The Same Old NEW About Me for HSKS 13

Copied and pasted from last year with a few changes. I'm a creature of habit! :)

The Crafty Things:

Craft: I both knit and crochet. I also kool aid dye. I'm also learning to spin on a little bitty toy wheel spindle.

Fiber: I have no wool allergies, but prefer to avoid the itchier wools, and haven't ever really gotten around too many other animal fibers, like angora or mohair, etc, for fear of allergies. My favorite is merino wool, because it's generally pretty soft and fluffy. :)  I'm also not into felting at all, but I am a learning spinner, so roving in small quantities would be appreciated.

Brand: I'm pretty easy. I like everything from the pretty cheaper stuff (I love Wool Ease and Patons Classic Wool, for example) to Kureyon and so on. I also recently discovered I have a love affair with Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee, which of course is discontinued.  Some yarns I've really been wanting to try are Cascade 220 Wool, Mission Falls Wool (I love their cotton!), anything by Koigu (because they look so gorgeous!), and Fisherman's Wool by Lion Brand. I've also discovered several yarns that are trying to be like Noro Kureyon, with the radical color changes (Bernat's mosaic, for example) I'm open to lots of yarn options, and of course, I love Knit Picks! Who doesn't?

Weight: I love the bulky, chunky yarns. But I love all yarn! (Well, except lace weight, because my HPKCHC OWL is lace weight and I'd rather not look at it anymore...)

Color:  I really love greens and purples. I tend to like the darker parts of the spectrum in both those colors (sage, olive green, etc) but like the lighter ones too. I'm also pretty fond of burnt-orange, brown, and blue (like medium blue). There aren't many colors I don't like, except pink. Hogwarts colors wise, I'm a true Slytherin at heart. :)

Needles: I always want needles! The main thing I can think I need is a set of tips for my Knit Picks Zephyrs, size 5. I have plenty of cables and I think needles in other sizes too...My Needles Library on Rav's needs to be updated!  My small needle area's pretty lacking even now...I have a size 1 sock needle and that's about it until I get above 3. I prefer circs to dpns (magic loop all the way!) and anything I might receive would be awesome. :) Also, I would love to try a crochet hook bigger than a Q. I think they make an S. :)

Types of Patterns: I have a bit of a sock phobia after I spent forever making my first pair (Skew) only to accidentally felt them in my shoes! So I'm on hold for making more socks, but next is going to be Helix.  I enjoy making amigurumi, scarves, gloves, hats, you name it! :) I love knitting magazines!  I have started a Queue Wishlist. My favorites are a dangerous place to browse for ideas because it's a disorganized mess! I'll work on that. :) I have yet to try anything at all by Stephen West and it's a crying shame. His shawls are gorgeous! (I also think I'm becoming a small shawl addict...)

Snacks: I love Dark Chocolate (but I like my chocolate without nuts in it!). I also love mint, so anything with Dark Chocolate + Mint = Win. I don't like peanut butter mixed with chocolate. I also like Wonka stuff like Gobstoppers, Runts, Nerds, etc... all that bad for you candy, and Sour Patch kids and those neon sour worms...yum....I also like coffee (just about anything coffee or coffee flavored), love the little instant mix "coffee" drinks (like lattes and such) hot chocolate (yum!) and tea (any kind of tea, but i especially like fruit related teas!). I've also been living off of the Maxwell House International Cafe line. Literally living at this point...

Other Small Things I like:

1. Big Buttons for cowls or scarves. Like quarter sized or bigger, and as wild and crazy as you please!
2. Soak Wash! I love the stuff, I've only tried a few samples that Soak sent me, but so far I love every scent and would love to have some more! I don't have a local yarn shop to get it at. Even little samples would be more than awesome!
3. Little notebooks for note taking, I can't ever get enough of those!
4. Tiny lotions or liquid bath soaps, things like Bath & Body Works, Burts Bees, etc. I love Cucumber Melon and Pomegranate anything. :) 
5. Lip balms, because I can't ever get enough of that stuff either

Allergies:  Wools are fine, but I might possibly have allergies to other animal fibers like mohair, etc, so I tend to avoid those in large percentages. (though I think a small % blend would be fine). Cigarettes, though unless someone smokes right into my package I'd probably be okay. Floral scents in things like candles and lotions tend to make me sneeze like mad. And potpourri too. Ick, I really don't like potpourri. I have no food allergies except the pepper family makes me sneeze. So don't mail me pepper and we'll be all right.

