In the Dungeon: February?!?!

So, the last time I reported in on the Dungeon mishaps it was January. And now it seems to already be February. I'm not sure how that happened...

anyway...here's some interesting. It's definitely not all of the interesting, but it's things that made me giggle. This goes back to the last time I posted, which was in January. Remember, as always, the important stuff can be found in the header of the common room. Also, the Scenic Route is always good for those on a time budget (and/or a fetish for the Doctor).

• Shout out to my Little Snake grirova for her awesome ravatar involving Potterpuff Draco in some sexy pants, and also for teaching us that stuffing angry cats down people's pants is NOT good. Hear that, Slytherins, NOT GOOD. (but still funny, yes?)
• Cat Versus Yarn
• Vote for Tiberius (or someone else, if you dare!)
• It's not too late for QUIDDITCH UNIFORMS!!! Get 'em in by the 15th!
• This didn't happen in the Common Room, but if you're playing Quidditch this term, this is the Ultimate Ravelympics FAQ from the group itself.
• You now get a cute little icon for gramatically correct piñata courtesy of Polcamilla (and of course CASEY!!)
• Get some Quidditch bling for your Ravatar here. :)
• Dudimus is awesome. Because I say so.
• Questers, did you survive January with your quest intentions in one piece? (I might have failed....sad day...) If you did, get yourself some rockin' Quest Bling
• Even though he didn't win, the last week's Hottie Competition featured one Stephen Colbert, which made me very happy. :)
• I'm not sure if it's too late, but go vote for the cutest thing ever (in the form of SarahJanet's octopus! in the prize thread for January prizes!)
• Z12 has a  scary ass cat.
• Cooking time with ScarlettB
• And because I can't post an update without some goats in it, goat on a cake and chocolate goats

Happy Crafting and Plotting, Slytherins! 

In the Dungeon: Where is January Going?

Slytherins, we're down to 5 days left in the month, where did January go?

I lost my January knee-deep in Quidditch stashes...but never fear, I've kept some time aside to post a quick play by play of the Dungeon, so you don't have to lose the rest of your month trying to keep up with what's happening over there!

Here's the down and dirty:

• For some reason, a bunch of misled Gryffindors snuck into the Dungeon to pelt us with food thinking that it was a form of attack. Except all they did was bring us snacks. (they also brought hotties...) Thanks Gryffindors!
• Pacasha of Hufflepuff reminded us all of the importance of Haiti relief, and that lots of designers on Ravelry are sending pattern profits to support Haiti relief!
• Turpentinechai demonstrates the Droste Effect in the Ravelry forums. And made me a bit dizzy.
• Dnatheory has discovered a rare printer that produces cats.
• The QuestMistress gets knitty with the Dark Mark.
• Ranalome shared this awesome snake project that SFCorgi made just for us!
• How to Make a Spindle with Fosterson

And as always, be sure to surf the recently posted images for pictures of hotties, goats, and hottiegoats.

Quiet Snakes

As the House Cup gets larger and larger, we have more and more snakes that hang out in the dungeon and submit wonderful homework, but never have the time to get caught up with our conversations and say hello.  This term I'd like to focus on the quiet and busy snakes, and help us get to know them a little bit better.

First off is duckyknits, a first year.

DNAtheory: How did you find out about the House Cup?
Duckyknits: Somebody, I don’t remember who, posted a project of theirs in another group, stating that it was their Potions OWL. I couldn’t help but follow it back. As soon as I saw the Cup, I knew I wanted to join!


Are you a knitter, crocheter, spinner, weaver?
Pretty much a just a knitter. I’ve been knitting for a little over 3 years now, and I’m pretty much willing to try anything. The techniques I don’t know are mostly because I haven’t gotten around to them, rather than any active avoidance. I can work a drop spindle, but would love a spinning wheel.


