Thank You Cassandra Black!

A very tired Canadian owl arrived at my home today, having traveled all the way from Alberta, Canada with quite a package!

I was very excited to see that my HSKS4 swap package had arrive! What had Cassandra sent me!

The box was just chock full of Hufflepuff themed goodies! I could see beautiful black and yellow sock yarn!

Just look at all of it! Yarn, needles, a Harry Potter notebook and pens, a sock pattern which was written by Cassandra's muggle persona too!

Bag o' knitterly goods! Though I had to admit when I first saw the bag I thought it was a toque (that's Canadian for a knit hat, eh!) We are a border city here in Buffalo, NY.

There was also a skein of Regia cotton sock yarn, for making some summer socks! An Inox circular needle for sock knitting, a personal favorite brand. As well as stitch markers, sock shaped points protectors and a box of tasty orange tea!


Thank you again Cassandra! I can't wait to start working with that gorgeous Hufflepuff sock yarn!

The Great Reveal...

I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone had figured this out...

Since HSKS4 has ended and my swap partner has already received her package, I thought it was time to tell everyone who Toni dela Weasley was. I'm actually looking forward to the responses!

Yes, Toni dela Weasley is actually YarnGuy716 on Ravelry, the only male member of the HSKS. When character blogs were being started for the swap I thought it would be a lot of fun, but I knew if I created a young wizard character everyone would know who it was and that sort of defeated the secret swap. So I emailed Jenean with my idea of blogging as Toni. A male who knits in public isn't someone who is insecure with their masculinity, so I was ready to do it. So know I want to know... how successful was I? Did anyone suspect?

The swap was fun and I enjoyed being involved and most of the activities we did. Making stitch markers was a challenge for me, so I'm glad that Nelia liked them so much. I'm also looking forward to seeing what she knits up with the sock yarn as it was my first attempt at dying sock yarn. I do have some hand painted yarns at my Etsy store and will be adding more.
tipofilato.etsy.com

I haven't decided if I'll be coming back for HSKS5. It was fun and I was glad the my kit was so well received. May is just a really busy time of year for me. But who knows... Antonio dela Weasley may be attending Hogwarts for Term 5.

Artimus has left

Well I finally finished packing everything last night. Those muggle post packages are quite interesting to use. I was sure I would need an additional binding charm, but it all seemed to hold with no problems.

I was pleased with everything that came together on the kit. I was able to try a few things for the first time to include. I personally think the bag came out smashing and so wanted to keep it! But it was made as a gift... although I seriously need to make another for myself ::grins::

Now we just wait until Artimus arrives in Minnesota.

My Swap Kit

It's taken some doing, but my swap kit is nearly completed. I felted the bag today and it really came out nicely. I think my spoilee will like it. I've got a collections of sock patterns, a set of DPNs and my first attempt at stitch markers. I'm also including my first attempt at hand-painted sock yarn, which is hanging to dry. I think it looks pretty smashing.

I still need to get some extra goodies to put in the package. I've gotten some local sweets, which I think she'll enjoy. Just want to get a couple more extra goodies to add to it. By that time the bag and yarn will be dry enough so that I can package it up and send our owl Artimus off to deliver it.

Well, off to bed, another early day of classes....