Owls Flying High!

In my previous post I mentioned the duel club owl had its target in sight, but I forgot to mention my owl to Miss Arabella Moody. Arabella's owl, which left my house last week, made its scheduled stop in Memphis early this morning and took flight to its final destination. I love online tracking :) I know its totally geeky but I love following the process of packages online.

Duel Club Update

The tracker on my duel club owl says that my parcel is in Canada and is out for delivery tomorrow! YAY! He's an express owl so he flew super fast :)

Still Recovering, in Many Ways

This was a very long week. My family left town on Sunday and I spent most of the week dealing with homesickness and missing them :(

My hands still hurt from Tuesday and the duel club. I will probably not do speed knitting again, although I seem to be pretty good at it. I guess its the combination of not having much time in my day to day life to knit and working well under stress. I also realized I have the perfect duel set up at my office. My boss is not in my same location so most of the time, I am able to knit at work. I'm also right around the corner from a post office (literally a few paces) so once I was finished, I could mail it immediately. But in looking at other knitting competitions out there (like hat attack and sock wars) I'm not so sure I could ever do it for a long period of time. There are so many participants that it can take weeks of knitting to compete and I think that the HSKS duel club was more my speed (I can handle knitting 4 hats).

Yesterday was a difficult day as well. It would have been my grandmother's 80th birthday had we not lost her a few years ago. I haven't dealt with my grandmother's death very well, and these little milestones which are supposed to be getting easier to handle seem to be getting much much worse. My SO and I went out for banana splits (her favorite dessert) and it helps having some way to honor her but its still tough.

I'm going to have to do something very special for my fiance when I get through this rough patch. He's been really good about keeping me distracted this week so that it went by a little easier.

Okay, enough of the bad stuff. Arabella, expect your owl early next week! Sorry about all of the delays. I seem to have a little black raincloud that follows me around when it comes to swaps. I always have trouble receiving items I've ordered for swap packages. This time, I even put the order in early to make sure it was delivered and a backordered item (which became backordered AFTER I'd placed the order) slowed its delivery down. It was a key component of the package so I had to wait. I just wish it hadn't taken so long.

I'm going to try to slowly knit a swatch to felt in preparation for the ravelympics. Have a good weekend everyone!

Quidditch Round 3

I'm on vacation (until tomorrow night) so I've gotta be quick! I just wanted to make sure not to let my fellow ravenclaw's down, so here are my quidditch answers for round 3:

1. When Hagrid returns to Hogwarts after being sent to see the giants with Madame Maxime, Professor Umbridge questions him on his late return to school. She suspects that Hagrid had been to the mountains, but where does he tell her he has been?

d. South of France

2. Professor Umbridge comes to Hagrid's Hut and searches his cabin one evening (as she believes Harry, Ron and Hermione are there visiting him at night when they are not supposed to). When she walks past the place where Harry, Ron and Hermione are hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry holds his breath. True or false?

b. False

3. A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl is one of the members of the Advance Guard who rescues Harry from Privet Drive. What is her name?

a. Emmeline Vance

4. What is the name of the witch who was killed two weeks after the photo of the original Order of the Phoenix was taken?

b. Marlene McKinnon

5. Which two fifth year Ravenclaw students does Dumbledore choose to be prefects?

d. Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil

6. Which house was Rose Zeller sorted into?

d. Hufflepuff

7. What is the color of Murtlap's essence?

c. Yellow

8. Name the Ravenclaw girl who became prefect in Harry's fifth year.

b. Padma Patil

9. According to a healer's portrait at St. Mungo's hospital, which disease was Ron suffering from?

d. Spattergroit

10. Which book did Harry give Hermione for Christmas?
a. "New Theory of Numberology"

Picture Scavenger Hunt

Padma Patil

Hannah Abott

Percy



Dumbledore's Army



Cedric Diggory

Dream Swatch Headband

I really need to get on the ball with this project! I casted on but didn't like the yarn I chose. I haven't had any time to make it to the LYS to get a more suitable yarn though! My family is coming to visit next week and our house was kind of, well ... embarrassingly messy :( Luckily its not DIRTY as much as it is DISORGANIZED. I've been organizing and cleaning for just under two weeks now! UGH! Maybe I can start on the headband while they're in town...

