Harry Potter Birthday Party!

Yes, I have turned 27 but I decided that the best way to celebrate would be to throw a Harry Potter party in my flat.

I made the mistake of looking up lots of Harry Potter party ideas online, all of which seemed to come from immaculate parties held in enormous American mansions with an unlimited budget (I have a Pinterest board here with some of the stuff I found- to be fair, it was pretty inspiring). But I live in a two bed flat in Nottingham and was planning on inviting some guests who, although they've seen the films, aren't as massive fans as me, so it was necessary for me to tone it down a bit. Sticking things on the walls seemed like it was a good way to start.

These were made before we knew that Ron was sharing is bed with a murderous balding man rather than a pet rat.

These are my pre-movie, 2001 Harry Potter wall stickers. I used to have a huge set of them that adorned my bedroom walls when I was younger but presumably threw the majority away as I now only have a select few remainders. I tried Googling them recently to see what the rest of the pack comprised of but there is no record of them whatsoever on the internet. Just let that sink in for a minute. I own some Harry Potter merchandise that doesn't appear to exist anywhere else. And I threw most of them away as a teenager. Yep.

Here's a selection of some of the rest of my wall decorations:

These are some more of the HP wall stickers, along with a handmade Honeyduke's sign

I made a Darks Arts section of my living room by creating a mini altar covered in dark-coloured scarves and adorned with skulls and other creepy objects. I used a UV pen to write a sign underneath which could only be seen when the UV light was turned on.

Naturally I made a 'Potions' area in my kitchen with bottles of various drinks with tea-stained labels:

Despite renaming it Veritaserum, I still couldn't get rid of the abominable grappa I bought in Italy last year

I have an extensive selection of teas so, together with a glowing orb and a set of tarot cards, this became the Divination area:

Snacks came in the form of Honeyduke's sweets and Gringotts' galleons (protected by a dragon, of course):

Two of my friends also made gorgeous cakes, one of which featured a Deathly Hallows design made of of chocolate hearts.

It should go without saying that the Harry Potter films were playing in the background at the party:

RIP old TV

I created an 'Olivander's' game which consisted of a collection of 40+ 'wands' (sticks) I had foraged for in my work lunch hours with a selection of questions and challenges stuck on each one. The sticks were put in a container covered with silver wrapping paper so guests could select a wand at random and complete the task. Tasks ranged from 'pretend you're riding a broom' to 'what would your boggart turn into?'. There was also one stick that said 'you are a unicorn for the rest of the game' and one unfortunate male had to wear a glittery cardboard horn crafted by my own fair hands for the next half an hour. It then got passed around the room and was worn by most of the party.

Naturally the party was fancy dress, so there was an assortment of characters and Hogwarts students including Sirius, Hermione, a young Bellatrix and a house elf. I went as Luna by making some Spectrespecs from some old 3D cinema glasses and wearing something resembling a school uniform:

I put a fair bit of effort into decorating the flat but my friends really made the party by being so enthusiastic about dressing up and joining in the silliness. So... same time next year?

Slytherin Scarf

So just in time for glorious spring weather (aka rain that is not quite so cold as winter rain) I have finished my second knitting project- a Slytherin scarf!

I followed exactly the same method as I did when making my Gryffindor scarf before Christmas except this time I knew what I was doing and made far fewer mistakes.

The wool I used for this scarf was:

• Green- Patons Fab DK, shade 02341
• Grey- Knitting Essentials DK, shade 804

Here is the finished scarf in its full glory:

I'll probably make a Ravenclaw scarf eventually although I'll give Hufflepuff a miss (yellow and black stripes will just make me look like an oversized bee).

Em-Con 2015

Last weekend I attended the second annual Em-Con (East Midlands Film and TV Convention) in the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham. I had initially planned to put together some kind of Skyrim cosplay but life- and a lack of motiviation- got in the way, so I decided to put together a last minute Hermione costume. 

Hopefully Hermione would approve of my smug face

On a pumpkin juice break

The costume consisted of:

• a white work shirt
• a rather frumpy skirt I bought for my graduation ceremony and have not worn since
• a grey top/jumper that I wear for work
• my boyfriend's maroon tie
• extremely thick tights (in my defence, it was very cold that day)
• Dr Marten's shoes, again usually worn for work
• my homemade Gryffindor scarf
• a Gryffindor badge I found in a charity shop
• a timeturner necklace
• prefect badge from school (we all received one at my school. I was never a 'proper' prefect)
• an official Hermione replica wand
• a striped satchel bag from Topshop 

I spotted a few other Hogwarts students at Em-Con- including Harry, Ron and a tiny Hermione- as well as a few people wearing timeturners and Harry Potter t-shirts. I would have loved to get a group photo with them all but alas, the opportunity never arose.

