sunshine-challenge Prompt 3: Yellow

[sportivetricks]

Three Yellow Things Right Now...

1. A recent scrap yarn bag, crocheted in panels and sewn together with whipstitching and single crochet:



Definitely went my own way on this one, but I think it paid off. Best crochet advice I ever got: "Put your hook somewhere. Draw up a loop. Do something with it." I think that approach speaks to many creative endeavors.



2. My favorite Hufflepuff! This war hero and Auror right here, in all his cocky, shoulder-padded glory, who's about to have his arse handed to him by his brother's girl:


[source]

UNF.

I can't wait to get more Theseus canon. I was lukewarm on Newt in the first FB movie. It took Theseus to make me fall in love with Newt, and now they're a package deal. I love that they show us two very distinct types of Hufflepuffs — Mr. Straight and Narrow and Rebel With a Cause. An exciting dynamic when the two come together.

And Newt playing Theseus? Perfection. Mad props to Callum Turner in that scene.



3. Highlighting

I don't use it in books. Pencil underlining is for books. But I use it in my writing process as I throw ideas at the page. It's for those stray ideas that aren't quite right, but I'd better leave them for now, just in case. And make it so I can easily maneuver around them.

(Example from a WIP here, linked for kink negotiation related to consent play. Yup, realized pretty quickly that angle didn't need to be there, LOL! But just in case....)

It's also for those bits that I know are self-indulgent and going too far. But darlings!! Highlighted for my amusement until I'm forced to kill them.


Thanks for stopping by! Who's your favorite Hufflepuff? Are you a highlighter? Click that banner up top and join me!

Comments

[autobotscoutriella]

I'm a highlighter too, and often for the same reason! I can't bring myself to highlight in books (I've worked at a library too long), so books get little post-its or sticky notes, but I highlight all over my own writing to make it easier to spot scenes I skipped over or didn't edit yet and need to go back and work on.

That bag is absolutely stunning. Scrap yarn projects are some of my favorites, because they're so unique - and that crochet approach definitely speaks to a lot of different types of creative work!

I don't quite know enough about HP to have a favorite Hufflepuff character, but I do like the badger that's also associated with that house.

[sportivetricks]

Oooh, I didn't even think about post-its. Another joyous yellow thing! I use them in books, too.

I highlight all over my own writing to make it easier to spot scenes I skipped over or didn't edit yet and need to go back and work on.

Yes, exactly!

Thank you for your kind words on the bag. I just recently got into scrap yarn projects, and the possibilities are truly endless.

Mmm, badgers. From what I understand, there's no stopping them. :D I approve.

[autobotscoutriella]

I have a whole rainbow of post-its that I use for books I really want to take notes in. It satisfies my need to write in things and my unwillingness to actually write on a book.

Badgers are delightfully stubborn (and some of my favorite characters in animal-centric fantasy books). I love them.

[sportivetricks]

Just canary yellow for me, but otherwise, same!

The honey badger videos are one of the greatest gifts of the 21st century IMHO.

[lightofdaye]

1. Bags! It looks super bright and snazzy. :)

2. Hufflepuffs! (This got long!)

You know it's weird there's a few people who are hufflepuffs and I like, Tonks that I don't associate with the House enough to pick. I'd forgotten or never knew Theseus was a hufflepuff for example.

Susan and Hannah I probably write most often but mostly as generically nice women. With maybe a canonical nod to their dead families.

Cedric is kind of generically heroic as well. It's boring but Ernie is the probably the most fleshed out and depth Hufflepuff, we seem him being a pompous dick but also a decent chap and has actually apologised for the dicknishness so I'd mark him highly.

Helga Hufflepuff is probably my favourite founder. The others come off as elitist dicks only picking certain people for their houses. Helga was a true egaltarian from the Hat's songs and taught everyone left.

3)Highlighters. Allergic to editting, so no. lol. When I highlighted back in school I ended up highlighting nearly everything, defeating the point of the exercise.

[sportivetricks]

Thanks! It is full of yarn. Of course.

Yep, both the Scamander brothers are Hufflepuffs. Nice to have a few more we can sink our teeth into.

