Know what? It’s Freaky firstie Friday!

I am Aunttallulah newly minted 1^st year Slytherin and new first year blogger.

You may have seen me around. I look like the mad hatter!

Hold on to you Hippogriffs because every Friday I will be bringing love and joy from all your favourite firsties in the cup.

We do have a lounge, but anyone can stop in and have a mini egg or two.

MINI-EGGS? You ask. Yes mini-eggs.

                

As NQFYs it was very quickly established that I have a predilection for the chocolate with a candy coating that’s only available until Easter and then they’re gone! I love them so much I did a project for History of Magic about them.

But I was not alone in my love of them and they quickly became the official candy of the NFQY lounge and now our firstie lounge.

UNITY

One thing that has always been true is that we really bonded together.

So as an NFQY, current  1^st year Gryffindor and awesome mentor RiverCameron began a unity project to pass on to the next class of NQFYs.

In fact, RiverCameron began organizing a First Year Shawl along! But it has caught on like wild fire and has become an HPKCHC unity shawl along. You can find the details in the Great Hall. It will be great fun and no stress, non-points unless you can fit it into your class event!

Thanks RiverCameron for your awesome organizing of this event!

FOR THE RECORD...

NQFYs I won’t be ignoring you! We were all in you position once, and we are all here to have fun and support you! So to help you out I am going to talk about you as well. I will  be in and out of your lounge to check on you and write about you here!

 Everyone have an awesome weekend filled with fun, love and most importantly, YARN!

Fridays with Firsties!

Good morning, fellow House Cuppers! I'm HermioneWeasley, and I'm one of the First Year Bloggers who will be bringing you Fridays with Firsties. Our other First Year Blogger is knidancer, who will be writing next week. We're here to give you our insights about what it's like to be a First Year in the House Cup.

As for me, not only am I a First Year, but I'm a brand spanking new knitter as well, as in just-started-knitting-in-November new. Because of this, it was originally my intention to complete just one project a month for quite some time. Now, though... Well, the excitement of the Sorting Ceremony, and the excitement of the House Cup in general, and the encouragement, friendliness, and excitement (Yeah, there's a lot of this "excitement" going around!) of my fellow Gryffies (and other House Cuppers!) is really, really infectious, so now I've already turned in my homework for Transfiguration (which is also for this month's Gryffindor Dueling Club), almost finished my homework for Potions, figured out what to make for homework for 4 other classes, gotten approval for my CoMC OWL, and am most definitely on my way to St. Mungo's. I'm absolutely loving every minute of it though! :) Picture of my very first ever homework assignment (It's small, but I'm super proud!):

I've gotta say, the House Cup has definitely increased my motivation to learn how to knit, and it's definitely facilitating the learning process. It's great to know that I have nearly infinite amounts of encouragement, advice, and enthusiasm right here at Hogwarts, and that I can be a source of all of this for the other students. I also really love all the House Unity that is always being demonstrated, and the fact that our Quidditch projects are all made for charity. There's so much to love about the House Cup that it would be impossible to list it all here. I really encourage anyone out there who is holding back because they are just learning how to knit to just jump right in anyway! That's what I did, and I've already learned so much, and I've made such great friends in the process! You won't regret it, I promise! :)

Terrific Tuesday!

Oh hey! What's going on? It's Tuesday again? *sigh*

But, today is a terrific Tuesday for two very specific reasons:

Reason 1:



Yep! I finished my Kink, blocked it, and sewed on a button! It's all ready to be gifted to a very special Grandma!

Reason 2:

I finished my Huron!!!! I never thought I'd be able to knit a sweater in less than a month (actually... I knit it in 10 days), especially given that my two previous efforts have taken somewhere around 3-5 months to finish! I need to wash it, and I'm hoping the hemp gets less scratchy, but I'm still in love.

Reason 3 (I was never good with lists anyway):
I'm home for an entire week! And then I have less than a month before I'm moving back home for an internship and I will never have to return to the University again!!! That makes me very very very happy.

Have a great Turkey Day, everyone who lives in the U.S.

Boo-yah Tuesday!

Boo-yah is the word of this post, as many things have been accomplished, both in the Cup and in the real world, since we last spoke.

First, I finished my cardigan:



as well as a skein of fingering to DK weight (depending how thick it got) yak, silk, wool blend from AVFKW's Essential Luxury Club:

This was originally destined to become an Abby, but after further deliberation (and the fact that some spots were too thick for the gauge of the pattern), I've decided instead to make it into Kink. More to come on that front.

Both the cardigan and spinning were turned into Detention.

I turned in a pocketed scarf to Herbology that I designed myself, and you can read about over here:


And right now I'm working on a mystery sock (only two clues released so far, and as you can see, I'm done with the first clue on both and the second clue on one) for Care of Magical Creatures:


As well as a sweater vest for Defense Against the Dark Arts:


Also, my OWL got approved, and the pattern page is over here if you so choose to check it out.

As you can see, things have really been rolling along, so I give you a big BOO-YAH on this wonderful Tuesday!

