Boo!!

I know it's incredibly morbid, but every year I get a little kick out of saying that Thomas is going out for Halloween as a ghost.

Really, this is probably only genuinely funny to My Beloved and I - everyone else just laughs nervously when I whip out this annual joke - but in addition to the fact that I really do somehow find it amusing, it makes me feel closer to Thomas.

On a day when people are parading their more-adorable-than-usual children in an unending stream up to my front door in costumes so precious they make my busted uterus ache, it's nice to feel extra close to Thomas.

And so, I make the joke.

And a little cotton ghost washcloth too.

And all's right with my slightly warped world.

October 31, 2009

And now I'm off to bed, which is the only way I can guarantee I'm going to stop eating the leftover chocolate. For at least the next 7 or so hours anyway...

Hat's off. And on. And on. And on.

This is the first few rounds of a hat pattern, with the addition of a quick little single crochet border to finish it off.

I've been working on a couple of special order kids hats using this pattern, and thought the initial couple of rows would make a pretty motif perfectly suited for a certain little crochet odyssey.

Plus, once you get into the swing of an addictive pattern it's kind of hard to get out.

October 28, 2009

Somebody help me! I'm trapped in a hat!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

But let the real stuff fall somewhere else for at least another month or so, m'k?

Thanks.

October 27, 2009

With apologies to my friends in Colorado who were dealing with blizzard conditions on Sunday...

Lest We Forget

Every year about this time, little red poppies start appearing on the lapels of Canadians and Britains. This 90-year old tradition started as a way of remembering the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.

Along with a moment of silence at 11:00am on November 11th, we wear the poppies to remind us of the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy today.

And usually someone, somewhere, recites these lines...

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.

John McCrae, 1915.

October 26, 2009

For those who never came home, we remember.

One BIG square...

...which also serves as proof that I WAS preoccupied with blankie squares the past few weeks.

This, after much sewing, is the finished afghan. If you look closely, you'll see it's half knitted and half crocheted. It was a Mom and me collaboration - a gift of yarny love for my sister who turned 42 this weekend.

October 25, 2009


Happy Birthday Kathy!

The road to crochet hell...

...is paved with good intentions.

And gray-ish lasagna noodle ninja throwing stars.

October 22, 2009


Siiiiigh.

In the meantime...

Mary, I will absolutely prove that I was working on a blankie this week by taking its picture and posting it here when it's done. I'm nothing if not a shameless attention whore when it comes to displaying pictures of my crocheted stuff (ahem, clearly...), so stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's an off-centered flower in a lovely soft blue that looks frustratingly bland and gray here, and a teeny tiny little cotton granny square.

And now, back to the blankie...

October 18 & 19, 2009




I'm at the sewing together stage. And there will be callouses.

See? Attention whore.

Reruns...

...but for a good cause.

I'm trying to get a special order blankie finished, and I desperately needed to spend some time doing squares for it this weekend. Which, of course, meant I didn't have quite as much time for non-project specific squares.

Which is why these are reruns.

And why this is a boring post.

October 16 & 17, 2009




While these are reruns in the sense that you've seen these two patterns before, they were ones I needed to do for the blankie, so I believe they still totally count.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

October 15th

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, which I quietly celebrated yesterday. In addition to lighting a candle in my front window at 7:00pm, I crocheted a little bouquet of pink and blue flowers, one for each of the wee souls who slipped in and out of our lives without a sound.

Because I will always, always remember.

October 15, 2009

I love you, little ones.

Fall colours, part II

Two button-y flowers and one single autumn leaf.

And that, as they say, is that.

For today, anyway.

October 2, 12, 13, 2009


Quietly recovering from holiday hangover. During which no actual alcohol was consumed with the exception of one measly half a glass of wine.

But still, a holiday hangover. The cruel curse of the bereaved, I suppose.

P.S. Shanna, can you check the e-mail address you posted? I can't seem to get it to work, and blogger won't let me comment on your blog for some reason! Ack!

A perfect storm

We used to have Thanksgiving dinner up at my Grandparent's cottage when I was a kid. The tradition didn't last much beyond my 6th or 7th year (for reasons best kept in the proverbial vault), but I remember it very well.

Particularly the year of the big leaf storm. It was probably 1975, and we had a new-ish kitten (my very first) who had never seen an entire forest of trees drop their golden, red and orange leaves in a torrent of autumnal frenzy all at once.

I was pretty agog too, as I recall. We all were, really. You don't see that kind of thing very often.

The kitten attacked the front window as the wind swept the leaves from hundreds of feet in the air and whisked them to the ground in twisty, whirling gusts. We marveled. We laughed. We took 8mm movies.

And now, we remember it all with so much fondness.

So in honour of those sweet fall days at the cottage of long ago, a bunch of yarny leaves in all the colours I remember from that glorious day nearly 35 years ago.

October 3, 9, 10 & 11, 2009


This is truly the most beautiful time of year. It never fails to take my breath away.

I can almost taste it...

Mmmm. Pumpkin pie!

Can you see it? Is this not the cutest pattern ever???

I would love to give credit where it's due if only I could remember where I found the pattern. It was online...maybe through Ravelry.com? I can't remember now - I'm just so tickled that it looks as cute as it does and that I happened to have pumpkin pie-coloured yarn in my stash. What are the odds?

Best of all, I have real pumpkin in my pantry, and will be baking edible versions of this fall-y pie for Thanksgiving dinner this weekend.

Yum!

October 8, 2009


I could probably eat a whole pie all by myself. Particularly if I had lots of whipped cream to go with it.

I'm not kidding.

Redemption

There. A spider with eight legs. AND a web to boot.

Happy now?

October 7, 2009


I kid. I kid. I totally knew the spider motif I did the other day was missing two legs, I was just entirely too lazy to make them - even though usually blatant omissions/lazy-ass sloppiness like that makes me really, really twitchy.

Apparently it bugs others too.

Pardon the pun.

Plumpkin

Finally, a seasonally correct motif. Unlike the snowflakes I couldn't seem to stop making back in the summer, a jack-o-lantern is a wholly appropriate choice for October 7th.

Granted, I've ignored Thanksgiving altogether which of course does come before Halloween, but I found a pattern on Ravelry.com that should rectify that. And there's still time to make it.

Stay tuned...

October 7, 2009


I think I may need to dress up this Halloween. There are no children in our house, and I haven't been invited to any Halloween shin digs, but by virtue of the fact that it falls on a Saturday, it feels like I should do something a little wild and crazy just the same.

As only 39-year old hookers can.

By way of explanation...

...I have just two words: Sewer backup.

Oy.

Anyhoo, several gallons of bleach-laced water, 49 billion pairs of rubber gloves, three mop heads, and a rented wet vac later, and here we are. With just two measly motifs and lots of catching up to do later this week, I suppose.

October 4 & 5, 2009





Spiders. Geez, I wish that's all I'd found in the basement Friday morning...

My eyes! My eyes!

Ugh, it's so hard to shoot Christmas-red yarn! It gets hyper-saturated and smothers every colour in its immediate vicinity (like the dark forest green), making your eyes simultaneously bleed and snap shut to block out the burning.

But really, no big loss in this case. The motif is kind of ugly anyway.

September 30, 2009


I need to go rest my eyes now.

You probably do too.