From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things Return!

January has been quite a whirlwind already!  There have been so many deadlines, there's been a whole Deputy Headmistress Challenge round and *TWO* Quidditch matches already!

The multiple deadlines and real life have kept me a bit distracted, but I am back with our first round of Shiny Things for the Winter 2018 term!

The second Quidditch match was about trying something new (or brush up on something you haven't tried in a while), and it reminded me that I have learned *so many* new things since I joined the House Cup over 6 years ago.  Then Facebook's On This Day feature pointed out that it has been 8 years since I learned to crochet.  I didn't finally figure out knitting until after I joined the House Cup, but there was one other fibery related thing that I had tried before joining the Cup made me want to try All the Things: dyeing.

Dye work is something that I really do enjoy, although I haven't touched much of it since last summer.  So in the Shiny Things this round are going to those who have turned in dye projects so far this term in classes or Quidditch!

In this video are projects from bigsnakes, kaypendragon, kneedleart, ladyjhia, natys, qtinki, and shanbonan

I love the results of everyone's dye projects, and look forward to seeing what the yarn and fiber they've dyed becomes in the future!

Until next time,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Planning!

The new year has brought with it a new term, and for many of us it has also brought a renewed desire to be a bit more organized than we were before.

There has been a lot of talk around the Tower about planners and bullet journals and spreadsheets.  If your current setup isn't working out just how you'd like, all you need to do is ask and there's sure to be someone who has tried something similar or something that is what you're looking for.

Now, I can't really give advice on planning things outside of the House Cup since I'm not the most organized of people.  I can, however, point you in the direction of some resources to help with your House Cup planning.

The Term-long Class Tetris thread is where we declare our overall goals for the term, and as such there are a variety of resources at the beginning of the thread to help reach those goals, including a brief guide on maximizing points.  This is also where we have a few different types of tracking spreadsheets linked to help with planning and points tracking for the term.

Our Class Tetris team also has a monthly thread, which is where the ever-popular class summaries are found.  This thread is invaluable when trying to decide where to put your projects each month, as you can find all eight classes as well as the Headmistress Challenge (this term the Deputy Headmistress Challenge) and Quidditch so you can easily compare prompts without having to open multiple windows or tabs.

When it comes to Quidditch and Advanced Studies, they each have their own thread for planning specifics.  You can use these threads to help with fine tuning your plans.  For Quidditch you can sign up for earburns to help remind you of deadlines, and in the Advanced Studies thread you can post a draft of your proposal to be looked over and checked for errors or underestimation of difficulty.

And while we don't have a specific thread in the Tower for planners, the Order of the Fountain Pen gives advice sometimes regarding planners.  And both Slytherin and Hufflepuff have threads for using planners.  Or you could ask in the Common Room.  There's sure to be plenty of recommendations there ;)

Who knows, maybe you'll find something to help with planning things that are not House Cup related.

Until next time...
Take care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things! Term-long Edition

If you ever have extra time on your hands and want to see the awesome that is created throughout the House Cup, open up all of the threads for a term and look at the projects that have been turned in.

When thinking about what to showcase as a sort of showcase of projects from the whole term, a few things came to mind.  I made a couple blankets this term, should I feature those?  Well, I featured blanket *squares* earlier this term so maybe not.  What about shawls?  I love shawls, and I also made one of those myself this term.  Or socks?  I have always wanted to be a sock knitter but I get distracted after the first sock (and learned this term that knitting two at a time is definitely not the solution for me).

Then one of my kids mentioned that it seems like winter is taking forever to actually arrive.  We've had a lot of yo-yo weather here lately, and I couldn't help but agree.  And something that I think of around this time of year is sweaters.  With a sweater, you can often wear it over something else so that if you get too warm you can remove the sweater and then put it back on if you get chilly again.  So that's what I'm featuring this time for Shiny Things!

I did not pull from Detention, and I did not include partials simply because in both cases the item wasn't entirely made in the time period chosen.  There are also a couple missing from the video because the pictures include children.

