HP Craftalong ~Winter Semester 2012~ *CLOSED*

[Eiseldora]

Class: Charms
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name: Star Trek Potholder
Project LinkProject on Ravelry

Project Description:
For a while I"ve seen crocheted pot holders. My great grandmother used to make them all the time, so when I learned to knit I was interested in making a potholder out of yarn. Most of the patterns I found were for crochet, but the ones that were for knitting called for this strange thing called double knitting. I had no clue what it was, but I decided to jump forward and just go for it. Using contrasting cotton yarn I began my project. It was confusing at first, and I struggled to keep track of where i was in the chart. With double knitting you see you knit both sides at the same time, so 5 stitches actually equals 10 on the needles. Somehow in of of the first few rows in I gained an extra stitch which also threw the pattern off. Eventually I put a stitch marker every 5 stitches and was able to follow the chart much better. I was excited when I finished, and I"m proud to say I've now made a pot holder!



Class Salazar Slytherin's Locket
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name: Shrinky Dink Heart Locket
Project Description: My first foray into shrinky dinks was exciting, nerve racking, and fun. I almost had a heart attack when my image leapt off the cookie sheet and curled in on its self, but after all the excitement I was able to make a pretty bracelet for my niece.



Class Potions
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name: Shrinky Dink Minecraft
Project Description:
Like I said before this was nerve racking. There's are the items I made with shrinky dinks. Unfortunately when I tried to glue magnets and then pin backs it screwed up the image

[PenguinSoup]

@Eiseldora Good for you for tackling double knitting! That stuff is confusing and your pot holder looks great!

[Ant Bee]

::Walks into the Great Hall gnawing on a chocolate frog::

Hi Guys! I'm back from Hogsmeade and it was AWESOME!  

The Three Broomsticks was fabulously detailed and the food was pretty decent (I had the fish'n'chips and it was really good). The Butterbeer was like a liquid cupcake and the pumpkin fizz was like a pumpkin pie in a cup with bubbles.  I didn't see Rosmerta, and the staff were definitely acting a little like the cat was away, but it was so cool to be in there anyway.

The Candy at Honeydukes was really fun to browse through- and you know you're on vacation when you drop $30 on candy! haha! I bought Fizzing wizzbees (of course! haha) a chocolate frog and some peppermint toads and would recommend them all around.  My brother who works for Godiva even says the chocolate is decent (I was afraid that it would be more "novelty" than edible, you know? but it's actually pretty good.)  I don't want to go into too much detail, because much of the fun is the excitement of discovery.  All I'll say is try everything that you can and always look up- tons of details are above your head everywhere you look.  Also, as for souvenirs... save your  pennies, you're gonna want EVERYTHING!  The only disappointment was that while they had items in Gryffindor and Slytherin galore they might not have had the same things in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. (Journal books and stuff like that.) The big things had the 4 houses represented, just some of the littler things.  My nephew being a Ravenclaw was a little put out that they didn't have a journal in blue, but he got an awesome sweatshirt so was happy.

I wish I could have spent more time there, but I was in a party of 7 so we had to all work together to make sure everyone got to do what they wanted in the time we had.  As we turned the corner to the entrance from Jurassic park into Hogsmeade the other two women I was with pretty much teared up over how beautiful it is. Having worked in Renn Faires for so long I'm desensitized to funny buildings and costumed characters with English accents so I didn't tear up, but it was really, really cool!  There is some suspicious construction going on in just the right place for the train to get upgraded to movement and there's some speculation on the interwebz that a Diagon Alley might be in the works and the express might travel between the two... but none of that is confirmed. Something to note is that the buildings all have "snow peaks" on the roofs so it might feel a little weird in August, but in January it wasn't jarring.

Now I have to get my act in gear, the only problem with your parents signing you out of Hogwarts for a long weekend is that you have tons of homework to catch up on!  All your projects look great!!

::Scarfs down some lunch and makes her way to the library, scrolls jumbling about in her bag as she runs::

[noodle-bug]

someone tell ant bee that I'm too jealous to acknowledge their presence  

Class: Astronomy
House: ravenclaw
Project:
Ok, so please forgive the abysmal photos. This is one of the projects I lost all my pictures of, and the recipient doesn't have a camera except the one on her phone so it's the best I can mange. Anyway...
Here's Boris! He's a lama, made of socks with a woolly fringe

I figure he resembles a dog just as much as that blob of stars in the sky does

[LadybugsAndBumblebees]

Ahhh...that stash is NOTHING!  My aunt had a room half filled with those big plastic storage boxes, filled with yarn.  And she still bought more.

[MamanTattoo]

Ah! Ant Bee. I'm so jealous it hurts!! Some dreams to go to disneyland... uhuh. not here. We all want to go to Hogwarts!