I LOVE Ernie. I remembered how much when I recently reread "In the Hog's Head" in OotP (love that chapter). His whole pompous "this is the most important thing we'll do!" immediately followed by "you want me to sign what now." LOL. A well fleshed-out Hufflepuff, for sure, equally flawed and lovable.

When I highlighted back in school I ended up highlighting nearly everything, defeating the point of the exercise.

Hahahaha same. Most of the time it was just keeping me awake.

[kalloway]

I've taken to highlighting on my to-do lists instead of crossing things off, since it's a more striking visual of what I've accomplished + still easy to read what the task was.

[sportivetricks]

Now that's a good idea! Thanks for stopping by. ♥

[paulamcg]

What a delightful post!

Such beautiful colours and patterns in that bag! A couple of years ago (before I was back to writing fic) I asked my mother to help me relearn crocheting, but I didn't get hooked. Your advice sounds inspiring!

My favourite Hufflepuff must be Tonks. I can't remember where in canon her House is mentioned, and I write about her (and everything else) only on the basis of the first five HP books, but in any case it suits me well enough that she's a Hufflepuff (as mentioned in the HP Lexicon) and I decided to refer to that in a fic.

No highlighting for me! Too garish in my eyes. When studying I've done only underlining – and too much of it, underlined almost everything.

[sportivetricks]

And a delightful comment! Thank you so much!

I didn't get hooked

LOL! A year ago, I never would have guessed I'd be crocheting, but yeah, totally hooked. Starting to think about alternative materials now. Twine, ripped-up tees, shredded plastic bags... it's a versatile craft.

Wasn't Tonks a brilliant addition to the world? I don't remember where it was mentioned, either, but I can see her as a Hufflepuff. Fair-minded and candid (the latter to a fault sometimes). Clumsy but a tough fighter. I can see her tripping up onto that sorting stool, her mother's family in mind as she stubbornly thinks "anything but Slytherin."

too much of it, underlined almost everything

Yup, been there, done that.

[paulamcg]

My mother didn't make me think of anything but traditional materials, and now who knows if in a year...

Yes, that's a great description of Tonks as she was when entering the story (or – extrapolated – before). I remember seeing people praise the inclusion of an interesting female character. Regardless of the gender, I think, it was a gift for the fandom to have a young adult character (in book era), and I enjoyed reading about her in fic particularly before HBP.

[sportivetricks]

Yes! Tonks brought an exciting new energy as someone recently out of Hogwarts, introduced at a time when Harry was having to begin considering his future and seeing, through Tonks, that he might have a shot at one he would find fulfilling.

[paulamcg]

You're right! She played (at that point) a (small) meaningful role in Harry's story, not only appeared as someone for young adult writers to relate to.

[writedragon]

Cute bag is cute! My favorite Puff is a tie between Newt Scamander and Nymphadora Tonks. They are both amazing.

When I write I use highlighter sparingly, as a way of making a "start here" banner (usually yellow) to mark where I left off writing/editing, or if something is a mess and I don't want to let it slip by (light blue, usually). I'll use different colors depending on the type of thing I'm highlighting.

[sportivetricks]

Thank you! Oh my. That's a tough call. Although I have a special place in my heart for anyone who's "not a great follower of orders." :)

Yes on the color-coding! Funny you mention light blue because I was randomly using that one the other day in a "not a trainwreck like the yellow but still needs work" kind of way. I guess the amount of highlighting depends on the fic. Some definitely come together more easily than others.

Thanks for stopping by!

[pauraque]

I think my favorite Hufflepuff is Pomona Sprout. She's friendly, upright, good at what she does, and seems completely down-to-earth (no pun intended). She's also handy when you need someone to slash McGonagall with. ;)

I was put off the practice of highlighting at an early age, when we were told to highlight our lines in a school play and the teacher scolded me for using a purple marker instead of yellow. It was light purple, I could see through it fine! I was so indignant at the teacher's persnicketiness that I resolved never to highlight anything again.

