Sew, sew, write, write, write, KNIT, write, write

Whoever thought of having NaNoWriMo in November was seriously disturbed.

First, Halloween always demands a costume - or two.

Youngest Child asked for a Newsies costume. Basically, they don't make vests for little boys anymore. So, I bought a woman's vest from a thrift store and then dyed it gray. Then, I found out what a paper boy's bag looked like and sewed one. Then, I stenciled it with the name of the newspaper that the news boys were striking against back in 1899. 

Luckily, he already had the hat!

Then, it was time to set up our little version of Godric's Hollow. Since we made all our tombstones before the movie version came out,  I think we might need to update them next year!

And, then it was time to finish up another pair of mittens for the Children's Comfort Tote Project. As I didn't have a camera handy, I had to use my computer's camera to take this terrible photo of a soft, soft pair of mittens.

And, now, I'm all tied up with NaNoWriMo 2013. Yep, third year of crazy non-stop writing.  Time to say good bye for about - three more weeks. 

By then, I'll also have a mystery project knitted for a knitting gift exchange and, possibly some more of my Benedetta sweater. Crazy, of course.

See the pumpkin . . .

eat the pumpkin!

Traditionally, I've made my kids eat a "real meal" prior to going out to make the rounds. This year - vegetable pot pie with cheese biscuit crust - in the shape of pumpkins. Very yummy!

As a former theatre costume shop manager, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  This year, I was fighting off a cold all weekend until Youngest Child told me that he wouldn't be able to go trick or treating because I hadn't finished his costume. Well, that made me break out the liquid cold medicine and get stitching.

This looks like a particularly busty knight but it just comes from trying to fit a "Youngest Child" sized costume on a "me" sized dress form.

Sir Knight right before he hit the road

with the rest of the neighborhood gang. 

Zombies, ninjas and angels - oh, my!

It was a beautiful evening for trick or treating so they had a long night of it.

But, what about the knitting,  you say. Knitting? Well . . . maybe tomorrow.

Happy Halloween!

We hooked up the spooky music tape and the fogger tonight for the first time. Very atmospheric and pretty - the only problem is every time the fogger sends out a burst of fog, I think the porch is on fire!



There has been plenty of knitting going on this week - I've turned the heel on my Sugar Maple's On Fire socks and now I'm on the home stretch - yea!!




Youngest Boy went out trick or treating with Mr. Daisy. He's Harry Potter and Mr. Daisy is Hagrid. I, on the other hand, am paying homage to another Halloween pantheon. I'm a medical school researcher at Miskatonic University's Orne Library. I do believe the library stays open past midnight . . .

(As for the pumpkins - they are all vampire pumpkins in honor of "Twilight." In fact, the sign says, "This is the rind of a killer." I guess this is a Vampire Weekend - tee hee!)



You would think that I weeded all these tee shirts out of my wardrobe when the seasons changed and I pulled out all the turtlenecks. Alas, I simply found all these in my ironing pile. They've been there since the summer time. And with three black tee shirts, two brown tee shirts, a cream colored one and a blue tee - I generally wear a limited color palette.

Time to go back to my knitting and enjoying the left over "Good and Plenty"s. Good thing I like licorice!

Much as I love Halloween . . .

I'm getting a little tired.



First the Multnomah Autumn Shawl,




then, the first Halloween Party of the season,





followed by the yard decorating (we're big Harry Potter fans, you know!)



all bring about an urge for one of these! (actually I was just practicing using my new Joby Gorrilapod.


In honor of Halloween week, I give you Boilerplate!


And a "Make your own goggles" video over at Threadbanger.

It's all about the bones . . . and some real Halloween scares

The Youngest Child was determined to be a skeleton this year so I put my cutting and glueing skills to the test making him a suit of bones. Luckily, it was chilly out so I just layered him up under a black sweat suit. He had a great time walking around with the older kids and saying, "Trick or Treat!"

Unfortunately, Middle Daughter and two friends (one boy and one girl) were on their way to the local hyper-decorated Trick or Treat house when they ran into a group of middle school bullies who decided to make a grab for their backpack. We had heard from other trick-or-treating parents that there were some kids taking candy from the little ones but the girls had never seen that aspect of innercity living before. It wasn't quite a mugging but it wasn't quite "kids being kids" either. They all had some bumps and were pretty shook up. It was a pretty scary Halloween for them.