Wishlists: I have a small but growing Amazon list. 

It is current as of right now, so anything on it would be fair game.

Hope this helps!

The Kits, Part 2

I sent a kit to Daisymum, and she put up an awesome blog about it, here. (click that because its full of her squeeing and being cute in the hat i made)

But, I did take kit pictures, so I thought why not put them up? :)

My first ever stitch markers, two sets of five, knitted into a little swatch of handdyed (by me) sock yarn. 

 The goodies: the markers with some crochet fingerless gloves, a knitted hat (Turn A Square), and 2 skeins of Lace weight Forest Heather Knit Picks yarn. She loves shawls, so I'm hoping she can make a nice one with this.

 And the extras: I got loads of sweet stuff, since she's got a few little boys, I asked what they'd like, and went from there. I got her my favorite HP book (well, one of my favorites, its kind of a tie between POA and the last two), and found the other book (a non-HP canon Manual for New Wizards, totally cute!) by accident. I included a few postcards (you know, nice castle-type reminder of Hogwarts?), a notepad & some little playing cards, and a scented candle. I think that was all of it...

The Kits Arrived!

My time in HSKS 12 is complete, as my kit I sent has been received, and I just got my fab kit from Helena Lovegood (loverofallemo) today. I opened the box to find a basilisk (!!!) coiled in the top of it. Since I'm a Slytherin, of course I didn't panic, I just spoke to it in Parseltongue and told it not to be afraid, and of course everything went just fine. We're already like BFFs. :D

 

It seemed highly keen on protecting this striped package, which (duh) contained a journal, so of course it wanted to protect it! It seems even modern day versions of basilisks have an inexplicable desire to protect journals. This one (at least at this time) seems like a regular book and seems to contain no memories of any Dark Lords...

 After digging further down into the box, I realized the craft portion of the kit holds true to the HSKS tradition, she sent me a sock kit! Which is perfect, because I've never made socks before, and we're talking about doing an HSKS KAL after the new year, so now I'm ready! She also included a pattern for what looks like some beginner friendly socks that I'll definitely try, and a set of size 2 dpns. The yarn she got in a striking resemblance to Ron's family colors, so I think I'll have me some Muddle-Headed Socks in my future! So excited!

 Last but most certainly not least, all of the goodies. There's Goldfish (which I LOVE with an unhealthy obsession), a fruit tea sampler (that has some of my favorite teas in it so YAY!), Andes Mints (which ROCK), some yummy looking hot chocolate, pens to go with the journal & the DPNs previously mentioned.

A gloriously fantastic kit! And Helena Lovegood rocks! :)

(I'll post the kit I sent out in another post)

I'll See You All in 6 Weeks...

When I finally get over this!




If you don't recognize who that is singing, that's Darren Criss, from A Very Potter Musical. I'm totally obsessed with this clip now.

My Ability to Blog...

Sucks like woah.

I have just enough time to sneak in an update on my kit.

I'm fairly certain that I have all of the extras for my kit sitting here ready to go (I'm missing one thing that I know what it is, but I haven't bought it yet. I was hoping to have different options for it, so I will be getting it the lastest of minutes... :D )

The handmade items are slow moving, but are in progress, and will be ready to go when the kit is. I'm planning on swinging by the family blog in a few days when I have more time to post a photo update. 

Fall! It's here!

After an overwhelmingly hot summer (and really, spring while we're at it!) I never thought we'd ever see cooler weather. But somehow fall has managed to sneak up on us. It's cold enough outside right now (at 11:00 PM) to wear a sweater, which is awesome! I've been sleeping with the windows open at night, it's so amazingly awesome.

