Happy Hallowe'en

In just a few hours, I'll be hopping in the car and heading out for some serious trick-or-treating with a trio of goulish goblins... am I ready?

You bet your bottom dollar I am! I love Hallowe'en... dressing up and candy every where... what's not to love?

I'll share more photos of my evening tomorrow, but for now I'll keep you satisfied with a couple of other munchkins who were putting in some Hallowe'en practice yesterday

 The other week, while their parents were off helping Dave and I get hitched...

Grandma was helping them make super hero tutus.

I think it's fair to say they nailed it!

(PS... I really got to find out where the Bat Brat got those shoes!!!)

Friday Felines

Peno knows that in order to keep her supple figure, a little physical activity is required every day...

So.... stretch...

...and lift....

... and twist...

... and rest...

(for three hours)

Making mermaid friends

Just a few days left and the Undine KAL comes to an end. I scraped together a few moments and sewed up the Kitten Kaboodle for the grand prize winner

I love these bags and I think the mermaid fabric made this one extra cute!

As always, it's lined with a nice coordinating fabric and full of handy pockets

 Mom whipped up a little sample of the prize yarn that will be accompanying this project bag to the winner's house.

A fun chubby striper I'm calling "Mermaid Party". It's on Barn Cat and we've got a little mini-skein of black to go with it for heels and toes.

We've gotten over 20 entrants so far, so there will be a couple of extra prizes come draw time...

 Stay tuned!

One stitch at a time

Things have slowed a little at work, and it means I have my lunch hours back for knitting. As a result, I've made some noticable headway on Aneesha's socks

The heel is turned and I'm working my way down the gusset. Since this is the second sock, it will soon mean another present marked off on the Christmas list! A small one - but still one!

Syrupy sweet

I needed a little break from Sandpoint, so I picked up the Maple Leaf shawl again and managed to make a little headway

That little bit you see poking out at the left is the first point. It's slow going, because you really have to pay attention, but I think the result is going to be worth it.

This is a very interesting pattern, and while it looks daunting (18 pages), it's actually pretty simple. You just can't be in a hurry. If you take it one row at a time, you'll be fine. It's also one of those patterns where you just have to "trust the knitting", because you can't always tell what it's trying to do until you get a few rows in. The only mod I've made is to go down on the needle size - the yarn I'm using doesn't have a tonne of poof, so it looked stringy on the 4.5 mm.

I'm knitting it in Slinky Solo Cat. We've had the Slinky Solo available for a few years now, but this is the first time I've actually had a chance to knit with it.

It's just as nice as our regular Solo - probably nicer because it's got that touch of silk that makes the yarn glow. It's a tightly spun single ply, so it gives beautiful stitch definition... and just like the regular Solo, I love how it takes the dye... look at all those subtle tones.

I'm not giving myself a deadline with this one... but I think I'm going to love it whenever it's finished.

Finding my passion

I belong to a little garden trade/sell group on Facebook. It's where I sold my little faerie gardens, and while I haven't bought anything from it, I'm always keeping an eye out to see what others are offering up (I'm kicking myself for not grabbing some yellow irises this summer...)

Well the other day, one of the members offered up something I just couldn't resist

A piece of her Passionflower plant. Her's had gone right crazy so she split it up and potted several pieces, offering them for sale.

She used an old piece of the woody vine as a trellis for the new plant, and it's just brilliant.

I've got to get a proper pot to put it in. Like my Hibiscus, this one will stay indoors for the winter and live outside in the summer.

I'm not sure how long it will take to flower, but as you can see, there's lots of new growth. And when it does bloom....

Wowza!!!

Still trying to find my groove.

Seems like knitting isn't the only thing I'm having trouble with lately.. my blogging has been spottier than I would like too.

And once again, time has gotten away from me... mostly thanks to this guy

He's had a rough few days, and it's definitely got us on alert. But today has been better, so we're keeping an eye on him and hopefully it was just a blip.

When I have had time, I've been working on Sandpoint. As a result, The front is finished and blocked, and I've made a little headway on the first sleeve.

Not as much as I would like.. but what can you do. I was all gung-ho for this one when I started.... but... now....

...and it's not even the pattern - I just can't seem to sit still long enough to make any real progress on it.

But, I'm keeping the finished pieces in a little basket on my work table

They are right in front of my face, and a reminder of how close I am to finishing - the really big pieces are out of the way, so if I can keep at it, I'll be done before I know it.

Friday Felines

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but it always makes me smile.

I hope it gives you a little smile too.

Still a-bloom

Here we are, just over a week from November and things are still blooming. We had a bit of a cold snap over the weekend, but it's warmed up again and the plants are loving it.

I didn't get a tonne of flowers on the Nasturtiums, but every day or so, a new one blooms.

The Butterfly Bush is still covered in flowers... though I haven't seen a butterfly in weeks.

The Black-Eyed Susans are still going too, though they aren't quite as robust as they were last month.

All of the roses are covered in buds, though I don't know if the weather will hold long enough for them to bloom.

But even when the frost hits, I'll still have my beautiful Kale.