Without further ado, here is the video showcase of all of the sweaters done for classes, Advanced Studies, and Quidditch this term!

Projects included from: aknittingstory, amylin, anisa, bandbabe, barnowl, bigsnakes, caranam, cathycake. chrissyteenychan, feoragruadh, gojenn, helpfulkitten, hopesclan, hreow, k8macq, kadiddly, knittingima, kvaustin, ladylou, lateclematis, lindseyluz, lindzabeth, missjanejetson, mooseloon, obliviathefirst, rachelolo, rondaletts, s2five, sadielou, scrappinrobyn, secrettrail, shanbonan, toolizzforyou, twillow, wendebular, winemakerssister, zisch304; Cyprienne and knotnknit also turned in sweaters, but their turn-ins had their younglings in them.

You may have noticed that a couple of them are not what most people would consider a "sweater."  There's a couple vests and ponchos in there, and I felt like since they are involved in keeping the upper body warm they can count as sweaters for this.

Do you have any sweaters planned for next term?  Or even during Break Month?  I made my first adult sweater (and sleeveless sweater) in the Spring 2017 term and I am considering making another one next term.  We'll see what has grabbed my attention come January ;)

As always, take care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Reflecting and Looking Forward

Can you believe it's already almost the end of term?  Me neither.

Today (well, the day this is posting, not the day I'm writing it) in the United States, we are celebrating Thanksgiving.  For many, this is a holiday for remembering the things we are thankful for and spending time with those we care about.  

I feel like it's an also excellent time for all of us in the Tower to reflect on how this term has gone, and start talking about our plans for next term.  Did you meet your goals for this term?  Were you able to get the majority of your planned projects completed?  Did you get the Completionist Badge like you wanted (deadline for the final Detention turn-in is in a couple days on the 25th!)  Some of this reflection may have to wait until next week, of course, since we do still have a week of the term left and for many of us that means we are still working on finishing up our Advanced Studies projects, but you can also reflect while dealing with tasks like sewing in ends.

I would like to encourage everyone to also take a look back at how you felt during this term.  Were there perhaps times when you were stressed by deadlines or pushing yourself harder physically than you would like?  Were there particular projects that gave you an immense sense of accomplishment that boosted your confidence in your crafting?  Think back on the good and the bad, so that you can perhaps determine if there is something you can do to increase the positive feelings as we move forward into the holidays and the next term.

It is also time for looking forward and beginning to plan things like our Advanced Studies projects for next term.  The Advanced Studies thread for next term is currently focused on NEWT planning since we are just over a week away from their proposal period opening, but feel free to go in there to discuss your next OWL or Order Mission as well.  Next term is Winter, which means that the Detention OWL will be available.  Because there is only a guarantee of a certain number of proposals being accepted (although more often than not, more are accepted), having your proposal ready to go ahead of time is important and the Advanced Studies planning thread is the ideal place to make sure everything is where it needs to be.

Looking ahead to next term, there are already some excellent House-wide ideas going around in the staff room, so there will surely be many exciting things coming with the new year ;)

Speaking of staff, if you wish to volunteer, the link to the application is in the Announcements thread.  The deadline for submission is November 29th.  Is next term the one where you take the leap and join staff?  Think about it, and if you decide now is the time don't forget to fill out the form :)

And as always, take care.

From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things! Round 4

It's time again for another round of Shiny Things!

This time, I am featuring the Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing projects that have been turned in so far this month for classes and Advanced Studies.  This time of month doesn't tend to have very many turn-ins for weaving and spinning yet, but that doesn't change how wonderful they are.  

Featured in this video are projects from: lateclematis, laura909, leahandthedragon, mooseloon (two are mooseloon's!), nightgigjo, pumpahkin, softnshiny, stormrage, topfrog, twistedsticherfge

Right now there are many focused on finishing Advanced Studies projects (particularly since the Order of the Phoenix deadline is rapidly approaching) and in the United States we have a major holiday coming up next week.  So the Tower is crazy busy.  Don't forget to take breaks so you do not risk burnout or injury :)

Take Care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Priorities

If you hang around in the Tower, you are almost certain to see one of the following (or something similar) at least once during the Term:

"Sorry I haven't been around more, (insert Real Life thing)."

