Bit of Ivory

I am going to have the coolest Halloween costume EVER.
I’m going as Penelope Clearwater.
Last night I mentioned to my roommate Jen that I wanted to make a
Ravenclaw scarf for opening day of Chamber of Secrets. She, of course,
jumped at the idea, and improved it: Halloween costumes. So we jumped
on over to the Sugar Quill to get some ideas. There we found
instructions on making a wand (a wooden dowel and Sculpey), a tie (two
different colors!), and an offer for the House Crests on Iron-on
transfer paper for $.50 each. We ran to the craft store and bought yarn
for the scarves, the dowels for our wand, ribbon to add to our
as-yet-unbought grey sweaters in the House colors, and decided on a
pattern (but didn’t buy it then, we were hoping to find it cheaper) for
the robes. Then we headed to Wal-Mart, where we scored material for the
robes, the Sculpey we needed, knee socks, and appropriate shoes (mine
are loafers). It was too late by then to get everything else, so we
headed home with a firm resolve to buy everything else today.
Our first stop today was Deseret Industries, which is a thrift shop run
by my church. There I found a grey V-neck sweater and a long sleeved
white blouse for only $4 each. My sister Laura hadn’t been able to find
any shoes she wanted at Wal-mart, but found some great ones at D.I.,
likewise for $4. Jen also found a shirt.
The we went to Savers, which is a commercial second-hand shop, where
Jen found a grey V-neck for $5 (Jen, as a readhead and a Gryffindor, is
going as Ginny, so it’s very appropriate that she should buy at least
some of her uniform second hand ). A trip to Target turned up
nothing, but Shop-ko had some more sweaters for my sisters, and Jen
found a pair of shoes she liked. Yay!
Next stop was the mall in search of grey pleated skirts. Nothing. We
finally ended up back at the fabric store, where we bought the patterns
for our robes, as well as one for a pleated skirt, and material for our
ties. Lisa and Laura also bought a pattern for a cape, which is in my
long-range plans, but probably won’t happen until CoS. We found some
grey material that we liked, but there wasn’t enough for all of us, so
we’re going to try another location of the same store tomorrow.
That means that all we have left to do is crochet the scarves (which,
incidentally, I’m TERRIBLE at, but I’m getting better), sew the robes,
buy the material for and sew the skirt, and make our wands and ties.
Considering we have 26 days to do it, I think we’ll make it. We ordered
the crests (4 Gryffindor, 2 Hufflepuff, and 2 Ravenclaw, in case we
mess up on the first one), so they should be coming soon, and
everything is hunky-dory.
I’m SO EXCITED for Halloween now. You have no idea.