Firstie Friday: Do ALL the Things!!!

Hey all!

This is Maria/venusfueri, a first year in Hufflepuff. I blog and podcast regularly over at Subway Knits when I do not have a pile of middle school homework to grade and take a break from my knitting.

I will be blogging every Friday to share my experience as a first year in the cup and anything else that strikes my fancy that is cup related.

This week's post is about the feelings of exhilaration and !!!!!!!!!! that comes with joining the cup and being sorted into a house. When the hat sorted me into Hufflepuff, I totally felt like this at first:

Be ready. There will be alot of Hyperbole and a Half references. 

I got in! I decided to revisit the cup literally ATHELASTMINUTE and was able to submit my Tour de Fleece spinning for a class. Given that the cup is now extremely popular from the last time I visited, (which is another story) I also got mentally ready to be a full term NQFY.

So now that I am in Hufflepuff, my feelings changed a bit after the classes, Quidditch, OWLs, games and everything else posted on September 1. After going through The Den and Hogwarts in general on my first day, I felt a little bit like this:

So, where do I go? Where are classes? What is quidditch? 

I was very, very overwhelmed. Thankfully, Hufflepuff has a great support system with the Cetes and the Room of Requirement - if you are a firstie and stull not sure how to handle the madness that is the Cup quite yet, GO THERE FIRST.

Cetes took me away from the madness that are the common rooms - Hufflepuff's, The Great Hall and the Firstie Common room is alot to keep up with, so the cete provides a space to participate in the fun albeit on a smaller scale (which is great for me because when I return to my Muggle Day Job™, things are going to get crazy out in the Muggle World!).

The Room of Requirement is your one stop shop for everything related to the cup and a support network. It used to be known as HECK (erm, what the heck does HECK mean?) and I have found it really useful so far.

As for Quidditch, well, here is where I learned my lesson as a firstie real quick. The most important thing that I have realized to get the most out of hte Cup is to peruse everything, but pick and choose wisely.

For example, I still don't get Quidditch. I know I won't have time to play Quidditch. Therefore, I put the Quidditch thread on ignore.

This lead to my next lesson and tip: it's totally okay to put threads on ignore. In fact, it cleans up the boards and helps you focus more on what you want to do and makes one's experience at Hogwarts a bit less overwhelming. There is definitely the urge to EXPLORE ALL THE THINGS! but you have 8 terms plus Baccalureate and even MA terms to complete. The Cup will be there. There will be time to play Quidditch if you can't figure it out now.

One other thing, which is also very important to me: take care of yourselves. That means, do not let the Cup drive you mad - the point of the Cup is to have fun!

On a more serious note, take care of your wrists/back/any body part that gets affected by knitting. I have RSI in my left wrist due to the 2010 Ravelympics (there, I SAID it) and it flares up.

These past few weeks my wrist has been acting out - not pain per se, but its telling me that it's tired and I can't do much. It kills me to just sit there and putz through the Internet using my right hand (I'm left handed, which makes things even more annoying) but I know in the long run, I will be able to knit for the whole Cup, as opposed to checking into the Infirmary next
week.

Do you have any tips to share, firstie or not? What lessons have you learned so far about yourselves as a knitter/crocheter/crafter from the Cup? Share in the comments below!

Firstie Fridays: BADGES!!

Happy Friday, Badgers! I hope everyone has been celebrating a lot since last Firstie Friday.

Today I’d like to talk about something very near and dear to my heart: badges. I may love badges even more than I love points, and I lurve points. So let's get straight to the...

FIRSTIE TIP OF THE WEEK: Collect badges!

Badges are collectible bits of love.

Badges are wonderful for many reasons:

·         you can wear them for your robes and let everyone know how amazing you are;

·         you can make project pages for them to see just how super-amazing you can be in a month or in a term or over Hogsmeade Weekend;

·         you can be mega-amazing like kaypendragon of Ravenclaw and do this; or

·         you can come up with something even more über-amazing than that to collect and display your achievements!

If you do that last one, please share your idea with us in the comments!

So shiny. So very, very shiny.

Before you can show off your badges, though, you have to earn them. Where can you find badges to earn in the Den? I’m glad you asked! Here’s a list of some of the places I know you can find Hufflepuff badges. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, so if I left something off, let me know!

·         Quidditch Locker Room

·         IHU thread 

·         Order of the Phoenix advisory thread

·         OWL advisory threads

·         Huffletainment Center

·         HECK

Badges are also extremely fun to make, so I’m going to give you one just for reading this post. That’s right – you get a super secret special badge!

