Extravayarnza

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" "You are quite wrong. Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness." Who are the two people in this conversations?
This is Dumbledore & Voldemort

HSKS Questionnaire

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
Hufflepuff

2. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.
I really don't ever use double-points to knit socks. I suppose once in a blue moon I might pull out my size 1 rosewood needles...
I knit socks using magic loop either on size 0 or 1 26" crystal palace circs or on the new size 1 32" Addi Lace needles.

3. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?
If there is another company that makes size 1 bamboo circs I'd be interested in trying them.

4. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?
n/a

5. If your pal decides to send candies or chocolates are there any that you don't like?
I love chocolate, especially white or milk chocolate. I don't particularly like cherry flavoring & I'm allergic to almonds

6. What are your favorite scents?
I'm allergic to all artificial fragrances. That usually limits me down to things that smell like oatmeal or soap. I like lavender, but it has to have real lavender in it, not a fragrance.

7. Do you have any allergies?
Lets see, almonds & artificial fragrances... and also acrylic. Can't do acrylic at all, I break out in hives.

Let me just say this will be a pretty random post. I have been quite busy this week.

In knitting news I first need to say a big Thank You to my Hogwarts Sock Kit pal she has already sent me my kit & it's so cool!!!

Yeah, most of that chocolate is already gone...
I love JaWoll sock yarn. It's so soft & wears like iron. My first 'real' knit socks we're out of this yarn & they're still around and kickin'. (my actual first pair was out of Bernat Hot Sox acrylic and have fun fur cuffs so I just bring myself to count those)
Plus the Harry Potter candy was so yummy.
BTW: Alison's new Harry Potter knitting book, Charmed Knits came into the shop today & sold out today! I immediately reordered it & since the ship out of Grand Rapids more copies will be here either Friday or Monday. The book is totally wonderful in every way. I'm trying to decided if I need a weasley sweater or a wizard cloak first...
My current knitting focus is finishing my Spiderweb shawl for TNNA. I don't know if it's going to happen (I might be driving to Toronto next weekend, so that would improve my knitting time, on that note can anyone recommend a good/cheap hotel room in Toronto? preferably not too far from the Yarn Harlot book party)
I've now finished my third ball of SWTC inspiration (alpaca & soy silk) and am around 20 rounds from finishing the first chart. That's 2 maybe 3 more days of knitting to finish the first section.

My current big project at work is this:

I'm switching our old customer appreciation card system over to new cards & a new storage system. The main bulk of the work is switching everyone over to the new cards & marking them all off. My hand had such a cramp by the end of the day. I worked on this for 5 hours straight & only made it to M.
But the new cards look so much nicer!

and the new file drawers hold so many more cards (no more worries about over stuffed roladex things) and they are very pretty looking~

The other bit of shop news is the tragic loss of one of our neighboring businesses. Lazeez restaurant a few blocks from us burned down on Tuesday afternoon. It happened so fast. I went out to give Robin a potty break. When we went behind the building the skies were blue. We walked back around to everyone standing on the side walk with shocked looks on their faces. This is what we saw.


Luckily everyone was warned before the fire got out of control & no one was seriously injured. It really makes you feel powerless to see how fast their business was destroyed.

Okay, let's move to a happier subject...
How about a pretty flower picture?

I saw this lovely walking through the MSU perennial gardens. The signs still seem to be being sorted out, so I don't know what it is, but it's really a pretty plant.

I didn't let our Obedience teacher get to me like he did last week. He again told me to do something with Robin that I won't do, I just played dumb & didn't do it. (I am so not grabbing his muzzle & holding it shut to keep him from barking).
Luckily Robin & I both love our Agility class. Tonight he went through with flying colors! He's now seen & performed every obstacle that he will eventually see in competition. Many are still at a beginner setting, but he's seen them & know what the point of each of them are. We even are starting to work on sequencing. My favorite to see him perform tonight was A-frame to tire jump to weaves (all off leash & on my command! that's so cool because those are difficult obstacles) & we also did chute (a blind tunnel he has to push through) to a jump, then a 180 degree turn to the stay table. It's starting to feel like this is really going to happen.
The funniest moment of the night was when we were doing an exercise where we did a circle of different types of jumps. Some of the jumps are window or tire jump, so I dropped the leash to let Robin go through. The plan was just to let the leash trail behind & complete the exercise, however Robin hates his leash dragging on the ground. So he just stopped & picked his leash up in his mouth and continued to jump. Every time he jumped he opened his mouth & the leash fell out. Then he stopped & picked it up again before the next jump. This happened over & over all around the circle.
I think next week the leash needs to just come off.
However nothing tires out a pup like an hour of agility training...

I am so sad I couldn't keep a copy of Charmed Knits from the first shipment. I'm planning to put up a display of things knit from the book & while I have no book, things are not getting knit...
Luckily it looks like I'll have more copies on Monday so the wait won't be too bad.
A cute little weasley out of L.Harding Kashmir Aran is first on the list (Kashmir Aran has all the house colors, plus it's washable! who could ask for a better yarn)

So, I do have a confession to make... I haven’t read a single one of the Harry Potter Books. Not one. I've seen bits & pieces of the movies on tv. That's about it.
I have a very good excuse for it though.
When the first book came out I was at the rebellious high school age where I hated anything that was mainstream & Harry Potter just had too much of a craze about it to be cool.
Now I know better.
I'm also the obsessive type. Once I start reading these books I'll probably make it through all of them in about a month. It's not unheard of for me to read a novel in a night (obviously sleeping doesn't happen that night, but a good book is much more important than sleep). I'm waiting till the final book is released, then I'm going to devour the whole lot of them.
I have no excuse for not seeing more of the movies. I keep meaning to go see them in the theater, but it never seems to happen. Perhaps because I don't want to go by myself? I don't know. I guess my official excuse is I like to read books before I go see the movie (I reread each of the Lord of the Ring novels before seeing the movie. I believe I remember often finishing them as the previews were running).
So, when it comes to trivia for the HSKS all I can really say is, TGFG (Thank God for Google)

Trivia #1
What's the name of this potion?
This potion has the colour of molten gold, and while exposed to the air, large drops will leap like goldfish above the surface without spilling.
Felix Felicis

Trivia #2
Which book is this line from?
"Harry and Cho were now too embarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk to each other; what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in third year; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn't split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excrutiatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?"
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Trivia #3
Who utters these words?
"Oh I am glad I'm not on duty. I wouldn't fancy having to go and tell the Irish they've got to stop celebrating."
Mr. Weasley