[sportivetricks]

She's also handy when you need someone to slash McGonagall with. ;)

Ha! Indeed she is. Perfect summary of her character there. Fierce, too, when she has to be. Those plants she was flinging around in the final battle were no joke. I'd love to have been privvy to some of the conversations she must have had with Neville.

WTF kind of drama teacher has beef with purple marker??

[pauraque]

I know, it sounds like a heavy-handed bit of backstory from a novel, doesn't it? My childlike creative spirit, crushed by a rigid, institutional, purple-hating educational system.

[sportivetricks]

Sorry, I LOLed.

[pauraque]

;)

[olivermoss]

That bag looks great, I love the colors!

[sportivetricks]

Many thanks from an adoring new fan of yours!

[kingstoken]

So crafty!

[sportivetricks]

That's me. :D

💛

[oldtoadwoman]

I would only use a highlighter in a book if it were a textbook. I do like the idea of highlighting those "fix this later" passages. Sometimes I get too bogged down in something that isn't working and need to learn to just move on.

I also use highlighters for work notes, but in the opposite way that I think I'm supposed to. I highlight things not to indicate they are important, but to indicate they are done. I don't want to cross things out, because I need to remember what the note was if I need to explain it to my boss later and my handwriting is too scribbly for me to notice a checkmark. But I figured out that if I highlighted things that were done, it was a lot easier to keep straight in my head. (It's also very satisfying as the page fills in with color.)

Re: 💛

[sportivetricks]

Oh yeah, I highlighted my college textbooks to death, but I'm far more reluctant to use it on... books that cost nowhere near as much? LOL! But are obviously dearer.

Sometimes I get too bogged down in something that isn't working and need to learn to just move on.

Whew, don't we all.

Someone else mentioned the crossing-off function upthread, and I think it's brilliant! Very satisfying indeed, I'm sure.

Re: 💛

[oldtoadwoman]

Oh yeah, I highlighted my college textbooks to death, but I'm far more reluctant to use it on... books that cost nowhere near as much? LOL! But are obviously dearer.

No matter how much a textbook cost, I never really respected them as books. My first semester of college, I kept my books in pristine condition because they warned you that you could not sell them back if they were marked up. And when I tried to sell them back to the bookstore at the end of the semester, I was offered $2 for a textbook. TWO dollars. TWO! I never bothered trying to sell books back to the bookstore after that. I have vague memories of selling a couple textbooks to other students directly, but they never minded if they were pre-highlighted (highlit?).

Re: 💛

[sportivetricks]

Oh, it's one of the biggest scams on earth, but what can you do? Except throw your hands up and highlight to your heart's content. Which I did, once I figured out the game.

[enemytosleep]

That tote is so cute!

Hufflepuffs are definitely not cookie cutter friends (take the rest and teach them all). That said I think sometimes the internet can paint them all as kind and passive, which certainly isn't universal.

The highlighting habit is very endearing .♥

[sportivetricks]

Thank you, thank you! ♥

I think sometimes the internet can paint them all as kind and passive, which certainly isn't universal.

Agreed. I think what defines the house for me, more than anything, is persistence. Bordering on obstinance. And that comes in many different flavors, which can tend to be not so kind or passive at all!

[silveradept]

A very nice bag, that.

My favorite Hufflepuff is Neville Longbottom, although I understand the reasons why he's in Gryffindor. There's just not much for Puffs in the books because I don't think the author took much care to show the house as much as the others. So Pomona and Tonks are good, and I will always treasure the fic of Helga Hufflepuff riding a war badger into battle, but it doesn't help when you most strongly identify with the house that was pretty explicitly set up as "House Everybody Else."

I don't use highlighters. I never got into the habit, and for the most part, I don't have things where highlighting would be useful.

[sportivetricks]

Thank you!

I can see why you'd want to claim Neville for your own. :D But I'm afraid you'll have to fight me for him. :D

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw both get short shrift in the books. It can be both a gift and a dilemma, from a fic writing standpoint.

[silveradept]

It's true, although when Luna jobs the few, the Ravenclaws get a little more polish and fleshing-out. With Cedric, the possibilities would have been a lot, but we learn almost nothing about the Puffs despite their House being in the spotlight.

