I am not going to say anything about The Deathly Hallows until at least a month from now, but I am dying to know. Because, like, I still stand by my words that even though Snape may have been working for the good side, he is still a bad man. Because I don’t believe that the ends justify the means nor do the means justify the ends. Maybe I am too black and white and anti-grey area for some folks, definitely those who have heard me expound on Spiderman would agree with that, but an action done for non-good purposes/reasons (such as obsession: see below) regardless of its outcome, is NOT a good thing.

obsession: If I were a stalker intent on say, tracking down JK Rowling and forcing her to write another Harry Potter ( a la new jedi order, perhaps) and in the process of kidnapping her I prevented a slytherin loving snape fanatic from doing something unspeakable to her (or a crazy, hell-bent religious person who believes in censorship with a fervor only matched by the love they have for their chosen deity… and wants to I don’t know, burn her at the stake on a pyre of her own books)(I swear I have the misfortune of knowing people like this and it weirds me out almost as much as the statement, “I don’t read”) would I be seen as a hero? As having done something good???

but back to Star Wars and Harry Potter. Am I the only one who sees the story within the story where the true story (the more moving story) is the one buried under the layers? NOT THAT I AM DROOLING HOPING THAT THERE WILL BE A HOGWARTS: THE VOLDEMORT YEARS PREQUEL SEPTOLOGY. (did I make that word up?)

Starting with my Secret Pal 10 reveal!

(click for a closer view) There’s 2 skeins of knit picks memories, a big skein of wool of the andes bulky and a pattern for felted vases, 2 balls of different plymouth yarn one of which is eros… some roving for needlefelting, a bookmark, a cute magnetic notepad with a moose on it (a close second/third after sheep) and a BUNCH of kids books. They are all new to me so I am quite thrilled. Yay! Oh and a melted chocolate frog. It was an astonishing 112 degrees here in Lancaster today… I thought I was gonna melt just like the chocolate.
My pal is Martina from Alaska at www.yarnfamily.com She was a teacher but is now going into educational technology, which I am not sure what that is and would love to know.

Thank you for spoiling me Martina!

Next up we have my Hogwarts pictures:

This wonderful package has already been blogged about– but wow the pictures. Thank you Kelly (justaknitwit).

But wait there’s more!

My giant box of nancy drew books came.

And the other day I received the following yarn:

Tilli Tomas rockstar in gorgeous pink. Nice yarn, but I’m glad my money didn’t go to their company.

Glow in the dark yarn– worsted and itchy so NOT for wearables!! But for toys

and finally:

This is my order (which came heartpoundingly fast)(and free shipping)(so how cool is that?) from the yarn and fiber company.
2 skeins of onyx lamb’s pride, and 2 skeins in different purple colors. for my felted mohawk hat the purple is for the mohawk. and the other is Gedifra Filarosa– the colors are way more vibrant than they looked on the screen. Yay.

Thanks again to Martina and Kelly!

The husbeast returned on Wednesday and things went downhill from there. So high points:

I read on April’s blog that she nominated me as a rocking girl blogger.

How cool is that?! I’ve never gotten a tag or anything before, so I am pleased. Make sure you go visit her because she’s got cute baby pics of her Niece up that are beyond adorable. So now I get to pass on the award to five more people. I know just who…

First is Jen over at Yarnpie for being such a great friend. She’s super busy with her new job (Go Jen!) And sock knitting.

Second would be April, but I don’t know if I can nominate back. She’s at the very top of my to read blogs every day and she’s helped me out alot with decisions about teachers (ugggh) and stuff. BTW that crazy ass teacher from last semester, everyone turns pale when I mention I took her for 102. Strangely, all of my slacker friends are in love with her…

So, instead of April, I want to nominate Jenean from Witherspoon Cabin and the brain behind the Hogwarts Knit Sock Kit Swap. She’s done a fantastic and amazing job and by golly, she deserves it.

Third would be Sarah from Crafty Welsh Dragon. She was my prefect during the last round, and simply amazing. She did an excellent job keeping us on our toes!

