What's Happening This Week - October 31 - November 6

October Classes - Due by midnight POT 10/31!

Headmistress Challenge 1 -- Care of Magical Crafters!

Headmistress Challenge 2 -- Arithmancy/Muggle Studies

Quidditch Round 3: Billywigs --  Due by Midnight POT 11/2

Order of the Phoenix -- Missions in progress through 11/19

OWLs  --  in progress through 11/30 
               50% due by midnight POT 10/31

NEWTs -- 75% due by midnight POT 10/31

November Classes - Start 11/1

Ongoing:

Fantastic Beasts BINGO

Great Hall Badges

Remembrall Sign ups

Last Week in the Common Room: The blanket fort is always open

As always, the blanket fort is open to any 'Claw or visitor in need.  Cookies and cocoa have been well-stocked.

How deep is the London Underground?  How old is it?  Public transportation is a marvel, especially in Europe.  Some are REALLY deep.  Much more so than in the U.S.

PickleMommy is at it again--constructing a Halloween costume.  The guessing game is fierce.

It's pumpkin bread season!

Ahh, renovations ... they never go as expected. 

Geek of the Week - on Hiatus

Our Geeks are all working madly to get those last minute classes and Quidditch in! Join them and you'll be in good company!

The feature will return next week! 

Firstie (and Transfer!) Friday

It's the end of the month, which means it's time for another Firstie & Transfer showcase! 

Finding your way around the Cup (and around the Tower!) can be a daunting task. However, as we all know, Ravenclaws love to take on a challenge ... some of our Firsties and Transfers have decided to brave not only classes, but extracurriculars as well! 

Several of our newest Tower residents have taken to the Quidditch pitch for some athletic activities. 

From top left: Barnowl, cn32, cubejelly, extraterrestrial, frithuswith, lettisia, mumblemee, tshaya, yarnfreak75

We also have residents of the First Year Dorm who have taken on advanced studies and are working on their OWLs. 

From top left: ahanson08, delana75, gardenmama, laura909, pinklemons, scrappinrobyn

And one awesome Transfer taking on a NEWT!

 khenasanskula

Great work everyone! 

Thursday Stats -- Quidditch Round 3 Edition

Food for Thought for Ravenclaw Quidditch Fans

Dear Eagles,

We are halfway through Match 3, and currently in 4th place.  It's time for the traditional Ravenclaw end-of-match rally!!  Let's get those billywig projects finished and posted!  Encourage your partner!  Cheer for your squad!  Come to the Ravenclaw quidditch thread for ideas, encouragement, and hurrahs.  We can't wait to see all those billywig protection/attraction projects.

Enjoy a piece of pie while studying the squad stats.  Abraxans and Granians are ahead right now, but there will be many more goals before the end of the match.  Go, go, go, all you Flying Horses!!!!

Winning the Quidditch Cup is lots of fun, and I would love to see us do it.  But, you know what?  That's not the most important part of quidditch.  The very most important thing is points - lovely, lovely points - to help us win the House Cup for the fourth successive time.  Quidditch points are available for the crafting.  Before working on a 7th or 8th class, ask yourself, "Have I played quidditch and turned in a match 3 project?"  

Be part of House Cup history, and help Ravenclaw on to victory!!  

Thanks to Stats Beater greenheron for that inspirational update! Soar Ravenclaw!

Weekly Showcase Wednesday: October is flying by!

Somehow it's already almost the end of October!  But we've had lots of wonderful project turn-ins by Ravenclaws so far this month, so once again it's time for Pickle Badges!

The projects that really caught my eye as I looked through all the class threads have earned themselves a Golden Pickodile!


BarnOwl created an awesome drawing of a peppermint shrimp and then collaged it into a mixed media piece of artwork for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

kaypendragon embroidered a hankie with a cute pumpkin and kitty for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

allysonpickles knit a beautiful pair of lacy mittens for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

Bacs used a scroll saw to make a cool wooden business card holder for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

rondaletts made an adorable hippo for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

aknittingstory knit a fantastic pair of cabled fingerless mitts for Grooming of Magical Creatures:

ahanson08 has done it again with another stunning lacy gradient shawl knit for Habitats of Magical Creatures:

bookwormdjibouti crocheted two fabulous (and huge!) motifs for a large installation for Habitats of Magical Creatures:

bigsnakes knit a lovely cabled hat for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures:

specialKknits knit a fabulous lacy cowl for Safe Handling of Magical Creatures:

matematichica made a charming print of Randolph the walrus for Healing:

llim shibori dyed a spectacular scarf for Healing:

winemakerssister spun another gorgeous skein of yarn for Healing:

extraterrestrial knit a delightful hat (such a great use of a colorful yarn!) for Healing:

lsgarner knit a pretty gradient scarf for Healing:

