Let's hear it for Quidditch!!

Hello there my fellow puffs!
This will be my first time blogging for Hufflepuff; what better way to start than by talking about Quidditch!

We are making a strong showing on the pitch, and I have seen so many great goals turned in.  I will be posting a weekly update with both points and photos of some of the great projects.

We are in the middle of 2 challenges; the term long "Explore the Quidditch Positions" will end midnight on November 5th.  If you haven't turned in anything for this challenge there is still time:

• Beaters: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 15 projects using 50 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 10 points.
• Chasers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 6 projects using 150 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 25 points.
• Keepers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 3 projects using 300 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 50 points.
• Seekers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 2 projects using 500 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 75 points.

When you turn in your first item for this Activity, please let us know which position you will be studying by including one of the following tags. Once you’ve turned in your first project you will be locked into that position, so choose wisely!

Tags!!
HQ16Beater, HQ16Chaser, HQ16Keeper, HQ16Seeker

The Pre Match  Jitters challenge goes until October 19th.
No project is too small for this challenge.  Current standings:

Gryffindor has 27 goals
Slytherin has 19
Hufflepuff has 16
Ravenclaw has 8

Our current standings:
In the Nimbus Challenge bonus point changed things up:  ( these are unofficial, please excuse any math mixups that might happen)

Gryffindor: 1732
Slytherin:  1478
Hufflepuf:  1471
Ravenclaw: 1463

In the Get to know the Quidditch positions as of post# 3593 here are the standings:

Gryffindor: 3740
Hufflepuff: 2430
Slytherin:  1855
Ravenclaw: 1775

Now for the fun stuff, here are a few pics of some of the recent turn ins:
The Beater position:

             Anthrogirl17                                                                        Karenredbaron

Littlefit

CHASER POSITION:

ashleybah

Costumer47

lanismom

KEEPER POSITION: 

curlysue

katelemmers

                                                               

Kazpatch

Lea67000

Skrewkat

                                                                  SEEKER POSITION:

JMN

LadyDragonSinger

Marushka

                                                                 PRE-GAME JITTERS

                                         

Craftyshanna

Marifly

Rikachet

Theresmiling

Vampiratknits

It's Labor Day! Let's Get Ready for Quidditch!

Good day Quidditch Fans!  It's Labo(u)r Day in the U.S. and Canada, the unofficial End of Summer for muggles and the beginning of the Fall Term of The House Cup for us!

Along with the beginning of the Term is the beginning of Quidditch!  Our Headmistress, yarnvista, had this to say, "The Quidditch season promises to be exciting, and there should be something for everyone. Since Quidditch is a very unpredictable game everyone should be prepared for any possibility. There is more than one path to victory, and strategy is more important than ever!"

Doesn't that make you say, "Hmm?  Tell me more."  Here is my understanding of Quidditch this term.

There are TWO paths to earn points.  Path 1 runs 3 September through 5 November and Path 2 is three events, one each month.  Here's the breakdown:

Path #1) Explore Quidditch Positions (3 Sep - 5 Nov)[150 Points possible for each chaser!]:

• Beaters: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 15 projects using 50 yards/project minimum.  Each project will earn 10 points.
• Chasers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 6 projects using 150 yards/project minimum.  Each project will earn 25 points.
• Keepers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 3 projects using 300 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 50 points.
• Seekers: Knit, crochet, weave or spin up to 2 projects using 500 yards/project minimum. Each project will earn 75 points.

When you turn in your first item for this Activity, please let us know which position you will be studying by including one of the following tags. Once you’ve turned in your first project you will be locked into that position, so choose wisely!
TAG: HQ16Beater, HQ16Chaser, HQ16Keeper, or HQ16Seeker

Path #2
1) Get to Know Your New Nembus! (5 -16 September) [Each project will be awarded 15 points. 1 project per player]:

For this activity:
Using any Ravelry-approved crafting method, craft something using “top-of-the-line” materials, colors or stitch patterns.
Dyers: you may either dye a fiber that you feel is a luxury fiber or use a “top-of-the-line” dyeing method.
Please tell us why this is something special for you to use.
In this case, “top-of-the-line” is subjective. Use what you feel to be top of the line. Don’t break the bank just to go out and buy that skein of $4000 Quivit for this challenge. We want you to craft with something that you think is a luxury. Love cotton? Craft with cotton. Have a fondness for acrylic? Craft with acrylic. We just ask that you tell us why you feel it is top-of-the-line to you.
TAG: HQ16Nimbus

2) Pre-Match Jitters (10 - 19 October)[One project per student, 15 points per project]:
 
For this challenge:
Option 1: Using any Ravelry-approved craft, create something to soothe your nerves before a Quidditch Match.
Option 2: Using any Ravelry-approved craft, create something that makes you nervous or use a technique that makes you nervous.
TAG:  HQ16Jitters

3) Victory! Butterbeers all around!! (17 - 28 November):
joseybug, that sly Slytherin, is keeping the detail for this one under wraps, for now.

Wow!  Two ways to play this term!  There should be something for everyone just as yarnvista said.

