Swap-Bot RoundUp

Okay, this should be the last thing that you have to do for this swap, I promise! Please leave a comment saying who you sent your swap package to, if it was received, and if you received a package yourself. That should clear everything up and then we'll be done with it :)

Thanks for your patience in this, ladies! I appreciate it!

Received packages

I know there has to be more packages than this, but I could only find evidence of those that are listed below. We had over 50 participants, so there should be more than what is listed below. If you have received your package please leave a comment to this post so that others can see and make note of them on the Swap-bot list.

Also, for those of you that have not received your package by now AND have not heard from your swap partner please leave a message here so that they may be marked as 'not sent.' They will also be banned from future HSKS swaps.

Received
Jenean
Sonia
Deborah
Meg
Beck
Kelly
Tasha
Gigi
Carrie
Miranda
Cheryl
Laura
Jennifer
Ellen
Tammy
Kiki
Bronwyn
Ansley

Lists, lists, and more lists!

Hello, everyone!
In the next day or so I will be putting together a list of received packages so that you can go into Swap-bot to update packages received. I will post the list here and I will also send an email out to everyone with the list information.

Hogwarts Updates

Hello, ladies!

Prizes
Just wanted to let those that are waiting for their prizes that they have been shipped and are on their way to you.


Packages
All packages must be received by July 6th. If you have not received your package by then let me know. Those swappers that have not sent their packages and not received by their partner by July 6th will be banned from future HSKS swaps. That gives you all 2 whole weeks past the official ship date to get your packages to your partners. If you are experiencing any type of hardship you MUST email me and your partner to let us know what is going on.

HSKS2 House Preferance

If any of you ladies would like to sign up for HSKS2, but under a different House, just let me know. This option is only available for those that participated in this swap and wish for a little variety. Plus, it would be nice for some of the other Houses to get a few more people this time around.

Email Your Partner

Hello, ladies!
I know that we are getting down to the wire. Please, please email your partner (especially if you haven't contacted them before now) and let them know that when you think that you'll get their package off to them in the mail. There's nothing like suspecting that your package isn't coming! Thanks, ladies!

House Cup Winner & Hogwartly Business

Hello, ladies!!

We have a winner!!

I've taken the points from last week's trivia and this week's Quidditch points and added them to the total points for each House. These are the final percentages -

Gryffindor - 48%

Hufflepuff - 33%

Ravenclaw - 31%

Slytherin - 31%

So, a hearty congratulations goes out to Gryffindor for keeping a steady pace throughout the swap and earning the House Cup!!

Prizes

Prizes will be going out in the mail this week. These are the winners. Round two has two winners because I made a mistake in verifying who found the snitch first.

Round One - Nala - The Friday Night Knitting Club & bookmarker

Round Two - Michelle - Charmed Knits, Anne - Charmed Knits

Round Three - Ansley - A skein of yarn from Cosmic Fibers

Perfect Prefect Award

This is a special award that was not announced, but I feel the efforts by this individual prefect can not be ignored. So, without further 'adoo' I present the Perfect Prefect Award to Sarah. Thank you for all your hard work. Your efforts definitely showed in the level of participation from your group :)

Last Day

Last day to get your packages in the mail is Thursday, June 21st! So, it's time to wrap up your projects, make those last minute purchases for goodies to go in the bags and send them on their way!! If you do not receive a package by June 30th, please send me a private email.

HSKS2

Sign-ups for HSKS2 are well underway! The next round will be a lot less active in terms of trivia and such. So, if you enjoyed this swap be sure to sign up for the next one!

Next Round of HSKS

Hello!
I just wanted to announced that the signups for the second round of HSKS will begin next Monday! Yes, it's that time already. We only have a little more than 2 weeks left of the current swap, and boy, has it been a ride. :) I absolutely LOVE these larger swaps and have such fun putting the packages together. This swap is extra neat because of all the cool HP swag that is available.

Why is this next swap shorter, you ask? I get to go to Mexico in August!! Woot! My church does member missionary trips every year and this year I decided to apply. So, even though sign-ups don't start until Monday you can still head on over to the swap site and grab the logo to put on your site.

The BIG changes for the next HSKS are

• No Weekly Trivia
• Prefects have less responsibility - but there will only be one prefect per house
  
• Only two rounds of Quidditch - Trivia released on a Wednesday and Snitch released on a weekend

Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 2

Thank you!!

House Points

So, sorry that I haven't updated! Things have been so crazy around here. Problems with the house, then problems in the marriage. If it's not one thing it's another right?

Here are the House percentages for this week. No big changes so far. Hopefully, with the last round of Quidditch we'll see a big change.

Gryffindor - 55%

Ravenclaw - 49%

Hufflepuff - 40%

Slytherin - 25 %

Thank you for the well wishes :) Hopefully, things will iron themselves out very soon.

Quidditch and other Hogwartly Things!

Quidditch
The Quidditch trivia will be posted to the site late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. The Snitch will be release on Tuesday, so that will give you two whole days to get those questions answered. Once I have found out that the Snitch has been found the trivia will be removed from the site and the points will be tallied.

