A New Year at Hogwarts

And I have once again been appointed to assist Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary. I so love the opportunity to do a little nursing. Of course, this is only a part-time appointment. Most of the time I will be at Creaky Cottage (the Wigworthy home) loooking after my brrod, and working on my knitterly creations. i sell knitting patterns via the Daily Prohet classified section. It's not exactly lucrative, yet together with my nursing salary at Hogwarts it will go a little way toward ourt household expenses.

Deputy Headmistress, Wisteria Lovegood, is running another knitting swap, and as usual i have signed up for it. We are doing kits themed on well-known personalities in the magical world. I've chosen Luna Lovegood, Albus Dumbledore, and Rita Skeeter as my characters.  Here's why:

Luna Lovegood:

Very much reminds me of myself in my younger days. She has so much creative energy, making her rather scatty and quite the daydreamer. I love her fascination with the weird and wonderful. Most of all I love her strong sense of loyalty to her friends, her amazing artistic ability, and the wisdom and insight that she sometimes manifests so humbly yet powerfully in the most poignant situations.

Albus Dumbledore:

Is such a twinkly, loving man. As with Luna, I adore his eccentricity and how willing he is to appear extremely odd. I deeply admire his principles, and most especially appreciate his humility.

Rita Skeeter:

An odd choice I know! It was spur of the moment. Maybe I chose her because she reminds me of how I don't want to be? Narcissitic to the extreme, sucks everything she can out of folk, cares not a hoot for how much she hurts people, acid tongue, acid quill.... And there's the thing - I think ultimately I chose her simply because she is a writer!

Very late photos of my wonderful package from Lily May Clearwater

I am so sorry Lily that it has taken me so long to get around to posting these photos. It is two and a half weeks since this package arrived. I know, I'm a very naughty witch for taking so long to do this, and I apologise profusely. :0(

Anyway, I really love the package, particularly the awesome fingerless mittens that Lily made for me inone of my most favourite shades of my most favourite colour. Thank you!

Sadly Lily's owl arrived in a very sorry state, having taken a lot longer to make the journey than owls usually do, and the package had come open mid-flight! Was he attacked by dark forces? We can't know!

There may be little items missing, yet there still was so much stuffed in this package that I think it might all have made it here. Alas, the day the package arrived the delicious variety of Green and Black chocolate bars within were quickly consumed by the younger Wigworthys!

So here is what was left:

Beautiful yarns, all wool in sock weight (Lily has clearly noted my preference for fine-guage knits). The first two pictures are of scrummy Chinese yarns, presumably brought back to Scotland by Lily when she last came to school here. The last picture is of yarn dyed by a very well-known British dyer, The Knitting Goddess - this is her 'semi-solid slate' - lovely! :0)

I'm going to use the small skeins in the first picture to edge something (ponders possibilities!) made with the main yarn which they complement beautifully:

Handmade by Lily; a lovely bag in Arrows blue which I'm going to line with the pretty fat quarter it sits on in this picture which Lily also included in the package:

Utterly awesomely beautiful and scrummily-coloured fingerless mittens, handmade by Lily:

Rosewood knitting needles and pretty stitchmarkers (made by Lily):

Rose oil (for my burner), knitting badges, and some wool wash (there were two - I've already used the other!). Despite the pronouncement on one of the badges, which I suppose is to ward off dark wizards when I knit in public, I swear I have never been in prison! ;0)

And finally a gardening journal. Lily has obviously noticed the pictures of my lovely Yorkshire garden that I have occasionally posted.

Thank you so much Lily for all these lovely things. You have again really touched ny heart with the extent of your generosity. :0)

Who stole it and where is the Quidditch World Cup trophy?

The carved boar's head among the belongings of the thief vanquished by Winifred Wartbobble is a piece of  artwork from the Black Forest of Germany. I think this is the biggest (and as far as I can tell the only clue) to the location of the hidden trophy. The peruvian darkness powder and hand of glory were clearly used to hide the trophy. This location fits the hints some of the quidditch captains have provided, describing the location of the trophy as 'more specific than a country, less specific than a city'.