"Sorry, I'm only going to earn X points this Term."

"Sorry, I'm only turning in one class this month."

These things are generally met with a reminder that Real Life is more important than our game, or that just getting in at least one class is all that is really needed.  Both 100% true!  Please do not feel guilty about not doing All the Things or like you are letting anyone down.

As much as we love additional turn-ins and chatter and everything, we also love for everyone to be happy and healthy.  Stressing about turning in All the Things or being behind in the Common Room will lead to you enjoying your experience in the Tower less.  Even if you see us pushing hard for more points or more participation in a class or event, please do not stress or injure yourself if you are too busy to participate in that particular push.  We are a family, and we want all of our family members to enjoy their time in the House Cup and the Tower.

And part of enjoying your time can sometimes mean doing the minimum to maintain Sorting priority so that you can handle things going on in Real Life.  In my case, that means that last week I missed a post here on the blog because I needed to deal with a couple of my children getting sick.  It also means that I am forever behind in the Common Room because my schedule during the school year means that I am out of my home multiple times a week and just cannot keep up with our chatty 'Claws.

If you find that in order to take care of something in Real Life or your own health you need to miss a month of turning in something (don't forget, a partial class is the minimum), don't hesitate to ask about getting an excuse.  Not every situation necessarily warrants an excuse, but you have to ask for one for it to be considered at all.  To ask about an excuse, send a private message on Ravelry to me (Bacs) before the deadline at the end of the month.

And always, please remember to take care of yourself.  Happy 'Claws lead to a Happy Tower ;)

Take Care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things, Round 3

My, how time has flown past!  It's time again to award some badges for Shiny Things!

While the weather where I live is still trying to make up its mind about what season it is, for many people it's Hat Making Season!  And with that comes a variety of colours, styles, and sizes of hats to distract us.

For some examples (and perhaps inspiration), here is the video for this round's recipients!

Included are projects from: cauterize, gardenmama, gazebogal, gojenn, gwennian, hreow, kauaid, kaypendragon, knit4beer, knitsnhikes, kvaustin, lateclematis, lynn4mk, masschroeder, meshamarie, mootzee, mrswingnut, neetsey, purplepigwidgeon, qtinki, s2five, saskiabr, and wendebular.  Kolson111322 also turned in a hat, but her picture was submitted through private message to the professors so I couldn't add it to the slideshow.

Hats are generally a nice project to whip up quickly for a turn-in.  Many people use them for their Flight of the First project so they have their one class minimum taken care of.

And I already know what next round's theme will be, but you'll have to wait to find out ;)

Take care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: Halfway Point

Can you believe we are already halfway through the term?!

I don't know about you, but I've been a bit overwhelmed at times recently thanks to real life.  Between world happenings and just flat out being busy at home, I sometimes need a little pick-me-up to help me along.

In the Common Room, we have a link in the header to the Calming Manatee.  I suggest (if animated GIFs are not something that cause a problem for you) also checking out Kitten Witch.  I have a tremendous love for the little kitten and the wonderful messages on the GIFs, such as "'Doing your best' is not pushing yourself beyond your limits" and "'Doing your best' can change day to day" because there are days when I need these sorts of reminders.

I would also like to recommend sites like Do Nothing for 2 Minutes, which has the sound of waves and asks you to not touch the mouse or keyboard for two minutes (just a sort of mental break) and Weave Silk, which allows you to use your mouse to draw random (and pretty) shapes.  It's important to remember to take a couple minutes to just exist.

And if you find yourself struggling and very overwhelmed, take a look at this document titled Everything is Awful and I'm Not Okay.  It has a list of things to do that may help you get through.  Feel free to ask for a candle in the Tower's candle thread, chat in the Common Room (like post five happy things or request cute animal pictures), hang out in your Dorm, or even just take a few days off from chatting and crafting to rest.