On the weeks that Quidditch is in session there will be no weekly trivia.

FeedBlitz
Some of you may have noticed that you can sign up for FeedBlitz over to your left. With FeedBlitz you'll get daily updates when the site has been updated.

Post Here
You can now post here on this blog! I sent out invitations last Sunday and many of you have accepted, but there's still about 20 of you out there that have not. You don't have to, but I wanted you to be aware that the invitation in sitting in your inbox.

HP Goodies & Yarn

I've updated the yarn and goodies links to the left. You'll find different links that sell stitch markers, buttons, and even Bertie Botts Beans!!

I've also included a couple of links for Owl mail - send an HP e-card to your pal!

Quidditch In Detail

Check out the FAQ

First, my aplogies. I did make a rather large post concerning the Quidditch sessions; however, I failed to refer to that post again once all the sign-up frenzy was over. I must say, though, that it went quicker than I thought it would go.

Now that everyone is here and accounted for I shall attempt to explain again the rules of Quidditch. You can also find a link to your left that leads to the previous post concerning Quidditch.

The Rules:

**Rules Update**
For the next round - The trivia questions will go up on Sunday(not this Sunday, but the 20th) and will remain up until the Snitch is found. The Snitch will be released on Wednesday of that same week. This was suggested by Laura from Ravenclaw - 10 extra points for Ravenclaw!!

The Quidditch games will consist of more trivia and a little scavenger hunt. There will be two more rounds of Quidditch during this swap. For each round I will need one volunteer to hide the Golden Snitch. Of course, that means that person will not be able to play during that round, but they will have two other rounds to try their luck. In order to hide the snitch you need to have a dynamic blog, meaning that you need more than one page to your blog to make it a little harder to find the snitch. See my blog as an example. Look at the navigation to the left - Witherspoon Cabin.

Each Round of Quidditch will last until the Golden Snitch is found or one week. After the Snitch is found the trivia and scavenger pic information will be removed from the site! So, be sure to get your answers up before Wednesday!!
The points schedule is below:

House Points & Prize
20 points - trivia questions answered
5 points - Picture Scavenger Hunt
50 bonus points - Entire House answers trivia questions
150 points - finding the Golden Snitch

The House that earns the most points for all three rounds will each receive a plaque that can be displayed on their blog:

Individual Prizes
Of course, there has to be a special prize for the person that actually finds the Golden Snitch. Here is what that person will receive:

1st round (May 6th - 12th) - 1 copy of Friday Night Knitting Club and Hogwarts themed book mark

2nd round (May 20th - 26th) - 1 copy of Charmed Knits and Hogwarts themed book mark

3rd round (June 10th - 16th) - $20 worth of Hogwarts Sock yarn

Swap FAQ

Hello, ladies! Wow! It's been a while since I've done a swap and the first time with this many people :) I've done tons of smaller swaps in the past.

If you stumble upon some really cute HP swap goodies, please send me the link so that I can put it here on the site. I would love to find a few more little things that I can throw in the bag.

FAQ

Well, there are some questions floating around out there, so I thought that I would answer some of them here. If you have a question, go ahead and leave it in the comment section and then I'll update this post with the answer.

Partners - Are we sending to the same person that is sending to us?
No. Most of the partnering works like a triangle, though, there are some matches that have four to five people in them. If there are 3 people in the triangle, for example, Mary will send to Beatrice and Beatrice will send to Sandy. Sandy will then send to Mary.

Swap Packages - When do we need to send them?
Some people will be knitting their bags, so they will need time to do that. Packages need to be sent by June 21st. That does not mean that you need to wait until then! When ever your package is complete go ahead and stick it in the mail.

Quidditch Dates - When is Quidditch happening?
Go here for a better explanation.

Weekly Trivia - Where is it?
The weekly trivia question will be posted at the top of the blog right under the HSKS title on the weeks that we do not have a Quidditch session.

Assignments have been sent!

Whew!!! All assignments have been emailed. Please remember to ignore the Swap-bot assignments

Prefects - a few things have been shifted around, so I will be emailing you a new list. I have a few things to do tonight before my knitting meeting, so most likely you'll get a new list tomorrow.

If anyone did not receive an email from me concerning your partner assignment or if any other problems arise, please contact me right away - bordeaux700 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Sign-Ups Are Now Closed!

Hello, all!
Thank you so much to all those that have joined us for this session of HSKS! I know that we are going to have a blast :)

Sign-Ups are now closed. If you've missed the deadline, but would like to join in on the second session, please visit us again at the beginning of June. We currently have 53 swappers! Yeah! If everyone keeps earning those House points I know that we'll have even more next round.

Reminder to participants!! Ignore the Swap-Bot assignments that go out! I will be working out the assignments today and will send you your partners information via email. As you know, this is my first time using Swap-bot. For the next round I will be sure to do an International and U.S. only swap.
To keep track of packages received so that we can update the Swap-bot points for each person, I will open up this blog for posting to those who register in a couple of weeks.

