Quidditch...take 3.

What's that saying Muggles use? "Third time's a charm"? I typically use my wand to charm things on the first try, but this particular Quidditch seems to have put a jinx on my internet and this is my 3rd try getting it done. I hope Firefox doesn't mysteriously restart...again.

1. Who was Tom Riddle Sr.'s girlfriend before Merope gave him the love potion?
a. Eleanor
b. Cecilia
c. Sally
d. Mandy

2. What does Luna say floated into Harry's ear when he was in the train car that supposedly caused him to lose focus?
a. Demiguise
b. Jobberknoll
c. Wrackspurt
d. Runespoor

3. How much do the primary Apparition lessons cost?
a. 10 galleons
b. 8 galleons
c. 15 galleons
d. 12 galleons

4. What is Professor Merrythought's first name?
a. Eileen
b. Galatea
c. Carol
d. Jocelyn

5. What Hogwarts club was Eileen Prince captain of?
a. Charms Club
b. Gobstones Club
c. The Slug Club
d. Occlumency Club

6. Who is head of the Goblin Liaison office?
a. Ambrosius Flume
b. Dirk Cresswell
c. Ciceron Harkiss
d. Barnabas Cuffe

7. Mrs. Weasley offers Fleur a goblin-made tiara for the wedding with Bill. What family member is currently in possession of the tiara?
a. Aunt Muriel
b. Aunt Ethel
c. Aunt Edna
d. Aunt Thelma

8. How many points does Snape take from Gryffindor for Harry's late arrival and muggle attire?
a. 30
b. 70
c. 50
d. 90

9. When Profressory Slughorn first meets Hermione, he asks her whether she is related to Hector Dagworth-Granger. What society did Dgworth-Granger found?
a. The Most Extraordinary Society of Charms
d. The Most Extraordinary Society of Herbology
c. The Most Extraordinary Society of the Defense Against the Dark Arts
d. The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers

10. Which of these describes Golpalott's Third Law?
a. The antidote for blended poison will be equal to less than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components
b. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to less than the product of the antidotes for each of the separate compenents
c. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the product of the antidotes for each of the separate compenents
d. The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separtea components

Slytherin Quiz

#1 What are the three important things in Chapter 13 Harry needs to remember?
That the young Tom Riddle wanted to be special and different.
That he had no friends and was independent.
That he liked to collect "trophies" from his victims.

#2 What did Merope sell when she was alone in London before the baby was born?
Slytherin's Locket

#3 What does Mrs Cole like to drink?
gin


#4 What does Tom Riddle demand Professor Dumbledore do twice when they first met?
"Tell the truth"


#5 What did Mundungus nick from the Black house?
a goblet

One Super-Tired Owl!

Last week there was one super-tired owl waiting for me. He must've been exhausted along the way, because the package looked as though it had been dropped a few times.
Even so, "it's what's inside that counts" and the goodies inside were still safe, sound and wonderful!

I was waiting on this post until I had pictures, but I might be using the wrong photo uploading spell because it's just not working for me. I'll come back and add them later.

Opening this package was really fun... it seemed like every time I looked inside, there was something else!
An owl of my very own (won't have to share with my sister anymore!), a cat, and a snake...not an approved Hogwarts pet, but that adds to the fun! Also, some knitting needles in house colors!


A Hogwarts trunk full of goodies!

Loads of goodies- candy, a rubber witchy ducky, Slytherin stitch markers, lots of cute halloween towels/pot holders, some halloween socks, "The Little Box of Socks"--full of sock patterns, and a "Toobie". I could not for the life of me figure out what this was! Good thing Grandma Grubblyplank included the business card so I could go check it out! Maybe I'm the last to know, but it's sock yarn that's already knitted up, so instead of knitting it from a ball, you just unknit it from this Toobie as you knit it into a sock. At least that's my understanding...please correct me if I'm wrong!


And I better start knitting a little faster... a lot of misc. yarn was added to my stash by my spoiler, Grandma Grubblyplank.

Yikes!

Almost didn't notice the house quiz! And I think my answers may be too late. But I'll give it a go anyway...
Please post answers to this quiz by Friday night. If you finished the quiz from last week, your name will be entered into this weeks drawing but do not forget to post for this week!

