Happy Holidays!!   It’s been a wee bit busy here with the holidays coming up.  More content to follow (hopefully) later today.

Cheers,

Meg and Faye

Besides HSKS I am also part of a lovely little HP swap called Reducio Sock Swap.  It’s so much fun, we swap mini socks and other mini items.  I got my package today and it was from Lizzie Wychwood!!  I’m so excited that I got an excellent little swap package from her.  These cute little items are well perfect, I wish I was as talented as Lizzie.  She made me a mini Ravenclaw sock, Harry’s first Christmas present (complete with box, ribbon, tag, mini-sweater and hanger!), holly stitchmarkers and a Yule cracker!  Plus she put a leaf incense holder, Noel incense and some Bertie’s Bott Beans in the package as well!  Thank you so much Lizzie

I’m so excited,  the Wigtown Wanderer’s own Bridget the Bloodthirsty’s owl came a few days ago.  I apologize for taking so long to post pictures.  My camera cord was lost under a pile of knit books and printed patterns!  She sent me a wonderful package.   Thank you so much, you are a wonderful swap pal!
This post is picture-heavy so it you want to see more you have to look behind the cut

It was themed to my position of ball minder in the Appleby Arrows!  I love the cowl and the mitts!  They are so soft and very pretty.  If you look carefully you will see that the lace pattern is arrowheads.  Also there is a yummy Apricot and Vanilla white tea that I have not tried yet.  Knitpicks circs and yummy Panda Cotton in Blues & Greys colourway.

In the package, there was a quaffle tape measure, golden snitch pins and pincushion and little bludger stitchmarkers, as well as a great new Appleby Arrows Official Ball Ledger.

Wait there’s more!  Very cool pins, one is an Appleby Arrows pin and the other is my Quidditch jersey!

Last, but surely not least Faye’s favourite part of the package.  Her present from Bridget a squeaky giant giraffee!  She loves it so much and has been bringing it all over the house with her since she received it.  I wasn’t able to get a picture of it when I opened the package because as soon as a look off the packaging and showed it to her, she snatched it out of my hands and hide in her kennel to enjoy it!  So I have pictures of her playing with it.

So I must have fell asleep in the Quidditch supply locker since I got stuck in there and missed blogging last week. Sorry all.  I was hiding from the rain and reading a really good book, sadly the supply locker is spell proof to avoid other teams tampering with our equipment.  I had to wait till the next practice and Waverly was startled when she opened it and found me curled up all cozy with the old uniforms and a good book!

This week I’ve been very busy and I have made a lot of knits this month.  Here’s a picture of the pile’o'knits.  There are some missing as well as some in this pile were finished in October.  Not bad for two months.  Lol it doesn’t show all the other projects I have started between those times that I’m working on either!

We had homework too!  Some things that I’m thankful for is my family (mini-me, his tallest and all), Faye, Faye’s trainers, Jenny (Faye’s puppy raiser), our wonderful guide dog school GDB and staff (who not only offer free travel to the school for training, but also dorms and delicious food!), books and all the wonderful folks I’ve meet due to knitting and Ravelry!  Oh I almost forgot the tiny, but helpful vision (my left eye has some central vision, it’s a fantastic small window into the world of seeing) I have left, accessibility toys, accessibility in general, allergy shots and all my doctors and staff

As for what makes me happy, there are lots of things tea, mini-me being goofy, hugs, all things geeky, cuddles with his tallest, books, dragons, lace, knitting socks, coffee, chocolate, tasty food,  the sun, and Faye!  There is more, but I thought I’d just put down the short list

I can’t believe I almost forgot to post this week!  I’m now done taking a break from my pal’s swap knitted/crocheted project/s.  Lol not giving anything away   I have to finish it up then put on the finishing touches as well as pick up a little bit more extra goodies then it’s off to the post.

I can’t wait till I’m done crafting for my pal’s package because then I can work on Percy again and I really missed playing with the pretty lace

So I am almost done Cass G-P’s knitting item or items   I’ve taken a break from the secret knitting  to finish some other projects.  Here’s a look at two of the projects I’ve finished.

Thermis

I knit this cozy neckwarmer out of Knitpicks Comfy in Pomegrante.  Thermis is warm and comfy, but I need to purchase the right buttons for it.  I’m off to the best button store in the Lower Mainland, it’s called Button Button to pick out the perfect buttons for this project.  I really should make on in Arrows colours because it would be the perfect thing to keep me warm during Quidditch practice.