I'm moving right along with my slow kit progress. Something arrived in the mail yesterday for it, and something else is on its way. I also did some small shopping for it tonight. There are things! In a pile! (It's an exciting day, let me tell you. :D)

Always thinking...

I'm still in the planning stages of the package I'm sending out to daisymum this time. Of course, I can't really say any of that here, but I do have a plan! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, just had to get that out of my system.

One thing that's fun for this particular kit is this is the first time that I've ever built a kit during the holiday season, and the stores are starting to get all sorts of neat little things that just scream KIT! So it's going to be hard to pick and choose. 

And I'm pretty sure I have the handmade items narrowed down, I just have to finalize it and get to crafting! Bwahahaha!

(I've really got to stop doing that)

HSKS12 Homework, Week 3

I don't always do my homework, but this one seems fun. And I like fun! :D

It's word association, so I take this list of words and put the first word that comes to mind with each one. Easy enough, right? My responses are in italics. Enjoy!

1. Pumpkin bread
2. Owl post
3. Leaf let (leaflets, ha ha!)
4. Weasley's rock! (Of course they do!)
5. Quaffle's hurt
6. Hallow mystery
7. Mad (ness)
8. Dragon scary
9. Crystal ball
10. Trees fall
11. Hermione friend
12. Hogwarts amazing
13. Burrow home
14. Dobby sweet
15. Horcrux scary!
16. Ministry disturbed
17. Magic everything
18. Sirius sadness
19. Apple snack
20. Juice box
21. Candle wax
22. Ghost Nick
23. Snake Snape
24. Wand Oak
25. Invisibility Cloak
26. Tent Quidditch World Cup! (that was so fun!)
27. Spell book
28. Umbridge ack!
29. Dursely ack! ack!
30. Prophet, Daily

The About Me & Wishlist Post, HSKS12

The Crafty Things:

Craft: I both knit and crochet. I've also started taking up Kool-Aid dyeing this year.

Fiber: I have no wool allergies, but prefer to avoid the itchier wools, and haven't ever really gotten around too many other animal fibers, like angora or mohair, etc, for fear of allergies. My favorite is merino wool, because it's generally pretty soft and fluffy. :)  I'm also not into felting at all.

Brand: I'm pretty easy. I like everything from the pretty cheap-o stuff (I love Wool Ease and Patons Classic Wool, for example) to Kureyon and so on. I also recently discovered I have a love affair with Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee. Some yarns I've really been wanting to try are Cascade 220 Wool, Mission Falls Wool (I love their cotton!), anything by Koigu (because they look so gorgeous!), and Fisherman's Wool by Lion Brand. I'm open to lots of yarn options, and of course, I love Knit Picks! Who doesn't?

Weight: I love the bulky, chunky yarns. But I love all yarn!

Color:  I really love greens and purples. I tend to like the darker parts of the spectrum in both those colors (sage, olive green, etc) but like the lighter ones too. I'm also pretty fond of burnt-orange, brown, and blue (like medium blue). There aren't many colors I don't like, except pink. Hogwarts colors wise, I'm a true Slytherin at heart. :)

Needles: I always want needles! I'm not picky regarding metal versus wooden, etc. My Needles Library on Rav's up to date. I have KP Zephyr circs that I'm always looking to add tips for, so far I've got size 6 & 15 tips, and a 24' and a 47' cable. So I could use more tips in any size!. I also have your standard non-removeable circulars in other sizes and like those just fine too! Other than that, as you can see, my small needle area's pretty lacking. I prefer circs to dpns (magic loop all the way!) and anything I might receive would be awesome. :) Also, I would love to try a crochet hook bigger than a Q. I think they make an S. :)

Types of Patterns: I'm pretty easy to please. I've never tried socks, and I got my first tiny socks pattern (the one by Wychwoodlady) in a previous kit. I enjoy making amigurumi, scarves, gloves, hats, you name it! :) My books library on Rav is up to date as well. I also have a Pay tag in my favorites of things I heart, and a bunch of books on my Amazon list (at the bottom). If you go the book route, used is 100% encouraged!

