Still looking for Christmas pressies and don't know what to get? Some of the items that didn't sell at the craft fair will be going up for sale in the Burrow Bazaar! So, get over there, check it out and get your shopping done!

Remember, the prices are higher than usual because we are looking to make a little money and KEEP IMMY GOING!

Dear SPEW Members,

I've been so pleased to see your knitting and crocheting progress these past few years. In fact, I have asked your moderators to take my Burrow Bazaar on the road next month to a local craft fair! The fair will take place on Friday, 4 December near Pen's home. I should very much like the proceeds from your creations to be used to support your wonderful community, Immeritus. A finer tribute to my friend, Sirius, I have never seen. I've tried to donate funds to your site, but somehow galleons, knuts, and sickles don't seem to convert into Muggle money.

If you have small items you would like to sell, do let Pen and Canute know. Things like hats, scarves, gloves or mitts, gift bags or gadget cozies never go amiss at the holidays. Pen will need to receive your items by Monday, 30 November. This will give her time to catalog your items and prepare them for display. Do let the ladies know how much you'd like your items to fetch, and if you'd like some compensation for your work. They will need to know if you can contribute anything by Sunday, 15 November at the very latest. I plan on sending some things myself, though my children tell me Muggles wouldn't appreciate a Weasley jumper. That I cannot believe.

I look forward to seeing your contributions!

Kind regards,
Molly Weasley

Don't forget, sign-up deadlines for all swaps are looming this month. If you still haven't signed up yet, there's still a little time! For those of you participating, don't forget to contact the swap organizers via PM with your contact info! They need this vital info ASAP so they can distribute the info and keep the swap schedule moving on time.

All swap threads can be found in The Burrow.

Happy swapping!!

The Immy DobbOberfest is here!!!!

So break out the Pumpkin Juice, Butter Beer and Mulled Mead, - um, one or the other people, not all three together -get into your stash and join us in honoring Dobby, the bravest little elf in the magical world! Without him, the Dark Lord might have succeeded with his evil plan and then where would we be?

We all know that Dobby loved clothes, especially socks, so we're going to honor him by making October his month and knitting or crocheting socks we know he would love. Technically this means socks that don't match, but we don't think Dobby would be too bothered if they do. He'd just mix them up later. Alternatively, you could take this opportunity to use up some of your stash by knitting socks out of different yarns. Strips and colorwork lend themselves to this pretty well. Or, think Halloween socks! Dobby would love anything Halloween.

The Dobboberfest runs from Oct. 1st to the 31st. As mentioned, any yarn, pattern or color will do for the K/CAL, as long as it's socks. We're also not limiting anyone to just one pair, so feel free to knit or crochet to your heart's content and free as many elves as you like! Join us here!

Socks ho!

Did you know that there are less than three months to Christmas? Really? You didn’t? Seriously? Well! Then you might want to start thinking about it. Or maybe you’re still wondering how you’re going to manage to come up with original and beautiful gifts for all your family and friends? Well, resident Burrowists Pen and I have the answer! The Burrow Bazaar and Crafty Commissions!

There are still one or two items available for purchase in the Bazaar and Commissions are always open. If have something in mind, but can’t make it yourself, contact us and we’ll try and connect you with a crafter who can help solve your problems. Just keep in mind, large items will take longer and must be commissioned early for timely completion.

Remember, all items, whether commissioned or not, go toward helping to keep our community open, so not only are you getting a fabulous Christmas pressie for someone, you’re helping keep Immy afloat. What could be better than that?

Because I flocked it the first time and I don't want anyone to miss this, taks a gander if you missed the first Immy Christmas post.

Christmas, a time for friendship, good cheer and Immy Swaps!

The Immy Christmas Swaps have become an integral part of Immy Life over the past few years. Now the Christmas/Holiday Season is rushing up on us again and we’d like to get the ball rolling so that everyone has time to think about, design, create, organize and send before the holidays are over, and if possible, before all the other holiday pressures mount.

Now to the nitty gritty: Is there anyone out there who would like to volunteer to organize a swap? Up for grabs are:

Christmas cards – Paper
Christmas cards – Virtual
Secret Santa

Or, if you have a great idea for a swap, let us know!

If you’re a club member, or long term participant who just hasn’t gotten around to applying yet (you know who you are), and would like to volunteer to organize, please contact me by Oct. 12th. I’ll keep a running list here of who is doing what so you’ll know what’s open.