Drive-by Tuesday

Hey everyone! This is going to be a snappy post since I'm short on time and long on pictures!

I finished up my Naiad socks:


And my Celaeno:



And participated in the Hufflepuff House Pride Exhibition with this rad sock bookmark:


So now I'm back to working on my cardigan that I started in July:

Although I have steeked the rest of the front AND one armhole.

See you all next week!

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

HI THERE!

I'm just stopping in for a bit to give you guys a little update on what I've been working on for the past week.

I managed to finish my chain mail socks for Charms:

I also conjured up a magical washcloth to apply the honey soap that wards off flesh-eating hags for my Potions class;

I also practiced more spinning, but this isn't for a class (unless you can think up a story for History of Magic's assignment...)


BUT! The most exciting part of my week was finishing off my OWL scarf pattern (Astronomy) and being marked 50% complete. I'll show you pictures in a minute, but first I need your help on two counts. One: I need test knitters, and who better to test knit than my fellow Cuppers? In all actuality, you could probably finish this scarf in a matter of a week or two, but I took longer because the shaping was a challenge. Hehe. If you want to test knit, you'll need approximately 220 yards of a worsted weight yarn; I used Cascade Venezia and managed to get in around 210 yards of worsted weight, but you would probably do well to have a little insurance. Two: I need a name for this scarf. If you can help on either of these counts, please please please let me know by commenting here or sending me (TheAlexKlein) a PM on Ravelry. And now for the pictures:




That's it for now, but I'll be back next week, hopefully with a finished pair of Naiad socks and a Celaeno shawl!

Badgertastic Tuesday!

Hey everyone! Sorry I was away last week. It was my birthday, and ended up dealing with a lot of real-life issues (including my fridge leaking freon, but let's not dwell in the past).

Anyway, it's a new month with new classes and BOY do I have some stuff to share with you! I'm so excited to share all this with you. First up is homework I only turned in as a partial that I finished up and turned into Detention for points (you all know you can get 10 pts in Detention starting this month, right?!):
The Coquille Shawl


Then I set to work on my homework for DADA, protecting myself from vampires with a stylish (and thick) scarf:
The Rodekool Brioche Scarf

and reverse


After turning in that homework, I dabbled with my Charms homework and my Herbology homework, and have completed two socks (although only one in each pair):
Chainmail Socks (Charms)

Naiad Socks (Herbology)


But before starting on the other socks in the pair, I was overcome by a vision of better spinning, so I set to work on my brown alpaca for Divination, about 50 yards of lace weight singles:


Of course, that leaves me with two other classes that are still to be decided. I'm thinking a reusable bag for Potions, as forgetting them at home is a HUGE bad habit of mine and perhaps a shawl for Muggle Studies, modeling myself after the always fashionable Gabrielle Solis of Desperate Housewives.

What about you? What are you working on?

My, My, How Time Flies

I can't believe there are only a couple more days left before the end of the first month! Today's post includes no recipe, because I didn't remember to photograph it the last time I made it, and I don't really have time now to make a new batch. Alas, maybe next week.

This will probably be a pretty short post, since all I have to show for this week is a small amount of spinning I did to get the hang of energized singles and the small top was only enough to make about 20 yards total of a heavy laceweight/light fingering.

Here is the top in it's unspun glory (the pink on the left):


And here is the spun up version, with dime for scale.


This is only the third spinning I've done, and although I have no idea what I'll use it for (perhaps a Mrs. Beeton-esque project with other leftover fingering/laceweight?), I'm pretty darn proud of it and of my spinning in general.

I'm turning this in for flying since I managed to get through the entire top without having to park the spindle! So proud!

For those interested, the fiber is most likely 100% alpaca, but I got it as a gift and no label.

Anywho, that's the end of my post! I'll see you all next week!

Fish and Chocolate

Made ya look, didn't I?



No, the recipe today doesn't include fish, but it definitely includes plenty of chocolate.

First up, though, is my project I finished this past week, Fish Hat (Dead or Alive)



I turned it in to Defense Against the Dark Arts for my disguise as the wonderful FairIsleFish. It's made from an assortment of worsted weight leftovers (and I think it looks kind of cool).



Next up is my recipe for the week. I think I should probably just make this into my Bisquick recipe of the week.



Doesn't that look appetizing? Yum!



Anyway, onto the recipe!

Frosted Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies:
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 Cup Bisquick mix
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
1/2 Cup baking cocoa
1/2 Cup vanilla yogurt
1 egg

Frosting:
1/4 Cup baking cocoa
2 Tbsp shortening (again, butter is fine as well)
2 Cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with foil.

In mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for cookies, and mix until well blended.
Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. I managed to get 10 cookies per sheet.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until set. Look for them to spread a bit, but don't bake too long because the color really doesn't change. Allow to cool completely (about 30 minutes).
Mix frosting ingredients besides milk in a separate bowl. Add milk one Tbsp at a time until it's a good consistency.
Spread frosting on cooled cookies.
Eat (not all at once, though!) with a nice glass of milk.

That's all! See ya next week!