No News

Is just that: no news.

Waiting is the Hardest Part

I looked myself up on the Ravelry waitlist checker and this is what I discovered:

Found you!

• You signed up on August 31, 2007
• You are #30194 on the list.
• 14119 people are ahead of you in line.
• 4579 people are behind you in line.
• 45% of the list has been invited so far

I am amused that the URL and is partially named "antsy".

It won't keep me amused for long.

Perhaps I won't have to wait too much longer. According to their invite rate, it should be 28.238 days, but who's counting?

I am.

Sigh...

Lucky Number Three

They say that good things - like celebrity misfortunes - always come in threes. Save for the whole left shoe first thing, I'm not much into superstitions. I guess, technically, the shoe thing isn't about superstition, it's just a very weird habit. Really.

At any rate, over two days this last week, three very good things have happened.

First, on Thursday we picked up our new family member, Milo. We had to travel to a place called Grimsby to get him, but the long drive and his sad howling were worth it. He's a little love and a sweetheart. It's been three days and it already feels like he's always been part of the family.

Second, a package was waiting for me when we arrived home from picking him up. It was my Harry Potter Series Saga swap package from my fabulous swap partner.

The swap was in celebration of the completed series, instead of dwelling on the sad fact that there won't be more books to look forward to, which is what I was more inclined to do) this swap was meant to reminisce with other Harry Potter fans. The swap requirements were that you had to choose an item that represented each of the books in the series and send that item to your partner. Each item was carefully selected to represent someone, something, some event, etc., from one of the books and labeled with a short note explaining its significance.

My partner did a great job, picking things that I would never have thought to send (recipes) and things that were incredibly (if not spookily) apropos (a vintage map for a pilgrimage to Assisi, the patron saint of my hometown and one of my desired destinations in Italy). I think I liked the coins best; they were wonderfully ingenious. And then there was the fact that she included a gorgeous handmade bag in two of my favorite colors (blue and lime green). Her chosen items made it clear that she'd read my profile and that the items were chosen or made just for me. Nice.

Here is the whole package:


And here is the detailed list of the items that I received:
Book 1 - The Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone: Chocolate Cake and Frosting Recipes to represent Harry's first birthday cake.
Book 2 - The Chamber of Secrets: a Diary to represent Tom Riddle's diary (I did the same for my partner!!).
Book 3 - The Prisioner of Azkaban: Pilgrimage map to Assisi, emulating the Marauder's Map.
Book 4 - The Goblet of Fire: Stitch Markers to represent Hermione's knitting clothes for the houseelves.
Book 5 - The Order of the Phoenix: Coins for Hermione's enchanted coins that told of the time and place of the DA meetings.
Book 6 - The Half-Blood Prince: Two HP text books to represent Harry's having to balance Quidditch and studying.
Book 7 - The Deathly Hallows: Handmade bag in two of my favorite colors representing Hermione's charmed bag that she carried on their fateful trip.

Here are some close-ups of the package:






It was such a great package to receive. It's one of those packages that makes it worth staying on Swap-bot.

Then on Friday, after a trip to the plant nursery, I came home to this beautifulness:


Talk about making staying on Swap-bot worth it!! It's my package from winemakerssister, for our private swap that I entitled Spoiling You, Surprising Me.

We had each been in different swaps where our partners, though having sent the packages, really disappointed us. It happens. I sent a message to her saying that I'd like to spoil her, since her swap partner hadn't, and she offered to surprise me since my partner had, but not in a good way. The swap was on.

Well, winemakerssister outdid herself (and freakin' outdid me as well!) and sent the following items for my swap:
* Green Ginger Tazo tea
* Electric Blue Sparkling Sugar (yes, electric blue!!)
* Decorated cupcake baking papers
* Warm Vanilla Sugar hand lotion
* Sharpies in my top two favorite colors - blue and orange. Sweeeet!
* A hand-carved stamp of my favorite number
* A handmade cosmetics bag
* A hand-decorated notebook
* A perfectly Harry Potter-themed, Gryffindor-colored charm bracelet
* Vintage black glass buttons
* Bee charms
* Casein knitting needles (that I have been dying to try)
* Hand-stamped and letterpress notecards
* A cupcake cookbook (that was on my Amazon wishlist)

How f@#$ing awesome is that?!

Here are some close-up shots of the items I received in this package:









Honestly, I was absolutely blown away by her generosity. She went way above and beyond the call. I feel spoiled and surprised. Thanks so much, wms. You made me one happy girl. Ta!

Trivial Pursuits

1. Who is the Hogwarts teacher that Voldermort performed the Avada Kedavra curse on in Deathly Hallows?
a. Charity Burbage

2. Who replaces the Muggles studies teacher in Deathly Hallows?
c. Alecto Carrow

3. When Harry meets Mr. Olivander for the first time, which wand law is introduced?
c. The wand chooses the wizard.

4. According to Mr. Ollivander, what is not necessary to take true possession of another wizard's wand?
a. to kill the owner

5. If you know anything about Harry Potter, you will know that Harry's Patronus is a stag. But what is his best friend Ron Weasley's Patronus?
d. Jack Russell Terrier

6. Now for the third member of the trio. What form does Hermione Granger's Patronus take?
a. Otter

7. What did Mrs. Wealey make to eat the first night that Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place?
a. Stew

8. In book 5, at the start of term feast, what is Ron eating when trying to talk to Nearly Headless Nick?
c. Roast potato

9. A half-giant called Rubeus Hagrid takes you to Diagon Alley for the first time. To get there, you go into the courtyard of a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. There, Hagrid taps a certain brick on the courtyard wall three times with his pink umbrella, revealing the entrance to Diagon Alley. As he decides which brick to tap, he mutters instructions to himself. What instructions does he mutter?
b. ‘Three up... two across

10. The first place you go in Diagon Alley is Gringotts bank, where you can withdraw money from your vault and Hagrid can withdraw a top-secret package from Vault No. 713 on Dumbledore’s orders. On the second set of doors leading into the bank you notice a poem written. These are the first two lines:
"Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,"
What is the next line?
d. ‘For those who take, but do not earn

Photo Scavenger Hunt answers:

Madame Rolanda Hooch
Firenze
Argus Filch
Moaning Myrtle
Colin Creevey

Eight Days, Seven Nights

Has it been a week already? An entire week?

Craft-wise, it's been slow. Though I've gotten closer to being finished with two knitting projects, I haven't gotten any of my patchwork homework (for two classes!!) done. Sigh.

Ah, well... that's probably because I spent all weekend and Monday and Tuesday with my husband on the Lancaster Canal in our cruiser. What can I say? It was nice out.

Having said that, one very cool crafty thing did happen to me:
I got my very first invite to an invitation-only swap on Swap-bot. Schwing! I was very honored to be included in this group of women.

Craft on, ladies, craft on.