Now the less pleasant bit:

Please note that should each swap will need two reliable people to help run it. Especially in regards to the physical swaps, preference will be given to those who have run swaps before, as we already know they are reliable, and to well known members in good standing. Should you have any doubts about your ability to commit the time and energy into organizing the swap and sticking with it to then end, please do not sign up, or at least let us know in advance so we can arrange for backups. We feel it’s important that these things go well as people invest not only time, but money and emotions into the swaps and we don’t want anyone let down. The same goes for signing up for swaps. Please don’t sign up if you do not seriously intend to follow through. It’s not fair for the other participants if only some of them fulfil their obligations. Having said that, it’s not a lifetime commitment and you won’t need to spend 5 hours a day organizing. We just need you to be there until the end.

This is really not meant to put anyone off. We just really do want to make sure this is a fun event for everyone and not just abandoned by people because their favourite mosquito died and they no longer feel like taking part. Valid reasons communicated to the Burrow mods as soon as possible will never be a problem.

So, if your still willing and able, please post here or PM me and we'll get the ball rolling!

The Summer Crafting Swap Party has, due to the late realization that this coming Sunday is Father's Day, been moved back a week. It will now take place on Sunday June 28th at noon PST, 8pm GMT. We hope to see you all there! Sign ups for the swap will also be extended, so you still have time to sign up if you're interested.

The Summer Crafting Swap is open for sign-ups. Get in on the SPEW fun! Oh, and did I mention we're having a party? Click here for the scoop!

Looking for a little something to pass the time this summer? Why not check out our latest RPG, Summertime Blues?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to enroll your original HP Character in Wizarding Summer Camp! Yes, you read that right! This summer's RPG will be open to original characters! In order to participate in this RPG, you must "register" your character by passing through a simple application process.

Game starts June 15th, hope to see you there!

Star and Pen

International Cuppa Swap 2009

Whether you can’t function without your morning boost, or if you just love the taste and aroma of a good cuppa, this is the swap for you!

In the past this has been a tea-only swap, but this year the coffee lovers out there are included as well!


This swap is dedicated to the memory of a great teaholic Immeritan.

Today (the 23rd) is Boe's birthday, so as you enjoy the tea (and coffee), please give thought to our dearest Boeluen and come and join our swap!

OK! Voting is over and it's time to get this show on the needles!

*drum roll please!*

And the winners are!

In the knitting category, Hermione's Cable & Eyelet hat

In the crochet category The Ipod Cozy, pattern by our very own Dora!!!

For links to the projects see my latest post in The Immy Thread.

We're going to give you two weeks to get your materials, but don't jump the gun! We'll start knitting/hooking on March 21st to celebrate the very first day of Spring! If you start before that, you'll just miss out on the fun of knitting and hooking along with everyone else. Our goal is to be finished with our projects by, you guessed it, June 22nd, which is the first day of summer! By then, we would hope that by then not even Dobby would want to wear a hat and that your Ipods would overheat if you dressed them up.

Since two weeks is, well, two weeks, and you're not really allowed to get the needles out until then (and no, swatching counts as part of the projects ladies, not as a prelim measure!), let's kick off by posting about the colours and materials we plan on using. Show us your yarn and tell us about any "improvements" you plan on making. We'd love to see what everyone is planning so we can pilfer your ideas to spur on our own imaginations. Now's a good time to ask any questions or brush up on techniques. If you think you might have trouble doing something, post about it here and someone will be sure to help you.

Finally, just in case any of you plan on flouting our starting date, I've hired Peeves to torment anyone he finds working on it. He knows how to turn up out of the blue and you all know how much fun he has when he's got you where he wants you, so beware!

It's party time people! Come join us in chat to celebrate with (and surprise!) ( Read more... )

Since the advent of the Burrow Bazaar, we've decided to add an additional element of Crafty Commissions.

Ever find yourself wishing you had a scarf, hat, mittens of a certain colour, type or pattern and just can't do it yourself? Can't sew but need something special? Want to organize your photos for a special occasion but have no clue where to start? That's where the Immy Crafters come in!


The Basic Idea:

If you'd like to commission an item, post here with a rough, or exact - if you have a pattern - description of what you're looking for, then sit back and wait for a volunteer. Be sure to include the item, color, type of yarn/material, type of pattern and price range you're looking for. Once a volunteer contacts you, you can discuss the details with them via e-mail or PM. When everything's been decided, the volunteer should contact a mod and let them know the details, including email addresses for both parties, and then post in the thread to let everyone know the commission has been taken.* Since this is the sort of transaction which calls for all parties to be extremely reliable, it's only open to well known members, both commissioner and craft volunteer-wise. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me to ask.

Immy Donations: Please note that the purpose of this thread is to help make money to keep our community up and running. We can't force anyone to donate, but we would like to request that commissioners voluntarily donate $10 for smaller items and $15 for larger items. The cost of the material for each item can either be donated to Immy, or reimbursed to the craft volunteer, to be stipulated by the volunteer before the project is begun. For example, if the item is a small to mediums sized scarf for which the material cost $15, Immy should receive a min. donation of $10. The $15 material cost would then either be paid to the volunteer, or the volunteer could choose to have it donated to Immy as well, making a total donation of $25 to Immy.