Snacks: I love Dark Chocolate (but I like my chocolate without nuts in it!). I also love mint, so anything with Dark Chocolate + Mint = Win. I don't like peanut butter mixed with chocolate. I also like Wonka stuff like Gobstoppers, Runts, Nerds, etc... all that bad for you candy, and Sour Patch kids and those neon sour worms...yum....I also like coffee (just about anything coffee or coffee flavored), love the little instant mix "coffee" drinks (like lattes and such) hot chocolate (yum!) and tea (any kind of tea, but i especially like fruit related teas!)

Other Small Things I like:

1. Big Buttons for cowls or scarves. Like quarter sized or bigger, and as wild and crazy as you please!
2. Soak Wash! I love the stuff, I've only tried a few samples that Soak sent me, but so far I love every scent and would love to have some more! I don't have a local yarn shop to get it at. Even little samples would be more than awesome!
3. Little notebooks for note taking, I can't ever get enough of those!
4. Tiny lotions or liquid bath soaps, things like Bath & Body Works, Burts Bees, etc. I love Cucumber Melon and Pomegranate anything. :) 
5. Lip balms, because I can't ever get enough of that stuff either

Allergies:  Wools are fine, but I might possibly have allergies to other animal fibers like mohair, etc, so I tend to avoid those in large percentages. (though I think a small % blend would be fine). Cigarettes, though unless someone smokes right into my package I'd probably be okay. Puppies. Which makes me really sad, but pet hair tends to make me sneeze. I love puppies, and kitties, but their hair dislikes me. I have no scent allergies of any sort, or food allergies except the pepper family. So don't mail me pepper and we'll be all right.

Wishlists: Knit Picks   Amazon (this is a Univeral list and includes stuff from Etsy. My Etsy faves are a trainwreck!)

Welcome to HSKS 12! YAY!

Our first Homework assignment this week is a lovely game of Get to Know You (I heart these!)

1. Someone with the same craft as you. My lovely swap pal from HSKS 10 Poppy from the HHH crochets. :)
2. Someone who was born in the same month as you. My housemate Nicky was not only born in the same month as me, but ON THE SAME DAY! BOOYAH!
3. Someone from a different country. Delantrophy from HHH is from Japan!
4. A new HSKS Family member. Schmutzerella's totally new, and a Ron with me! Go Gingers!
5. Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. Clara from the Draco clan has been in 6 HSKS swaps!
6. Someone who has a bigger stash than you! TOTMMK (The.One.That.Makes.My.Kit), or Helena from the HHB,  has a stash twice the size of mine! (but in my defense, mine's not all online!
7. Someone who both knits and crochets. Caradoc from the HHB can both knit and crochet!
8. Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Minerva from the HHH likes green. Me too! :)
9. Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you. Vevina from the HHB likes fall too!
10. Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you. um, everyone? i heart yarn!

Sign Ups Complete!

I signed up! Excited! The kits this time are centered around the Horcruxes, and you choose one of the 7 to be your kit theme. My choices were a HP Horcrux kit, a Riddle's Diary Horcrux Kit, and the Locket Horcrux kit. I didn't have an order really, but those are definitely my favorite three. I can't wait to see what someone does with them, and what I get to choose from to make my kit! Excited!

Going Abroad!

Its almost time to get back on the train, only this term I'm not going back to Hogwarts! I'm taking part in a Study Abroad program, where instead of spending the term at Hogwarts I'll be living with a host family. Apparently several other students will be living with me, so I'm pretty excited to see how this experience goes. I'm a bit nervous, but largely excited! Applications go in tomorrow! I can't wait to see which family chooses me!

Kit = Win!

So, in a course of Epic Fail, I've taken forever to get my pics up! Many sorries to Wisty, who deserved a much quicker response time to show off her awesomeness.

This is what the box looked like when I opened it. 

