I'm not sure I like this...

What Harry Potter Wand Are You? Your Result: 12.5" Yew, Dragon Heartstring   Your wand is longer than average, with a flexible and long-lasting wood. Dragon Heartstring is a common Ollivander core. Your wand is ideal for jinxes and hexes.
11.5" Yew, Unicorn Hair
11" Mahogany, Unicorn Hair
9" Willow, Phoenix Feather
10.5" Ash, Phoenix Feather
14" Holly, Veela Hair
11" Ash, Hippogriff Talon
8.5" Mahogany, Dragon Heartstring
What Harry Potter Wand Are You? See All Our Quizzes

Hexes and jinxes? Well, if that's true - and it doesn't seem to be Mister Olivander who wrote the quiz - if that's true, maybe it will help me out. I suspect I am not the hexy jinxy type, so at least one of the two of us will have an aptitude that way. Something to even things out a bit.

I have my class schedule and it is enough to make my hair stand on end. I'm not eleven. I do know a few things about myself. I stunk at Muggle Chemistry, I'm not much of a cook - and I have to make potions? Really? What are they thinking?!? I come by my inablities totally honestly. My mother's college chem class nearly poisoned themselves by not using the hood. She got in trouble for bleeding on the floor when she used one of the tools improperly - and that was plain, old, relatively inert Muggle stuff. Can you imagine what I, who only got through HS chem by cleaning up after the two kids in my lab group who could actually do the work, did it, am going to do in a potions classroom? I've been asking around and apparantly one of the ways you can go wrong is by melting your cauldron. I've already sent an owl to Diagon Alley to see if I can get some sort of quantity discount on them.

Then there's Transfiguration. I have serious scruples about Transfiguration. When you change an inanimate object to a living thing, are you actually making it live? And if you turn a turtle into a soup bowl, are you killing it? The whole thing makes me very uncomfortable. I can just see the discussion with the Professor, too. They never really want to hear things like this, not even in office hours. Still, I had better go address the issue before I am standing there, asked to turn a porcupine into a shoe brush and surprise her by refusing, and then insult her by explaining that I think her entire subject is unethical...

On the other hand, they could have given me Ancient Runes. I already read a little Founder's Era English. I already know Muggle Runes - more than one kind. I'd fit right in to Ancient Runes. But I did not complain. The Transfigurations thing is bad enough.

One thing I am not worried about is that DADA teacher. First, he looks young enough to be my kid, so no real thrill there. Then, well, after you've taught the muddled Muggle Students I had for 20 years...piece of cake.

I am very very happy with my quills. And my parchment! *dies and goes to neorxnewanga* Everything an old Muggle Medieval Studies Major could ask...

Oh, I hope the other students like me!

Hurray!!!!

I remember seeing the HSKS the first time, about a year ago, and I had just signed up for the Hogwarts sock swap. That was my first sock and I guess I thought two was too many? I am now an experienced swapper, and a Gryffindor again!!!!

So, for the next few months this blog will be written by a witch named Belladonna Boomslang, a first year adult student at Hogwarts. Sorted into Gryffindor, I am looking forward to all the events that surround a Hogwarts first year - shopping in Diagon Alley for my wand, riding on the Hogwarts express (I think I am bringing a very fancy basket lunch - not quite as pretentious as Slughorn's, but something besides candy, and enough to share with whomever is in the railway carriage with me. My son told me years ago that if you bring food, people will like you, and I see no reason to argue with that logic.) and being taken across the lake in a little boat by Hagrid. My DH better watch it, because that horrible LIE that Mad-Eye died when he fell off his broom is just that, and who knows, I might get to meet him. (Belladonna <3's Mad-Eye like craaaaazy. Of course, so does his wife. You didn't know he was married? It was in the Quibbler...)

Of course the Gryffinitter herself may guest blog from time to time, but mostly it will be me, BB, adult witch from a family of lost witches and wizards, recently re-discovered...

We all have days like this...