Taking care of yourself should be a priority.

Take Care,

From the Desk of the Head of House: NEW Badges!

Many apologies for having missed posting last week.  Somewhere along the line I lost a whole day somehow.  Hopefully I get it back, because I need all of my days...

Ahem.

I wanted to take a moment to applaud Ravenclaw for an excellent turnout in classes last month.  As we all know, we are asked to turn in at least one class per month during the Term.  Real Life happens but we have generally been really good about doing at least that minimum.  We have done as well as we have overall the past several terms in part because of this.  No turn-in means no points, so having as few people as possible turning in absolutely *nothing* is important.

At the same time, we have many people who feel like they are expected to turn in a full set of six (or even more!) classes.  This is not an expectation, although if you have the time and energy, we will cheer you on as you dodge the Mallet of Sanity ;)

And so this week, I want to recognize two groups of people: those who successfully dodged the Mallet and turned in six or more classes and those who for one reason or another stuck to only one class for September.

First up, our One and Done students!

AFeskimo, AKnittingStory, Alfiriel, Aquariae, Bacs (oh hey, that's me!), Bobbilicious, bookwormdjibouti, celizabethhill, Cre8vladyb, CymraesCrochet, Cyprienne, deetyblue, DJackson, FilleDeFil, freply, frithuswith, Gipcsoul, greenheron, gwenschweitzer, hafknits, IggyLinda, Illuviel, Isilsartari, K8macq, knittingvortex, Knittinqueen, KnitWit685, knotnknit, ladylou, LASH, LindseyLuz, Lindzabeth, LladyLlama, llim, lovetosnorkel, mooseloon, nerdyinplaid, NoNeinNyet, Pickyknitter75, PoodleParade, psycheandcalypso, purplemb13, red, SarahTheEntwife, secrettrail, senkatnovo, Tanyakins, TindraTiernen, toolizzforyou, Volkat, Yarnfreak75, zillalatte, and zisch304

That's 53 people!  Almost a third of the House stuck with a single turn-in in September.  Those points add up, so never ever feel bad about not turning in more classes.

And now we have the other end of the spectrum, those who dodged the Mallet of Sanity and turned in six or more classes.

6- bandbabe, Caranam, Coukii, dixiehellcat, elekanahmen, fricknfrack, Gardenmama, Hopesclan, knitsNhikes, Lavenderblueskies, LeahandtheDragon, Lynn4MK, nightgigjo, nightrae, ObliviatheFirst, PickleMommy, rondaletts, S2five, Scrappinrobyn, ShanBonan, softnshiny, Sonnenbluenimp, specialKknits, tatsrus, TheBoyWhoKnits, TheEvilPretty1, Twillow, wendebular, WillowGlade
7- JessiaSott, Mootzee, SaskiaBr, Topfrog, TwistedStitcherFGE, winemakerssister
8- 5Bobbins, bigsnakes, cn32, FeoragRuadh, gwennian, HelpfulKitten, MeshaMarie, qtinki, shadowfey

Something that will be interesting to see as the term progresses is how these lists change.  Sometimes the beginning of term has more turn-ins, sometimes the end has more.  With this term being the one leading up to the holiday season for many, it's entirely possible that there will be more people dodging the Mallet by the end.

Don't forget to take care of yourselves, see you next week!

From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things, Round 2

It's that time again!

Time to show off some more of the turn-ins that have been distracting me!

This time, it's the non-Ravelry crafts that have caught my attention.  Some don't know this, but I enjoy doing a wide variety of different crafts beyond knitting, crocheting, dyeing, and spinning.  And I usually use one craft to procrastinate working on another... it's a bit of a problem.  I'm also always on the lookout for something new to learn, to my husband's dismay ;)

Here is the video for this round's recipients!

Included are projects from bigsnakes, brineydeep, chrisfixedkitty, coukkii, fregn88, gojenn, llim, lookout (this is actually a project also featured in last round, huzzah!), masschroeder, meshamarie, morningwynd, nightgigjo, purplepigwidgeon, shanbonan, specialkknits, suzannemm, twillow, and wendebular.