I sorted out everything and started opening it up, and found all sorts of goodies!

Camp-related sweets, including an interesting S'mores muffin mix!

Neila's handmade item was a basket made from Popsicle sticks! How creative! And she even lined it! Also shown here with it is an awesome turtle measuring tape: (and all sorts of junk on my side table, oops!)

The craft item for my kit was an adorable little froggie! She included yarn to make him too! And a S'mores card game! (which makes me giggle just thinking about such a thing!)

A very awesome kit! Thanks again Wisty!

Camp's almost over!

Well, my kit was sent off yesterday, now its just waiting on Andromeda to get it. Oh, I hope she likes it! I had a lot of fun putting it together, and working on how to make everything fit under the fun little idea I had. I got my kit a few days ago, but I STILL haven't gotten around to putting the pictures up. That's on Monday's agenda for sure! I just can't believe camp's already over, I barely feel like it's started.

Wow! Where did the time go?!?

I need Hermione's time turner, camp seems like it's been so short! I'm having a great time, but I haven't really been doing a great job journaling about it. Sorry.

I've got everything for my kit except the handmade item, so I just need to work on that this week and I'll be all set. I'm excited and curious about what Neila's making me for the kit she's sending me, that'll be a fun surprise when that time arrives!

Anyway, I'm hoping to check back soon with my camp game this week (I haven't been doing those...oops!)

Later!

Wotcher! It's Wingo!

For all of you Wingo lovers out there, here's some relevant things about me.

•  I could be considered new to HSKS, last kit was my first. 
• While living in Spain, I did several trips from Segovia where I lived, to Madrid, via train.
• Hablo español. Je peux parle un peu francais aussi (but I can't remember the alt codes to make the c!) (that says I speak Spanish and a little French!)
• I'm pretty sure that I've seen every Potter film in theaters. I definitely own all of the movies.
• I have several siblings. A brother and a twin sister, a half-brother who's 18 months old, and several step-siblings if they count.
• I have practically nothing in my Ravelry queue.
• I collect shot glasses, but I don't drink out of them.  It's supposed to be only from places I've been, but the occasional person gives them to me as gifts, and well, it's not nice to say no...
• I lived in a city with a castle! I've also been here, and here, and here. Spain likes its castles. 
• I played Quidditch last term twice for Hufflepuff.
• I'm a July baby!

Haven't even been at camp a week yet...

and I've already gotten sucked into trouble. You know, peer pressure, wanting people to like you...blah blah blah.

Anyway, somehow, I've gotten sucked into a TP'ing adventure that might have involved the Forbidden Forest Treehouse. And all of the toilet paper in the nearest bathhouse. Maybe...

I'm left wondering why I went along with TPing the cabin that has the most of my friends in it, but hey...what can you do? It's peer pressure, right?!?!

Get to Know Me;)

So, camp's started, and our first little "assignment" is to post some things about ourselves. This makes it easier for our spoilers to make kits that fit our personalities. We were given a bit of a helper list, so I'm going off of that somewhat.