This morning I had a 50 foot tree from the front of the house cut down. It needed it. It has been losing branches for 7 years, and not only was it shaggy looking, we were starting to worry about it deciding to come down of it's own accord - probably on someone else's car, or house, or self, even. The men were done by 8:45. I am blaming it on this.

Anyway, after the men, and a number of people who just had to either call or show up at the door, or call back, or forget to call back, and cleaning the couch from the creative efforts of the two year old who has started making a habit of this, I decided to call Patternworks and ask about a sock yarn I've been eying in their catalog. It is the Kertzer On Your Toes, color 3812.

It is in the same box with color 3817 ,which is shown knitted up into a pair of socks, and very clearly the socks have strong stirpes of Hot Pink about 3 inches wide, with stripes of multicolor in between. I was discussing this with customer service, and went on to explain that This was not my favorite look, although I do like the color pink, and anyway, if they are too bright,

"All you have to do is pull your pants down."

I probably should have included the word "cuffs."


We had a good laugh, though. You'd hope that would distract from your socks, wouldn't you?

See, knitting CAN cure anything. Even a crazy day...

Cast your bread upon the waters...

As the woman who wrote the I Hate to Cook Book pointed out, sometimes when you cast your bread upon the waters, it comes back nicely buttered.

I got my bread back toasted, buttered, and with a dollop of something delicious on top from my Hogwarts Sock Swap Two Partner, Daisy Hippogryff.


Look at this wonderful package! All it had to include was the following:

Socks in my house colors
A sock pattern
An HP bookmark (Which you can see better in the next foto)
Yarn for a pair of socks

Hmmm...yep, I think that was all, but look what she picked out for me!



First, there is a pile of edible goodness - Petite Ecolier Cookies, which are even more delicious than any I have had here, Cocoa sent to me by Remus Lupin, an Easter Egg that Dobby made me, and a box of lavender candies that are just - OOOH! I can clearly see I am going to have to start ordering them for myself - I have been very carefully eating them one at a time, as a special treat.




The major part of the gift, what she really concentrated on, was the yarn, and I think she totally outdid herself. Observe:

Two Skeins of Elann's Sock-it-to-Me sock yarn in Gryffindor burgundy.

Two skeins of Bergere de France Lima in machine washable wool and alpaca - I had never even heard of such a thing! - in a terrific green to make my son a pair of socks. I have no idea how she knew, but it is almost exactly the color of his eyes.

The leftover yarn from my socks, for repair, and

Effiloche, which is sea wool dyed locally in brazil wood. This is also machine washable, and a perfect color for me. I was stunned, actually. I kept holding it as if it were very fragile, almost afraid it would disappear from my hands.

The other items in the box were all also very special, and some of them were specifically sent to me by members of the Hogwarts staff and extended family. I think you can see in the photo:

A scarf woven by Hermione hanging up over the back of the box.

A bottle of honeysuckle scented bath and shower gel brewed for me by Madame Pomfrey

Minerva McGonagall came up with the lovely little notebook - there was a whole story about it in the letter which came with the package.

The little yellow rat you can just see on the top of the skein of Gryffindor yarn is the bookmark - Petter Pettigrew, hiding out as Scabbers.

There is a lapel pin of Hedwig, and a black and red pendant which relates to my pal's screen name.

The black circle you can see is actually the round top of a little skein holder I can put sock yarn in to keep it neat in my project bags.

The bracelet is a row counter bracelet, which she made for me herself! I have only been wanting one of these since the first time I saw something like it in a catalog...

There are three Cd's - a movie she thought I would like, and two sock patterns because she liked them both and could not decide between them!

And dear, busy, Molly Weasley out did herself! That is the bit you can see of a felted oven mitt she made me, there in a corner. (I had a whole picture of it, but Blogger was very mingy about how many pictures it would let me post... : - ( )

But you have been waiting to see the socks, haven't you? I have to warn you they are a tiny bit dusty, from being put on my feet the minute I got them and not taken off for quite some time... Here is one on my right foot...