LateClematis knit a wonderful baby vest for Muggle Studies:

Lettisia knit a marvelous pair of colorwork slipper socks for Potions:

It wouldn't be Ravenclaw Tower without at least one person attempting the impossible, and this week there was one 'Claw who truly left the Mallet of Sanity in the dust to earn the Pickle of Sanity Badge!


cn32 spun a ridiculous amount of yarn this month:  2242 yards of singles for Grooming of Magical Creatures, 5006 yards of singles for Habitats of Magical Creatures, 3220 yards of singles for History of Magic, and 5330 yards of singles for Potions.  That's 15,798 total yards turned in already this month!!!

This week, there were also a few posts that made me giggle and thus are awarded the Darth Pickle Badge!


craftyshanna knit a snail costume for a slug for Feeding of Magical Creatures:

bandbabe needle-felted a spleen (yes, you read that correctly) for the Headmistress Challenge:

Congratulations to all the badge winners!  I can't wait to see what the rest of October brings!

Fantastic Beasts - And We Live With Them!

This week, SOS student KnotMagick tells us about the Fantastic Beasts that live in her home!

I usually sort Ravenclaw, but I’m currently SOSing this term. This is, in part, because I have taken over as campaign manager for my cat, Hermes, who has decided to run for president:

Hermes is a very talented kitty. Since I first adopted him eight years ago, he’s been acting as my editor:

Which is one of the reasons he chose me to monitor his twitter account for the campaign (@HermesCatbeast). Also, the lack of thumbs makes it very hard for him to tweet without help.

Hermes does have a younger brother, Loki, who lives up to his name a little too well. Loki is part dog, but he identifies as a cat. He enjoys playing fetch and tug of war, and frequently drools.

When we leave the house, Loki will wander around the apartment with his blankie, usually depositing it by the front door where he waits for us to return.

Unfortunately, his “bite first, ask questions later” attitude means he will not be Hermes’ running mate in this election, despite his natural charisma.

Loki is better known on Ravelry as The Yarn Eating Cat. There are many reasons why, mostly identifiable on my project page because they have his picture on the thumbnail instead of a picture of a finished object.

Thank you!

Thank YOU KnotMagick for introducing us to your Fantastic kitties! 

Would you like to see YOUR Fantastic Beast(s) profiled here?

PM Omeletsmom or s2five and tell us about him. Or her.  Or them!

What's Happening This Week - October 24 -30

October Classes

Headmistress Challenge 1 -- Care of Magical Crafters!

Headmistress Challenge 2 -- Arithmancy/Muggle Studies

Quidditch Round 3: Billywigs --Through 11/2

Order of the Phoenix -- Missions in progress through 11/19

OWLs  --  in progress through 11/30 
               50% due by midnight POT 10/31

NEWTs -- 75% due by midnight POT 10/31


Ongoing:

Fantastic Beasts BINGO

Great Hall Badges

Remembrall Sign ups

Last Week in the Common Room: Ready to move in to the Ravenclaw Commune!

Plans for the Ravenclaw Commune are now in full swing.  The downpayment isn't too steep, split 175 ways.

Carpeted bathrooms are a thing.  Inadvisable, but they exist.

People went to Rhinebeck!  They brought back pretty things!

Geek of the Week -- Charles Henry Turner

This week's Geek was an pioneer in the field of invertebrate behavior. He was the first to discover that honeybees can see color, that cockroaches can learn by trial and error, and that insects can hear and distinguish pitch.  All of this was accomplished despite the fact that no university would or could hire him.

Charles Henry Turner was born in Cincinnati in 1867.  he became the first African American to receive a graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati and the first to receive a PhD at the University of Chicago. Despite this, he was unable to get a university appointment -- the one university that wanted him, the Tuskegee Institute, could not afford to pay both Turner and George Washington Carver, and so declined to hire him.

Undaunted, Turner chose to teach high school, continuing to do his research at the same time.  Without the resources of a university at his disposal, he managed to conduct research on a variety of creatures, including ants, honeybees, cockroaches, wasps, moths, spiders, crustaceans, and pigeons. He published 49 papers and was the first African American to be published in Science.  With no assistance and limited funds, he had to fit his work in around his teaching duties, squeezing it in at night or over summer vacation.  He even brought his bees into the classroom, becoming one of the first to use experimental observation at the high school level.

In addition to his teaching and research, Dr. Turner worked to improve educational opportunities and social services for African Americans in the St. Louis area, where he taught. Several St. Louis area schools have been named in his honor.

