We are ready - the costumes are complete, the candy is in the bowl, the treat bags are waiting by the door.  All we have to do is eat dinner and get dressed.  Fun awaits!

It took me way longer than anticipated to finish Kate's costume and all its trappings.  And she has been so patient!  Jane has gone to two Halloween parties and Kate hasn't been to one.  Her whole Halloween experience this year is happening tonight.  Needless to say, she is a bit excited!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stops raining so she can get a good dose of fun.

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!  Eat lots of candy!

The weather is conspiring against me.  I have finally finished the flapper hats and it is 75 degrees and sunny!  I am not complaining, not a bit - it is so beautiful outside it kills me to have to be inside waiting for the plumber to show.  Hopefully he will come soon and then we can head to the park.

Back to the hats!  I love, love, love how they turned out.  Not only am I thrilled with the results, I really enjoyed knitting them, too.  They were easy, fast and inexpensive (!).  Sarah's pattern is extremely well written and easy to follow.  The provisional cast on almost scared me away, but because Sarah was kind enough to include video links in her post, after I watched how it was done, I knew that this was a project for me.

That provisional cast on is easy!  You use a length of waste yarn that you later take out to free up your original stitches.  Then you knit the facing back into the body of the hat - no tedious sewing required.  How cool is that?  No seams, either, because it is knit in the round.  Yippee!

For Kate's (the pink one), I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (yes, again!).  I really like the softness of this yarn.  Unfortunately, one skein ($8 at my local yarn store) is approximately 90 or so yards so I had to buy a second ball.

Jane's (the orange one) is knit out of Rowan Cashsoft DK that I bought at Purl in NYC.  It is a similar weight to the Cashmerino Aran, but the yardage was closer to 150.  At $8.50, it was a better deal.

Do you see that wonky blanket stitch?  I know that it is not my strong suit so I probably should have practiced before I attached the flowers.  Oh well.  It gives them character, right? 

Draw, cut, glue, color, write - this is what my kids like to do.  They are creating all the time.  Today started out with some Halloween-themed post-it notes turned into portraits.

Mr. and Mrs. Cat by Jane - I love the title and artist tag cut out of an index card.

Mr. Frankenstein by Kate - I think those are braces on his teeth.

Their friends, Bailey and Lilly, brought them each a blank notebook when they came over for a play date this afternoon.  Everyone in this house loves a new notebook!  They took their notebooks outside with a box of markers and a bag of crayons and intermittently drew and played for three hours.

Jane's outdoor nature study - funny how many of these things are not natural at all...and that phonetic spelling always makes me smile.

Jane's self-portrait - in reality, she only has about three freckles all on her nose.

Kate's drawing - of what, I am not sure, but I love the color combination and she did tell me she was practicing some lower case letters.  Not too shabby for a 4 1/2 year old.

When their friends left, they moved inside.  I found this in Jane's notebook.

And when they were finished, they left this behind:

I will admit that the mess drives me crazy.  It is constant.  I feel like once we get it cleaned up, it reappears almost instantly.  However, I am so happy that they are creative and that they enjoy exploring different crafts that it really doesn't matter.  Not a bit.  They have so much still to learn and so many different doors open to them.  My wish is that they never lose this curiosity and creative spark.  I hope that they always will want to explore new media and new subjects.  That in some way, shape or form, they will always be artistic.  I know it will serve them well because it has for me.

Thanks to my friend Marcia for making aware of the Holiday Ornament Swap organized by cake + pie and freshly{blended}.  I am in the brainstorming stage and have a couple ideas that could work.  This is going to be fun!  You want in?  You can still sign up - the deadline is November 1st.

 

It's raining here and has been for a couple days.  Yuck!  It's hard to get a good photo in this gloomy weather so here's a little something from a couple of weeks ago.

It's a paper trophy honoring my fashionable friend Kelly that I made the Sunday we were in New York.  She out shined us all walking the streets of Manhattan.   When I saw this photo on the front of the Fashion (maybe Style?) section, I knew what I had to do.   All it took was newspaper, some scotch tape and some scissors.  I wish I could say that it was usable, but alas, the clasp is inoperable and the scotch tape is not so sturdy.  It made me think some about sculpture and what it takes to make it.  Also, constructing something three dimensional out of something other than fabric took me out of my box so to speak.  I think I'd like to get my hands dirty again. 

Speaking of dirt, to say my hands were filthy when I finished is an understatement.  I have never seen so much black water in a pristine white hotel sink.  Oh well, I had fun!

A work in progress a day early...Kate's Glinda costume

And look what arrived on our doorstep this morning - hot rollers!  Glinda would not be complete without the curls.  Good thing I was a girl in the 80's - all that big hair!  Thanks for sending them Mom.

All the costume sewing has left me little time to do something for myself so I took my big pile of unread magazines...

...and got a pedicure.  Aahhh - relaxation!

Finn - I made this t-shirt for our nephew, Finn, who turned two on Sunday.  Happy Birthday Kiddo!  Hope you had a ball! (note to his parents:  pun intended!)

Failure to post - issues with typepad last night - so frustrating!  Anyone else have problems?

Finishing Flapper Hat - almost done and so cute, I tell you.

Flying - off to school we go.

Late yesterday afternoon, I decided I was in the mood for soup.  I was thinking something along the chicken noodle variety, but when flipping through Barefoot Contessa Family Style, I found this:   Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup.  A quick trip to the store and an hour later, we were in business.  Yum!

While the soup was simmering, I also made these delicious pumpkin cupcakes.  Thanks goes to Amy and Mailorder for that yummy recipe.  Topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the things that autumn-y dreams are made of.

After we finished eating and got the kiddos in bed, I curled up on the couch with a blanket and some knitting and watched TV.  The perfect end to a very nice Sunday.