Class Ideas Spotlight - Herbology and Transfiguration!

Greetings fellow Ravenclaws!

In the Class Ideas Spotlights I will be bringing you a plethora of ideas for projects that will fit into classes. Each spotlight I will feature two different classes. My aim here is to provide you with some ideas in case you might need any. I will post some patterns that take a greater time commitment while others may be done in a few hours.

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Herbology

Mushrooms! Two options in Herbology this month, to craft something evocative of mushrooms or something that will make you a fungirl/guy. Har har har!

Got some great mushrooms growing in your yard or a nearby forest? Post them with your turn in or in the class thread. Things like this occasionally garner bonus points!

Typing 'mushroom' into the Ravelry pattern search will yield these results.

This ornament was just recently released. While Christmas is past, you could easily crochet a few of these for next year. The pattern works just as well without the loop if you want to make a freestanding one.

The Mario Mushrooms! Super cute and a relatively quick crochet, these guys make great gifts for the gamer in your life.

Several pattern notes include how fast this Shroom hat knits up!  A way to be both literal and fun!

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Transfiguration

Hey look books!

This month's assignment is to practice transfiguring a book into a knitted object. Doesn't your Ravenclaw heart just go pitter patter at the assignment? I wonder if Ravenclaws will be the most to turn in projects for this class...

Bonus points will be awarded for excellent book reports and for happening to choose a book that is the favorite of one of the professors. If they happen to leave a comment somewhere or you figure out what one of the books is do leave a comment!

There are loads of things you can do for this assignment. If you have something you want to make and aren't sure about how to fit it into a class it might be able to fit here. Ask in the common room and people will likely be able to find a book to match to your project.

Or you can go the other way, pick a book and get inspired! The following are some of my ideas using books that I think the professors may have as favorites.

Jane Austen has quite the devoted following and I count myself among her fans. Hmm, Pride and Prejudice or Persuasion? This site has some good quick and dirty information about regency fashion and style. You know how the professors love it when we do a little extra research.

This cropped bolero style top by Drops Design has some crochet lace at the edges and looks very Austen to me.

Or perhaps a little tea cozy? The English are very fond of their tea after all...

If you're feeling lacy this is a shawlette inspired by ocean waves that would have been perfect around Elizabeth Bennett's shoulders. I do recall that some members of her family greatly desired to go to Brighton, which is near the sea...

Another book I think may end up on the professor's favorite's list is The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

If someone made a mask like this you would be my new hero!

Other ideas for this book include a vial of poison, a "rotten miracle," anything with the quote "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." embroidered on it.

Some friendly reminders about Transfiguration:

• The book has to be something other than a Harry Potter related book. 
• You are required to tell the professors which book you chose and why your book turned into the particular knitted item you are presenting.

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Got any super awesome ideas for Herbology or Transfiguration? Going to do homework for one of these classes? Leave a comment! :)

Happy Crafting!

Common Room Recap December 31-January 2

This Weekend In The Ravenclaw Common Room::

• A bunch of Claws have decided to work together with/on Sparkpeople to manage their weight, eventually a seperate thread was initiated.
• SMONK has Rainbow boots.
• Gazebogal finished V’s lovely sweater!
• SadieLou knit a whole adult size cardigan in FOUR DAYS!
• The Ravenclaw Penpal Program is announced.
• Pertela (showing why she is mistress of the mail) explained how to mail a pumpkin...really!
• Classes are posted and ideas swirl and fly around the Ravenclaw commonroom like drunken fireflies! You can tell the drunk from the sober because sober ones always light while flying up or down (not side to side), watch them sometime it’s true!
• The very first Star of Isis of the Winter term  was awarded to SlightlyFoxed! Congrats!
• Some GLAMOUR is being planned!
• We might have more than a little bit of a planning compulsion in our house :) In fact our plans are of such importance to us that they have a thread of their own, tended by SadieLou.
• The first ickle firstie to receive a Star of Isis this term is SarahtheEntwife! Yay!
• The Mallet of Sanity was sighted hovering ominously near several house members. Also the Mallet of Sanity has friends now...be afraid, be very afraid!

Library of the Week: Wren Library, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, England

Sir Christopher Wren designed the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and it was completed in 1695 under the Mastership of Isaac Barrow, a friend of Wren’s. A local master mason, Robert Grumbold, supervised the building work and chose exterior stone with a pinkish tinge that catches the evening sun quite beautifully.

The library has exquisite classical proportions and maximizes space and light by having bookcases below window level. On the first floor are a series of marble busts of college alumni, including Sir Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon. At the far end of the library is a statue of Lord Byron by Thorvaldsen. This was originally intended for Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey but was refused; Trinity was glad to accept it.

Some of the College's most notable manuscripts are displayed in the Wren Library, including an eighth-century copy of the Epistles of St Paul, John Milton's shorter poems in his own handwriting, and the original manuscript of Winnie-the-Pooh. A modern library and reading room are not open to visitors.