Dr. Turner's thirst for knowledge, his perseverance through difficult circumstances, his devotion to sharing his knowledge, and his determination to make sure others had the opportunity to pursue education make him a deserving Ravenclaw Geek of the Week!

Learn more about Charles Henry Turner:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Henry_Turner_(zoologist)
http://psychology.okstate.edu/museum/turner/turnerbio.html

Firstie (and Transfer!) Friday

Welcome back to Firstie Fridays! This week, we’ll be featuring two more of our awesome transfer students!

Frithuswith

How did you find the Cup and what motivated you to give the Cup a try? What house(s) have you previously been in? What convinced you to come to Ravenclaw this term? I joined the Cup when Nerd Wars came to an end in its original incarnation. It turns out I am a total addict when it comes to competitive crafting, and I love the way that the different prompts take my crafting in directions I wasn’t expecting. I was a member of Hufflepuff for four terms (with one term off as SoS because pregnancy really kills my crafting mojo dead). I decided to come to Ravenclaw this term partly because the birth of child number 2 (AKA Microwith, or just Micro) felt like a kind of a new beginning (parallelling the birth of number 1, Miniwith, which was when I originally joined the House Cup). I have some strong Ravenclaw-type tendencies so I wanted to see whether the house felt like home. So far, it does!

What, in your own estimation, is your wackiest/most awesome project and why? Well, I knit a Niebling in my third trimester when I was pregnant with Mini. And I knit G’kalpaca. But at the moment I’m pretty proud of my 3 from 4, which I wove for a Complex Weavers sample exchange this year. I designed and wove it using a structure called polychrome summer and winter, in homage to Josef Albers and his book Interaction of Colour, replicating an optical illusion that those following the book are meant to produce using coloured paper. The idea is that the background interacts with the central boxes and makes it look like the central yellows are the same colour, when in fact they’re different. I figured, why not try it in yarn?

What characteristics do you love most about the Tower? How do these things impact and change or encourage you? At the moment I am delighted by the fact that this Quidditch match has turned into a pickle-off with Slytherin. It’s also nice to be somewhere I can reference Borges and other people get it!

What is on your crafting bucket list? I have a bajillion and one weaving projects in my head. So I would like to get through at least a few of them! I’m trying to target the UK Guilds’ Certificate of Achievement if I can control my desperate urge to make everything I weave overcomplicated structurally.

What is currently on your needles? My sock OWL! Plus Quidditch, and I’m hoping to get a project on my new floor loom soon, because new floor loom! So much excitement!

Yarnfreak75 (Tia)

How did you find the Cup and what motivated you to give the Cup a try? About a year before I joined the Cup, I found it but didn’t understand any of it so I walked away. Then, someone in a different group congratulated a Cupper for winning the House Cup. That made me look into it again by jumping into the chat room and asking live what it was about. That was end of Jan/beginning of Feb 2011.

What house(s) have you previously been in? All

What convinced you to come to Ravenclaw this term? I had played for the other 3 and decided it was time for a clean sweep.

What, in your own estimation, is your wackiest/most awesome project and why? Wacky…stuff for the girls…Sophia the First necklace made without a pattern, tiny MonsterHigh dresses, baby doll underwear, 2 baby doll sock monkey hats…lol. Awesome…um…a blanket I made for my FIL & MIL while they were going through cancer treatment, a mitered squared blanket for my mom and my Evenstar shawlare what come to mind.

What characteristics do you love most about the Tower? How do these things impact and change or encourage you? Organization. It makes my OCD happy, lol.

What is on your crafting bucket list? Everything!

What is currently on your needles? Crochet thread angels and 24 inch baby blankets for a bazaar in early Nov, a baby sweater for a friend (Hundreds), a shawl for me that’s hibernating until I have more time, a pair of monster pants that needs 1.5 legs plus a face which needs to be picked back up so it can be finished for Christmas and a few other things. Lol

Fantastic Beasts - And We Live With Them!

This week's beast has been found in the household of s2five!

Name: Gadget
Species: Definitely part Basenji, definitely part Jack Russell, probably some other bits of things

Likes: The Toddler. Snoozes in the human bed. Leftovers dropped off the high chair. Squirrels. Eating plastic. The backyard. Car rides.

Dislikes: The Toddler. The crate. The dog park. Sharing toys.  

Special Talents: Can climb trees if required in the hunt for the aforementioned squirrels. Sings "Happy Birthday" with a reasonable degree of in-tune-ness. 

Would you like to see YOUR Fantastic Beast(s) profiled here?

PM Omeletsmom or s2five and tell us about him. Or her.  Or them!