Thanks for reading, Badgers! Congratulations on your Firstie Fridays badge! Now go check out the awesome threads I linked to above and get yourself some more badges. Huzzah!

Firstie Fridays: Let's Celebrate!

Happy Friday, Badgers!  If you can believe it, tomorrow marks the halfway point of the term. I thought now would be the perfect time to take a good look at how our terms are going. I encourage you to play along, whether you’re a Firstie or you’ve been here longer than Peeves!

FIRSTIE TIP OF THE WEEK: CELEBRATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS! CHEER FOR YOURSELF AND FOR YOUR HOUSEMATES.

To take stock of my term so far, I’m going to steal a really good idea: the Five Good Things lists that we make over in the NQFY Waiting Room where I am on the mentoring team. The Five Good Things list is just what it sounds like: you list five things that make you proud, happy, or excited. For an example, let's take a look at my list.

Five Good Things About Jessia’s Firstie Term So Far:

1.       I got 257 points in May. I wasn’t sure if I could get that in one term, let alone one month, so I’m proud of myself for that.

2.       Being a Quidditch Beater is one of the most fun things in the world, and I’m really glad that I made it onto the team.

3.       I think I’m finally getting over my fear of using the good stuff from my stash. I’ve been hesitant because I don't think I'm skilled enough to merit using nice yarn. If I don’t start using it, though, I will end up with a collection of really pretty skeins instead of finished projects, so I’m done just petting it and ready to start knitting it. Then, of course, I will pet it some more.

4.       I sprinted for Hufflepuff glory! I was one of the last ‘Puff sprinters to cross the Quidditch finish line, but I surprised myself by finishing my tote on the first day. I was proud of my effort.

5.       IHU fun times! I love IHU, and I’m having a blast working on it. You should all check it out. It might end up on your Five Good Things list, too!

There you have it! Those are five things I’m really happy about right now. What about you? Think about all the projects you’ve done and the activities in which you’ve participated. Did you craft something amazing, make a new friend, earn a crazy amount of bonus points, learn a new technique, or otherwise surprise yourself with your own Badgertasticness™? Make your own Five Good Things list and see just how much you’ve accomplished! Even if you think you didn’t accomplish anything, once you sit down and try to come up with Good Things, you will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your list fills up.

Once you’ve got your Five Good Things list, think about sharing it with your fellow Badgers in PBQuest, the UCR, or your cete! You will get plenty of encouragement when you post your list. That’s one of the things I love most about Hufflepuffs: how much they enjoy cheering on their housemates. It feels great to have your fellow ‘Puffs celebrate your accomplishments with you, and it feels great to celebrate your housemates’ accomplishments, too. Huzzah Hufflepuff!

Thanks for reading, Badgers! Go celebrate all the great things we’ve done so far, and then get ready to be even more amazing as we begin the second half of the term!

Firstie Fridays: Working on Badgertastic Organizational Skills

Happy Friday, Badgers, and welcome to another edition of Firstie Fridays! Two weeks ago we talked about setting goals. I hope you’ve got yours recorded, because today we’re going to talk about how we can achieve those goals:

Firstie Tip of the Week: GET ORGANIZED!

Even if you’re not a spreadsheet-loving, Container Store-shopping, checklist-making crazy person like I am, you can still get organized. If you are that kind of organized person, let us perform the secret handshake and then get to color-coding.

Being an enthusiastic First Year, I definitely suffer from the disease known as Do All the Things-itis. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, though. If you’re having fun and it doesn’t interfere with your work, family, or other Muggle obligations, then I say do all the things you want to do!

With that said, it is PSA time. Since I am in the Do All the Things Club, that is the perspective from which a lot of my posts will be written. However, I hope that my suggestions can help everyone, regardless of the number of classes you turn in or the number of extracurricular activities you do. I love trying to do every class and every activity, but I don’t think that you have to Do All the Things to be a great player. Have fun and craft what you love, my friends! As long as you’re trying your best, you’re doing it right.

If you stare at this picture long enough, a sailboat will appear.