I'm halfway done with my DADA, which took me more then I thought. but I learn 3 new crochet stitches!!

[jennieingram]

Speaking of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and all the awesome things for sale there.....

I'm going to get on my soapbox here, and try to drum up a little enthusiasm for something important.  (I'm hoping you'll all forgive me, based on my previous good deeds as swap organizer & HPC Deputy Headmistress.)  I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the Harry Potter Alliance, but if you're not, you should be.  The HPA is a group that uses the world and works of the Harry Potter series to get young people interested in issues of social justice, and gives them ways to actively work towards making the world around them a better place. 

Remember when the earthquake struck Haiti?  They sent 5 plane-loads of medical supplies straight to people in need.  They have raised the money to build libraries in inner city areas, AND filled those libraries with books for kids who would otherwise have nothing to read and no place to go.  They have campaigned for more healthy body images for teens. (And was aided in those efforts by Miss Evanna Lynch, who shared her own story of battling an eating disorder with fans, so they would know they are not alone.)  During the period between the release of Deathly Hallows Parts I & II, they fought 7 "Real World Horcruxes" including Bullying, Illiteracy, and Depression.  They fought hard to win marriage equality in the recent election. 

I'm not talking about a group of adults with nothing else to do.  I'm talking about people of all ages, from young children, up through seniors, who believe that the lessons we learned about in the Harry Potter series, can and must be applied to the world around us.  Teenagers giving up their weekends to knock on doors to talk to people about ending hunger, and providing basic human rights to ALL citizens.  The media would like us to think that young people don't care about anything.  They are wrong.  It's not that they don't care, it's that they don't know what to do with all that caring, and soon it becomes too much, and they are overwhelmed into inaction.  Well, the HPA changes that, and in doing so, they change lives. 

Right now they are going back to a former campaign which they feel did not get resolved to their satisfaction, to give it another go. A few years ago they asked Warner Brothers to stop selling unfairly sourced chocolate in Harry's name.  Ask yourselves, would Hermoine sit by sipping cocoa, knowing that the beans had been harvested by young children, kidnapped into slavery?  No.  She would have jumped up and forced everyone to join her new society with a terrible acronym, until the practice was abolished.  So, when Warner Brothers shot them down for asking questions, the HPA asked the independent company Free2Work to report on Warner Brothers chocolate. The report that came back had an "F" rating, meaning that farmers are being exploited, and forced child labor is certainly being used.  When confronted with this Warner Brothers responded by saying "We have a report of our own that says our products are fine."  The HPA asked to see the report.  WB predictably said "No."

So, what is Jennie's point?  That you should all take 20 seconds of your day to go to the page ShowUsTheReport.com and sign the petition.  Then, you should share it on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and anywhere else you can.  Can you give me a single reason why you shouldn't?  If you could free a child from slavery right now, with just a few keystrokes on your computer, I know you would.  Don't let the fact that the problem is so much bigger than a single child stop you.  Just go do it.  You know Harry, Ron and Hermoine would.  You know Dumbledore would have campaigned for it.  Even Cornelius Fudge couldn't give you a reason he's too busy. 

And don't take this is a condemnation of anyone who has or does buy HP candy!  (Love you Ant Bee! And I hope you had an awesome time!!!)  We don't need to be perfect in order to be better. Check out this awesome video by Lauren Fairweather about why it's better to be an imperfect activist than to do nothing at all.

And now for the final bit of motivation.  I'll give 1 House Point and a CFC to everyone who goes and signs the petition.  I'll give a second point to anyone who also shares the petition on some form of social media.  Once you've done so, just put a post in the thread saying you did it.  That's all.  Now, I know that 1 or 2 House Points isn't a lot.  But remember, Neville earned just 5 points in the Sorcerer's Stone, and it was enough to put Gryffindor over the top to win the House Cup. 

Never EVER underestimate the amount of impact a single small gesture can make. 

[Audania1]

Hey there Jennie!
I just wanted to say that I'm glad you got on the soap box. My family and I support World Vision and also this wonderful coffee shop up the street from our house that buys and sells only free trade everything. They make no money, all are volunteers, and whatever extra money they make (aside from rent of building and buying product) they use to help coffee and tea farmers who were previously unpaid and enslaved. I love organizations that are there to help these people and stop others from benefitting from their poverty.

That all said, I signed the petition and posted it on facebook

[PenguinSoup]

Thanks for posting that Jeannie! It was really powerful and so amazing to think that you can make a small difference int he world, even from home. I signed and posted and don't even want the house points. I just wanted to try to make a teeny difference.

[Eiseldora]

What a wonderful cause Jennie. As soon as you provided a link, I signed the petition and so did my husband. I also put it on Pinterest.