1. Where did the first kiss between harry and Ginny occur?
a. The Gryffindor Common Room
b. The library
c. The hallway by the painted fruit
d. The Quidditch Field

2. Severus Snape made an unbreakable vow to whom?
a. Peter Pettigrew
b. Narcissa Malfoy
c. Harry Potter
d. Lily Potter

3. Why is Hagrid upset with Ron, Harry and Hermione?
a. They do not visit him anymore
b. They got in trouble with Umbridge
c. They did not take his class in their 6th year
d. They did not help bury Aragog

4. Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
a. Lucious Malfoy
b. Severus Snape
c. Tom Riddle
d. The Pepmobismal Queen Umbridge

5. At what age are you legally allowed to Apparate?
a. 14
b. 15
c. 16
d. 17

6. How long does it take to brew a batch of Felix Felicis?
a. One week
b. 3 months
c. 6 months
d. 1 year

7. What happens if you break an Unbreakable Vow?
a. You get detention with Umbridge for the rest of your life
b. Your toenails turn green and fall off
c. You die
d. You never are allowed to eat chocolate again

8. Which one of your roommates snores the loudest?
I can't rat on my roommates like that!
9. Which Hogwart's student is secretly dating the new DADA Professor Lucius Whitmarsh?
Wisteria
10. Describe your favorite item found in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!
Those little pygmy puffs are too cute! Although the love potions could come in handy.

Searching the Skies

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for several owls that I know are coming my way.
-An order of yarn, including the yarn for my spoilee
-Another order of yarn, because yarn I contemplated but did not order went on sale the very next day. I decided that was a sign and couldn't pass it up!
-The package from my Gryffindor partner...she sent me a note to say it was on the way!!
-A package of magically-made doll clothes for a Muggle friend's daughter.

Other than that, I've been bogged down with homework and extra-curriculars. The good side of that is I rarely have the opportunity to see Olive around school...except of course for our weekly study sessions.

I enchanted my needles and made a tiny sock for a wee sock swap. It's my first tiny sock, and I must've mixed up the spell a bit, so I had to do some minor sock surgery.

My owl ate my homework!

This week's house homework is hard. I suppose it's not hard, it just takes more effort. It's an essay question and I've gotten quite used to the single word or multiple choice format!
I do have a study session with my smartypants sister Olive tonight. Maybe I can get her to "help" me.
In the meantime, I'm going to practice some of my Charms work.

Slytherin House Quiz #2

1. Are you a sock knitter?What are your foot measurements? I do knit socks...I start more than I finish ;) but 2-at-a-time magic loop style seems to do the trick. I wear a size 5.5-6.5 shoe, and my foot is about 8 inches long
   
2. Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift? Neither. It's on my Christmas list!
   
3. Where/how to you keep you needles/hooks? Matilda Edgecombe sent me a lovely needle case last term! I keep many of my needles/hooks in there! I also use the binder that came with my Knit Picks Options and will probably order more inserts on my next order.
   
4. Do you collect anything? Not actively. My favorite animal is a moose, so people sometimes send me moose goodies. I also love Peanuts (Charlie Brown/Snoopy things) and I would like to decorate my scrapbook area with a few cute, funky robots.
   
5. What is your favorite type of music? Are you MP3 ready? I like most music. I typically listen to pop (?) whatever's on the general radio station. I also listen to country, oldies (when I was growing up my dad told me that was the only station besides sports radio that worked in the car), and showtunes I guess. I have an iPod and an mp3 player.
   
6. Do you like sweets? What are your favorites? I love them! I especially love chocolatey sweets, caramelly sweets, and pumpkinny sweets. I am not opposed to fruity or other kinds of sweets.
   
7. What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children? My living situation... I live in Military Family Housing. Since we have no kids, we are in a 2 bed, 1 bath. 1 bath is difficult to manage! It's been almost 3.5 years and I'm still getting used to sharing! Pets? well, I just won 5 hermit crabs for classroom pets! Other than that, my 2 cats live with their grandma (too $$$ to ship them over).
   
8. Do you have an online wish list (Amazon, Etsy, Loopy Ewe, etc.)? Please include links for your swap pal. No, I should work on one. Can you make a wish list on Etsy? Or is it just the favorites?
   
9. Favorite Harry Potter movie character? Hmm...Hermione, maybe?
   

Quidditch- 1st Round

1. At the beginning of the book, Cornelius Fudge is talking to the Muggle Prime Minister. Which member of the Order of the Phoenix has recently been found dead?
a. Hestia Jones
b. Elphais Doge
c. Emmeline Vance p.14
d. Dedalus Diggle

2. What animal does Bellatrix Lestrange kill when she and her sister, Narcissa, are going to see Professor Snape?
a. Owl
b. Fox p.20
c. Rabbit
d. Cat

3. What time does Professor Dumbledore collect Harry from Privet Drive?
a. Midnight
b. 11 p.m. p.43
c. Noon
d. 11 a.m.

4. What did Professor Sluhorn transform into when he was trying to hide from Harry and Professor Dumbledore?
a. An armchair p.64
b. A bed
c. A table
d. A wardrobe

