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.

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. :)