What other crafts and hobbies do you love?
I love to read, above all. I’ve been reading since I was very young, so it’s been a lifelong passion of mine. I also love puzzles, which is part of why I love knitting. Trying to rework patterns and figure things out always feels like a new puzzle! Other than that, I love most things where I can work with my hands. Recently, I’ve been learning how to do stained glass.


What do you do when you’re not knitting?
I’m a grad student at the moment, so that takes up a huge chunk of my life. Other than classes and research, I like to hang out with my friends and play games, both video and tabletop. Also, I love to cook, especially for appreciative tasters! There’s a lot of satisfaction in making something delicious.


Do you knit for yourself or for other people?
I mostly knit for myself. Most people don’t appreciate the effort and cost that goes into a fiber craft. However, recently I’ve begun to make small projects, such as hats, for a select few.


What is your dream project?
Laura’s Cardigan has always blown me away, but I just haven’t made very many sweaters yet. (None, actually, but I’m working on one.) I’ve also had dreams of knee-high entrelac or argyle socks.


What project are you most proud of?
I love my Knotty Gloves. I’m also particularly fond of the Cthulhu I just made for class.


Where do you find inspiration for your crafting, besides the Potterverse?
I craft when something strikes me as being unique, and yet pretty or classy in its own way. I don’t make things that look like what you could find in a store, though I do try to make them as nice as possible. Sometimes it’s something I see on TV, sometimes while I’m browsing the internet, even if it’s not a knitting site. It just depends, I guess.


What are your crafting goals for this term?
I’m going to complete the Ultimate Quest Light+. I know I’ll accomplish more than the Quest Light, but less than the Ultimate Quest. I plan on completing the Ultimate Quest this summer when I’m not taking classes.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions, Duckyknits!

Dungeon Pretties

So, term is off to a good start, lots of O.W.L.s have been approved so far for the noble house of Slytherin, class assignments are starting to trickle in at a steady pace and the pretties are starting to appear in the common room (and I'm not just talking the hotties here).

Talking of OWL's take a look at the very stylish Deputy Headmistress hilltopkatie, in her Owls sweater, handed in for detention in which she can't nominate herself for a prize but understandably wants to show it off. I have to agree and so wanted to show it off here where all of the Slytherins can ooo and aaahhhh.

Last term the common room was bursting

with very pretty handspun yarns by the
fabulously talented Slytherins who not only produced their own but shamelessly encouraged many of the rest of us to give it a whirl. So far this term things have been quiet but exect to see more as term progresses. So to encourage more of this show and tell about the pretties here is PEby's beautiful Slytherin Handspun

and my own small offering, the colour was given as garnet but it's far more purple that I would expect a garnet to be, so I've called it garnet night.

I hope this little bit of encouragement inspires more pretties for me to show on the blog.

In the Dungeon

The last post I did was on the second, so this is since then. Again, this isn't everything. It's just a little. (and honestly, today was kind of a blur).

When in doubt, if you find something awesome enough to be on the Slytherin blog, earburn me. That'll work for reals.

• Z12 makes a glorious Quidditch post in the common room.
• Voting for the Current Hottie of the Week is still going down
• QuestMistress LNS makes another amendment to the Slytherin Quest rules (by the way, there's now Quest Lite!)
• The Best Big Snake Encouragement as of late goes to Folk (and MamaSnatrix made me laugh!)
• There's a new group founded by Gryffindor Stargirl09 where we can storm the public with our yarn!
• Sayid is da hawt...
• Red gets love for calling out her Little Snakes to come follow the blog! You rock RED!
• Professor Feelgood posted something incredibly hot.
• My personal favorite of the Dungeon Awesome (with the possible exception of the Incredibly Hot in the above post, The Kids from Hogwarts are going back for A Very Potter Sequel! Thanks Chileninja for the shareage.

In the Dungeon: The first two days of term

Hello Slytherins!

First off, Big Snakes and Middle Snakes, PLEASE encourage your Little Snakes to follow the blog and check here for regular updates if they are afraid of the dungeon! There's a lot of stuff going on right now that we know they don't want to miss!