5. What grade did Harry get for Herbology?
a. E – Exceeds Expectation p.102
b. P – Poor
c. O – Outstanding
d. A – Acceptable

6. Herbert Chorley, the Prime Minister’s Junior Minster, has been entertaining the public by impersonating which animal?
a. A hen
b. A duck p.17
c. A lion
d. A squirrel

7. What is Professor Sprout’s first name?
a. Pimmy
b. Pomony
c. Pommy
d. Pomona

8. What is Dumbledore’s idea of ‘a few words’?
a. nitwit, odder, blubber rand tweak
b. nitwit, odder, bubblegum and tweak
c. nitwit, oddment, bubblegum and tweak
d. nitwit, oddment, blubber and tweak p.644

9. Who is Marcus Belby’s famous uncle?
a. Bertie
b. Damocles p.144
c. Tiberius
d. Savage

10. What is Snape’s mother’s name?
a. Helana Prince
b. Eileen Prince p.537
c. Lily Prince
d. Elizabeth Prine

Pictures
Post pictures to your blogs or link to the pictures from your blog post.

Narcissa

Snape

Bellatrix

Professor Sprout

Professor Dumbledore

Picture Day!

It's Picture Day here at Hogwarts.
I usually hate picture day, it's so hard to choose an outfit to be forever immortalized in! Now that I'm at Hogwarts, it will be much easier... I do love school uniforms!
Here's a picture of me at Muggle School...when I was in 3rd grade.
And here I am in Muggle School last year: (one of the great joys of being a teacher is continuing to collect school pictures long into adulthood)

And finally, my first Hogwarts School Picture. Aren't magic photos great fun?

First night in Dorm 5

So like I said last time, I was nervous that having a Wartbobble as a roommate might be a bit of a drag. I just kind of thought that Headmistress Wartbobble's influence might insist on studying on our free time, going to bed early, keeping the room extra clean, etc. But it turns out that Winnie Wartbobble is quite a chatterbox! I was exhausted and ready to snooze and she started talking right when the lights went out. She told us about her earliest childhood memory...a happy one it seems, at Disneyland! I've never been to Disneyland. I have 2 early memories and I always wonder if they are really memories or not, because when I think of them, I mostly picture myself, so I don't know if it's stories I've heard or what. When I was very young, my grandparents were babysitting me while my parents were out. I remember standing at the front door in my pjs with my hair in a clip sticking straight up, like Pebbles Flintstone from that silly Muggle cartoon. I was looking for my parents to come back. My other one was when we were at the beach with my older cousins. I had long hair, so I might have been 4? I remember my cousin, who always enjoyed picking on me, pushing me under the water and I remember feeling like I was drowning, even though the water was barely high enough to cover my face when I was lying down and even though I had already been taking swimming lessons for years at this point. I remember the smell of my cousin's tanning lotion and my other cousin's white bathing suit with rainbow colored hearts on it. I also think I remember getting in a little bit of trouble for "crying wolf" and saying I had drowned. Obviously, I hadn't actually drowned, but for Pete's sake, I was probably 4 years old and may not have known the exact definition of drowned!

Greetings from Dorm 5

The topic of discussion amongst many Slytherin girls this past week has been dorm assignments. One of the older girls, Matilda Edgecombe, invited me to room with her. I thought it was great...then I found out that she and my big sister Olive are pals, and I'm wondering if Olive put her up to it, so she'd have someone to spy on me in the dungeon. I haven't asked Olive about it, because of course she'll deny any involvement. Anyway, Matilda seems really nice, so I'm not going to worry too much about the whole Olive thing.
My other dormmates are Cecily Fortescue, Emma Gorodok, and...get this...Winifred Wartbobble! Olive will be over the moon at that. Miss Wartbobble is, after all, our headmistress, and surely her influence will keep me on the straight and narrow. Cecily is a 2nd year, and Emma is a 4th year. I'm the only 1st year in the room! I hope they don't try to give me Canary Creams. Olive wrote a letter home about that her first year, and I've heard a couple rumors that some students have been passing them out to unsuspecting 1st years! Although, I do think that Nosebleed Nougat would be much, much worse!

Homework for the Headmistress

I thought I was done with homework for the week, but another assignment has been posted in the Great Hall. I figured I'd just go ahead and finish it now, although it's not due for a few days. This way I have more time to hang out in the common room and see if I can't find any of the secret passageways I've read about.

1. Potter Name: Jade Bladvak. I'm also used to responding to Olive's Little Sister.
   

2. Rav ID: knittingbec
   

3. I am allergic to: Coconut. Not really...but I don't like it so I always tell people I'm allergic.
   

4. Pets that I have: None that live with me.
   

5. My favorite yarn: It's hard to pick a favorite...I love the Dream in Color Colors, Malabrigo is so soft, and Claudia Handpainted was really nice to knit with.
   