And here is a photo that shows how much attention to detail Daisy put into them. The little hole that almost ALWAYS shows up at the side of the gusset? GONE!



You may have noticed that this was a bit more lavish than the average sock swap package. Daisy and I got to know each other very well. I think the swap mom paired us very carefully, possibly partly because we had each designed our own sock pattern for the first round. You can see her pattern here, along with the pattern for the socks she made me - Daisy is a very generous knitter who offers her patterns free on her website, and they are all worth knitting. Right beneath the pattern for my socks is the pattern for a baby bunting, and below that, her showcase of what I sent her.

We actually opened our boxes at the same time, while hanging out together on Yahoo messenger. It just took me a while to get this post together... (Very red face here...)

We took our time with this, by mutual consent. The packages were due at the end of October, but we did not mail till March, for various reasons. We corresponded throughout the whole time, however, and got to know each other fairly well. At this point she is a friend, not just a swap partner who did a great job, and we continue to correspond. So, not my bread came back not just buttered, but toasted, buttered, and layered with little delicious bits. Occassionally, things do turn out much better than one could ever have expected.

A WIP I can show

No one at the HSS3 seems all that excited about showing pictures this time - I have no idea why. Maybe they are all on Ravelry looking at other stuff. Anyway, I am happy to report that I am working on King's Cross Socks. I am doing them in Lane Cervinia Calzetteria in a color to go with my pal's Hogwart's House. I Ravelled the designer and she did name them after the station, so I figure that is a good connection - they really do look like train tracks. I'm going to try to get a 9 3/4 in there...

These socks are a breeze so far. Well, the part I have knit twice and am about to start a third time is a breeze. 12 rows of 2 by 2 rib, and then you do a little massive cabling for one round, and then another 12 rows of rib. Moreover, the cabling manages to look like you did it twice, when actually you only did it once. Very clever!

I think I have isolated the problem - the cables cross over 4 stitches, and virtually the whole row is cabled at once, so instead of going way down in needles size as one might normally do for rib, one uses a larger needle than could be believed. At least, this one here seems to need to. In my case this is a whomping US size 2 - I normally use nothing bigger than a zero for sock ribbing, and have been known to use much smaller. Well, alas and alack! I am up to the size mentioned in the pattern! This usually only happens when it is like, size 13. But this is hardly the pattern's fault; it is a very nice pattern, and I love the designer's ravatar. Little feathery t-rex there...

When there is more of this to show, it shall be shown. I could not be bothered to photograph the wool. Especially since I should probably make it black and white so if my partner happens to be scanning blogs and trying desperately to figure out who I am, she will not guess... But when there is actually something to show that seems like it will fit...

I am working on the Toddler Moc-A-Socs for a three-soon year old boy. I am also using Calzetteria for that. The first one of that ALSO came too small - I think stress is getting to me and making me knit tighter or something. Well, and the child does take after his mother an have wide feet... This is a pattern you pay for and I think I got my money's worth - it is very clear, and the one question I had was answered by the designer within 24 hours of my sending her a Ravelry message. Can't ask for better service than that! There were one or two spots I got momentarily stuck on and then unstuck myself from with no major to-do. I am planning the cuff part in some nice green Kroy I have had marinating in my stash for a while.

Something else I am thinking about... The spring pattern book Make it Modern has a cute, cute sweater called Feather and Fan Cardigan. I may use the yarn I frogged from the two dollar sweater to knit it up in- a wool single, just a bit tweedy, in a green. I can wear it over my burgundy Henley and look like Gryffindor and Slytherin are fighting it out on my person.

I may be stuck thinking of colors in terms of Hogwarts Houses for life, people. I still think of SU every time I see International Orange, and it has been over 25 years since I had to wash that color acrylic paint out of my hair...