Confession: I have a First of the Month Planning Ritual that I get way too excited about. Don’t worry; I’m not going to get into it here. I play in 4 different competitive crafting groups on Rav, so my ritual is probably more involved than anyone wants to hear about. But if anyone ever wants to geek out with me over planning and my method of taking 60 different prompts and making 10 projects fit them all (those are randomly chosen numbers, but they’re not too far off base), please earburn me! I will geek out like you wouldn’t believe, and you might have some great tips for me! Right now, though, let’s focus on these tips:

•             Gather all the information before you act. Before you get excited about a project and turn it in to the first class thread you read, take some time to read all of the prompts. Part of my planning involves gathering every single prompt from each of my groups in one place. The Den has a handy-dandy thread that does that for you already: the Pantry. After you check out the rest of the prompts, you may find that your amazing project works better elsewhere and that you can make another exciting project for that first class. Now you have two assignments turned in instead of one! That’s double the points!



Twin badgers: achieving world domination, one "Aw!" at a time.



•             Prioritize. Advanced Studies and Quidditch are really exciting! They won’t help you keep your sorting priority, though, so make sure that you leave yourself enough time to turn in at least one class per month. Don’t wait until the last day of the term to start crafting your class. Someone might put a computer-freezing hex on you when you try to submit it, and you may not have enough time to counter it before the deadline. As a NQFY, I handed in a class on the last day of the term with 7 minutes to spare. I nearly had a heart attack. Do not do that to yourself!

•             Speaking of deadlines…Pay attention to dates and times. It is heartbreaking to find out that you started a project one day too early or finished it ten minutes too late. You are playing with people from time zones all over the world on a site that keeps track of the exact minute that you post anything. Dates and times make a difference. Make sure you know what they are before you decide what to start on first. It may sound silly, but it doesn’t hurt to have a POT clock somewhere. Your wall doesn’t have to look like this:

...but if it did you would be the coolest person I know.

Still, it might help on deadline days to have an Internet tab open with Princess Onica Time displayed on it.

•             Figure out what accountability method works best for you. Be honest now: if you make a checklist, will you stick to it, or will you just throw it away at the end of the day? If you’ll stick to it, you are awesome. If you won’t, you’re still awesome; you just need to find something that will help you tackle that to-do list. Find the organizational method that best keeps you on track with your to-do list and stick with it. Do you prefer checklists, spreadsheets, or calendars? Do you like some combination of the three, or do you work better with something else entirely? Maybe setting reminders on your phone helps, or maybe you are someone who likes to put sticky notes around the house. Use whatever works, my friends!

To-Do Note #7: Google "how to bandage cat scratches."

Okay! You’ve got your priorities straight and your deadlines figured out, and you’ve picked the way you’re going to keep track of it all. Now what do you do? Well, you make your checklist or your spreadsheet or your elaborate system of Post-It notes, and you stick to your plan. Focus on the top priorities first and work your way down, keeping in mind that due dates have an impact on the priority of projects. For example: if Quidditch is your second or third priority, but it’s due on June 3^rd, then it moves up on the priority list over the classes that are due on June 30^th. Then start with Priority One and knock those to-do's out!

This may sound like a lot – it may be a lot – but even if you just take away one little tip from this post, I think you will be happier with your crafting life. Getting organized helps you figure out what you want to make and when you want to make it. That knowledge leads to beautiful finished projects, which in turn lead to points! The theme of this term in Hufflepuff is “No points left on the table,” which I interpret to mean: “Don’t miss out on points that are rightfully yours.” Stay on top of deadlines by being aware of dates and times; know where you can turn in projects by reading all the prompts; prioritize your projects; hold yourself accountable. Doing these things keeps you and your projects organized, and if you’re organized, you’ll have a great chance of getting all the points that you deserve for being an amazing, Badgertastic crafter!

Thanks for reading, Badgers! Have a great weekend, and try getting organized when the new classes go up tomorrow! If you have any tips or questions, let me know in the comments!

Firstie Fridays: IHU and You - A Love Story

Happy Friday, Badgers! Something exciting happened to me this week, and I wanted to share it with all of you: I became the new head of InterHouse Unity for Hufflepuff! I’m honored and excited – have I mentioned the excitement? I have? Good! – but in the middle of all that excitement I found out that a lot of ‘Puffs don’t really know what IHU is. So I’m here not just as your faithful Firstie blogger but also as your Fancypants IHU Lady (trademark pending) to tell you all about it.