Also, I need to say, I'm not posting everything that happens in the Dungeon. I'm trying to post the highlights. If I miss something you found entertaining or important, please feel free to post the info and the post # in the comments! As I get more used to this, hopefully I'll get better at including the best highlights, and always remember, these are the things that interest ME. I am, after all, a Slytherin. I have to put myself first. :)

• Quidditch Is Up! Our esteemed captain Zanahoria12 needs any and all interested in playing a Big 7 Position (this is seeker, beaters, chasers) to tryout. Info is here
• This didn't take place in the Dungeon but official Quidditch info is here
• The new term brings us a whole new term of hotties! (okay, so lots of them are probably the same hotties...) Come look at the luscious and vote for your favorites (vote for Ewan!) Hotties are changed usually every Friday night, so nominate your favorites too!
• The Ultimate Hottie from the Fall Term Hottie-Off is Johnny Depp. And he's gorgeous. (I'm sorry Professor Snape but I voted for Jack Sparrow! Yum!) He's spending the week in the Dungeon Header (and the rest of the term chained up next to my chair!), and there's varying levels of Hot in this post
• Coleva, also known in the Potions classroom as Professor Feelgood, is awesome. Apparently I failed to sufficiently mention this in my last post, thus I'm correcting that failure here.
• Are you a Slytherin sans an appropriately evil Ravatar? If you need some new icon bling, go here. They do requests, and it might be easier to wade through than the Dungeon. Props to seakame for linkage in the dungeon.
• Finally, my most squee-worthy post of the last few days, first year TurpentineChai brings Steampunk to the Dungeon. It's so awesome I'm putting up a picture. Steampunk StarWars anyone? Vader, Fett, and Leia.

Greetings from your Quidditch Captain!

Hi everyone!

I'm Erika, a.k.a. Zanahoria12 and I'm Quidditch Captain (and Keeper) this term!

While we're waiting for the ultimate rules and regulations post to go up, I thought I'd share some important things with you about how we're going to handle our strategy.

1. We have a separate Quidditch Pitch thread on the Rav group. I'll be making most of the announcements and requests-for-information posts over there to save the Common Room from further craziness. If you're interested in Quidditch this term, please try to pop in.
2. We also have a website for our Quidditch Pitch where I like to put the information in one place so that it's easy to find in the shuffle. There's a link in the sidebar over there at the top of the blog page --->
3. We're also in the process of setting up a SSSQS (Super Secret Slytherin Quidditch Strategy) Google Wave. Google Wave is a way of interaction in real-time or not. You'll need an account to get into our Wave, so if you need an invite, please visit the Quidditch Pitch thread on Ravelry. There's a link to a form there in the second post, right under the list of Big 7 Team members so that you can request one.
4. Tryouts will be via Google form. Once the form is finalized, a link will be posted in the Quidditch Pitch thread, on the website, and on the Wave. If you wish to play for one of the Big 7 Team Positions, you must fill out this form. First-Years are eligible for the House team, and all applications will be given equal consideration for a position.
   
5. January will be Ravelry stash organization. Be prepared to organize and photograph and tag large portions, if not all, of your stash. Everyone in the House can do this for points and those Big 7 members in charge of organizing activities and events will do their best to motivate and support you in this endeavor.
   
6. February we will be traveling to take part in the Ravelympics. They have their own group if you want to start reading about it. There's a link to this group in the Second Post as well. We need a team name so I can register us with the Ravelympics group. Our team name must include: Slytherin, Cup, and Quidditch. PM me on Ravelry with your ideas. We'll vote sometime next week.
7. March is our Cool Down period. We don't yet know what this entails, but I promise we'll be right on top of it once we do know.

That should be everything for the moment. I'll check in periodically with updates and news:)

Z12

So excited you might burst....