I believe the thief himself was a vampire! Winnie's missives have contained several veiled references to vampires. Among the thief's possessions are some bloodpops - confectionary of vampires. Also at one point she went to visit Horace Slughorn to get information from him. He was very good friends with Eldred Worple, befriender of vampires, and author of  'Blood Brothers: My life Amongst the Vampires'. In fact I think it is possible that the thief may even be the vampire Sanguini who was in company with Mr. Worple at Slughorn's Christmas party during Harry's 6th year at Hogwarts. We know that vampires are associated with the Black Forest because Quirrell claimed to have encountered one in his travels there. A possible further association of the clues with vampires is the fact that Whitby museum is one of only two locations in the muggle world to possess a true hand of glory, and Whitby is where Bram Stoker stayed whilst he chronicled the story of Count Dracula, the most famous vampire of them all in muggle lore.

However, I really fail to understand the significance of the Swiftstick broom, the snitch and the broken wand, beyond the obvious association of the broom and snitch with quidditch, and the possibility that the wand was broken during the vampire's fatal duel with Winnie.

And that's my final say on the matter (I think!)

(Incidentally, the Black Forest was the location of mine and Mr. Wigworthy's honeymoon!)

Stumped!

Beyond the obvious choice of Hogsmeade, I have no good idea where the stolen Quidditch World Cup Trophy is hidden. My other guesses are Peru, Transylvania, and the Black Forest. :0(

Stolen Quidditch World Cup Trophy?

Winnie has sent a mystery object to Wisty and Siobhan with a cryptic clue on the box. In true Ravenclaw style I have applied myself diligently to deciphering it. I tell you, I should be working as a code-breaker for Gringotts!

In Winnie's missives from her travels around the world on a 'secret mission' there have been odd letters enchanted to stand out a little from the rest. I think she achieved this with some special ink from Scribbulus at Diagon Alley. These numbers are an exact numerical match to the sum of the letters in the '5 words' that Winnie referenes in her clue on the aforesaid box. Rearranged into words of the designated lengths ('6, 9, 5, 3, 6') the letters almost spell out the words which appear in the title of this post - 'Stolen Quidditch World Cup Trophy'. (I say 'almost' because one C has to change to a U to do this - perhaps the ink has tipped a U on it's side?) My conclusion is that Winnie has been on an amazing worldwide adventure to recover this wonderful magical artefact, and that this is what is in the box she sent to Wisty and Siobhan. Perhaps Winnie plans to award it to the winning team in The Swap? I do hope that is the Arrows!!

Getting Christmassy!

We are getting ready for Christmas in the Wigworthy household, putting decorations and cards up (every day brings more) and making and buying presents for the family. As I write a few pounds of redcurrants are merrily boiling in the cauldron to extract the juice for this year's batch of jelly. This forms most of our Christmas giving. Of course, I knit a few gifts too; this year my Falling Flowers Scarf will be a gift for my niece Poppy.

And Winnie is preparing for Christmas too - it seems she has been to visit the man himself, Father Christmas, in his home at the North Pole. I'll not tell my little wizards - they would be so jealous!

And this week I finally finished and sent my package to dear Olive Bumblebirch. She is a whole ocean away, so this will be an epic flight for poor Verso. I know he is up to it though, and hope he gets to meet some lovely American owls on his trip.

News From Winnie?

After a somewhat alarming absence during which we all thought Winnie might have come a cropper, we have finally heard from her again. It turns out her last two letters had simply been mislaid. So all's well, or is it...

It looks as though Winnie has been to Rome, where she purchased lots of garlic and stocked up with holy water and crosses, contemplating her next stop, which is clearly in the Black Forest of Germany ('Shwarzwald' to the locals), where it is known that vampires live. Indeed it seems from her last missive that Winnie is only just managing not to be nobbled by one!

I know Emma Gorodok lives in Germany; I wonder if she will be able to go and offer Winnie some assistance to fight them off?