InterHouse Unity is all about getting to know people from the other houses and hopefully making some new friends! I know that some of us Badgers (me included) can be shy homebodies who aren’t too sure about leaving the UCR or our cetes, but IHU is really fun and not even a little bit scary. If that’s true for me, then trust me, dear friends, it will be true for you too. InterHouse Unity also helps our friendly house competition stay friendly, which is a very good thing. It’s fun and easy, and I know I could use more of that in my life and in the Cup, so...

Firstie Tip of the Week: HAVE FUN WITH INTERHOUSE UNITY!

Our May IHU with Gryffindor is a tea party where you and your partner make something for one of four classes – Transfiguration, History of Magic, Potions, or Herbology – and tie your projects together. That’s it! You don’t have to do the same project or even the same class; you just earburn each other and write up a story if you like. I have three IHU partners this month, and they are all fun and awesome! Check out the GryffinPuff thread here. There are always students looking for a partner, so it’s not too late to get in on the wonderful IHU action!

Besides making new friends and reconnecting with old ones, you will also earn super-cool badges for your InterHouse Unity efforts. We have two shiny GryffinPuff badges for May:

The activities will change every month, so you’ll have a new house to hang out with and new badges to earn in June and July. I am obsessed with badges. I have a tab in my projects page just for badges. The fabulous LumosKP made our two GryffinPuff badges, and I will be the Fancypants IHU Badge-Maker (trademark pending) for the rest of the term. I love making badges, so there might even be super special surprise badges to be had. (I make no promises! I am a big fan of surprise badges, though, so stay tuned.)

Even if you’re not badge-obsessed like me, there is something for everyone with InterHouse Unity. IHU activities can be anything: they may be craft-alongs or class partnerships, or they may be more social activities like swaps or games. Whether you like to craft all the things or you like to get one class in and then hang out around the castle, IHU has something fun for you that fits with your style of play. So even if you can't make it to the GryffinPuff party this month, be sure to check back in June when we get in touch with our inner HuffleClaws and in July when we explore our SlytherPuff sides.

I really want InterHouse Unity to be fun and rewarding for everybody involved, and I promise I’m not just saying all of this because I am now a Fancypants IHU Lady. I was excited about IHU as soon as I saw the thread pop up. (If you follow that link, you'll see just how excited and how true to my Firstie name I was.) Why do I find it so exciting? Well, because IHU lets you have more fun doing what you were already going to do, and it helps you get to know more of the wonderful students in the castle! Take crafting, which we all love, and add fun and friends – it really doesn’t get any better than that. Plus, did I mention the badges?

Thanks for reading, Badgers! I hope you'll check out InterHouse Unity and spread the Badger love beyond the cozy confines of the Den to let it cover all of Hogwarts. Huzzah Hufflepuff!



Firstie Fridays: GOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLS!!

Happy Friday, Badgers! A few days ago, I was bouncing around the NQFY Quidditch pitch – I really, really like Quidditch, so I bounce a lot on the pitch – and one of our fabulous NQFYs asked me if I was this rambunctious in person. I said no and explained that I am extremely quiet and reserved in “real” life. I started wondering about that answer, though, so I asked my husband if he would describe me as rambunctious. He said, “If you’re around people you’re comfortable with…yeah, absolutely.”

One of the reasons I asked Sir Hat to put me in Hufflepuff was that I want to bring out the ‘Puff aspect of my personality more. I want to get back to being the goofy, happy girl that laughs all the time and can get a little rambunctious. I think I am getting there, and I think a lot of that has to do with being in Hufflepuff. On my sorting form I told Sir Hat this: “I think I can help Hufflepuff, and I think Hufflepuff can help me.” It looks like Hufflepuff is already helping me by allowing me to become more like myself than I have been in years. Now the question is this: how do I help Hufflepuff? My answer, dear Firsties, is this:

Firstie Tip of the Week: SET GOALS!

There are lots of different ways we can help our house become even more amazing. At the end of the day, though, the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup are won by the house with the most points. Don’t worry…I’m not going to tell you that you have to turn in 8 classes a month and do an OWL and an Order mission every term. I am going to tell you that you need a plan, though. If you have a plan, you will have a much better shot at finishing everything that you want to get done.

