HSKS 6

I have been receiving a lot of inquiries about when our new DADA Professor would be arriving. He is now here at Hogwarts and I have been helping him get comfortable and acquainted with the school. I would like to introduce Professor Lucious..er..Lucius Whitmarsh.

Professor Whitmarsh comes to us after spending a term at Durmstrang. He was very disillusioned to find that at Durmstrang they were actually teaching the Dark Arts and, after seeing the results, he decided he wanted to teach young minds how to defend against those forces. I will tell you that he is very accomplished in working magic with his wand.

If you are interested in meeting with Professor Whitmarch, please see me as I am handling his appointment calendar.

Good Morning Hogwarts Students! I’m Agatha Vablatsky and I will be acting as the dueling club coordinator for this term.

For new students, here is an explanation of how the dueling club will work:

Essentially, all participants will be organized into brackets where everyone will be paired up with one person. The pattern will be released, and the first person to receive a hat or sock in the mail from their opponent will be dead. The person who is left standing will advance to the next round and will be paired with the winner from another pairing within the bracket. In the end, there will be one person standing from each bracket and they will be dubbed the dueling winner.

There will be a bracket for hat knitters and a bracket for sock knitters. You do not have to be a fast knitter to participate, but you should be able to finish a hat within 5 days and a pair socks in 1 1/2 to 2 weeks at minimum. In the HSKS5 dueling club, many of the hat knitters finished their hats within 1 – 2 days after the pattern was released. Similarly, the fastest sock knitters can usually complete a pair of socks in about 2 days although many took between 3 – 5 days to complete a pair of socks.

Keep in mind that sometimes it comes down to a race of the owls, with the post office being the deciding factor. Completing a project a day or two before your dueling partner doesn't mean anything if your post office decides to mail your package out a day late.

As far as shipping requirements, overnight mail is NOT allowed. It must go Priority. We recommend mailing your projects with delivery confirmation because if projects are received on the same day, the delivery confirmation will let us know when it was delivered. This will help us to alleviate any possible disputes as to who killed whom first.

New for this round of the swap is the inclusion of crocheters! In the beginning rounds of the competition, you will have the option to knit or crochet within your bracket. I’ll pair knitters with knitters and crocheters with crocheters within the hat or sock bracket. However, please note that the final round will be knitting ONLY, so you must be able to knit to participate.

More than anything, this is just a fun project. Don't NOT join just because you think you are a slow knitter.

Interested? If you would like to join, e-mail me at hsksduelclub at gmail dot com with the following information:

Potter Name
Bracket: Hat or Sock
Craft: Crochet or Knit

If you have further questions about the dueling club, please comment to this post and I will answer them in the comments so that others may get their questions answered too.

Agatha

For those in the U.S. you will be required to purchase a Certified Mail Receipt Delivery Confirmation when you send your package off. I suggest the Delivery Confirmation only because it provides both proof of mailing and allows you to track your package to make sure that it gets to it's destination. When you purchase the Delivery Confirmation option you will need to email me the tracking number, which I will add to your individual database entry that I keep.

Certified Mail Delivery Confirmation provides proof of mailing at the time of mailing and date and time of delivery or attempted delivery. A delivery record is maintained by the USPS. Delivery Confirmation is available with First-Class Mail and Priority Mail. For an additional fee, Delivery Confirmation may be combined with restricted delivery or return receipt.

Flat Rate Boxes
Hopefully many of you know about this option, which the postal service provides. Flat Rate boxes!! Whatever you can fit into this box will only cost you $9.95 to ship, plus your Certified Mail. The joy of it is that you can get the boxes from the postal service for free. You can either order them online or visit your local postal site and request them in person. There is also a larger box option at $12.95.


Come one, come all!! You are all invited to a Beginning of the Year Feast in the Great Hall on Tuesday, September 16th with the headmistress. Bring your favorite cup of tea or joe and join us for a chat.

Please post the answers to this questionnaire on your blog no later than Tuesday, September 16th. You will gain 5 House Points for posting it and filling it out on time.

Potter Name:

Rav ID:

I am allergic to:

Pets that I have:

My favorite yarn:

If you are a Ravenclaw, do you prefer the film colors or the book colors?

My favorite flavor:

My favorite holiday: Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas

I would like to receive a: (Sock kit, scarf kit or yarn dyeing kit)

List your favorite brand of needles or hooks, including size and length:

Is there a brand that you are dying to try?:

I've participated in HSKS: (How many times have you participated in HSKS swaps?)

Do you have a birthday during this swap? If so which day?

For anyone that stops by - Sign Ups Are Now Closed. We are not accepting anymore applications. The next swap will take place in either January or February of 2009. Be sure to join the Ravelry group to get updates.

When I looked back over the applications there were not that many that chose Dye Kit as an option, but I thought that it would still be a good idea to post some resources for those of you that have some questions.

Kit requirements are as listed below:

1. A handmade (by you!) item.

• Knit, Crochet or sewn bag, journal, or something else your partner will enjoy.
  

2. Yarn to compliment the theme of your kit in your pals house colors.

• Yarn for your pal to make a bag, scarf, hat or other item.
  

3. A pair of new knitting needle.

4. Knitting accessory.

• Stitch markers, row counters, or other knitting or crocheting accessory.
  

5. A knitting or crochet pattern for socks, scarf, or bag.

Dye Kit Requirement Specifications:

1. Dyeable yarn
2. Dye in spoilees House Colors - this could be as simple as Kool-Aid
3. Yarn Dyeing instructions
4. Knitting Accessory
5. A knitting or crocheting pattern

What is not required in a dye kit? Needles or a hand made item. Those things are not required, but they would be a nice addition.

Fall Season
The weather is turning a little cooler, so let us be creative in some of the handmade items that we include in our pals kits.

With every swap more and more people have stepped up and assisted me with running it. I'm so eternally grateful to so many of you - especially those that gave me suggestions after the first and second HSKS's.

I'd like to give a special thanks to Kristy Angus (kristo) for all her hard work in getting S.P.E.W. up and running during our Anniversary swap. The Society Promoting Excellent Wearables is an awesome addition to the swap.

And now, without further adieu . . .

Happy Birthday Ferula Finnigan!

Have some Butterbeer


And some birthday cake!

Hello, all!!

As a way to earn early House Points you can link the HSKS 6 logo in the sidebar of your blog.

The logo must be placed in your side bar and linked to either this blog or the main HSKS site. Preferably the main site, because it answers so many questions that someone might have concerning the swap. A former Professor here at Hogwarts posted a very nice tutorial on linking an image using a free image storage site such as Flickr. Please visit Miss Mandy's blog for more information. Each person will earn 5 House points for posting the image to their side bar by this Thursday, September 11th.