dissolved into chaos - my son got sick, my partner as well... We are finally somehow back to normal, but now I need to clean the house as I will have guests for the weekend. It's my birthday tomorrow and inlaws will visit on Sunday.

But there are a few positive things to report, I have the handmade item for Rowena done, just need to make a few small things - and of course I still need to dye the yarn for her, but my skein winder is still broken. But if all else fails, I'll wind it with my niddy-noddy to be able to send during the early send period.

Unfortunately the next Quidditch match will be in the middle of the night for me, so I can't even cheer for Ravenclaw. So I decided to at least post a battle cry here:

ROAR Ravenclaw!

Potions homework

Here is my homework for this week, I've used the same originality marker as before:

Part 1:


Ground nutmeg can be used in potions to heal stomach flu and other illness that have to do with digestions


Gerbera are part of some cleansing potions


A Dracaena produces a red resin when cut, which is not by chance called 'Dragon's Blood' - it can be used in healing potions for injured dragons


Dried or fresh cumin is a main ingredient in potions to bind a lover to you - it only works when the person drinking the potion is really in love with you, otherwise you might end up with a creepy stalker, so be careful

Dried bay leaves are part of an insect repelling potion, very useful to have with you when you spend a long time outdoors

Part 2:

Answer the following potions questions:

1. Sneezewort, scurvy grass, and lovage are used to make what?

B: Confusing Draught


2. Porcupine quills are to be added when to a Boil Cure Potion?

D: After it is removed from the fire


3. What potion, if brewed correctly, should change color numerous times throughout brewing including deep purple, lilac, and finishing clear?

A: The Draught of Living Death


4. This ingredient in the Draught of Peace, would likely bring you permanent peace since it is poisonous, what is it?

D: Hellebore


5. Chopped daisy roots, skinned shrivel-fig, sliced caterpillar, one rat spleen, dash of leech juice are all ingredients to what?

C: Shrinking Solution

Part 3:

Take a picture of and list the ingredients and/or instructions to make one of your favorite potions that you have created.

Light sleeping potion for children:

Ingredients:
1 big cup of milk
2-3 teaspoons honey

Instructions:

heat milk, add 2-3 teaspoons of honey
stir 3 times clockwise
hum a lullaby
stir 3 times clockwise

Stupid time turner

My time turner seems to be broken, it was Wednesday just a few minutes ago and I wanted to go back an hour as I had missed an appointment - and now it is Saturday and I almost missed the deadline for posting here... And I won't even get started on what else I missed - classes, homework, Quidditch *sigh*

Mini sock key chains

I have been asked how to make my little sock keychains, here is a basic recipe... you might need to add a row or two in some places, depending on your gauge and the yarn, I never really count the row just try to get them to look right:

With sockyarn and 2.5 mm needles or whatever size you usually use for socks CO 20 st, knit 1/1 ribbing for 4 rows, then continue in stockinette stitch until leg is about 1 inch. Knit short row heel with wrapped stitches over half of the stitches (you can do every other short row heel as well), after heel knit in stockinette again for 7-9 rows.
Toe:
(K1, ssk, k 4, k2 tog, k1) twice
knit all around
(K1, ssk, k 2, k2 tog, k1) twice
(K1, ssk, k2 tog, k1) twice
cut yarn, pull yarn through remaining 8 st to close the toe, weave in ends - use cast on end to sew to a key ring or keychain.

Care of Magical Creatures Homework

Another week is gone, so here is my homework - it is due today, so I finished on last minute. But I got the extra parts done as well...

Part 1: Describe and explain 5 items that you would use for the care of magical creatures

1. Gloves - of course magically enhanced - to handle animals that might bite, are poisonous or spit acid
2. nail clippers - to shorten the claws of some animals, to prevent them from harming themselves or each other
3. brush - to brush their hair, to remove dirt stuck to their pelt
4. belt - serves as an impromptu leash if you use the right charm on it
5. wool - to make a soft nest for orphaned baby animals

Part 2: Answer the following questions

1. Please describe the physical appearance of a house elf. - House elves are between two to three feet tall, with spindly arms and legs and over-sized heads and eyes. They have pointed, bat-like ears and high, squeaky voices. Rather than conventional clothing, house-elves wear discarded items like pillowcases and tea-towels
2. Kreacher is the house elf of which wizarding family? - The Black family
3. What is Hermione Granger making for the house elves? - she's knitting little hats for them
4. How do you free a house elf? - Make them a gift in form of a piece of clothing
5. What does S.P.E.W. stand for? - Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare

Part 3: For bonus points, knit or sew a SPEW item - I decided to crochet a sunny yellow hat with a scalloped edge. And as I just realized, I forgot my originality marker for this picture, I'll take a new one and exchange it later



Edit: Here is another picture, to prove that it is my hat... same originality marker as always

Transfiguration homework

I have almost finished my homework, just the bowtruckle and the time turner refuse my attempts of Transfiguration. But I won't give up and hope to get that done as well.

My originality marker is the black notebook with dragon, I didn't photograph it separately.

Nosebiting Teacup



I forgot my originality marker in the first photo, but I hope it still counts. The spell efficio poculum transfigured it into the lovely teapot below - but be careful, or it might bite your nose



Golden snitch



To turn this into a golden snitch, I used the spell efficio picala



Remembrall



Efficio memorium turned the above items into a beautiful Remembrall



Spectrespecs



This spell was a bit tricky to figure out, but oculus clarus helped me to create a pair of spectrespecs



Decoy Detonator



The results here are not too pretty, but at least the Decoy Detonator works, the spell I used was Sonitus falsus



Rock Cakes



This was another tricky one, but at last I remembered the spell crustum saxum to make some rock cakes

First week assignment

The term has barely started and we have our first assignment - but this one is really fun...

Which characters did I chose for my kit and why?

• Bellatrix Lestrange - I don't particularly like her, she's a bit too crazy to do so. But sometimes I'm a bit crazy too, so I think it fits. And I like the way she dresses, appeals to the goth in me. And if you ignore the crazyness, she is really pretty ;-) I don't know what else to say about her
  
• Draco Malfoy - He's pretty too, but in a completely different way. I think he is misunderstood a lot of the time, he is not evil but stands under a lot of pressure from his family. And he is just a boy, so what is he supposed to do? With a different upbringing he could have been a rather nice person. He is intelligent, that's something I like in other people. Draco must be really strong to be able to hide his emotions from everyone - but that's also why they don't realize that he doesn't really want to be like his father. I don't know if this all makes sense to you, but it's hard for me to write down what I like about him
  
• Sirius Black - He is loyal to his friends and to Harry, he would do everything to help them. He even risks his life. Sometimes he takes unnecessary risks as he doesn't think it through, he acts immediately. That sometimes is true for myself as well, I'm rather impulsive so I can relate to him there. He must be really strong as well, to survive so many years in Azkaban without going completely crazy.

Now I'm off to stalk my spoilee's blog, I need to get some ideas about what to make for her. Oh, I didn't tell you yet, I'm spoiling Rowena Bladvak this term, can't wait to get to know her better.

new term

I'm so excited, we will be going back to Hogwarts soon - Quidditch and Summer Camp were fun, but I can't wait to see Hogwarts again. I'm looking forward to get to know my new house mates and meet old friends