Halloween redux

Halloween is one of those holidays that I utterly, totally adore, and make the biggest, grandest plans for crafting and decorating each year.  Which almost always comes back to bite me in the backside.

On my knitter's loom, a Halloween throw started at the beginning of October:

Yes, I know Halloween is over.  I never ever finish anything on time for Halloween.  Except this year, I did.  I made curtains out of this fabric, to hang in the kitchen & laundry room:

I saw the fabric and had to have it - I am not usually such an impulse buyer, but it reminded me of something from Dexter.  I had no real plan in place for how to use it, but then sitting down to eat dinner one night and looking up at the windows, I decided the fabric would be perfect for curtains.  I merely created a rod pocket, and cut them to width before putting them up.  I didn't create a hem of any sort, mostly because I was in a rush and because the fabric was difficult to work with on my particular sewing machine.  I also don't plan on washing them, as they generally will only stay up for about a month each year.  And I didn't actually get around to photographing them on the rod before I packed stuff up for the season.  The piece above is leftover yardage that I am thinking about turning into end table covers for my sun porch.  But it gives you an idea.

I added to the decorations again this year (of course) and am pretty pleased with how they came out:

Dining room table

Fireplace with skulls

You can sort of see the bloody curtains on the windows at the end

Nobody plays that piano anyway

Martha Stewart would be proud

I am particularly pleased with how the shelf above the porch door turned out in the photo above - most of those items were on sale, between 40 - 60% off, two weeks before the holiday, allowing me to do my two favorite things - get a good deal, and buy stuff for Halloween.  It's not the clearest of photos for showing the detail, but it gives an idea of what I put up.

My new goal is to finish the Halloween throw by Thanksgiving.  Because then I will need to start working on Christmas weaving.  No rest for the weary wicked. 

Squirrels gather nuts, I make socks

My preparation for colder weather continues as I am on a sock-knitting binge.  I finished those Halloween socks in 13 days, and they came out great:

I was so pleased with them I decided to make myself another pair:

.....which took me 14 days this time.  The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy, and the photo above does not do the beautiful color blend justice.  It is a random variegated yarn, which meant that I didn't need to unwind any of the skein to start the second sock.  It is the little things in life that are so thrilling to me.  Or I'm easily amused.  Probably both.  They are a lovely neutral color that will look great with everything.  I could almost say I'm looking forward to cooler weather.  Almost.  Notice I did not say, "winter."  I will never look forward to winter weather.

I have also started a new project with leftover sock yarn called The Beekeeper's Quilt. I must have seen this pattern for the first time on Ravelry, (although for a long time I thought I might have seen in in a past issue of Love of Knitting) and I have been dreaming of it for quite some time now.  I finally broke down and bought it, and I've knit up the first few half-dozen of what the designer calls "hexipuffs" for this quilt. 

It will probably take me more than a year to make enough (a 3' x 4' quilt calls for more than 300 of them) but I knit up a half dozen in 2 days, while simultaneously finishing a pair of socks, returning to a pair of fingerless gloves for my best friend I had stashed, working on a shrug, and, you know, working full time.  The pattern is cute and quick and not at all expensive, so buy it if you're interested, or you have a lot of bits 'n bobs of yarn gathering dust in your yarn storage area, because you cannot ever.toss.yarn.away.  Perfect use for it!

From the commuter knitting bag - fingerless gloves for my good friend Aideen:

I started these back in June and then completely lost interest.  However, it is now August, and the start of Christmas Knitting Season, so I needed to get cracking.  I've made great progress these past two weeks - it took about a week per glove, and they are now DONE.  The pattern is the same Woven Fingerless glove pattern used for the ones I did for myself last fall:

Aideen is an usher, and has complained that her fingers are cold during the early December performances of The Nutcracker.  So these will be an early Christmas gift, since she starts that ushering job the day after Thanksgiving.  The gloves are solid black with a hint of sparkle in them - perfect for an usher.  And for Aideen, who likes shiny things.