Fourth is Diane from And In My Spare Time because she has so much going on but she always has time to give me a comment (even though I forget to reciprocate sometimes) *my spelling is bad, I’m having a hard time today*

LOL I am running out of people to nominate. I will nominate Cyn from I hate Waiting mostly because she too is at the top of my dailies list, and she’s pretty nifty to boot.

Ahh that feels better.

I sent my final secret pal package out today. I went overboard, packing everything in what I now call “the hatbox of doom.” See a week or so ago Michael’s was having a sale and I got 2 hatboxes (one for me and one for SP) for a whopping $4.99 each. And these were not teeny hatboxes either. I had already knit “grrr” for her and decided to go ahead and try my hand at “oblivion” (both from knitty) and omg I need an oblivion for myself. I also ended up knitting her “The Die Hard Scarf” of which I did not take pictures. It’s a melange of pink and browns, some corn, some wool, some South West Trading Co, and some alpaca. Just your average side to side garter stitch scarf, with dropped stitches every so often. This works better, IMO if you are NOT varying the types and textures of your yarns greatly (the dropped stitches) as the dropped stitches look less like gaping holes and more structured. alas. I also made her a cd of music and a cd of fonts and a psd of the insert for her new travel mug, it was pretty cool. For the first time ever I actually wrapped nearly every single  thing up. Then… because I am diabolical, I had the husbeast wrap the hatbox up in brown paper very nicely and shipped it off. By priority mail because the post office was closed and it was the only way the ocmputer would let me send something that was hatboxshaped. *pout* I hope she lurves it.

I got my HSKS on Friday… pics soon. My partner was amazing and she deserves heaps of thanks. Thank you partner. There was HP candy, chocolate candy, a beautifully knit bag with gorgeous sock yarn, stitch markers– on for each house, a book mark, a needle roll and needles, a little box for keepsakes, and a baby dragon that’s hatching! Oh… lets not forget a cd of Magical Music! Too cool. Thank you very much KnitWit.

um. Yeah. I had a huge bag of yarn I was going to sell to someone but she backed out. HERE

Make me an offer… and I will accept anything semi-fair as long as it’s more than postage.

ok… where was I? Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap part 2. If you didn’t last time, I seriously URGE you to do it this time. The prefects and Jenean were wonderful, very engaging and a lot of fun running up to Harry Potter next month. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you should do this swap. The bag I made was out of Blue Sky Alpacas cotton and a nice mercerized cotton. The shine of the mercerized cotton looked nice up against the wooly(go figure) rustic look of the BSA cotton. I added bamboo handles and it looked great. Oh, it took about an evening’s worth of concentrated knitting, so no time at all really. Finding the house colored fun stuff to include was even more fun. You should definitely try it!

Finally 10 on Tuesday: Movie Quotes (in no particular order)

1. “But he was unarmed!” Anakin to D. Sidious after D. Sidious had chopped off MW’s arms and then killed him. I laughed hysterically about this in the theatre. Do you think GL did that on purpose??? Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
2. “Do, or do not–there is not try!” RoTJ
3. “I’m a paranoid schizophrenic, I am my own entourage.” America’s Sweethearts
4. “I’m right on top of it Rose” Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead
5. “I slipped rat poison into her Tab.” Adventures in Babysitting
6. “No king, no king! la la la la la la!” Lion King
7. “My little boobookittyfuck.” Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
8. “I don’t know, Mark!” RK… hehehe
9. “You remind me of the babe… the babe with the power…” Labyrinth
10. “But why is the rum gone?” Pirates of the Caribbean

That was harder than I thought it would be.

Cal State!!!!!! Yup. I made it, I have been accepted, I will be going to an honest to goodness university next fall. I attend orientation in July and then I will be registered and actually fully on my way to becoming a teacher. Yay me! I’m actually quite happy.

My camera isn’t around, or I’d slip the card out and pop up pictures of what came in the mail for me: The Harry Potter Tea set that I won from the most awesome prefect Sarah (craftywelshdragon) for one of the trivia rounds that she has been putting together. The diffuser is perfect, a frog!! How cute? England/Wales has way better HP themed goodies than we do here.