I'm sure thats how a lot of you are feeling right now, I know this time last year there was the feeling of was I going to fit in? What were classes going to be like? Was I going to manage to keep up? Was I going to get everything done? Who are these scary people who know so much?

Do you want to know whats maybe worse? my first term there were 40 of us in Slytherin house and I still didn't say anything til about half way through the term, it was scary - there were all these awesome people, now we're up to 135 per house.....thats massive and very easy to get lost in - your snake nest can help, it gives you people to talk with, ready made friends to cheer you on

The anticipation can be almost too much, I know we've all been there no matter how many terms we may or may not have under our belts. Does it get better with time? of course it does - well a little bit, there's still the rush of the brand spanking new classes each month and getting to know your new friends in the dungeon.

So in that spirit I would like to offer a few words of advice for the new and the overexcited (not necessarily the same people) for when the classes go up tomorrow.

Firstly - Breathe - simple eh? sit up take a deep breath it makes a difference

Secondly - take your time to read the prompts, make notes, jot down idea's , get up walk away and come back, think about it. You don't have to cast on on the first just because the classes go up - sometimes I've only cast on something the day that assignments are due (gasp).

Thirdly - ask questions if theres anything you are unsure about - BUT read the first few pages of each class - you may find that the question you have has already been answered - your professors will thank you for not asking the same question 500 times - trust me on that ;)

Fourthly - use your big/middle snakes to bounce idea's off - especially for OWL's

Fifthly - be realistic - by now you've probably read about - The Slytherin Quest - and while it may sound appealing, it's not possible for everyone and this is good. For every crazy (yes i hold up my hand to this - my name is Cattiekins and I'm Crazy) doing the Slytherin Quest there are the equally awesome snakes who work full time, have a family to look after and do an OWL and one class a month - we are all awesome.

Sixthly - so you want to get as many things done as possible - remember that you can often get bonus points for larger objects and that there are starting points - so you don't finish - hand in for starting points - you'd be amazed how often starting points can bump up a houses score.

Seventhly and last of all, pay attention to ways of getting bonus points - house colours don't mean they have to be Slytherin - any house will do, use purple and claim it as house unity colour and remember to SAY in your hand in that it is house colours -we sometimes miss what isn't pointed out and with potentially 500+ assignments handed in for each class, the more you tell us the better. Photograph it in interesting ways, babies and cute kids/ pets, thoughtful poses, inspiration pictures they can all help.

Ok I've talked your ears off I'm sure, I hope it helps and if anyone else has some advice - leave a comment :D

Tracy
who will be back to the regular schedule of posting the oooo look at the pretties we've made once term gets into the swing of things

In the Dungeon: Day 1: OMB!

First off, hello! I'm Jamie, a.k.a. suenosdejmi on Ravelry. I'm one of the Slytherin Prefects and my main blog duty this term is to post the what/what of the Slytherin Common Room. For reference, any Official Slytherin News will always be in the main header of the common room, but will probably be posted here too.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the 1000+ posts of Day 1, just tune into the blog, where every few days (a minimum of once a week, honest!) I'll be posting the coolest things that have happened in the common room as of late. These are what I think are cool (or useful), so if you don't like it, well, read the Common Room! :P

Day 1:

1. HOTTIES. Loads of Hotties have been posted today. An easy way to see them all is to use the pictures only feature of the common room.  (there are also lots of cats in this, strangely enough...)
2. Big Snake/Middle Snake/Little Snake nest assignments. They're also posted here on the blog.
3. For those of you who are seekers of the Slytherin Quest, we dubbed LNS the chick in charge and started talking about some rules. Ultimate Quest anyone?
4. There's a chat room. Seriously. There is.
5. Scarlettb is made of awesome.  And Clooney is hawt!
6. Last Term's Owl Exam rules are here. They might be different this term, but they are great guidelines to get an idea beforehand. New ones will go up with classes on the 1st.
7. Quidditch will be made of awesome and the guidelines will come out soon! Some hints and details are here.

