Happy Halloween

I have to say I'm not a Halloween fan. I don't decorate the house for it now that the kids are grown. I prefer fall decorations. That being said, I'm sitting here watching the Ghost Hunters marathon on Sci-Fi Channel. It's one of my favorite shows. Go figure.

Now for the knitting part. As usual, the end of the month crept up on me and I didn't have a pair of socks made for the Sock A Month KAL. I seriously considered skipping October since I didn't want to be racing the clock to finish a pair of socks. But I've made a pair a month for almost a year now and I hated to miss this month. So, baby socks to the rescue again. October 26th I cast on a pair of
Baby Monkey Socks by Sheri Berger of The Loopy Ewe. I had a lone skein of Patons Kroy Sock 4 in Pink Power that I figured would be perfect. I finished the socks last night at 11:45 p.m. Very easy pattern and fun to make, not to mention very quick.



I participated in Dish cloth Round Robin on Ravelry. The coordinator compiled a list of participants. Then she mailed package with several dish cloths to the first person on the list. That person took two cloths from the package and replaced them with two dish cloths that she made. Then the package is sent to the next person and so on until it arrives back at the coordinator's.

Here are the two dishcloths I made for the Round Robin




The pattern is very simple - Using worsted weight cotton and size US 7 needles, CO 39 stitches. Row 1 and every other row: K2, P2 to the last 3 stitches, K these 3 stitches.

You just repeat this row until the cloth is a large as you want.

And here are the two dish cloths I picked from the envelope before I sent it on to the next person.



The Helena sweater is on hold. I kept goofing up the lace pattern and was getting frustrated. So I started another sweater using the Baby Delight pattern from Babies and Toddlers - A Knitter's Dozen. I'm using Sirdar Snuggly DK in Fair Isle.

The sweater is knit top-down and I'm almost ready to do the sleeves. Then Ariane told me that the baby was born a couple of weeks ago and she went out and bought a gift so she doesn't need the sweater right now. There are so many other things I want to work on right now that that's a relief. I will finish the sweater to add to the pile, though. Helena's fate, on the other hand, is up in the air.

Now that the socks are done, I'm working on a pair of Manly Mitts from the Summer 2005 issue of Knitty for Scott. I'm using some Knitting Fever Alpaka yarn that I bought on clearance at A.C. Moore last year. I have 3 skeins - 1 gray, 1 brown, and 1 cream. I hope I have enough of the gray and the brown to finish these mittens. Otherwise, I'll have to incorporate the cream somewhere in the pattern. I hope the alpaca makes warm mittens for when he walks the dog. Using a stranded pattern should help block the cold.

And that's it from me for today. Don't eat too much candy tonight!

Stuff and more stuff

Well, I participated in Hat Attack II which started September 16th. And I lasted until September 22nd. But I did get my hat out to my target before I died. Here is the hat I sent out.



I used SWTC Therapi in blue and stone. And the little bits of yarn are all that was left from each skein. I was getting a little nervous about having enough of the blue.

And here is the hat that killed me.


Pretty, isn't it? Reminds me of a chocolate raspberry dessert. The yarn is Knit Picks alpaca. Very soft.

I decided a little late to contribute some mittens to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. The challenge was for 8 pairs of mittens and I finished 3 pairs.



But that is 3 more pairs of warm hands.

This week we are on Cape Cod for our annual fall trip. This year is a little different because Scott's family did not come with us. But Ariane, her boyfriend, Mike and Alek came out with us on Saturday and went home on Tuesday. Ariane and Alek haven't been here in 7 years and Mike has never been here before so it was nice for them. We wish they could have spent more time but their work schedules wouldn't permit it.

Ariane mentioned that her favorite co-worker is due with her first baby any day now and wanted to know what she should get for her. I told her I'd make a baby sweater for the baby. It's a girl and I had the pattern for Helena with me so I went to the Ladybug Yarn Shop in Dennis and bought some Jaeger Matchmaker DK in Oyster. Oyster is a funny color. Depending on the light, it looks like either light grayish blue or light grayish lavendar. Kind of like the inside of any oyster shell.



I took this picture yesterday just to show the harbor and the beginning of the project. The Adirondack chair is sitting in the front yard of the rental house. Tomorrow I will try to take another picture of it. It is knit from the top down and I have finished the raglan increases and the bodice and started the lace skirt pattern while we were sitting on Nauset Beach this afternoon. I should have had Scott take a picture of me knitting on the beach but I didn't. We'll see what happens tomorrow as far as knitting pictures go.

And now it's time to get dinner on the table. We are eating fashionably late since we spent the afternoon on the beach.