Another FO to fly off my needles is a present for my mom.  Her birthday is on Monday.  I knit it from some left overs of DIC Classy in the Nightwatch colourway (the colour is much darker than the picture shows).  This was a quick but a little itchy knit for me.  My hands were find, but I did end up with some hives on my chin!  Funny thing I don’t know why I get hives on my face when I knit with animal fibers and not my hands.  Might be because I use a heavy handcream (Burt’s Bees Hand Salve) especially when I knit with animal fibers that I’m allergic to.  It turned out really pretty the pattern is Calorimetry This is the first time I’ve knit this pattern and I want to knit one for myself, so I have to find a good non-animal fiber for this.  I might use some Rowan Calmer, yum!

My answer for this weeks WWW is short and sweet, she is in England and was seen in Queerditch Marsh and Appleby Village.  Arise Arrows!

So Winnie is still travelling and forgetting where she is.  The Headmistress really needs this break!  Her first stop is Castle Larnach, New Zealand then she is going to visit the Rosebank Farm in Otago Peninsula.  Sounds like a lovely place to visit for a knitter and castle lover.

Her next stop is hard to figure out she leaves clues such as C-L-S, it was once three town on the Quebec border.  It has a quaint maple syrup factory and on a lake.  Oh boy is this one difficult!  Hold on, I think she is visiting Lac Brome, Quebec.  It was in the news recently since the Cabane à sucre (Sugar Shack) was hit by some sticky thieves! However she could be hiding around the Stanstand area, since I know that it was once three villages plus it is right on the border.  Hmmm, Lac Brome isn’t too far from Stanstand…  Not sure if this fits though since it doesn’t bring any light on the letter clues!  Oh well that’s my guess.

So Headmistress Winnie is taking some time off to wonder the world.  She was in London at the Ministry and was accused of falling to teach her students to apparate properly!  She mentioned the wizard accusing her had horrendous bedside manners, I wonder if she was in St. Mungos visiting someone.  Well I have a feeling Winnie is off to Italy somewhere since she has never used “Ciao!” before.  If I were her I’d wonder around Florence or Venice, it is beautiful.

I tried out for Shuntbumping and got my butt handed to me by Ambyr.  I failed to awake early enough, sigh.  Good thing is I have an awesome Ravenclaw hat and won’t have to speed knit anything more than holiday gifts.

I also got my number for the Arrows.  I’m number 42!  Do you know where your towel is?  Lol, snort.  Well I’m off to practice to make sure my fellow team mates don’t hurt themselves releasing those Quidditch balls without me.  Arise Arrows!

1. Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one). Olive Bumblebirch
2. Someone who was born in the same month. Bridget the Bloodthirsty (yay June!!, her birthday is just a few days after mine!)
3. Someone from a different country.Emma Gorodok (lives in Germany)
4. A new HSKS Quidditch player.Albratross Harbinger
5. A player who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps.Lizzie Wychwood
6. A player who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!) I guess that’s me, but I believe that many witches and wizards are hiding their stash from public eyes
7. A player who both knits and crochets. Hermione Bagnold
8. Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Minerva Wood (blue and green!)

I was searching around Hogwart’s trying to find something that would inspire me and that would bring back the smile on my face, since I’m feeling down with a horrible muggle cold.  I peeked into Hermione’s room and was stunned by her beautiful blanket inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Then I decided to make my way to the Herbology Shed to see if I can find to see if I could find the remaining ingredients I needed to make myself some Pepperup Potion.  I saw a mandrake on top of Bridget the Bloodthirsty’s head and told her not to move because there is a baby mandrake hiding on her head.  Before I could run for earmuffs and a pot, Bridget laughed and told me it is just a wonderful mandrake hat she knit.  Wow I can’t believe how realistic it was, or it could just be my horrible cold.

I decided that I wasn’t going to find my ingredients and that I should just go and find the infirmary staff.  On my way through the halls to the infirmary, I saw Emma hugging the most adorable little monster ever!   I continued walking down the hall and say Minerva Wood’s beautiful snowflake socks floating gentle through the air, I guess someone decided to play a cute little prank on her.  I must remember to tell her where I last saw her socks.

I finally made it to the infirmary, where I saw Olive knitting on her shiny Nancy Bush mystery socks. She dyed the yarn herself and I felt the sunshine radiate from it.  I wonder if she bottle some sunshine into her dye?  I found a bottle of Pepperup hiding in one of Lizzie’s Luna’s Twilight Socks.  What an interesting place to leave it!  I’ll have to talk to one of the infirmary staff about having someone tidy up very soon.  Good thing that Lizzie’s gorgeous sock was clean!

I took a good swig of the Pepperup potion and felt the steam flying from my ears.  Darn I can’t go to practice with my ears steaming!  I decided to head back to the Arrows dorm tents to lay down till the steam stops.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wonderful blanket that reminded me of the eye of Jupiter.  I realized it was Albratross Harbinger’s blanket that she just finished after our last game.  I didn’t think she mind if I curled up in it’s warmth to take a nap.