There aren't as many opportunities to do a non-Ravelry craft for a turn-in, so I always enjoy seeing what other things people make.

We also have a few special topic threads dedicated to various non-Rav crafts like tatting, sewing, and papercrafting, painting, and drawing, so if you are interested in learning be sure to check those out :)

Take care!

From the Desk of the Head of House: Situation Bettering

It seems almost like our HeadMistress and I are on a similar wavelength this term.  Anisa recently announced her challenge and it appears that this term the focus is on bettering things.  There will come a timeframe for focus on bettering ourselves, but the current challenge is to better a situation.

For many people, this is involving things like cleaning a particular area of their house or yard.  With the crazy weather systems that have come through parts of the world, many other people are working to better the situation in their community as well as trying to help improve things in distant locations.

I have already encouraged us to make sure we meet our own basic needs, and I would like to also encourage everyone to take part in the HeadMistress Challenge.  The world is a sometimes a bit of a mess, but we can work to at least help improve the situation in a variety of ways.  Some suggestions are to help clean up an area of your town or city, donate to a local shelter or hospital, or volunteer with a charitable organization.  

If that is stretching yourself a bit too far right now, then focus on making your own situation a little better.  Clean around your favourite place to sit, do a bit of dusting (being careful if you have a dust allergy), maybe plant some seasonally appropriate plants.  Those of us in the northern hemisphere are getting ready to head into the season where we stay indoors more, so having our spaces cleaned up to start off will help us.  Those in the southern hemisphere are getting ready to warm up, so cleaning up from the season of more indoor time can help rejuvenate their space.

It may be hard work, but in the long run it is beneficial to our own mental and physical health to also take care of our situation and environment.  Thank you to Anisa for the gentle nudge in that direction.

Take Care

From the Desk of the Head of House: Shiny Things, Round 1

Woohoo!

In previous terms, the Head of House has had the opportunity to give out badges or awards for a variety of reasons.  Most recently, PickleMommy awarded a variety of Pickle Awards for things like all around excellent projects that caught her attention, projects or turn-ins that made her laugh, and pointing out that some people really do push themselves quite an immense amount and spend all of their time running from the Mallet of Sanity.

One of the things that got brought up in a few places when it was announced that I would be taking over as Head of House was what sort of awards I would choose to give out.  I put thought into it, because I didn't want to just do the same thing PickleMommy did, and I also wanted to take the chance to recognize some of the projects that don't get as much attention.

So I am introducing for my first award Bacs' Shiny Distractions!

This award's focus is going to change each round, and will seem completely random to most people.  One round the focus may be on amigurumi, the next could be projects that are purple.  There's no telling what it will be because what is catching my attention changes regularly.

This first round is blankets (and blanket motifs), dishcloths, and scrubbies.  I have recently been working on a blanket for my middle son, and my OWL's main project is a queen size blanket.  Dishcloths and scrubbies are projects that I have turned to in the past when I needed something quick and easy that didn't require too much thinking for me to do.  Usually it's because I have an Advanced Studies project that is taking up my attenion, but a couple years ago I completely lost all sense and made 150 crocheted washcloths for a NEWT.

So here are the blankets, motifs, dishcloths, and scrubbies that I found last night while going through all of the class threads (no non-class turn-ins included because I decided to focus this time on the ones that secure someone's Sorting priority)

Included are turn-ins from 3trees, bchapman1017, bigsnakes, cauterize, dixiehellcat, feoragruadh, freemiki, gojenn, gwennian, kadiddly, keres, knit4beer, knitsnhikes, ladyjhia, lavenderblueskies, lookout, lsgarner, lvs2read, lynn4mk, missjanejetson, mooseloon, mootzee, morningwynd, neetsey, omeletsmom, picklemommy, quietdissident, saskiabr, shannamarie, snippybits, softnshiny, specialkknits, suzannemm, taleweaver, tatsrus, tindratieren, tshaya, and xamonster.  

