The much over-due Last Week (or two) in Ravenclaw Tower....

Oh boy, it's been a little over 2 weeks since the last update. I'm sorry folks. I usually do much of the legwork of writing the posts during the weekend. I got sick last weekend. I'm thinking it was a touch of the flu, enought to make me miserable. I'm better now and have been very busy.

I'll admit that from about the 12th to the 14th have been omitted because I got a bit overwhelmed. I think I have captured most of the important Tower happenings anyways.

Novemeber 1 - November 14th

• November 2nd was Election Day in the U.S.! Many of us got out and voted!
• Xamonster had a rough day due to the election...
• Therealkarity had a chocolate crisis. We need to stock up on it since they are predicting chocolate prices to rise quite a bit this coming year! Also noted was the "Accio Chocolate" spell only has a 50-mile radius. Bad news...
• SFCorgi was intrigued by the "pirate hippo w/ parrot".
• The Pirate Hippo promted the "alpaca in a bikini". Can't imagine how it would be to shave that bikini line...
• Ielith passed her big exam! Congrats!
• akasha111182 has a cat with gravity issues...
• BrineyDeep brought us the word of the day: matriculation
• Science-y cookie-cutters brought to you by MariaCrafts
• Skrewcat's revelation on Intarsia.
• OneNeedleKnitting's "evil" shawl is finished! Congrats on finishing that task!
• The Merry Beasts were enjoying Tag in the Common Room all week! Join in on the fun!
• For those of you creeped out by ONK's crazy Ravatar, she has now replaced it with her normal one. Thank goodness....
• BrineyDeep started the bowtie convo. Personally my DH perfers regular neckties.
• Hypercycloid has some explaining to do with finding her DH's tux shirt half burried in her yard 4 months later!
• Dovejay shared some funny cheap gift ideas with us!
• Our Head of House, Isisonearth designed a really neat Barbie hat and has had many Ravenclaw's going nuts for it!
• TrigirlJ tempted many of us with a Joss Whedon themed party! I think I'd go as Kaylee in her big ruffled dress!
• RNSallyAnne has registered for her last semester of her BSN program! Good luck on finishing it up!
• TangeledSkin and GazeboGalb are in the labs and testing some fibers with flames! The fire extinguishers are outside the lab doors in case you need them!
• BrineyDeep enlightened us with an explanation of the Casimir Effect (not cashmere effect, which would be quite squishy and delightful.)
• TrigirlJ came to us with a link on how to calculate decreases. Very helpful!
• GazeboGal had an average of 7.36364 WIP's over the last 2 weeks and 8 mittens!

Stars of Isis

• Pkitten
• NoNeinNyet
• Nightrae
• Sleep2dreamher
• Krypton
• Hjake
• GazeboGal

Birthday Wishes!

• PoodleParade (Nov 4)
• HunterofRavenclaw (Nov 6)
• Nymfadora (Nov 6)
• BabyCakies (Nov 7)
• Staceyfish (Nov 8)
• Doviejay (Nov 11)
• akasha111182 (Nov 11)
• LNS (Nov 13)

Ask Foxy

Dear Foxy, 
Sometimes I can be a grumpypants and Ravenclaw Tower is just so filled with support and encouragement that it always lifts me up. How can I return the love without, you know, being mooshy?

signed, 
G. Pants

::Foxy drags friend to November Merry Challenge! thread::

::an’ Soprano1 puts in linky!::

Last Week in the Tower...

Week of October 24th - 31st!

• Sewing machines were a hot topic in the Common Room! Which ones to get, don't get etc. BobbingBeth, Ielith, Yazmatazz, Jayannell all had things to say about them.
• Dr. BrineyDeep passed her Thesis! Congrats again!
• Skrekat has a great quote for those FO's that don't turn out quite like we hope...
• TheQuiltedLion is raising future Ravenclaws...
• You might have a yarn addiction if you can say this about your stash like DNATheory.
• HOH Isisonearth handed out some Stars of ISIS this week. Congrats to MightyGoodYarn, CrankyAngel, and FricknFrack!
• Soprano1's animals always have funny stories. Ian the EagerBeagle is starving! Chesterkitty is dining on Chipmunks!
• Skrekat's crazy Ductworks cat and her antics!
• Krypton wrote some lovely poetry for the Tower, that even prompted a Poetry Thread!
• Andrylb created an I.S.I.S this month with her classes. It starts here!
• MariaCrafts announced it was Pastor Appreciation week!
• OneNeedleKnitting demonstrated the 2 steps forward, 1 step back method beautifully!
• BrineyDeep has another Ysolda convert. This week it was Drake with the Ysolda Fever!

Costumes of all sorts were also a big hit this week with Halloween being on Sunday.

• Mother Nature was being particurally confusing with her dress this week.
• Pertela created a costume for her doggie!
• Bandbabe had a creative Halloween costume!
• TheQuiltedLion's crew dressed up for Halloween!

GazeboGal's WIP Count:

• GazeboGal's WIP Count...7...no 8...no 7...back to 8! As of Sunday it was 7 WIPs. I think I got Whiplash from keeping track this week...

Birthday Wishes!

• SparkeeSpud (yup, that's me!) - October 26
• CharmingBerry - October 26
• JoeyKittenFace - October 28
• KnavyKnitter - October 28
• ArtsyGirl1031 - October 31

Until next week!

-SparkeeSpud

Library of the Week

Mommyknitz here, stopping in to announce the Library of the Week!

from Wikipedia: "Melk Abbey or Stift Melk^[1] is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley.

The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A school was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. The monastery's scriptorium was also a major site for the production of manuscripts. In the 15th century the abbey became the centre of the Melk Reform movement which reinvigorated the monastic life of Austria and Southern Germany.

Today's impressive Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer. Particularly noteworthy is the abbey church with frescos by Johann Michael Rottmayr and the impressive library with countless medieval manuscripts, including a famed collection of musical manuscripts and frescos by Paul Troger.

Due to its fame and academic stature, Melk managed to escape dissolution under Emperor Joseph II when many other Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved between 1780 and 1790. The abbey managed to survive other threats to its existence during the Napoleonic Wars, and also in the period following the Nazi Anschluss that took control of Austria in 1938, when the school and a large part of the abbey were confiscated by the state.

The school was returned to the abbey after the Second World War and now caters for nearly 900 pupils of both sexes.

Since 1625 the abbey has been a member of the Austrian Congregation, now within the Benedictine Confederation.

In his well-known novel The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco named one of the protagonists "Adso von Melk" as a tribute to the abbey and its famous library."