10 Awesome Things About Me

1. I make a super-mean crockpot lasagne. Yummy. Once I prepared this during a speech for my Comm 101 class. The speech was on bringing the family back to the dinner table, and I prepared the lasagne during the speech in an effort to prove that cooking dinner doesn’t have take that long at all. The night before I had done the same thing, and had a cooked version of my lasagne ready for when the speech was over. I went home with an empty crockpot because people had seconds, even though it was a morning class.
2. I am very fast at casting on. I even one a competition… hahaha
3. I can say my ABCs backwards in under 8 seconds. I started practicing this after a girl on teen Jeopardy did it when I was a kid, and I wanted to impress Alex Trebek
4. I have a pretty good memory, not perfect, and I freak people out with it sometimes. My secret? The alphabet game my sis and I used to play: choose a topic and then starting with A name an item (boy names) Adam. Then the next person says Adam Bill. Then I say Adam Bill Corey. We used to play this game all the time. I also played memorizing games alot. Part of it is because I was (and still am) terrified of getting Alzheimer’s disease like so many of my relatives.
5. I read very quickly. I love reading. But I read very, very quickly.
6. erm… I’m running out of things to say here… I can get ready really quickly, but only because I rarely wear makeup.
7. I have a very vivid imagination to which many people can attest.
8. I think well on my feet, most of the time.
9. I am a fast typist, having been on the internet since the early nineties and having my own pc since then, I type rather fast and don’t need to look at the keys for it. It still surprises me that people sometimes need to look at the keys… it really does.
10. and finally… I am a former beauty queen. Now I bet y’all weren’t expecting THAT one to come out of my mouth. LOL I was Lil’ Miss Living Doll when I was like 3 years old. My outgoing and boisterous personality was evident even then.

My graduation present from my mom and dad was $100 in paypal money, which helped me pay for my new doc martens (well, new to me) and since they didn’t gobble up all of the money, I was looking for a good yarn store which accepts paypal and has lambs pride bulky. Out of the 3 LYSs I go to, only one carries Lambs Pride and I don’t go there any more due to the change in atmosphere. But I really wanted some lambs pride bulky to make the mohawk hat from pretty in punk… and guess what? I found it! and they have free shipping!! Yay! http://www.yarnandfiber.com/catalog/index.php

As soon as the yarn gets here, it’ll be on my needles.

ttyl

::happy happy dance::

I also found out that I am getting just a smidge of financial aid this summer. Happy day for that. Now all I need on the school front is to hear back about getting into Cal State, so please wish me luck, and wish them speed.

Summer semester starts next Monday. Then I will be set. As much as I hate school when I am doing it, I miss it when I am not.

on the knitting front: today I finished the first gauntlet from Punk Knits made out of Berocco Optik. They are long, from my elbow to the first knuckle of my fingers, but you know, I think they look awesome. At first I had trepidations about wearing them, that they may be too funky for me. But now I know I can wear em without fear.

And finally, I have assembled my bag for my HSKS partner. There are a few goodies, and it looks like I cleared the trollywoman on the train out: Jelly Slugs, exploding bonbons (yecht), everyflavor beans, blood pops, and the cards from some chocolate frogs because chocolate would never survive the ride from my mailbox to the mail sorting room out here…

There are a few other surprises, but all in all I hope she’ll be happy.

*thinking good thoughts*

1. I was the first student to find Potter standing over Justin Finch-Fletchley after he was attacked in my second year. I accused him of being the attacker. What is my name?
Hannah Abbott
Ernie MacMillan
Dean Thomas
Susan Bones

2. I support Lord Voldemort wholeheartedly and my husband is a Death Eater. I constantly have an expression as though I have dung under my nose, according to that piece of filth: Potter. One day my master will finish him off and I would be glad to help him. Who am I?
Narcissa Malfoy
Rodolphus Lestrange
Bellatrix Lestrange
Lucius Malfoy

3. I owned an ice-cream parlour in Diagon Alley until I went missing in 1996. My shop showed many signs of a struggle. What is my name?