Many others have gotten at least one class in this month.  Don't forget that to maintain Sorting Priority you need to turn in at least a partial class by the end of the month, every month.  If you are unable to turn-in at least a partial class, please make sure to contact me via private message on Ravelry to ask about getting an excuse recorded.

Now I need to go work on getting my own Sorting Priority taken care of ;)

Take care!

From the Desk of the Head of House: One Week In

The beginning of this term has already been quite busy!

There has been the usual whirlwind of OWL proposals and the Order of the Phoenix is already accepting BROOMs.  Quidditch Match 1 starts today.  Out in the Real World, many of us have been busy with things like the start of school, moving, workload shifts at work, and natural disasters like fires or hurricanes.

There are a few questions there that we should consider asking ourselves to make sure that the business of Life doesn't cause us to forget to take care of our most basic needs.  

Am I getting enough rest?
I know that some of us deal with things like insomnia that cause us to be unable to sleep the generally recommended amount of time, but we can still rest.  Take some time away from electronics, meditate or lie down for a little bit, maybe even take a nap.  Constantly being on the go mentally and physically can in the end cause us to exhaust ourselves to the point where we cannot continue to fulfill our obligations because we have crashed.  So taking time to rest will allow us to be more productive in the long run.

Am I remembering to eat?
This is one that I am personally guilty of.  I tend to remember to feed everyone else in my household and then forget to feed myself.  Along with remembering to eat at all, we should also remember to eat things that are good for us.  Eating the best that we can will help to make us feel better physically.  Going into what is cold and flu season for many areas, helping out our immune system by eating well is generally a good idea.

Am I staying hydrated?
Along with eating, something we often forget is remaining hydrated.  If you don't like plain water, there are various methods you can use to add a bit of flavour without possibly undesired additives.  If the issue is a matter of just not thinking about it, you can set yourself a timer to remind you or keep a container of water nearby so that you'll see it and remember to drink. Dehydration is not fun by any means, and can affect productivity and mood, so staying hydrated is beneficial in general.

Have I stepped or even looked outside?
When possible, I would suggest getting some fresh air and/or sunlight (the latter is a bit harder as the days get shorter in the northern hemisphere).  It gets you up and moving, and can improve your mood.  Sometimes the temperature outside can make going outside less of an option, but we can often still set ourselves up to read or craft in a sunny space to allow us to benefit from the sunlight from the comfort of our climate-controlled space. For those who are in regions that get little to no sunlight in the winter, there are lights available that can give you some of the benefits of sunlight while indoors.

So in the coming weeks, I challenge everyone to make sure that they are meeting their basic needs.  Sometimes taking it easy is just what we need. Doing everything is enticing, but if we don't take care of basic needs, then we will be unable to continue at a consistent pace and Life throwing a curveball can cause a larger setback than expected.

Take care!

From the Desk of the Head of House: Pre-Term Edition

There has been a lot of excitement over the past few weeks with the changeover of our House leadership.  Before that, we were all busily trying to win one more for the PickleCake team (Which we successfully did!  And we won the Quidditch Cup as well!).

I suggest that this term we take an opportunity to take care of ourselves. Whether this be by challenging yourself to actually get all of the holiday crafting done before December (this is my goal, and honestly is a loftier goal for me than 1000 points), to focus on turning in only one or two classes to leave additional time to enjoy the changing weather, or continuing to challenge yourself, I'd like to encourage everyone to take a chance to stop and breathe and rest a bit.

To that end, throughout this term I will be sharing some resources related to self-care in this blog segment.  I'll be expanding on the previously (years ago) posted Diadem Days because we all deserve a chance to take a moment for ourselves.  

I will also be doing a showcase of various projects similar to the Pickle Awards, with a twist that will be revealed in a couple weeks or so ;)

As always, there is an excellent variety of posts being shared to the blog this term, so I suggest checking back often to see what new things our Blog team have shared :)

Soar!