At the beginning of the term, I like to make a list with 3-5 goals on it. I think about things I want to improve upon or learn how to do, and I see if I have any gifts I need to make time to craft. I take all those things and narrow them down to a list of specific things that I want to accomplish. I usually try to make my goals as structured and defined as possible, because I get lost easily if my goals are too vague. Goals like “get healthy” and “become an awesome knitter” are great, but I don’t know where to start when it comes time to work toward those goals. I get overwhelmed, and then I just throw up my hands and sit on the couch with my laptop and some cookies. So, in the interest of being specific, here are my Spring 2013 goals:

·         Hand in at least 6 classes per month

·         Do all of Quidditch

·         Finish OWL on time

·         Finish Order mission on time

My goals this term are based on my focus on points. I want to earn as many points as I can the best way I know how. Everyone is different, though, so your goals may look nothing like mine. And that’s great: if your goals are important to you and you make them challenging but realistic, then you have an awesome list of goals, my friend. Setting goals helps you accomplish things you want to do, and those accomplishments earn you points, and those points help Hufflepuff get closer to winning ALL THE CUPS. It’s win-win!

I've got a favor to ask now, Firsties. I'd like you to think hard about your goals, because next week we’re going to get organized and start talking about how to achieve them! Don't go just yet, though. I'd like to share our Firstie Questionnaire with you so you know what to expect. Here are my answers:


FIRSTIE QUESTIONNAIRE

What’s your Rav handle?

JessiaSott

What’s your favorite part of your First Year so far?

I’m going to cheat and give more than one answer: getting my OWL and BROOM approved, and being a Beater on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

Is anything about the Cup confusing you?

Only how students finish gorgeous projects in a couple of weeks that would take me decades to do!

What do you like to do when you’re not playing in the Cup?

I just joined a roller derby league, so evidently I like being the most obviously out of shape person in the room. I also love to read and spoil my dog.

What are your goals for this term?

Besides the ones you’ve already seen, I want to be active in the threads and improve my storytelling.

What is your dream crafting project?

One day I want to knit a sweater. Not just any sweater, but a sweater that fits me properly and looks good on me. So, basically, I want to knit The Perfect Sweater. No pressure. :)

What is your favorite type of crafting to do?

The only thing I know how to do right now is knit, so…knitting. I also like making collage journals.

What are the three words that describe you best?

Indecisive, insecure, silly.

If you could choose any fictional character outside of HP canon to be your best friend, who would it be and why?

Dorothy Zbornak from “The Golden Girls.” She’s no-nonsense, she’s funny, and she understands the wisdom of eating dessert at midnight.


Thanks for reading, Badgers. If you have any stories about ways that Hufflepuff has helped you, or if you know what your term goals are, please post them in the comments! I would love to hear about them. Huzzah!

First Firstie Friday - Say That Five Times Fast!

Hello and welcome to the first Firstie Friday of the term! I'm JessiaSott, your intrepid Firstie blogger. I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences of life as a First Year Hufflepuff with you all, and I hope I can help my fellow Firsties successfully navigate their first sorted term in the House Cup.

One of my plans for this space is to have a Firstie Tip of the Week (tip of the hat to Skrewkat for the suggestion!). I wanted to write this first post about organizational tips, but I struggled with each draft. I still plan on posting soon about ways you can organize your crafting, but I realized that I was struggling because I want my first tip to be about the most important part of the House Cup. As much as I love organization, it's not the most important part of this experience. No, that would be...drum roll, please...

Firstie Tip of the Week: HAVE FUN!

We're all here because we love crafting and we love the magical world of Harry Potter, right? Right. Points are awesome; spreadsheets are awesome; doing ALL THE THINGS is awesome. The point of playing this game, though, is to have fun. Check yourself lest ye wreck yourself: are you having fun? If you're not having as much fun as you can - and really, you can always have more fun - check out this handy-dandy list:

• Relax. I know that this is easier said than done, but try it anyway. Even just taking five minutes to breathe deeply and think about happy things can make a world of difference.
• Hang out in your cete. I have visited all of the cetes, and I can confidently say that they are all awesome. No matter which one you got assigned to, you have a great group of people who want you to have fun. Get to know your little HuffleFamily!
• Find an activity in the Den that you like. Trust me: no matter where your interests lie, there is something in the Den for you. Explore the threads! Find badges to earn, recipes to make, movies to watch...I really could go on and on. Go see what's going on when people aren't in class!
• Take a look around the rest of the HuffleBlog. My fellow bloggers can't wait to tell you about the cool things to do and the amazing projects to admire in our house. You might even see your name in print! HuffleBloggers love to brag on people, so be sure to cheer on your housemates and squee a little (or a lot) if you see your name here!