There does seem to be a bit of a Harry Potter curse to Em-Con. Last year Jessie Cave (aka Lavender Brown) was due to attend but didn't turn up on the day and this year James Payton (Neville's father) pulled out a few days before the event.

Also, I managed to get attacked by a Cyberman:

If this isn't evidence of the curse in action, I don't know what is

It wasn't all bad though. Highlights of the event included real, moving Daleks:

I refuse to believe that any creatures offering cups of tea can be evil

The Impala from Supernatural:
 

Sam and Dean not included

And the 'Three Doctors': Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Peter Davison:

My photography skills leave a lot to be desired

There was also that perennial favourite: queuing. I queued to get in, queued to look at stalls, queued to walk past stalls, queued to get barcodes scanned for the Q&A sessions and queued to have my name ticked off a list for the Q&A sessions. I even had a conversation with Syvester McCoy about queuing while I was in a queue. It was the most British of events.

The majority of the stalls at Em-Con offered all the usual merchandise you'd expect- overpriced replicas, large men's t-shirts (perhaps with a tiny and inferior selection of women's tops) and signed prints- however I did manage to find one stall that sold Harry Potter and other geeky jewellery that I hadn't seen before! They were also very reasonably priced- amazing! The stall was called 'Harpys' and they have a Facebook page here.

I bought this amazing Harry Potter necklace, worn here just before I went on a visit to the British Library:

I also picked up a Skyrim necklace:

Definitive proof that I am the Dovahviin

There were many creepy costumes at Em-Con, including a man with entirely black pupils and some sort of demon. However, the hands-down winner of scariest costume for me was the guy that came as Keith Lemon with a lightsaber:

Intentionally blurry to protect you from the true extent of the horror

Next year's Em-Con is due to be a two-day event which I'm a bit unsure about. With any luck, twice the length means twice the numbers of ,and so maybe, just maybe, we'll manage to see a Harry Potter actor at last!

RIP Sir Terry Pratchett

This is not a Harry Potter related post but I hope you'll forgive me for that. I'm incredibly saddened to hear of the news of Sir Terry Pratchett's passing after years of battling early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Members of my family have suffered with Alzheimer's and dementia and it is a truly awful illness and is one of the worst things I can imagine having to experience.

I remember rather skeptically picking up a copy of The Last Hero in the small library in my hometown when I was in my early teens, thinking it was all a bit too fantasy for the likes of me (which is strange when I think about it, as pretty much everything I liked as a teenager was in the fantasy genre). I liked the pictures though and gave it a go. I had no idea who the characters were or what on earth was going on but I loved it.

After The Last Hero, I experienced the next few Discworld novels through audio books read by Nigel Planer (if you've not given them a listen, please do, they are excellent). To this day, Guards! Guards! still conjures up memories of sick days when I was home from school and my head hurt too much to read so I just lay on my bed and listened.

I've read what is probably the majority of the Discworld novels now and I even wrote an essay on Pratchett's use of metaphor in Going Postal as part of my English degree.

Everyone's favourite character from Discworld- including my own- seems to be Death so I'll leave you with a poignant quote from him:

'THERE IS NO JUSTICE... THERE'S JUST ME'.

                                

Primark Harry Potter Haul

I'd heard on the grapevine that Primark had extended its Harry Potter range so naturally I had to investigate.... and I wasn't disappointed!


First up- loungewear:


Gryffindor pajama top- £5. I'd happily wear this as a regular t-shirt.

I'd just like to point out that is *not* my sofa in the background. The photos were taken in a changing room at work. I would not own any items of furniture like that.

Here are the cordinating pajama bottoms- £8:

 The thing I really like about the majority of Primark's pajama tops and bottoms is that they are sold separately, so you can mix and match styles and sizes. This is particularly good for me as I'm not the same dress size all over!

An array of Harry Potter pants next, £2.50 each:

Front

Back. Who wouldn't want 'Harry Potter' printed on their bum?

