Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays. My father, having spent the majority of his life in Spain, was exceptionally enthusiastic after moving to the U.S. about this holiday where people dress up in ridiculous outfits & eat a lot of candy. He always made it really fun for us - faking that he wasn't going to dress up, and then surprising us by emerging from the bedroom as a punk rocker....or woman....or the year we went to my mom's work to visit her - my father dressed as a nerd - pretending NOT to be dressed up at all. He continued with the act, thoroughly embarrassing my mom in front of her co-workers. That was pretty funny.

Speaking of my mom. Talk about crafty lady. Good God, that woman would make every single one of our most complicated costumes. From scratch. Pull all nighters at times. I had an appreciation for this labor this year as I saw not one single home-made costume. Including my own. All store bought. Kind of kills the creativity out of the holiday a bit - just running down to Target to pick up the latest version of "Tinker Bell". Some of my fondest memories of Halloween were all the preparations leading up to the big day. Whether it be spending a few hours at the fabric store with my mom picking out the perfect pattern and all the matching fabric - or helping my dad choose all the appropriate accessories at Goodwill or the hardware store.

Don't get me wrong, Halloween was great this year. But, I've really come to appreciate the "old days" before the holiday was so commercial. I'm going to try my best to remember this when I have kids and try to use the holiday as a chance for them to get creative. No matter how hectic our lives are.

I am loved. Look at the beauty that lovely Allison sent me this week! We had a little swapping action going on. Well, it wasn't supposed to be that way. I sent her a couple of buttons to help finish along one her beautiful perditas - & she sent me this. So sweet. And so tiny too. She said that knitting with embroidery floss doesn't hurt her fingers, but I don't believe her. I love it so much, I haven't taken it off. I even slept with it on last night. I had the bead imprint on my face when I woke up to prove it.

She ALSO sent me the softest most butteriest alpaca - hand painted and all. Thank you so much Allison - you are toooooo generous!

Another little somethin' somethin' for our fall Socktoberfest! In my color-way of the season, Cranberry & Mustard.....

Specs:
Pattern: "False Flame Crew Socks" from Socks Socks Socks by Elaine Rowley.
Time: Began on Oct. 18. Finished on Oct. 24 - less then 1 week!
Yarn: Andes in color No. 20. I used a little less then one skein (165 yds.) - but somehow thought that I would need 2. It's beyond me how one can over-estimate by 100%. Sooo....I guess that means someone will be getting a cranberry & mustard colored hat soon.
Needles: 2 bamboo circs. in US size 3's.
Modifications: Obviously, there is no real "pattern" or "flame" to these socks. I realized soon after I started knitting, that color variations was entertaining enough & that I didn't need to add on some crazy flame pattern to complicate matters. I'm happy with that decision.

~Weekend Recap~

These pretties are Italian cookies. For the Italian Cookie dance. My best friend got married this past weekend in Virginia. What a joyous event that was. I LOVE weddings. Almost as much as graduations. (I'm not being sarcastic - I really really love graduations. Graduations of any level). I learned how to dance the Italian Cookie Dance often celebrated at weddings. It involves a conga line led by the bride winding it's way through the wedding reception ending at the grad finale of everyone diving into the huge pile of gorgeously colorful cookies!

It doesn't get better then that, folks.

One of the greatest things that I love about making things is the opportunity it gives me to just play with color.

I can spend hours combining and recombining, grouping, piling, holding up various mediums together to produce pleasing color combinations. Whether it be with yarn, or fabric, or photographs, paint, beads or just found items from a walk around the neighborhood, I love to experiment with all of the millions of possibilities.

All summer long I've been pretty well obsessed with the aqua & dark red combo. Not really making anything out of them, but simply just feeling really quite pleased when happening upon the color combination.

Now as we're moving rather quickly into fall, and all things fall - pumpkins, colorful leaves, and fall cooking, I'm becoming more and more attracted to a new color combination.




This being huuhm, well we'll call it mustard & cranberry. Which brings me to my next point. Naming. I know I made a little remark about the color "yarrow" in my last post (remember, "what the hell is "yarrow" - I know, not very tactful). All jokes aside, I think it's important to think these things through. And, so, if you think that naming a color after a New England wild flower, so be it. And you know when you've got it right. Is it red? No. Dark pink? No. Cranberry, yes, just right.

Speaking of fall-ness, I'm going to try out Martha's chicken soup tonight in an attempt to get more domestic as we merge into the season of hibernation.

Speaking of Martha, have you seen all the great new ideas she's posted for fall & winter crafts? Like the felted knitting basket or the little lamb, chicken & piggie - equiped with their own templates and everything!

She's crazy, but you gotta love her style!

I'm off to the east coast this weekend for some fall-peekin' & best-friend nuptial celebrations. I hope there will be a little pumpkin patchin' in store for me!

A FO to announce here, folks. Socks I started for my abuela decades ago & realized half way through the 2nd sock that I HATED dpns. So I just stopped. But my grandmothers feet were still cold & I needed to think of a solution fast. In come 2 circs. Wow, 2 circles, where have you been all my life? I can't believe how much faster this technique is! (despite how Beth feels on the subject).

Some specs for ya:
Pattern: "Best Foot Forward" from Knit Socks! given to me by Susan.
Yarn: Andean Silk by Knit Picks in lettuce & yarrow. (what the hell is "yarrow"? is that a real color or just a made up name like "deep aubergine" or "montain pine"?)
Anyway, the yarn was amazing to work with, knits up fast & is slippery soft, AND it was from my stash to boot. Not to mention the notoriously cheap Knit Picks price. Are you wondering why the green goes so high up past the toe? Could it be because I dipped my toes in paint? Could it be because I mis-calculated my yarn supply?

The coolest part about this project is that it's for my abuela (that's spanish for "grandmother" incase you were wondering). She's lived a lifetime of knitting, not to mention knitting garments for the whole family using nothing but a few calculations stored in her head. The thing is, she could never quite figure out how to make socks, & thinks that they're this super advanced impossibility. In comes the beaming grand-daughter. Amazing what we'll do to impress our elders.

So, these will be off to Spain soon...keeping the feet of my abuela nice & toasty.

I had a quick trip up to Salt Lake City, Utah this past week. I was fairly umimpressed with the city. Perhaps because I was by myself, or...because I didn't take the time to visit some of the sites. Like the Salt Lake Temple.

This could have been for a few different reasons.
1. I was dressed like a skank.
2. I became seriously distracted after discovering Black Sheep Wool Co. yarn shop.
3. All of the above.

As most things, I'm always late to join...but in this case, it's better late then never. So, get your butt over to Lolly's and join in the fun!

Well, you all are were right, that last post WAS in Vegas. I know it seemed obvious, but I couldn't resist that picture. Show girls at a stuffy, dorky, IT convention....they're everywhere I tell ya.

Vegas = not my favorite place, so you can imagine how happy I was to end my week is this lovely city...can you guess where I was?

I also had a chance to escort Miss. Olive to her new adopted mother, Sofia. Olive's new name, evidently, is "Nila" which is so sweet - and grown up! They got along great as they explored the neighborhood together.


I have a finished project to share...more on that from my next stop this week...Salt Lake City, Utah.

~Lovely week to you all.~

Guess where I am right now.

Come on...just guess. Nevermind the dorky tradeshow badge okay...not my choice. Trust me.