4. In Deathly Hallows which Dursley will have something more revealed about him or her?
Vernon
Petunia
Dudley
Bob

5. Which Weasley character will get married in Deathly Hallows?
Fred
Charlie
Bill
Percy

6. Who is the Slytherin Ghost?
Nearly Headless Nick
Professor Binns
Fat Friar
Bloody Baron

7. What animal can Professor McGonagall transform into? cat

8. In the Goblet of Fire despite being underage, Harry’s name is drawn from the Goblet of Fire to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. Hagrid takes Harry with him on his way to a meeting with Madame Maxime in order to warn him about the first task, battling a dragon. On the way, Harry notices that Hagrid is wearing something rather unusual (unusual for Hagrid, anyway!). What is it?
A bowler hat
A flower in his lapel
A pair of cufflinks
His hair in a ponytail

9. In the Goblet of Fire the Triwizard Champions’ first task is to face one of four dragons. Harry draws the Hungarian Horntail – the nastiest of the bunch. What does he use his wand to summon in order to help him with this task?
Flaming arros
Broomstick
Another dragon to help him fight
Sheild

10. In the Half-Blood Prince Luna is commentating the Quidditch match, “. . . but now that big Hufflepuff player’s got the Quaffle from, her, I can’t remember his name, it’s something like Bibble — no, Buggins” What was the Hufflepuff player’s name?
Baggins
Cadwalter
Catewaller
Cadwallader

and finally the pictures:

1. Who is the Fat Lady’s friend?
- Violet
- Rose
- Lavender
- Lily

2. When the Fat Lady was attacked by Sirius Black and fled her portrait, who took over for her as guard of Gryffindor Tower?

Sir Cadogan!
3. Usually when Harry is in Dumbledore’s office, what are the portraits of previous headmasters doing?
- Humming
- Snoozing
- Giving Dumbledore advice
- Arguing with one another

4. Which one of the Triwizard champions did not go to the World Cup?
- Harry Potter
- Fleur Delacour
- Cedric Diggory
- Viktor Krum

5. Who did Harry give his Triwizard winnings to?
- Mr. and Mrs. Diggory
- No one, he kept them
- Professory Dumbledore
- Fred and George Weasley

The next two are anagrams. Rearrange the letters to get the correct words.
6. Live gong cram la man (two words) Minerva McGonagall

7. Owl or video Oliver Wood!

8. What author’s name appears on the book “Quidditch Through the Ages”?
- Albus Dumbledore
- J.K. Rowling
- Kennilworthy Whisp
- Newt Scamander

9. What does the Keeper do in a game of Quidditch?
- Keeps the brooms in good working order
- Guards the goal
- Keeps the score
- Holds the Quaffle

10. In the Goblet of Fire why did the Mad Eye Moody imposter put Harry’s name in the goblet?
- He wanted Ron to be mad at him
- He wanted Dumbledore to expel Harry for entering the tournament
- He wanted Harry to be killed during the tasks
- He wanted Harry to win the tournament

I’m a wee bit tired for anagramming but this seems hysterical: for number 6 VAGINAL CLAMMONGER. mwahahaha. so wrong. I must be giddy.

Oh glory… I haven’t been this psychologically damaged since I came across and Obi-Wan QuiGon Jinn slash fanfic. The thought of Snape having erm… intimate relations with a student of Hogwarts makes my skin crawl. It’s amazing boggling disturbing just how much Harry Potter slash there is. ::shudder::

Trivia For Round One of Quidditch
1. Who isn’t or hasn’t been a Quidditch captain?
Cho Chang

2. Who are the Gryffindor chasers? (books 1-5)
Alicia, Angelina and Katie

3. Who are the Slytherin beaters? (books 1-4)
Derrik and Bole

4. What type of broom isn’t made anymore?
Silver Arrow

5. The Slytherin team all ride the same broom, what is it?
Nimbus 2001

6. Which of these is not a Quidditch team?
Tudshill Tornados

7. Who is Head of Hufflepuff House?
Professor Sprout

8. Which Hufflepuff student is reported to have been one of the only peple to have ever given Hufflepuff success?
Cedric Diggory

9. In Book 1 who was the first Hufflepuff student to be sorted?
Hannah Abbott

10. What is the emblem of Hufflepuff House?
Badger

We were also asked to locate photos of Ron, Harry, and Hermione (together), Hagrid, Buckbeak, Sirius Black, and Uncle Vernon. I have included 2 of Hagrid because the little anime Hagrid is freaking adorable. I need to go back and find more… there was one of him and Buckbeak that was too freaking cute.