Halloween Tree!!

Halloween Tree!!, originally uploaded by Hell'sCook.

Yes, people, I'm already starting to think about Halloween. You see, Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Chalk it up to being the child of an intense health food nut who only allowed candy on holidays and birthdays and how could I help but choose Halloween as my favorite? I mean, it's an entire holiday almost totally dedicated to candy! It was the only time in the year where it was acceptable to stockpile as much candy as possible and hoard it or gorge on it at will!

But now that I'm older and I can't eat that much candy without suffering severely in one way or another, it has become more about just... acceptable spookiness. The pagan in me just loves the fact that it's a holiday entirely dedicated to celebrating the dark side of things. You don't have to celebrate the birth of any deities or give of yourself in any selfless way. You don't have to run around like crazy buying a crapload of gifts for family plus any friends that you think just might also buy you one. No one is expecting you to cook or bake large amounts of food and invite family and friends over for cheer and goodwill, nor do you have to endure anything resembling a midnight mass. In fact, one of the great things about Halloween is that you can turn off your porch light and ignore it almost completely if you so choose and no one will find it strange or rude or uncaring. OR you can go completely nuts and decorate and bake and dress up and throw a wild party and that will be just as equally accepted by all. I LOVE IT!

The past couple of years, despite my love for the holiday, I have pretty much ignored it. Last year I had a baby who was too young to fully appreciate it, plus I was too tired from taking care of him to do anything other than buy a bag of candy and throw it in a bowl for any trick-or-treaters who came along. The year before that I was pregnant with that baby and so nauseated that just the idea of candy or the smell of burning pumpkin made me want to hurl.

But NOW, oh now! I am ready or at least I intend to be ready. I'm going to make up for those lost years and then some. I'm going to make homemade Halloween decorations. I'm going to bake and maybe even decorate sugar cookies. I'm going to carve pumpkins. I'm going to take my wee one, who is finally getting really good at the walking thing, and costume him up and go trick-or-treating. Oh yes, I'm going to do it all! And I'm already thinking about it all right now so I won't run out of time or be overwhelmed.

I probably won't have a Halloween tree, but I like the "spirit" behind the idea.

(ps- notice the countdown widget at the bottom of the page)

Frock Finished!

Finally finished the Frock Camisole. It was super easy and it was just as cute as I wanted it to be.


I"ll probably knit it again because it really went fast and it's very comfy and somewhat flattering. If I do knit it again, though, I'll pick a different yarn and knit one size bigger. The Caron Spa is lovely and oh so soft, especially after washed and dried, but I just think this top would be prettier and maybe drape a little better in a cotton yarn. The Spa makes me feel like I'm wearing a nightie top. It would be really nice for a comfy oversized pullover or cardigan, and I'm already planning to use it to knit my son some pants once it gets cool again. (If it ever does get cool again. This summer feels like it's going to last forever!) The top fits, but it doesn't fit the exact way I was planning. I have a little too much boobage for this size.

Here's a close up of the yoke:

I love the way the reverse stockinette curls up the straps like that. I made a few booboos on this part, but the pattern was pretty forgiving. I also made the straps about an inch shorter than the pattern calls for, but I might make them longer next time.

I think this is the first garment I've ever knitted in the round and I am now a big fan of knitting in the round. No seams to sew and once you're done, you're DONE! LOVE THAT! I used to avoid the circular needles because they just felt weird to me, but I'm over it. It's all about getting things done quickly now.

Here's a little preview of what I'm working on now:


I'm not going to say what the pattern is yet, because I'm just not sure how or if it's going to work out. It's a bit wild!

Selfish knitting mood

This is what I should be working on right now. It's a sweet little baby blanket for a friend of mine whose baby was born some months ago and will probably, by the time I'm finished with this blanket, be somewhere close to graduating from high school. Okay, no, that's an exagerration. But seriously, I should have finished this long ago. Especially since it's such an easy, lovely pattern. And especially because I spent so much time trying to come up with just the right colors. (Vintagey, 1940's because those are the colors that always remind me of the mommy and also because I wanted to use up some scrap yarn.) But I'm in one of those selfish knitting moods. I only want to knit for me right now and I only want to do really easy, really instant gratification projects.

Hopefully this mood will be satisfied once I finish with this pattern. I didn't take any in progress pictures of it because most of the time I find those pictures pretty boring, but also because I'm lazy. I'm really close to being finished and I'm hoping that it fits and looks as fabulous as I imagine it looking.

I'll let you know.