*We ask that all volunteers provide the commissioners with exact cost before completing any agreements; shipping cost should also be taken into consideration. All agreements must be Mod approved before the project is begun so that we can ensure fairness to all parties. Once the item is completed, the volunteer should post to thread (with pics if you like so we can all ogle and drool!). Mag will then invoice the commissioner for the agreed cost via the Immy Donations system.

Any questions? Contact either me or Pen and we will be more than happy to help!

I am! And I know many of you are as well! Tomorrow is the US Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama and we at Immeritus want to wrap up our election activities with an Inauguration Chat! Log in to our chatroom at 11.00am Eastern time (GMT -5), 10.00am Central, 9.00am, Mountain, 8.00am Pacific tomorrow morning, January 20, to gather together as we witness this historic day. The swearing in itself will take place as noon.

The Inauguration ceremonies will be covered by all major news channels and networks but if you're stuck at work or elsewhere, many news channels' websites will be streaming the ceremony live online. So put work on hold for a little bit and join us!

The next item(s) for sale are some very pretty, handsewn stocking sacks by the mousy newbie herself.

People interested should pm sugar_mouse.

Stocking Sack

Stocking sacks are basically like stockings, they serve the same purpose as stockings, but they're easier to fit presents in.

Pattern: Thought it up myself, so i guess it's improvised?
Material used: 'Festive fizz panel' cotton by Makower UK, Dark green fleece, Dark green velvet ribbon.
Size is 37cm (length) by 28.5cm (width).
Suggested donation: $10. (more if you want a 'signed for' Christmas delivery!)

One is currently available. The next should be finished asap.

Pictures available here

A Big thanks to Sugar Mouse for helping us out!

Once again we have a new item for sale:

Diamond Lace Cowl knit by Canute. Should you be interested in donating to purchase this item, please contact Canute by PM or E-Mail.

Pattern: Diamond Lace Cowl by Knitplaywithfire from Ravelry
A big thanks to KPF for allowing us to use her pattern! This pattern is not yet available, but will be soon. This was a test knit, so if you buy this, you'll be getting a prototype!

Yarn: Mimi from Bernetta Wolle (50g / 230 yards)
Colourway: 114.24
Weight: Fingering
Fibre: 100% Merino Wool
Washing Instructions: Hand wash cold/warm, stretch to shape and dry flat
Needles: 4mm
Size: approx. 15 inches long, wide enough to fit over anyone's head

Cost for this scarf: $15

Delivery Time: Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Can be sent Super Snail with larger donation.

Notes from the knitter: As mentioned, this was a test knit for Knitplaywithfire and is a prototype. I love the way it turned out and will certainly use the pattern again. Here it is, modelled by the ever obliging Mr. Bear. It is made of 100% wool, so if you're sensitive, this might not be for you. It is, however, really warm and comfy.

Sign-ups are now open for our 2008 Fanfic, Poetry, and Fanart Holiday Exchange!

Please follow one of the links below for more information, rules, deadlines, etc.

Fanart
Restricted Section Fanart

Fanfic
Restricted Section Fanfic

Poetry
Restricted Section Poetry

Sign-ups are only open until December 1, so please sign up ASAP!

*Mince pies baking on a real log fire
Buckbeak nipping at your nose
Wizard rock being sung by the fire
While house elves avoid Hermione's clothes

Everybody knows that slicing spells and magic knives
Help to keep your quill nib fine
While you write out all of your Immy cards
And send them out before you pine..

Away for Santa and his elves
Who'll bring you lots of cards and pressies on his broom
And for all the other things that Christmas shares
And helps us to show that we really do care

So I'm telling you all once again,
If you've not already gotten there yet
Go and sign up for the Immeritus Swaps
for your Christmas fun



And a resounding chorus of Hallelujah that rotten eggs cannot be sent in digital form.



Haven't signed up yet? Still thinking about it? Well, think no more! Go and sign up before it's too late!


The Snail Mail Card Swap
The Virtual Card Swap
The International Secret Santa Swap

*With Special Thanks to Moonanddogstar for supplying the first line and breaking my writers block. Not that I wouldn't have posted it anyway, so it's not her fault. She just improved it. :0)

It's November 4th and that means it's Election Day in the USA! We know our international community of Immeritans is very interested in this election so we're bringing back an Immy tradition and watching the election results roll in from Immy Chat!

Join us whenever the spirit moves you; we're expecting a pretty good crowd. The polls begin closing at 8pm Eastern time (GMT -5) so feel free to pop in and watch and chat with us!

See you there!!