Speaking of bragging on people, I am going to be sending out a Firstie Profile questionnaire that I would love for my fellow Firsties to fill out. I'll show some love to different First Years each week, and we may have a round table of sorts if the opportunity arises. Be on the lookout for that in the weeks to come!

Well, 'Puffs, I appreciate you reading my first HuffleBlog post. I hope you are having a fantastic term so far, and I hope you remember our first Firstie Tip. Have fun, Badgers! Huzzah!

First Firstie Friday, Fall 2012

Hello and welcome, fellow first-years! I hope you have all been enjoying your first term in Hufflepuff. This is my first official term at Hogwarts; last term I played as a NQFY and had so much fun (and finished so many projects!) that I knew I had to come back for more. Over the coming weeks I hope to look more closely at all the projects, games, goal-setting and movie-watching that there is to do around here. Opening up Ravelry and seeing 300 new posts to read can seem awfully intimidating, so every Friday you can look to the Huffleblog for a neat little summary of our house activities. Please feel free to PM on ravelry with any suggestions for articles you would like to see.

But enough wiffling and waffling. Time to get straight to the point, and the point is: Quidditch. We already have the cup...let's hang on to it this year too, why not? Also...

Why not, indeed. You have until the end of the day to turn in the first quidditch challenge of the month, and an extremely helpful one it is too. Who hasn't looked at the 'untagged' folder of their favourites list in despair, or tried to shove a squirming writhing pile of yarn into a basket that is clearly, ahem, a...leetle too small? Take this opportunity to get it over and done with and get organised, people. Remember, not only do you get rid of that niggling little feeling of  'oh-I-should-do-itis' that always lurks in the back of your mind, you also get POINTS! Oh, glorious fake internet points! So do it for Hufflepuff, but do it for yourself too. So go on, organise that favorites list, or stash cupboard, or craft room. Stop dreaming that you are ever going to knit that hideous sweater for a special someone you broke up with months ago, and yank that sucker from your queue like an old band-aid. You'll feel better afterwards, and then you can reward yourself with a nice cup of tea, and of course the ubiquitous muffin.

Alas, I can only reward you with fake internet muffins, but I can give you various links that might be helpful if quidditch confuses you. The instructions for the first challenge can be found here, and it also includes tutorials on how to take and post screenshots. In case you haven't already guessed it involves organising your stash, project page, craft room, favourites or queue. Here is a list of all the challenges for this term, and this is also the thread you post in in order to turn in your quidditch (for instructions on how to turn in quidditch, go here).  If you have any questions, or just want to boast about the number of things you culled from your favourites list, we have our very own Hufflepuff quidditch thread here.

Let's go Hufflepuff ... rah rah rah! I'm not good ... at writing cheers!

Personal failings aside, I hope you enjoyed my mini-tour, and feel motivated enough to turn in your quidditch. Ravenclaw and Slytherin are ahead of us in the rankings, but not by much: it's anyone's game at this point!

Tune in next week for another firstie Friday...I look forward to exploring the castle together with you :)

-burningpopsicles

Firstie Friday: Reverse Engineering & Making Things Work

 

Hello, fellow 'Puffs!Today, I'd like to honor PprmntMochaMama, PMM, and her Owl-Standing Purse, which she reverse engineered from the Crochet Owl Purse. PMM's is pictured on the left above, while zoom yummy's is on the right. 

PMM linked her project to zoom yummy's though she didn't actually use the pattern, just drew her inspiration from it. She decided to use more traditional owl coloring, the belly is Aran Flex by RHSS, while the remainder of the body is RHSS's Fiesta in Brown, She used white for the eyes, with brown pupils, and a yellow beak. 

After extensive swatching and experimentation, PMM decided on a granny square style strap with one round of brown Fiesta yarn around the foundation chain, which was milk chocolate brown. The strap is long enough to enable the owl to hang at her hip opposite the shoulder the strap is draped across.

The making things work part of today's title comes into play when PMM began working on the face. The craft of crochet was not giving her the desired effect, so she switched it up to knit the base of the face and continue with crocheted rounds for the eyes. She used the differences between the looks of stockinette and garter stitch to put in "fold marks." She steam blocked the bag, and yet was still not finished.

Surprise! Surprise! What else is left to do? Why, she had to line the bag, making it useful for smaller items as well as things too big to fall through the stitches. She chose a pretty calico with orange and yellow flowers and hand sewed it in place, as the next pic shows. 

Oh, and, she started this project on the first day of term and finished it the next! Talk about being fast! Wowzers!