I feel that this collection presents a kind of alternate universe where Harry Potter is set in a US high school, hence the American football style quidditch design. Normally this would annoy me, but I think the aesthetic is pretty cool so I'll let it go on this occasion.


Now for the selection of items that I'd loosely call 'sportswear':
 

Hogwarts crest jumper- £10.

The fit on this jumper isn't fantastic so it's baggy in some areas but really tight in others. I'm hoping it'll loosen a bit on wearing though, and I do love the design.


Gryffindor zip-up hoodie- £12.

'Hogwarts' is emblazoned on the back in case you forgot which school Gryffindor belonged to

Quibbler jumper- £10.

 I feel a bit odd about wearing clothing with a picture of a teenage boy on the front, however the jumper is really comfortable so I'll just push those weird feelings aside in the name of fashion.

Spell design leggings- £6.

I couldn't get a decent photo of myself in these leggings so you'll have to make do with these close ups

I wouldn't normally buy leggings as loud as these (to be honest, I'm a bit wary of leggings in general after wearing many a pair of violently bright flowery ones as a small child when I didn't know better. It was the early 90's so I think I can be excused) but I think the design is really original. I think they'd make a great statement piece if the rest of my outfit was plain and black (as is usual).

Final thoughts:

A very good collection for the Harry Potter enthusiast. The items are a bit flimsy but they are very cheap so it's what you expect. There were more items in the collection- glittery pajamas that shed sparkles everywhere and tracksuit bottoms that felt incredibly thin- but I rejected those.

Happy shopping!

Harry Potter Book Night

Happy Harry Potter Book Night everyone!

'What is the Harry Potter Book Night?' I hear you cry. Well, it's a celebration of the Harry Potter books and is primarily aimed at schools and libraries to promote the stories (and reading) to younger generations. It is run by Bloomsbury publishers and individuals and organisations could register in advance to receive an emailed pack which contained quiz questions, game ideas, decorations etc for their own event. Lots of info can be found on their website here and you can follow the fun on Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #HarryPotterBookNight

This is the first such night and, hopefully, it will be a massive success and will grow into even bigger and better celebrations.

Unfortunately the events in my neck of the woods are very much child-orientated so, as a 26 year old with no kids of my own, I would stick out like an over-enthusiastic sore thumb amongst the family-friendly revelry.

Maybe next year they will run some events for old gits too. Until then, I'll celebrate in my own quiet way....

Gryffindor Scarf

I've wanted to take up a new hobby for a while and I've also been coveting Harry Potter scarves for years, so knitting was an obvious choice.

Although I am a Slytherin (according to Pottermore, which I regard as the only 'true' way of knowing which House you belong to), I've always been more drawn to the colours of the Gryffindor scarves so I decided that this would be my first knitting project. There are two designs of scarf in the Harry Potter films:

1) The wide striped scarf with tassels seen in Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets:

2) The narrow striped design seen from Prisoner of Azkaban onwards:

I prefer the former, and as I made it in December, it seemed a lot more Christmassy than the later design.

There are lots of different knitting and crocheting patterns out there for making a Harry Potter scarf (and even more for a generic striped scarf) but most seemed a bit too advanced for me so in the end I decided to make my own- very basic- pattern.

Materials used:

• Red wool- Yarnfair double knit in shade 034
• Yellow wool- Sidar Country Style double knit in shade 0612
• UK size 6 needles
• A crochet hook (for the tassels)

Method:

1. Cast on 32 stitches in the red wool
2. Knit for 40 rows. I just used the basic garter stitch as this was quick and easy for me to do as a beginner.
3. Change to yellow wool
4. Knit for another 40 rows
5. Continue until you have 17 stripes- you should begin and end with a red stripe
6. Tidy up the loose threads by weaving them into the scarf
7. Create and add the tassels. The article here outlines how to do this better than I can. I made 9 tassels- 5 red and 4 yellow- and made sure that the first and last tassel were both in the red wool.

I found that these videos were really helpful for teaching me how to knit, so I'd recommend them to any other absolute beginners who are interested in starting knitting.

Here's an 'in-production' photo of the scarf:


                         

The finished product:

                                  

                         

                         

It's not perfect (I wasn't really sure how to retrieve dropped stitches and my knitting was a bit irregular) but I'm very happy with it as a first attempt. I showed it to my Nan who has been knitting her whole life and she said it was very impressive, which is just about the best praise I can imagine.


                          

Not sure if Harry likes it though...