Advanced Studies S13: Order Missions, Part 5

We've got much more Hufflepuffley goodness to show off today, so let's take a look at some more projects for the Order of the Phoenix!

craftyshanna went back in time to do some colorful spinning for the Order:

HOLLYGOOD made this beautiful shawl for her Central Command mission:

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MediaPeruana honored Hermione Granger with this lovely cardigan:

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We had lots of operatives volunteer for undercover missions at concerts. First up is MsOyster with this beautiful poncho::

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Next Myrtle2911 made this gorgeous shawl:

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Finally, quiltyone learned how to knit continental to make these groovy blanket squares:

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Beautiful work, Badgers! I hope everyone is getting ready for next term - Hufflepuff produced a lot of great Advanced Studies projects last term, and we can do it again! Huzzah!

Advanced Studies S13: Order Missions, Part 4

We have lots more beautiful 'Puff projects to show off today!

kirsts made these colorful blanket squares in tribute to another great Badger, Nymphadora Tonks:

Marushka expanded the Order network with this lovely shawl:

kazpatch danced her way through a recruitment mission while wearing this beautiful shawl:

nwheatley knit this fantastic pair of socks to aid in her security mission:

RavenLuna made a beautiful and colorful shawl to pay tribute to the beautiful and colorful Tonks:

Luckynumbers worked for Central Command and finished her work with this gorgeous shawl:

and Vampiratknits paid tribute to fallen hero Arabella Figg with a beautiful shawlette and socks:

Beautiful work, Badgers! I hope everyone is feeling inspired to try out an Order mission or OWL in the coming term. I know I am! Check back throughout August to see the wonderful projects that Hufflepuff Order operatives completed!

Advanced Studies S13: Order Missions, Part 3

We've got some amazing work to show off today, so let's check in with more members of the Order of the Phoenix!

Clotho showed off some beautiful socks and some excellent turn-out in honor of Albus Dumbledore:

 Next, vspringer  knit some lacy legwarmers to help her recruit agents from the '80s:

Beautiful work, Badgers! Keep checking in to the HuffleBlog throughout August to see projects from the rest of the Hufflepuff representatives of the Order of the Phoenix!

Advanced Studies S13: Order Missions, Part 2

Today we're continuing our Break Month celebration of every Badger who completed a mission for the Order of the Phoenix. We have some really impressive work to show off today!

jen2291 spun her Time-Turner to go undercover at a concert. To blend in with the Muggles, she wore this shawl and carried some reusable totes:

Our fabulous HoH JMN was another undercover operative. She wore this Color Affection shawl for her work for the Order:

Finally, Lady Dragonsinger crocheted an amazing 400 granny squares for the Linus Connection as part of her charitable work for the Advance Guard:

We certainly have some talented and generous students in Hufflepuff! Great job, Order operatives!

We'll keep showing you all of the beautiful projects that the Badgers completed for the Order of the Phoenix throughout August. Huzzah Hufflepuff!

Advanced Studies S13: Order Missions, Part 1

Hufflepuff started strong when the Order of the Phoenix thread opened up for submissions! Here are photos of a few of our badgertastic completed missions.

lea67000 was the first member of the Order to post her completed mission. Here she is modeling her Dr. Who scarf that she used to spy on the Death Eaters:

PprmntMochaMama crocheted this shawl to go undercover at a Buggles concert:

 

and LarcYarn made this sweater to recruit Barbarella into the Order:

Beautiful work, Badgers! We'll continue to highlight the fabulous work of our brave Order operatives throughout August. We hope you find inspiration among the wonderful projects to try your hand at an Order mission next term!

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!

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.

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!



As the Month Draws Closer To The End

It’s time to take another look at some of our fellow Denmates homework assignments.  There have been some challenging assignments this month but we Hufflepuffs have rose to the challenges and in doing so have raised the bar for crafting all around.  This week we’re going to take a closer look at how high that bar has been raised in Herbology and Charms!

Herbology
Option 1: Explore bast fibers such as hemp. Bast fibers come from the inner bark of many types of plants, such as this list here. If you know of a bast fiber you wish to work with that is not on this list, simply ask the professors, providing proof of the fiber’s origin. You may work in any Ravelry craft with fiber composed at least 50% from one or more bast fibers.

Option 2: Craft using the noble art of macrame. This will be the one exception to the Rav-crafts-only rule for this class. Some sample patterns may be found here.

broknmachin14 tackled working with sisal yarn made from the agave plant. Great job taking on this challenge!

Twirlymom crafted this lovely scarf out of hemp. It looks fantastic.

Krazykt82000 Also stepped up and crocheted this rockin’ bracelet out of hemp.

Charms
Option 1: Knit/crochet/weave
Craft something you wouldn’t normally make, completely out of your comfort zone whether it be a project type or the actual method of crafting or something you don’t normally make or work with because of its difficulty, i.e., you don’t like to use bulky yarn or you don’t normally work with cables.

Option 2: Spinners, spindle and wheel
Spin some yarn out of a fiber you normally do not work with or in a color you don’t normally gravitate towards or spin in a technique you don’t normally use, i.e., long draw as opposed to your normal go-to of worsted spin or Turkish spindle as opposed to drop spindle.

Option 3 Dyers
Dye some yarn or fiber with a type of dye that you don’t normally use or in a color that you don’t normally gravitate towards.

HogwartsKnitting crafted something she wouldn’t normally make in this very lovely cabled scarf! You’d never know she frogged her first attempt at cables after a long hibernation and hasn’t knit cables since by looking at how wonderful this turned out!

Kimanneberly went completely outside her comfort zone with this too cute change purse!

Texaninalaska gave hand painting while dying her yarn a go for this homework assignment.  I’d say she got it right! What about you?

As we approach the end of the first month of this term, join me next week for a few highlights to round out May assignments!

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!

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!