6. If you are a Ravenclaw, do you prefer the film colors or the book colors? Much to my sister's dismay, I'm all SLYTHERIN!
   

7. My favorite flavor: Of what? If we're talking Skittles, I like red and purple best. I like chocolate all the time. Other flavors, I guess it depends on what I'm going for. Two flavors I NEVER go for are black licorice or hot-cinnamon.
   

8. My favorite holiday: Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas Do I have to pick just one?? Christmas and Thanksgiving are a tie...Halloween not too far behind.
   

9. I would like to receive a: (Sock kit, scarf kit or yarn dyeing kit) Sock kit or scarf kit.
   

10. List your favorite brand of needles or hooks, including size and length: My favorite (because I use them most often) are KnitPicks needles. I like long cables so I can use the same needle for magic-looping a pair of socks and then use it for a sweater or something. My favorite size depends on what I'm knitting I guess, although I tend to be a bit afraid of anything less than 0.
    

11. Is there a brand that you are dying to try?: Not necessarily. But I'm open to anything.
    

12. I’ve participated in HSKS: (How many times have you participated in HSKS swaps?) This is my 3rd time (twice as Ravenclaw Olive Bladvak)
    

13. Do you have a birthday during this swap? If so which day? Nope.
    

Slytherin House Quiz #1

Our first assignment was to answer some questions about our knitting likes and dislikes. Piece o' cake. So far, I'm not seeing why Olive acted like getting good grades at Hogwarts was such a big accomplishment.

1. Do you knit and/or crochet? I knit. I would like to crochet, but thus far I've only managed to confuse myself.
   
2. How long have you been at your craft? I've been knitting since about 2002, but constantly knitting since 2006 or so.
   
3. Do you spin? Nope. Don't have time (or space!) to add another hobby!
   
4. What type of spinning do you do (drop spindle or wheel)? No spinning for me.
   
5. Are there any other crafts that you participate in? I scrapbook and do some sewing. I also love to cook and bake.
   
6. What are your favorite yarns/fibers? I'm open to all kinds of yarns/fibers, depending on the project.
   
7. What are your LEAST favorite yarns/fibers? I tend to dislike yarns that split easily. I also don't do a whole lot with novelty yarns.
   
8. Are there any types/brands of yarn that you are dying to work with but haven’t gotten a chance? I've never worked with any Noro. Almost all of my yarn is bought online, so I tend to stick with what I know. I'd love to branch out and try what other people love!
   
9. What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet? I love making myself sweaters! I also do a lot of baby stuff, and 2-at-a-time socks.
   
10. What are you currently working on? A Clapotis for a birthday gift, a February Lady Sweater for myself (just the sleeves left!) and as soon as the yarn arrives, a pair of thrummed mittens.
    
11. Anything you plan to start this autumn? Some gift knitting...I want to make the Malabrigo slippers, a hat, some mitts, etc. And I'll probably sneak something in for myself too!
    
12. What is your favorite Finished Object? (Please, post a picture if you would like.) I have a feeling I am going to love my FLS when it's done. But so far, my favorite FO is my Minimalist Cardigan. (ravelry link)
    
13. Are there any knitting/crochet techniques that you would like to learn? I would love to be better at finishing--I'm not entirely confident in seaming or even in weaving in ends! And as I said in the 1st question, I would like to be able to crochet without frustration!
    

Evanesco, Olive!

I have a feeling that my "dear" sister Olive put some sort of charm on this magic diary of hers. While I managed to change the colors (thankfully! all that bronze was making me nauseous!) Olive's portrait refuses to budge! I'll have to do some creative spellwork...but as this is my 1st year and of course Olive is too much of a goody-two-shoes to break any underage magic outside of Hogwarts rules, it will require a lot of time & effort...and cracking open the hand-me-down textbooks. I also need to remove the Ravenclaw crests...stat!

Time for Change

Hey everyone, if you're here to see Olive, you're out of luck. I'm Olive's little sister, Jade Bladvak. Better known as "Olive's Little Sister." Olive is a 3rd year Ravenclaw, and since she's done so well in school, our mum and dad have decided to give her a new magic diary. And I'm the lucky recipient of her old one. I'm also "lucky enough" to get all of her old text books (I'm surprised she didn't want to keep them and re-read them...again) and even her old quill. A brilliant student like Olive deserves a new quill, you know. I almost thought that I would be using a hand-me-down wand. I almost fell over when I heard dad tell mum he would take me to Ollivander's this weekend.

I need to make some changes around here, first to get rid of all of this blue and bronze! The sorting hat has put me in Slytherin. And I think I'll fit right in.