The second term of HPKCHC started with the New Year & a new challenge. The winter term, as the 3 month sessions are called, brought forth the introduction of Ordinary Wizarding Levels, or “OWLs.” OWLs were introduced to incorporate larger projects requiring more time commitment than the regular month long classes would allow.
OWLs were developed following the course themes of the Hogwarts classes, but incorporating various challenges of the knitting and crochet world. This term there were seven different offerings for OWLs, and due to an oversight, students were allowed to sign up for multiple OWLs, but limited to a maximum of four to limit students exam stress and sanity.
In order to reward students for their hard work diligence & efforts, points were awared in three stages. 10points were awarded after submitting a written portion, which included outlining the pattern, the challenges, and identifying the yarn and hooks/needles required and swatches. (With photograph.) 50 points were awarded at the end of February to students that submitted photographic proof of reaching the 25% mark in their project. The 3rd stage for earning points was submitting photographic proof of the completed project. The total completed OWL project is worth 200 points awarded to the student’s house.
While earning the points and aiming for the House Cup was the initial reward for the challenge, Professor Fricknfrack thought a little individual reward would be nice to earn as well. She developed the idea for badges to be given out to students who completed the OWL challenge. But what would the badge be? Who can design it? How does it get distributed? These are all are questions that Fricknfrack had to answer. With a little help from others at Hogwarts, Professor Fricknfrack came up with a contest to design the badges and donated the prize of 9 skeins of yarn from her personal stash.
Eleven students submitted designs for voting. All of the house common rooms, including NQFY, were notified and sent to the blog to complete a voting ballot. 93 votes were counted, and we had a clear winner. “Not Quite First Year” Fruitloops’ design came in with 53 votes!
Fruitloops joined HPKCHC group after being introduced to the group through searches for Harry Potter Projects, and the Harry’s Happy Hooker’s Group, which is moderated by HPKCHC member Pretywtch. When asked about her design inspiration, she replied, “I read the owl descriptions and tried to incorporate the assignments into the design while keeping them magical. The ideas came from a combination of the books, the owl assignments, and two nights of very little sleep.”
To future students, Fruitloops recommends being active within the Ravelry group, It will be helpful, “Especially for someone shy like me. I won’t be nervous come sorting time :)” Fruitloops wants to be in Gryffindor next term, and hopes to earn her own OWL badge!
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