Percentage Points - I asked my math genius of a husband to help me figure out how to use points & provide percentages and we figured it all out :) I will add up the points that each House is earns and divide that by the total number of points that are possible for each house in order to get my percentage. Every week I will add the cumulative points and use that same process.

Points wiped clean! So, right now we are going to start with a clean slate. We'll consider the last two weeks to have been practice weeks. Now that everyone is settled into their Houses and the member numbers have stopped fluctuating, it will be much easier to keep score.
That means all prefects will need to, again, count the number of logos posted, as well as the trivia for this week, and report back to me.

Right, then! I'm excited! Right now, though, I have a dentist appointment that I must go to. When I get back I'll start the assignment process, so make sure to check your email box!!

HSKS Questionnaire

Please make sure that this questionnaire is posted on your blogs by Tuesday, May 1st!! House points will be awarded.

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?

2. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.

3. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?

4. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?

5. If your pal decides to send candies or chocolates are there any that you don't like?

6. What are your favorite scents?

7. Do you have any allergies?

House Points & Other Business

Hello, everyone!
It's time again to total up House Points :) Note: the points are cummulative each week.

Congratulations goes out to Ravenclaw House! They are leading the way at the moment. This is due largely because almost all of their members have the logo posted on their site. That's 5 points each!

Gryffindor - 20

Hufflepuff - 25

Ravenclaw - 45

Slytherin - 5

Prefects
Thank you to those that have volunteered to be prefects. You'll notice though that the most coveted House has no prefects at all. Come on, ladies! Some one needs to volunteer :)

Posting Logo
Some of you have posted the logo on your site, however, it would be best for you to put the logo in the sidebar for the duration of the swap and not just in a post. If you need help with that speak up.

Trivia Questions
Yes! Please post them on your blogs. The prefects will be checking your blogs weekly to see how you are racking up the points for your House.

Prefects & House Points

Good day to you!
I wanted to explain a little more about the prefects. Each House will have 4 prefects, so at most each prefect will oversee 12 swappers. Most probably prefects will over see about 8 swappers. That is with the hope that we get some Slytherins to sign up!

Prefects will check the sites of those that they are assigned to oversee once a week to see if they have earned any House points. They will total up the House points earned and let me know. Some points will be kept by the prefects and some points will be kept by me so that I can ensure honesty in reporting points.

House Points can be earned numerous ways. Continual points will be earned for swappers that have the logo displayed on their blogs and when swappers answer the trivia question at the top of the page correctly, and until you are assigned to a prefect you can email me with your trivia answers.

Just as there is a Quidditch tournament at Hogwarts there will be a modified Quidditch game here. Each House has the opportunity to win between 50 to 150 points for their house during the Quidditch game. More details on the game to come later.

All the ways that points will be earned:
5 pts - HSKS logo displayed on blog
5 pts - Weekly trivia question answered
10 pts - Weekly swap progress blog posts
20 pts - Package received by swap partner
25 to 150 pts - Quidditch

Just as each House can win points they can also lose points, so make sure that you are at least posting and displaying your logo!!

Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap

Welcome to the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap! I've recently jumped on the Hogwarts train and can't seem to get enough :) I've seen all the movies, but I've only just recently started reading and I'm up to book #3.

This is similar to the Hogwarts Sock Swap, but do not be confused. I missed sign-ups for the Sock Swap and haven't quite tackled knitting socks anyway, so I thought that I'd start a Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap.

NOTE: This is an international swap. It is my first time using Swap-bot and if I'm unable to assign partners in or near your home country then the Swap-bot assignments will need to be ignored because I will manually pair up swap partners.

You will be swapping a sock kit which will which should total an approximate $30 to $40 and include these items:

1. A handmade (by you!) kit bag in your pals House colors- this can either be knitted or sewn, but you must MAKE the bag!

2. Sock yarn in your pals house colors

3. A pair of new knitting needles

4. A stitch marker in your pals house colors - handmade or purchased

5. A sock pattern

You may feel free to add whatever little items that you choose to make your package special for your pal.

Musts: For this swap you must have a blog hosted anywhere (It does not have to be a Blogspot blog - my personal blog is a WordPress blog), and you must post in your blog four times a month - so that's 7 times during this swap. You also have to acknowledge in a blog post when you've received your package from your swap partner within 3 days of receiving it.

Before signing up for the swap you must be sorted into one of Hogwarts four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Please look to the sidebar for links to the Sorting Hat.

Contests! Of course there will be House contests. To keep up with the House points I will need four prefects for each house, so be sure to let me know if you would like to volunteer for that position when you sign up. The prefects will keep totals for their house, be assigned pals to mentor, and will check on their blogs to make sure that they are posting Official Hogwarts business.

Signing up
Sign ups will be closed after the swap reaches 150 participants. When that point is reached I will post a questionnaire which all participants must post on their blogs by May 1st.

I will be using Swap-bot for this swap, so you must go to this address to join the swap - http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/3187

You also must email me with this information:
Name
Blog Address
Hogwarts House you've been assigned to