Sock Poll

The folk publishing one of my sock patterns in a book this autumn (Lark books) have asked their designers to invite friends (that's all of you!) to do a fun online poll about socks and ... stuff!! The book is to be called 'The Joy of Sox', so it should be no surprise that one of the questions is about playing 'footsie'!!

Alas, I don't know if I am allowed yet to post pictures of the socks I designed for the book, so I'm playing safe and waiting a little longer! Slight clue - I called the design 'Pink Passion', so I'll leave you to guess what colour the socks are!!

In other design news, I am currently in negotiations with Yarn Forward magazine who have asked me to write an article about double knitting to accompany the pattern for this scarf I've just finished:



Also, I have designed and knitted a silk lace bag. The pattern is the first for a book Lizzie has suggested I could write. I will publish this one separately first - it is coming up to wedding season, and I think this would make a great accessory for a wedding outfit:



All this work keeps me so busy that I hope you will forgive me for again not doing the Slytherin quizz?

Quidditch

1. What momentous event was the reason that the members of the Order of the Phoenix felt it necessary to move Harry out of the Dursley’s house?
a. The start of the new school year
b. The Dursleys kicking him out
c. Voldemort’s escape from Azkaban
d. Harry’s upcoming birthday

2. Who revealed the actual date of Harry’s transfer to Voldemort, despite the misinformation the Order had been spreading around that the move would occur on the eve of his actual birthday?
a. Mundungus
b. Snape
c. Yaxley
d. Shacklebolt

3. With the use of Polyjuice Potion (and to confuse any possible attack by Death Eaters), six member of the Order were disguised as Harry and escorted out of Privet Drive, along with the real Harry. Which member of the order did not survive that night?
a. Mad-Eye Moody
b. Nymp0hadora Tonks
c. Hagrid
d. George Weasley

4. Who informed Harry, Ron and Hermione of the bequests left to them in Dumbledore’s will?
a. Kingley Shaclebolt
b. Minerva McGonalgall
c. Arthur Weasley
d. Rufus Scimgeour

5. During the wedding celebration for Bill and Fleur, Kingley Shacklebolt sent a Patronus to tell the guests that the Ministry had fallen, Scrimgeour (the Minister) was dead and the wedding celebration was about to be attacked by Death Eaters. What form did the Patronus take?
a. A lynx
b. An otter
c. A doe
d. A stag

6. Escaping from the wedding to London, our three friends found themselves confronted by a pair of Death Eaters, disguised as workmen. This close brush impressed on them the need to find someplace to hide. Where did they decide to go?
a. The Leaky Cauldron
b. Sirius Black’s house
c. The Dursley’s house
d. Ron’s Auntie Muriel’s house

7. Kreacher’s animosity towards Harry, Ron and especially Hermione (a Mudblood) was well documented in book five, “The Order of the Phoenix.” His initial interaction with them showed that his attitude had not changed. How did they win him over?
a. By giving him clothes and his freedom
b. They didn’t win him over!
c. By giving him something to eat
d. By giving him Regulus Black’s old locket

8. Who did they eventually find was in possession of the locket/Horcrux?
a. Severus Snape
b. Lucius Malfoy
c. Lord Voldemort
d. Dolores Umbridge

9. What did Harry find embedded in the door of Umbrdige’s office?
a. Moody’s magical eye
b. Nymphadora’s purple hair
c. Hedwig’s head
d. George Weasley’s ear

10. After retrieving the Horcrux, they tried to return to their safe place but they were pursued (actually Yaxley tagged along when they disapparated). This meant that the Death Eaters knew their hiding place and they had to go somewhere else. Where did Hermione take them?
a. To Godric’s Hollow
b. To the Forbidden Forest
c. Back to the Burrow
d. To the site of the Quidditch World Cup

Picture Scavenger Hunt
Pciturs linked below:

Mad-Eye Moody
Nymphadora Tonks
George Weasley
The Dursley's House
Kreacher

Posh Witch!!

Having updated my wish list in the sidebar this evening I have realised that it reveals my rather posh taste in things. So, I hasten to assure my dear magical friends, that while I may have expensive tastes, in speech and manner I am a true Yorkshire lass!

Books

I found this great meme on my spoilee's blog and thought I'd do it myself. The crossed out books are ones I've read, and the bold books are ones I intend to read at some point.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (my favourite read!)
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (set near my home!)
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (set text for O Level English Lit.)
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (set text for O level English Lit.)
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (set text for A level English Lit. - brilliant book, and I hated Thomas Hardy for it!!)
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (great book!)
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen (of course!)
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen (ditto!)
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (don't know why this separate from 33)
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (seen the film - loved that)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan (seen the film though!)
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (naturally!)
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon As my eldest son has Asperger's, thankfuuly not as severely as the boy in this book. I cried a lot!
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (Lizzy says this is even worse than Tess for leaving readers in a suicidal state!!)
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding (Not as good as the film!)
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (Lovely Yorkshire story!)
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome (My favourite books as a child)
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (I now have this on my iPod read by Patrick Stewart - wonderful!!)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker ** this was a good story.
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I still cry at this one!)
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks (Hubby's favourite author, not mine!)
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams (Cried buckets!)
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (Set text for A Level English Lit.)
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Slytherin House Quiz

What are your three most favorite colors?
Green, green, and pink!

What are your three least favorite colors?
Black, orange, and red

Your favorite candy is ...
Sherbet lemons (of course!!)

Draco, Lucius, or Snape?
Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

Do you knit, crochet, or both?
Both

What type of kit did you ask for?
Felted

Acrylic—has its uses, should all be burned, best yarn to work with (choose one)?
Should all be burned! Really - it is an abomination against sheep and taste!

Who is the Slytherin Head Girl this term?
Quinn

Name four “extras” you would love to receive in your kit.
Ooh!! A shawl brooch/pin, a knitting book/magazine, anything sheepy, and any smellies.

What are your three most favorite scents?
Lavender, rose and honeysuckle

Do you prefer salty or sweet snacks?
Salty

Which Slytherin is the Keeper of the Crucio List?
Cassandra Puddlemere

Do you really need more stitch markers?
No!!

Dpns, circular, or straight?
Straights - I have less stock of these, and recently broke one of my only pair of 3.75mm straights.

What yarn makes you squee?
Louisa Harding Kimono Angora - I got some recently and it is divinely soft! Sadly now discontinued, so I might have to buy up Texere's entire remaining stock!!

Favorite HP Movie?
Goblet of Fire

Favorite HP character?
Dobby!

Who was your first choice for DADA professor?
Colin Firth (except I couldn't stand to see anybody else get him!)

What is the Slytherin Common Room called?
The Snake Pit

What makes you worthy of being in Slytherin House?
My awesome greatness!!