If you have any questions about the above, or anything else, comment here, or PM me on Ravelry. I heart questions!

Nest assignments!

Adder’s Nest, cattiekins

Middle Snake: Holycuteness

Little Snakes: Aracale, celticmemory, Ciariel,
knitknot and phoenikoi

Cobra’s Nest, kikipotamus

Middle Snake: dnatheory

Little Snakes: dudimus,  rubyyarn, SarahJanet,
jessajune,  georginaelizabeth and winterbird

Rattler’s Nest, Folk

Middle Snakes: Dee2 and Nightowlknitter

Little Snakes: CCsmile2006, cephalogal, gleemarie,
slytherclaw, mirie and lithesomewiz

Viper’s Nest, Snowqueen73

Middle Snake: airmidm

Little Snakes: CECIII, knitswithballs, LauraEJordan,
summerific and tipsyfox

Coral’s Nest, jjkawano

Middle Snake: Ranalome

Little Snakes: bidibid, cibec, jacinda, ski4life
and onlyplaying

Mamba’s Nest, suenosdejmi

Middle Snake: linuxchic

Little Snakes: biteyfish, dannibeez, dippy, grirova,
and lunathecat

Sea Snake’s Nest, Sea-Jelly

Middle Snake: QallieQ, BubblesTiggy

Little Snakes: lianna, havensfire, slitherhither,
polcamilla, and duckyknits

Copperhead’s Nest, crazyredheadchick

Middle Snake: fosterson

Little Snakes: alterknits, cypher, feministy,
synchronistic and turpentinechai

Python’s Nest, SarahJoKnits

Middle Snake: seakame

Little Snakes: Covington, ecupirate68, JuliaV927,
sunshineknit, sford10 and xenniferx

Anaconda nest, caitirin

Middle Snakes: working4yarn,RobbieRobbie, maigret, and BBhatsnstuff

Introductions!

Phew!  With Sorting today and new classes on Friday, this week is getting pretty hectic!

First off, I'm Kara, or dnatheory on just about every internet site ever, and I'm going to do my best to keep everyone in the loop with the Dungeon goings-on this term.  My plan is actually to foist off the Gossip Girl title onto Suenosdejmi, but I'll be posting lots of different fun things in addition to her summaries of the common room.

First-years and transfer students, I'm also your Welcome Witch, so feel free to ask me anything at all if you're lost or confused.  Slytherin is (surprisingly?) full of friendly and wonderful people, so jump right in and make yourself at home.

Finally, just to make sure everyone is on the same page:  classes go up on Friday, so try not to cast on anything new until then!  You're free to start projects at midnight PrincessOnica time (Pacific time).  You can swatch and photograph OWL supplies before then, but don't start working on your OWLs until after they're approved by the examiner (ours is Fricknfrack).  OWLs and Quidditch are totally voluntary, but definitely encouraged!

Stay tuned; there will be lots more fun stuff posted here as the term gets underway.

Welcome to the Dungeon...

...we have fun and games...

Well, we do.

Anyway, welcome Slytherins to the new Dungeon Blog. We'll be posting suggestions for classes, tips and plans for Quidditch, and juicy gossip from the Dungeon Bar (and the Hottie Bartenders) throughout the term. I'm ScarlettB, the Head of House. Zanahoria12 is your Quidditch Captain - she'll be doing some Quidditch Plotting throughout the term, as we gear up for the Ravelympics. Your Prefects are Suenosdejmi and Sea-Jelly, who'll be keeping an eye on everything. Your Head Snake (aka The Queen of the Big Snake/Little Snake Program) is Kikipotamus - she'll let you know what Nest the new Firsties are in, and who their Big Snakes are. And DNATheory will be acting as our Gossip Girl, filling you in on all the most important happenings, in case you go away for a day and come home to find 596 posts written in your absence, and just want the Cliff Notes version!

Add this blog to your bookmarks, favorites, and RSS feed - you're not going to want to miss a word!