Friday, March 11, 2016

HPKCHC End of Fall 2015 Term - Throwback

And now we come to the end of my second term at Hogwarts!

(Yes, we're still talking about the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup challenge.)

As I mentioned previously, my goal was to turn in something for every prompt...well, that just didn't happen.  So my Plan B was to score more house points this term than last term, so let's do the round-up!

OWL Exam - Defense Against the Dark Arts  (200 points)


One Mr. VintageBeef, as part of a 2-plushie commission.

And one Mr. PauseUnpause, the second half of the commission.

OWL complete!  And official OWL badge awarded:




Order of the Phoenix Mission - BROOM  (100 points)

As part of an African-flower-along within my cete (Hufflepuff mini-group), I proposed doing A'Tuin the African Flower Turtle.

I then added two Nanook the Husky plushies, for a higher yardage project (which I didn't want to do, but I can whip a couple of these suckers off in a week or two if I had to...and I had to).

The Panda got to pick the colors, he approved the swatch I made,
and this was his Christmas gift this year.

This little guy is for sale in my Etsy store.

This one was a commission for a gal at work.

Another successful term of Double Advanced Studies completed!

My point total for Quidditch (after participating in all four rounds) was 136 points.

The Headmistress' Challenge this term had two parts; the first was doing something to convince the Goblet of Fire that I could be the Triwizard nominee.

I taught three of my "Muggle" friends to dye yarn using Kool-Aid:

These are the yarns I made the four Quidditch cuttlefish from.

The second part of the challenge was to attend the Triwizard ball with a date.  I asked fellow Hufflepuff student Annaspackman to go with me (as our Muggle husbands couldn't make it).  We could get bonus points for crafting similar projects, and making each other a gift.

Here are our turn-in posts:

From Annaspackman:

It was going to be close, but then, with the busy month Annaspackman had had, it was only to be expected. Outside the windows of the Den, the orange sun was beginning its descent towards the horizon as she straightened her masquerade gown in front of the mirror in her room.

With a quick flick of her wand, Annaspackman arranged her hair exactly to her satisfaction and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. A touch of jewelry, and then for the finishing touch…

She reached for the beautiful shawl she had only just finished and swept it around her shoulders. The lovely yarn she had chosen settled perfectly into shape and Annaspackman couldn’t help but giggle a little in delight.

Somewhere distantly, a clock chimed the hour and she gasped. “No, not going to be late! A Hufflepuff is never late; she arrives precisely when she means to,” Annaspackman reminded herself, picking up the gift she had wrapped so painstakingly a few days ago.

She reflected for a moment upon the odd meeting she’d had with her date, VelvetKey, in passing at breakfast that morning.

“Hi there,” Velvet had said, sitting down in a furtive manner across the table. She had what looked like a couple of muffins stashed in her pocket, but Annaspackman chose to ignore that for the moment. “Um, listen…I might have a, um…tagalong tonight. Nothing serious, I promise, it’s just…well…I sort of have a stalker.”

Annaspackman’s eyes had gone wide. “Another student is stalking you? Did you tell the Headmistress? She would be able to do something about that, surely!”

“No, no, I don’t want to get expelled, since it might be my fault he’s even here in the first place,” VelvetKey replied in a whisper. “He’s…blending. Sort of.” She drew a breath and let it out in a strained sigh. “He’s a perfect gentleman, when he’s not following me to my classes or trying to find ways to smuggle his bow and arrows all over the castle.”

“Wait, what?” Annaspackman blinked, sure she hadn’t heard correctly, but Velvet waved the question aside.

“You probably won’t even know he’s with us,” Velvet insisted. “I’ll come by your room around six or so.”

“Right…okay,” Annsapackman replied, baffled. Velvet had left then, not bothering to explain anything further.

She was interrupted by a light knock on the door. “Hello?” came Velvet’s voice. Annaspackman was quick to emerge, smoothing her shawl one final time.

“Oh, wow, your shawl turned out magnificent!” her date exclaimed, circling her for the full effect. “Are you ready? I left the…um…third member of our group in the Common Room.”

“Yes!” Annaspackman said. “Oh, but before we go, here’s your gift.”

“Aww, you shouldn’t have!” VelvetKey said happily, accepting the package. “And I couldn’t help myself, I just had to make a little something for you, too!” She passed the other Hufflepuff student a somewhat-lopsided parcel that squished a little suspiciously.

Both girls were distracted, however, by the quiet clearing of a throat behind them. They turned, and Annaspackman’s jaw dropped.

“Legolas Greenleaf’s our plus one?!”

(To be continued in VelvetKey’s post…)

Annaspackman's Shawl:
And her gift to me:

My very own knitted socks!  I love knitted socks!
The pattern?  The Sign of the Prancing Pony!

It couldn't have been any more perfect, except for my second half of the post:

(Continued from Annaspackman’s post.)
Annaspackman shrieked with delight at the sight of their handsome plus one and almost dropped her gift from VelvetKey. She had always considered stalkers to be creepy loners but Legolas Greenleaf? She’d known that freak summonings had been happening all term, but Legolas, prince of Mirkwood and all-around studmuffin? This was the moment she realised how true and lasting their friendship was, VelvetKey had not ditched her friend for the handsome Legolas and she wondered how many other girls would have done the same thing.

“Open it! Open it!” VelvetKey yelped excitedly, as she frantically tore the brightly coloured tissue paper off of her own gift. Annaspackman joined in the ripping of paper, both leaving a shower of tissue and sparkles to reveal their loot.

“Wow,” said Annaspackman in delight, “I cannot believe you made this for me! This is wonderful and such a thoughtful representation of my super-secret code name in our Bushwhacking Trail Team - Frodo!” She hugged him tight to her chest and then slipped him into her dainty shoulder bag so that his head peered out and he could be included in the activities at the ball. She wondered if it might be fun to cast a charm to animate him for the evening…

VelvetKey looked at her gift for a long time and Annaspackman began to worry that she didn’t like it. Finally VelvetKey looked up, her eyes bright with excitement, and said, ‘I am sorry but I was momentarily dazzled by the sparkles, this colour is truly Elfen and just me!”

”But do you get it?” said Annaspackman.

“Urm, get what?” replied VelvetKey.

“The pattern name… It’s named after the place we first met! The first time we shared a pitcher of Butterbeer!”

“Ah-ha! Of course!” VelvetKey grinned happily and on impulse hugged Annaspackman. “You have no idea how perfect your gift really is!” she exclaimed, giggling. “I can’t thank you enough!”

Legolas looked between the two girls with a long-suffering expression on his face. VelvetKey winked at Annaspackman.

“We’re going to be the envy of everyone at the ball,” Annaspackman said delightedly as Legolas offered her his arm. VelvetKey took his other arm and together the trio headed for the Great Hall.

My Shawl:

Not nearly as pretty and impressive as Anna's, but my mother-in-law loved it!

My gift to Annaspackman:

A wee little Frodo plushie!

And of course we had to have our picture taken with our date:


Total HMC points awarded: 89 points.

And then of course there were the classes.  September = 227 points, October = 230.5 points, and November = 139 points.  Total:  596.5 points.

Grand Total:  1121.5 points to Hufflepuff!

However...Ravenclaw blew us out of the water this term.  And it wasn't even close; they managed to score something like 15,000 extra points over the next house.  It was unreal.

To conclude my wrap-up of the Fall 2015 term, I will share my favorite part of it next time: the Bushwhacking Into Mordor challenge!

Craft on!

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