Focus

Despite that all of the excitement of the ceremony is out of the way (and thank you for all your lovely comments).. I've barely touched my knitting the past few days. But Christmas is just over two months away, so it's time to buckle down and get working...

I've made a little more progress on the vanilla socks... not much... but it's a start. And every stitch counts.

13 years in the making...

Normally, I do an anniversary post on the actual day Dave and I first met (October 17),  but yesterday, we were a little busy...

Yep.. 13 years later to the day, we've finally made it official (not that moving in and living together for several years isn't official... it just doesn't involve a pretty white dress).

About a month after I met Dave, I knew I wanted to keep him. Dave took a little more convincing. I wanted a full-blown fairytale wedding, with horse and carriage and the whole bit.. Dave was more of the "Let's not and say we did" sort.

But a relationship is the art of compromise, so in the end, we did a very wee fairy tale - just the two of us, my brother and his wife as witness (and doubling as photographers), a park by the lake,  a few vows, a kiss, a few photso, and dinner. (It  fit our current budget much better than a big wedding would...)

Dave is a little shy, so I had to promise not to flash photos of his face willy-nilly all over the internet. So I thought I'd share some of the crafty details of our day

I got the dress on ebay several years ago ( I told you this was a long time in the making) - a store sample for 75% off. Of course, I've put on some weight since I bought it, so it required a few modifications to make it fit. Last month, I spent an evening pulling out the original zipper. And that trip down Ottawa Street a few weeks ago.. that was to get supplies to to make a insert and lacing to give me a little more room in the dress.

My flowers were also made quite a while ago

 A definite advantage of silk over real... A few autumn picks from the dollar store, some wild roses on clearance at Michaels, some dollar store ribbon and voila - bouquet for under $10.

Naturally I made my own jewellry (with the exception of my pearl necklace, which was my great-grandmother's)

I've always loved the combination of pearls and garnets. And since no wedding ensemble is complete without a tiara

So I made one of those too. (It's a good thing having a large bead stash)

I think it all came together  quite nicely. Oh... and there was a beaded wedding shawl too...

 The Layla shawl,  in Continental Cat (Colour is "Garnet"... what else?)

I'm sorry I can't show you more pictures with Dave.... well maybe just one..

But it has to be our little secret!

Friday felines

Kitty pile!!!!

Hey look.... knitting

It's been more than a week since I've shown any knitting... but I have been knitting. I wouldn't say my mojo has returned, but I've been trying to carve out time every day for a few rows here and there.

As a result, we have one finished sock

 With the second one started

And Sandpoint is in pretty good shape

Just one upper front left to do on the body and then I can move onto the sleeves.  I am going to try to finish up the front today, but I've got another secret project on the go I have to get done today, so it's got priority.

But Sandpoint is still on track for being completed by November, so I'm not complaining.

Welcome to the jungle

Yesterday was my first "free" day of my vacation, and since the weather was still decent, I thought it would be a good time to tackle my outdoor chores.

I got my little patio oasis packed away for the winter, got a nice warm layer of mulch down around all the roses, as well as on the front and side garden

As you can see, I got the lilies cut back and a nice happy home for the Kale. Theres also some crocus bulbs tucked away under there, and some daffodils in the side garden. Hopefully the squirrels leave me some for spring.

But the big job was getting the tomato jungle out before winter

As you can see, I had a little helper. And I needed it. Admittedly, I messed up with the tomatoes this year. I planted them too close together, and did not stay on top of tying them up as they grew. The result was a tangled mess  of tomato limbs that shaded the strawberries, and was starting to take over the roses (poor Popcorn Drift!). It got to the point where it was so dense, I couldn't even see the tomatoes ripening.

But I sat down and started at it. Pulling limb by limb, and removing tomatoes as I went, I finally got it all out of there.

But my poor tomato cages took a beating.

In then end, I got several more ripe ones, and half a tub of green ones

For the past two year, I've made things from the green ones (salsa verde, and pickled green tomatoes) but this year, I'm going to try a little experiment.

I read that it's not the sun that ripens the tomatoes, but warmth. So, I've got these babies in the nice warm kitchen, and we'll see if they turn red. If so, I'm thinking I might make a batch of my Mom's famous sweet chili sauce.

Of course, there's still more to be done outside, but that was enough for one day. For both of us, apparently.

Undying Undine

The Undine KAL is still going strong - and we've had some great entries. As I mentioned early, I'm going to be putting together the prize pack this week. But there's still 19 days left to enter!

Here's a look at just some of the entries so far

My dear friend SamanthaR5 is actually on her FOURTH pair, but I think these tweedy black ones are my favourite of the group.

Ariagnee made this delicious stripey pair that look good enough to eat!

 

 Delusional Knitter made this lovely varigated pair in perfect under the sea colours

Mom even got in on the game and made this pair that's to die for (seriously, I might just steal them next time I visit)

And check out this clever pairing of colour by Jatshaw

I just love them all. It's a good thing the winner is chosen by draw, because I don't think I could choose otherwise!