That's all for now, I have some plotting to do...
Until next time; Keep your eyes on the Golden Snitch.

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!

Quidditch, It's in the Bag!

Hello Quidditch Fans!  On 6 June we will begin our next Match! The thought of that excites me, how about you?

First, a review...
Training Film 2: Heat Therapy was a wonderful Match.  It was a win/win for each House.  The teams crafted beautiful hats and blanket squares which will be given to charities all over the world!  So, no matter how many items where crafted, everyone wins.  Our wonderful Headmistress, yarnvista, had this to say about the Match, "...It kinda gets me misty that every single thing in this challenge was made to make someone else’s life a little cozier."

Let's roll the Headlights Reel! (If statistics makes your head spin, you should skip this section.):
Here are the final UNOFFICIAL Goals:

Looking at the chart it appears that Hufflepuff made a second place showing.  Let's look a little closer...

• On average, each Hufflepuff team player turned in 4.48 items, Ravenclaw 4.52 items, Gryffindor 4.34 items, and Slytherin 4.19 items. 
• Although Slytherin was only 2 goals behind Hufflepuff, we turned in 28 more items, that's 420 points.
• Gryffindor has increased its lead over Hufflepuff from 210 unofficial points to 780 unofficial points (points do not include bonus points). 

Great job Badgers!
That wasn't so bad, was it? You made it through the statistics.

It's in the Bag!
On Thursday, Training Film 3: Speed Sprints begins at Midnight POT.  Here is your fearless Sprints Team:
1st year JessiaSott
2nd year brighteyesjessy
3rd year krazykt82000
4th year SharonLuvs2Knit2
5th year msoyster
6th year jen2291
7th year Lucamama
B1 Lea67000
B2 Mamalion
B3 cariboustar
B4 hazelly
B5 Luckynumbers
B6 kimanneberly
B7 ChellBelle
M1 zillalatte
Alternates:
JMN
nwheatley

The points for this Match will be given in a decreasing manner.  The first 4 completed bags will receive 30 points, the next 4 will receive 29 points, and so on and so forth.  I know many 'Puffs are planning to wake up early for the POT start time!  Way to go Badgers!

In the Locker Room, FlyKytten has declared her desire to win The Cup!  A few team members have concurred! Would you like to win The Cup?  Here's how YOU can help...

Everyone (other than team members) is invited to the Pep Rally to show your team spirit.  You will receive 5 points for participating.  AND if you craft something for this event, you can turn it in elsewhere in The Cup for points!  The Quidditch coaches do ask that you use a different photo from the Quidditch photo when you turn in elsewhere. 

Go Badgers, Go!

(Photo curtsey of our fearless Captain LumosKP.)
That's all the Quidditch news for now.  Enjoy your week.  Until next time; Keep your eyes on the Golden Snitch.

Quidditch: The HEAT is On!

::In my best announcer voice::
Hello Quidditch Fans!  I am SharonLuvs2Knit2, your Quidditch announcer for day 6 of Training Film 2: Heat Therapy.  Let's start with a recap of the last 5 days: 

• On Day One, StarryNightSky was the first to Score with crochet blanket squares for Afghans for Pine Ridge!  Way to Score!
• Day Two brought Torsparkles to the Pitch with hand-spun knit squares for Bundles of Joy!  Great job with the hand spun!
• jen2291 arrived on the Pitch on Day Three with crochet squares for Blanket Squares for Orphan Homes.  She was followed by LumosKP with knit hats for Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.  Y'all rock!
• Four 'Puffs scored on Day Four for their charities: lanismom donating to Bundles of Joy,  Luckynumbers, Timeless1, and brighteyesjessy each donating to Blanket Squares for Orphan Homes.  Woo hoo!
• On Day Five yarnvista scored for Blankets Squares for Orphan Homes,  Sandy62 for Moms in need, Twirlymom for Cheshire Medical Center, and jaygee scored for Street Outreach!  Awesome sauce!

This is a great start to our Heat Therapy match.  These charities will receive a boost in their support and lives will be enhanced.  'Puffs, you are awesome!

Here are your Unofficial Goals for Day 5 as of 11:00pm POT:

Remember to go to the Locker Room to talk about your project, charities, patterns and motivation (yes, lurking is allowed). Head on over to the Pitch and Huzzah! for Hufflepuff!
Some Inspiration to get you moving:
 Sandy62:

 jaygee:

 LumosKP:

 Timeless1:

 jen2291:

 yarnvista:

Check out the links to view the Quidditch turn-in posts!
That's all for now Quidditch Fans, you've been a wonderful audience.  Until next time; Keep your eyes on the Golden Snitch!
::clears throat::
Huzzah!

Charities are the name of the game!

First, straight from the Quiddy Page:

Training Film #2:  HQ15Heat               

Heat Therapy

May 15 - May 29

For this Training Film, choose and craft the following:

• Make as few as 1 and as many as 5 hats for charity
• Make as few as 1 and as many as 5 blanket squares for charity
• Make any combination of 1-5 hats or blanket squares for charity

Students may make up to 5 items (hats or blanket squares) worth 15 points each, a maximum of 75 points will be awarded. Items must be for charity. The charity must be listed in the header for points to be awarded.

