Happy Halloween!

Quite a few decorations actually got put up!  There are several stringers of lights in festive colors, though a fair number did stay in their storage box.  An astounding number of skulls and skeletons are scattered about the place (I am sure they all belong here, I just don't remember acquiring quite so many.)

I may take Daughter's suggestion; tack the Yuletide decorations over the Halloween ones and go full Nightmare Before Christmas this year.

We didn't have many trick or treaters last year (before Winter decided to arrive in mid-October and our current pandemic situation), so the plan is to leave the front of the house dark this year, much to the dismay of everyone in the house.  The kids that come to the door tend to be our favorite parts of Halloween, but the numbers of cases and deaths are really rather high around here...and just going up, so we err on the side of caution.

Mostly this witch would like to encourage you to enjoy your Halloween however you are able, bathe in the lovely blue moon tonight and remember to vote!

Hat band on my witch's hat (handmade by Husband) is the EmPower People cowl.  This stuff is important y'all!

(Yes, I do look like a background character from The Craft.  But as it came out in 1996 and I started dressing like this somewhere around '92, I'd say the costume department just used what they had been seeing on actual people.  Which makes this style inspiration for the costumes instead...nope, still weird (if not weirder).  On the up side, my skirt and bracelets glow in the dark!

A little re-arranging

 Husband started showing me desks a few days ago.  We had discussed it a few months back, but had concerns about where to put it (Husband is not dainty and requires rather large furniture).   He's been making due with his lap and the dining room table. Then he points out that the rest of his classes are going online in November.  Bugger.  Now a dedicated space is decidedly required.

Logically, the only space that would work decently is the craft room.  The craft room that is crammed with my Hoarde, plus other peoples wood and leather working supplies.

This is the majority of what had to be moved, (mainly because wool is lighter than books):

Halloween stuff got pulled out to be put up at the same time.

What it really means is that most of the Yarn Hoarde is now on display at the front of the house.

Not sure how I feel about it really.  While it can be seen from the front windows, it's not like we have a lot of visitors right now.  Who knows? Maybe it will give me incentive to knit from stash more? 

The real upside?  It muffles any noise from the front room. :-)

In my defense, clothing is important for many reasons

 The agitation is back with a vengeance, complete with "all laundry must be done at all times" side effect that even I find a bit odd (and my family kindly puts up with).

So I once again took up the seemingly endless quest to Get My Wardrobe Sorted Out.

Could I find something practical, possibly historical yet (slightly) more elegant than my much loved cargo pants?  Lo, and behold, there is a 1910 Cycling Skirt pattern, that will have added pockets, in the Hoarde (it is an all encompassing type sort).

  I have a v-neck henley, bought months ago, that I finally put on and promptly proclaimed it perfect.  Why couldn't I draft a pattern from it to make shirts in colors I actually like?  Ditto with sports bras.  (Haven't worn a proper underwire since....April?)

Shapes picked, my brain moves on to colors and textures, nothing too sleek or shiny.  Sales pages are combed through; a wool blend here, a cotton in Tim Burton-eque black and grey stripe will be ridiculous and practical.  Black stretch linen?  On sale? Please and thank you!  (Not all the fabric is here yet.)

Close to three months of pondering pieces, collecting materials...mustn't forget bra hooks...and I  almost have things pulled together.

And these are just the sewing projects.

With Fall making itself felt, hinting at the bite of the Winter to come; I started daydreaming about (at least) knee high, hand knit boot socks.  Visions of cabled cardigans and coordinated winter sets ( hat, cowl, and mitts [Moonlit magic and Raven Queen]) dance across my minds eye: one Haunted Mansion themed, all purples and acid green; the other gothic/celestial in black and cream with pops of a bright cornflower blue.

The patterns, all acquired on one whim or another, do not all match, (the hat for the Haunted Mansion set is a recipe by me cobbled together using charts from the cowl). They do harmonize, either through the theme of the pattern itself, or the colors chosen to work the piece.  

The real thread that connects of all these bits and bobs?  I like them. They they make me genuinely happy.  And if I am busy working on all these projects...I  am probably not doing laundry.

Blast. It's October already, isn't it?

 Bugger.  

Two of my favorite people on the planet have their birthdays the first week of October...and for some reason, it always sneaks up on me.

The first week of October happens every year.  Not like it's a surprise. /sighs

My house still looks like it usually does, despite Halloween looming.  By this point, the inside of the house typically looks like a glowing orange, green and purple, be-spider webbed, witch cottage.

The sunflower Summer decor is still up.  Getting out the Halloween decorations has been on my to-do list for a solid two weeks.

I knit Daughter a sweater for her birthday.  It's a magpie colored Chuck by Andi Satterlund, decidedly modified as Daughter does not like tight sweaters.  It still needs the ends woven in, and a wash.

I have also gotten a new Gir hat on the needles, with a second soon to follow.  I had knit a bunch of these for holiday gifts a, literal, decade ago.  A friend's husband decided it was his favorite hat, and has been wearing it pretty much non-stop (including at least one local television appearance) for the the last ten years.  Friend recently asked if I could knit him a couple more so maybe she could wash them more often?  

I found replacement yarn, but the gauge was not quite right.  I re-worked the numbers, making endless comparisons to the one I had knit for Husband at the same time, oh those many years ago, and finally got something almost identical.

So having re-re-re-cast the hat, I should now be able to get through them fairly quickly.

I have been slightly slowed by the cooler weather.  My cat demands a lap to warm her hips most days now.  How could I refuse this face?