Ravenclaw House Quiz!

1. What is the literal translation of "Albus Dumbledore"?

Albus Dumbledore literally translates to “white bumblebee”. The name "Dumbledore" is an old Devon word for "bumblebee". JKR chose this name because she imagines Dumbledore wandering around the castle humming to himself, thus sounding like a bumblebee.

2. "Occlumency" is not, in reality, a word. However, it seems to be derived from a familiar real word that means "to block". What is that word?

Occlumency is derived from the word “occlude”, which means “to block”.

3. Remus Lupin, the werewolf, has a name that is a double reminder of his traits. From what languages are his two names derived?

Remus is latin (a son of Mars slain by his twin brother Romulus, in Roman mythology). Lupin is also latin (translated as “wolf”).

4. Percy Weasley's owl takes its name, quite appropriately, from the Greek messenger god. Who is this god?

Percy Weasley’s owl is named Hermes who, in Greek mythology, is the Greek God of boundaries, roads, commerce, science, invention, eloquence, luck, cunning, medicine, and healing.

5. Many of the creatures studied in the Care of Magical Creatures class or encountered by Hogwarts students are based on mythological animals while many others were made up. Name a mythological animal which is studied and/or encourntered by Hogwarts students.

The sphinx is a mythical creature encountered by Hogwarts students. Specifically, the Sphinx is used by wizards to guard doorways and treasure, and can become aggressive when whatever it is guarding is threatened. In the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, the maze's center was protected by a Sphinx with a riddle to answer.

6. Harry is tried for the "crime" of using magic outside Hogwarts by the Wizengamot. From what culture is the name "Wizengamot" derived?

Wizengamot is derived from Anglo-Saxon culture. The Witenagemon was the Anglo-Saxon council of wise men that advised the king. It was composed of men from religious as well as secular organizations.

7. The hospital in OotP is called St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Who was the real St. Mungo?

St Mungo is the commonly used name of Saint Kentigern or Cyndeyrn Garthwys, the late 6th century apostle of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland, and patron saint and founder of the city of Glasgow.

8. Dobby the house-elf gets his name from another kind of creature. In English folklore, what is a dobby?

In English folklore, a dobby was a house-elf similar to a brownie (a spirit popular in Scottish folk-lore). Dobbies were thin and shaggy, very kind to servants and children, and did many a small service in the household when people were too busy.

9. Mundungus Fletcher is a disreputable little wizard with a penchant for trading in stolen goods. What exactly does mundungus mean?

Mundungus is defined as a tobacco with an offensive odor.

10. Harry's arch-nemesis throughout OotP is Professor Umbridge. Why is her name appropriate for her?

The root of “Dolores” (i.e. Dolor) is the Latin for pain, sadness, grief, resentment. Umbridge is the homonym for the English word 'umbrage' meaning to take offense, and from the Latin "umbra" meaning shade, shadow, ghost.

HSKS5 Package!

My kit came today! My kit came today! Woo Hoo!!!

Here's a picture of all of the wonderful goodies!

Here's a closeup of my bag (already using!), stitch markers (already using!), yarn and needles (both packed for my trip this weekend!).

Here's the sock patterns! Which one to cast on first? Hmmm ...

And all of the wonderful British treats to try!

Thanks so much to my pal Arae Hydra!

Ravenclaw Puzzle

Above is my Ravenclaw homework for the week. I don't have a scanner so its a picture with my camera phone. Since the answers are so bloody hard to read, here they are:

Across:
3. Wizengamot
4. Boggart
5. Marietta Edgecombe
8. Sirius Black
10. Arabella Figg
12. Tonks
13. Dumbledore
14. Doxy
15. Order of the Phoenix
16. Shacklebolt
17. Scrivenshafts
19. Kreacher
20. Madam Puddifoots

Down:
1. Severus Snape
2. Honeydukes
6. Grimmauld Place
7. Ministry of Magic
9. Mundungus
11. Umbridge
15. Occlumency
18. Hogshead