Size Guidelines for Charity items: Your finished hats/squares must meet the requirements of the charity you plan to send them to. This will be done on the honor system.

For example: If you say your squares are going to Knit-a-square, we know that they want 8 x 8” squares, but you turn in 2 x 2 squares, we’re going to call foul.

For Charity Squares: we know that some charities ask that you leave long tails for joining. However, per House Cup Standards, projects must have ends woven in. If you are sending to a charity that asks for long tails left on, we require that you hide these ends while photographing. If you do not, we will ask you to change your photo. If you don’t change your photo, we won’t count them.

Now, if you need charities for your donations, check out our Quidditch Pitch.  As of this Post going to press here are the charities fellow 'Puffs have suggested:

BrighteyesJessy: blanket squares for Orphans.  Mail your blanket squares to her!

Larcyarn: Chemo Caps for the Ravelry Group "Star City Chapeaus"  Mail your caps to Larcyarn.  PM for her address

You can also check these January blog posts for more charities: Charity Crafting, Part 2 and Charity Crafting, Part 1

***Also, application for our Quidditch Speed Sprint team will be up, soon!  

Watch the Hufflepuff Quidditch Pitch for your chance to show off your speediness!***

Quiddy Training Video #1: ooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!  Larcyarn here for your weekly dose of Quidditch excitement.

It’s been an exciting beginning to our Quidditch season.  In case you’ve been studying more than hanging out at the pitch, it’s time you jumped into this term’s first TRAINING VIDEO:

Training Film 1         May 3-9: Ohm

We are asking that you warm up for this Quidditch season with some yoga to clear your minds. 
Your options:

·         organize your stash -- upload pics, update yardage used, add that pile of yarn or fiber that you’ve recently gotten from a Diagon Alley binge.

·         organize your project pages -- forgot to mark those WIPs as finished, need to add yardage used, dates, have a bunch of projects you never made pages for? Perfect!

·         organize your craft room -- put away all those partial balls, organize your needles and hooks, make it a happy place again! “Before” photos are appreciated, “After” photos are required.

·         organize your favorites -- label all those untagged favorites; go through the ones you have and get rid of those you don’t like anymore

·         organize your queue -- make sure everything has at least one tag; sort your queue so the project for this term are on the first two pages; organize your queue by headings; purge your queue of those things you know you’ll never make.

·         organize your library -- add those books and magazines that you got at the last LYS sale!!

Only one of these tasks is required to meet this Challenge, but feel free to go crazy and tackle any or all of them. Students will receive 15 points for their organizational efforts, but only once, not for each option.

How to turn in evidence that you have been hard at work? Screenshots of your stash, queue, favorites and project pages pre- and post-clean up are preferred, but a detailed explanation with links to your pages will suffice if this is not possible. Photos of craft-room clean-ups are required (pre- and post- are preferred).

********************************************************************************

So, how is the Hufflepuff team fairing in the competition?

Keeper Sharonluvs2knit2 posts our scores in the Hufflepuff pitch, in a perfectly concise little chart.  Here is an unofficial up-to-date scores chart:

 

Way to go Hufflepuff!  Let’s go get ‘em!  You’ve got until Thursday to post your GOAL for Hufflepuff!  

Need help?  Pop into the Quidditch forum for help with posting photos, ohm ideas, or general help.  Don't let these easy 15 points pass you by...

Quidditch Catch-Up!

Hello Quidditch Fans!

I have gotten terribly behind in my reporting - my sincere apologies!!!  Let me do a quick catch-up by letting you know who all posted projects for our Sun Shades Challenge:

lea67000
banklady6
sandy62
jaygee
LumosKP
twirlymom
Marushka
brighteyesjessy
nwheatley
suseknits
JMN
jen2291
Charityuk
krazykt82000
knitreaver
lucamama
Shawn
midwestAliceAnn
NarcissaM
VampiratKnits
anneknits
kandbpurple
Timeless1
slothmuffin
baxgirl
texaninalaska
Marifly
LarcYarn
purlingkitten
zillalatte
minsue
littlefit
WomblingStar
ChellBelle
RedNu
hafknits
vspringer
Nysssa
DragonflysArts
craftyshanna
rubypearl
starrynightsky
Luckynumbers
maineknitter1975
CurlySue
clmnj58
kimanneberly
SuperM
nummanumma
Myrtle2911
KristiRose
anthrogirl17
kazpatch
Skrewkat
Randi88
HOLLYGOOD
thestitchinwench
namihn
kristelknab
sbfh
bethsmom
msoyster
bellymonster

Now for a recap of our Winter 2013 Quidditch season:

Mascots - 87 Badger projects
Fruitcake - 88 Badger projects
Sun Shades - 63 Badger projects

I would like to challenge all of our awesome Hufflepuffs to jump on the Paired Pattern Faceoff bandwagon - find yourself a partner (this does NOT have to be from a different house, so find a fellow Puff if you like) - pick a pattern that you both can alter in some way - and get crafting for Quidditch! :)

Let's go BADGERS! :)