[sportivetricks]

Poor Luna! No friends, ostracized by her own House, forced to go around at end of term collecting her pilfered belongings. Taken with Marietta Edgecombe and Helena Ravenclaw, it doesn't paint a pretty picture of Ravenclaws, does it?

[silveradept]

It makes them the ivory tower house, full of snobs who are concerned solely with their cleverness and intellect and with no tolerance for lateral thinkers like Luna. (She's absolutely in the right house, based on the Hat songs, but very few people get to see why, because her strength isn't conventional.)

[sportivetricks]

Oh my, I hope there is more to them than that! :D Apologies for the sidetracking. I'd been writing a fic featuring a Ravenclaw (a first for me, I think?), so they were on the mind. I can certainly see why you'd feel short-changed by the books if you identify as a Hufflepuff.

[silveradept]

No worries. As you said, there's probably more to both houses, but they're almost always out of focus because the narrative is obsessed with the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry as a metaphor for good versus evil.

[sportivetricks]

Yup!

[walgesang]

Your bags are just SO amazing. :D

This is making me want to check out the movie now, he is... mm. You had me at Hufflepuff Rebel with a Cause.

Eek, one of these days I should take a picture of one of my old college textbooks. I had truly no idea how to take notes and I was easily distracted, so they are COVERED in highlights, scritched writing in the margins and little cartoons. XD I do like highlighting on Kindle stuff now, because it is helpful to find things again.

I was trying to look up a link of Hufflepuffs and found a Google question "are Hufflepuffs stoners." :D This is a hard choice of favorites, but if I'm just picking one off the top of my head I would say Cedric. He's just one of those super-popular kids you knew in high school who was nice to everyone.

[sportivetricks]

Thank you!! I'm addicted to making them!

To be clear, the guy in the gif is Mr. Straight and Narrow. His brother is the Rebel With a Cause. But Mr. Straight and Narrow has a lovely (if heartbreaking) character arc in the second movie, much like Percy Weasley's arc throughout the book series.

I love the new films. The second one was a mess in terms of narrative structure, but the characters are great. It's worth watching for Jude Law as Dumbledore, if nothing else. He embodies Dumbledore's quirky, cocky rebel spirit as no one else has IMO. And shows us a Dumbledore secretly plagued by guilty nostalgia and remorse. Jude Law got that tightrope walk *just right*.

I think all of us went to town on our college textbooks, LOL!

You know Sprout was growing the good stuff! :D What I love about Cedric is that he was popular, handsome, a champion, etc., and it could have easily gone to his head, but he was so modest and down-to-earth about it. Quite the contrast to his father!

[walgesang]

Ahhh, I got it mixed up. Sometimes Mr. Straight and Narrow can be fun to *cough* break. ;) I will really have to check it out.

So much for the resale value! :D Not that there was any of that ever, ugh.

Hee! And you're so right about Cedric, I think he's one of the people that Harry kind of falls for because it's not like Cedric lives a charmed life but he was so modest. The scene after with his father is like a punch to the gut. I still can't quite wrap my head around that being in a "children's book," but wow, was it effective.

[sportivetricks]

AGHHH that scene kills me, maybe even in the film more than the books. A pivotal moment in the series, for sure. When things Got Real.

[bloodydemonic]

That bag is freaking fantastic!

[sportivetricks]

Thank you so much!! ♥

[zorealis]

I absolutely love that bag! It's cheery, but also screams "fill me with yarn and unfinished projects!"

I am definitely not a highlighter! I usually keep a separate journal and make notes or write quotes in it.

[sportivetricks]

Hahaha thank you!! Already filled and getting fuller by the day because of course. Someday I will have that spare house for craft supplies and will not need to resort to such humble measures as storage bags. Someday! ;)

I don't highlight when I write on paper - which is my preferred method! But things get so boggled on the screen.

[zorealis]

I love the idea of a crafting house! My dream would be to have a little cottage at the edge of the woods and build a yurt for crafting.

[sportivetricks]

Oooh, now you're talking. Although at the rate I'm going, I'd need a pretty big yurt. LOL!