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)

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!

My HSKS Kits!!

So, my kit arrived from Germany as if it apparated! I wasn't expecting it until maybe the end of the week (if I got lucky) so to find it today was a great surprise! I opened it up to find I had a Ginny-inspired (as they're character themed) school supply kit! In my excitement to tear into it, I forgot to get a picture of it in the box, but this is what it looked like once I got it all out!

 Look at all of this stuff!!!

I couldn't even figure out where to start! There were so many packages, all labeled with their own little categories, even my boyfriend said it looked like they came out of a shop that way!

One of the first things I stopped to play with for a few minutes was this little guy, who is named Humphrey and politely asked if I'd like anyone hexed. (What a nice thing for him to ask, as if he knew me already!)

Then I got into the packages, and even though I tried to keep them separated as I opened them, I lost track of what some of them came out of. The little purple guy was the only class package in the first pile (shown below). He came  wrapped up in the Care of Magical Creatures package, and if Poppy hadn't of told  me to how to tame him, I never would've figured out to squeeze him!  (it's a measuring tape, and it's so adorable I can't stop playing with  it!)

The Gryffindor bag came filled with jelly beans, which somehow disappeared during this photoshoot, even though they're still sealed in my kitchen now, so I don't know what happened there. The "wand case" (needle roll) will be great for keeping all the knitting needles in order, and I've been needing one! The hat and matching cowl came wrapped up with a sweet note from "mom" that made me giggle.

"Genevra, here's a little something I made to keep you warm. Keep your nose clean. Love, Mom!" Oh Mom, she's so thoughtful!

The main handmade item for the kit was this adorable purse, inspired by Ginny's look at the Slug Club dinner party (Poppy said that's one of her favorite scenes, it's one of my favorite scenes too!!)

Next I jumped into some of the class packages, and I about fell over in the floor when I opened this one! A Murano glass quill! (I LOVE Murano Glass! And i'm pretty sure I didn't tell Poppy that AT ALL!) I barely brought myself to take it out of the package!  It also came with this cute little notebook magnet!

 Then I checked out the Quidditch training package, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology. Yum chocolate! And the tea smells AMAZING, I can't wait to try it! (it's elderberry/cherry) And the HP Q20 will be great for gearing up for Quidditch next season!

And these stitch markers, which I can't remember what package they came out of (might have been charms?) Harry and Ginny LOVE!

 And what everyone needs in a school kit, knitting supplies!

I think these were Potions and  Transfiguration (that makes sense in my head anyway!). I got some Knit Picks Bare in Fingering Weight (and a bunch of Koolaid to dye it with! SCORE!), some Knit Picks Shine Worsted (which I've never tried) PLUS a circular great for socks, a size 15 circular, and two awesome patterns! (Including one by a fellow swapper how cool!)

I made myself put away the Bare and not dye it IMMEDIATELY (like I wanted) because I've got to work on my HPKCHC knitting. But I wanted to. really. I'm going to plot it as motivation to knit faster!

This kit was amazing, so very well thought out and considerate, and luckily full of several things I needed! (the needle roll, the measuring tape, and of course, the needles!) Poppy's an amazing kit builder, and I feel totally lucky to have gotten spoiled by her. Poppy, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

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AND, although it's nowhere near as cool as the one I just got (though my spoilee did seem to like it) here's the Lupin kit I built. I had fun trying to tie everything together, and I think I did all right for my first kit. :)