• Craft:  I both knit and crochet. I also am learning to dye. So far, I've only tried kool-aid dyeing, which I love. So, any kind of blank dye-able yarn is a pretty big win for me. I don't really have lots of time to do these, but I also enjoy collages, scrapbooking, things involving beads, and am pretty interested in learning to make little fabric plushie animals.
• Fiber: I have no wool allergies, but prefer to avoid the itchier wools, and haven't ever really gotten around too many other animal fibers, like angora or mohair, etc, for fear of allergies. My favorite is merino wool, because it's generally pretty soft and fluffy. :)  I'm also not into felting at all.
• Brand: I'm pretty easy. I like everything from the pretty cheap-o stuff (I love Wool Ease and Patons Classic Wool, for example) to Kureyon and so on. I also recently discovered I have a love affair with Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee. Some yarns I've really been wanting to try are Cascade 220 Wool, Mission Falls Wool (I love their cotton!), anything by Koigu (because they look so gorgeous!), and Fisherman's Wool by Lion Brand. I'm open to lots of yarn options, and of course, I love Knit Picks! 
• Color: I really love greens and purples. I tend to like the darker parts of the spectrum in both those colors (sage, olive green, etc) but like the lighter ones too. I'm also pretty fond of burnt-orange, brown, and blue (like medium blue). There aren't many colors I don't like, except pink. Hogwarts colors wise, I'm a true Slytherin at heart. :)
• Weight: I play in the House Cup, and my OWL this term involves both my first lace knitting, and my first shawl, done in fingering weight, so I'm incredibly ready to be done with smaller yarn for a while! I love love love bulky & chunky yarns. Worsted's good too, of course! :)
• Needles: I'm not picky regarding metal versus wooden, etc. My Needles Library on Rav's up to date. I have KP Zephyr circs that I'm always looking to add tips for, so far I've got size 6 & 15 tips, and a 24' and a 47' cable. I could really use tips in the size 4 area, and in the 8-10 area as well. I also have your standard non-removeable circulars in other sizes and like those just fine too! Other than that, as you can see, my small needle area's pretty lacking. I prefer circs to dpns (magic loop all the way!) and anything I might receive would be awesome. :) Also, I would love to try a crochet hook bigger than a Q. I think they make an S. :)
• Types of Patterns: I'm pretty easy to please. I've never tried socks, and I just got my first tiny socks pattern (the one by Wychwoodlady) in my last kit. I enjoy making amigurumi, scarves, gloves, hats, you name it! :) My books library on Rav is up to date as well.
• Snacks: I love Dark Chocolate (but I like my chocolate without nuts in it!). I also love mint, so anything with Dark Chocolate + Mint = Win. I don't like peanut butter mixed with chocolate. I also like Wonka stuff like Gobstoppers, Runts, Nerds, etc... all that bad for you candy, and Sour Patch kids and those neon sour worms...yum....I also like coffee (just about anything coffee or coffee flavored), love the little instant mix "coffee" drinks (like lattes and such) hot chocolate (yum!) and tea (any kind of tea, but i especially like fruit related teas!)
• Other Small Things I like:

1. Big Buttons for cowls or scarves. Like quarter sized or bigger, and as wild and crazy as you please!
2. Soak Wash! I love the stuff, I've only tried a few samples that Soak sent me, but so far I love every scent and would love to have some more! I don't have a local yarn shop to get it at. Even little samples would be more than awesome!
3. Little notebooks for note taking, I can't ever get enough of those!
4. Tiny lotions or liquid bath soaps, things like Bath & Body Works, Burts Bees, etc. I love Cucumber Melon and Pomegranate anything. :) 
5. Lip balms, because I can't ever get enough of that stuff

• Allergies:  Wools are fine, but possibly other animal fibers like mohair, etc, so I tend to avoid those in large percentages. (though I think a small % blend would be fine). Cigarettes, though unless someone smokes right into my package I'd probably be okay. Puppies. Which makes me really sad, but pet hair tends to make me sneeze. I love puppies, and kitties, but their hair dislikes me. I have no scent allergies of any sort, or food allergies except the pepper family. So don't mail me pepper and we'll be all right. :)
• Wishlists: Knit Picks   Amazon I need to update both, but they're largely right. When in doubt, if it's on the list and it's not in my Ravelry database it's good to go! :)

Summer Camp's Almost Here!

I'm excited! The cabins are really small, there's only 5 of us in ours, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know my cabinmates better. And, AND, the person I built a kit for this past swap, Poppy Plout, is in my cabin too! Exciting! So I already know someone! :)

I blog later to talk about kits, I've got to go pack! Camp starts soon and I haven't even started packing yet! Eep!

New Blog!

Well, I decided to finally bite the bullet and get a new blog, especially for the HSKS swaps. During 10, I used my main blog, but now that I find myself already getting geeky about summer camp, I thought I might as well just go for it.

Doesn't it look all cheery? I thought a nice summery feel would be good.

I'm going to be importing my posts from last swap over too, so it'll all be here in one place.