Misfit Cocoa Swap

A little while ago Grace, of Lovincomfortknits.blogspot.com , ran a small swap for people who had missed out on the cocoa swap. It was only ten people. I think they were all regular posters of Grace's, and, well, Grace is one of my favoritest people, so I threw my hat in the ring. Even though I was still knitting furiously on my Hogwarts sock, I figured that since I didn't have to actually knit anything for this one, I could fit it in too.

Well, my terrifically sweet swap partner, Alana, ( stringsandpurls.blogspot.com ) has already long since posted what I sent her, but I have been sitting on the pictures of what she sent me, which is totally unfair, since she sent me one of the best swap boxes ever. So here it is, finally, in almost all its glory.

First, everything in it came beautifully wrapped. I did not have the patience to grab the camera before I started wildly unwrapping everything. This may give you some idea of the pretty paper, and the frenzy...




Of course, the paper was covering terrific stuff. As a whole, it looked like a page from some upscale giftshop catalog - this would clearly have been the deluxe box, suitable for CEO's and VERY important clients...





It included some very terrific knitting goodies, some of which I had specifically asked for - like the fantastic pin-and-needle cushion. I use a lot of multiple zero needles, and I need a place to park them - replacing them is starting to run into serious numbers! I have lusted after one of these since the first time I saw one in the Patternworks catalog - back when Patternworks was in NY. Can't be much more than ten or twelve years that I was slobbering, but now I have one!



My measuring tapes run for the same black hole everyone else's do, so I really appreciated the fancy covered one (She did that herself too, folks,) and she also made the stitch markers. You can't appreciate how gorgeous they are. I have slipped them on earwires and worn them as earrings already. I tried to take a picture of them on my ears, but it turns out my ear and neck did not do them justice, and, well, what if any of you had been eating when you saw the picture...I want to be kind to my friends, after all. So you will have to take my word on how nicely they look on my ears until I get a better photographer than I to minimize the neck and maximize the sparkly goodness.

The needles - I have been aching to try those Harmony double points, and they did not disappoint. I am not a huge fan of wood needles, or bamboo needles - they are not usually quick enough for me. These, however? Just as perfect as everyone says. I am planning to get them in a few other sizes...

And the little cardboard tubes...you have no idea how I heart the little cardboard tubes. I was WANTING them, precioussss. They work exactly the way it says they do in the catalog, and have already been useful. They make the sock sitting around on its needles look very well-dressed, too - note illustration sock in photo.

Of course, it was a cocoa swap, so there was plenty of edible goodness. The Dove bar wrapper looks a little funny because...well... we all know what happens to good chocolate when a knitter's box is opened, right? Do I really need to explain? But there were also chocolate covered potato chips, which vanished in a FLASH. Yum. Not even the box was left. And there were FOUR kinds of hot cocoa! Yummy warmness till spring! (I am mean, and do not share! : - ) )



But, of course, it was KNITTERS swapping cocoa - and what is sending anything to a knitter without the yarn? Alana is clearly psychic. I adore SWS and am always almost buying myself enough to do something. Almost, because I am very very cheap with myself over these things. I keep waiting for the day I will have 7 Michaels coupons and seven friends in the van with me, which is probably unrealistic as I don't think I have seven friends in this half of the state. I did, however, once buy myself the one very most gorgeous color, and make a pair of fingerless mitts from it. Guess which color it was?





That's right - the same color as the three skeins she sent me! *Faintsplat!*

And the sock yarn is all the very best colors for me! If I planned an entire wardrobe around the colors in this yarn I would be looking happy and healthy every single day till it all wore out and fell apart. In fact, maybe I should do that...

So, Although it has taken me a while to post it, I have to say that my swap partner did an amazing job! And she is fun to correspond with. In fact, I have to go send her some pics of something else right now.

Thanks, Grace!!!! You ran a fantastic swap!!!!

Do you know these people?

If you are an Elannite, or, as Betsy calls us, an Elannimal, you probably know these people:




Baby has not knitted anything yet, but I maintain this is just because she's been too busy eating, pooping, and sleeping.