Halloween 2011

 Another Halloween!  Most people think of their year in terms of January through December.  I measure mine from Halloween to Halloween.  You can see last years post here.

 This year I had two costumes.  My sister in law, Shelsea had her birthday earlier this week so we went out dancing.  I went as Pippi Longstocking and she was Batgirl!

For trick or treating, I went as Raggedy Anne, my husband went as Waldo's doppelganger, Bailey wanted to be "a vampire so scary it scares me" (his words, not mine) and Silas was Yoda.

I got my Raggedy Anne costume from Nobody's Baby (Facebook link).  They're a local vintage shop that also rents costumes.  They're amazing.  I found the Waldo shirt at Old Navy on clearance.  Since it's grey and red we thought he would be one of the many Waldo doppelgangers that you find in the book.  Close, but no cigar sort of thing.  I knit his hat with some worsted wool yarn I had in just a couple of hours. Glasses and cane came from Nobody's Baby.

Bailey's vampire costume was easy.  We had the suit and he borrowed the cape from a friend.  We gave him some scary make-up.

Silas' Yoda costume was a lot of fun.  I used the Felted Baby Yoda Hat by Sunshyne Leland.  I made his robe out of fleece just sort of making it up as I went along.

Our pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!  See you next year!

Hats and Socks

...from top to bottom

Here I am combining projects into a single blog post.

First up, Frankenbaby! This is a Frankenstein hat that I made my nephew for Halloween last year. I was just recently sent the photos. I made up the pattern myself and I do plan on writing it down so you all can make one for your little monster.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in black and green. And a little bit of grey for the bolts and some red embroidery floss.

Second, my Honey Hat. I fell in love with the pattern, Honey Cowl but I didn't have enough yarn. I picked up this yarn at Churchmouse while I was in Brainbridge Island. I thought the stitch pattern and yarn would make a great hat. I made it slightly slouchy. Then I embroidered a tree and some orange leaves to it with some scrap yarn. I love it. Reminds me of a burning field.

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, colorway: loro barranquero.

My friends Heather and Erin are due with their first son very shortly. I've been wanting to make these little socks for so long and I knew they were the perfect couple for them. I call them The Snowflake Socks.

Yarn: Cascade 220 green, Knit Picks undyed natural yarn.

The dark spot on the toe is a raindrop!

Lastly, Bailey has been asking me to make him some socks for awhile now. I have had this yarn in my stash for years and thought he would enjoy some Candy Cane Socks. I knit them with an afterthought heel so as not to disrupt the striping pattern. Quite by accident, these socks have the complete opposite striping pattern from each other. WIN! I love it when stuff like that happens.

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Nation Color

Halloween Superstars

The family that costumes together, stays together.

I had a lot of fun this Halloween doing costumes. Originally, Bailey was supposed to be Ash from The Fantastic Mr. Fox. But when we went to our local Goodwill for dress up clothes, he found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Being a 4 year old, that was that! So the only thing I had to do was make him a blue mask- which I did out of felt.

I made Silas a little gnome costume. I knit the hat and the beard. I just whip stitched the beard to the hat so now I can remove it and Silas can just wear the hat. Although babies with beards are pretty cute. I bought some fleece and quickly sewed together a tunic and belt.

I made myself a Marge Simpson costume. I crocheted the wig/hair, then stuffed it with a balloon and bubble wrap. I knit my necklace and used some green fleece to make the dress. And I bought a yellow long sleeve shirt to keep me warm while trick or treating.

My husband went as Ace Ventura Pet Detective. I found the shirt at another thrift store and quickly made him the pink tutu. Love it!!

Lastly, I helped my brother-in-law with his costume. He wanted to go as his brother- my husband! I snuck out some clothes, a hat and shoes. And I found a moustache for him to wear. So funny. I love Halloween!

I didn't have a bandit hat...

...So I modified this tube sock.

I love the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Even more, I love the character Ash (really, let's be honest. I love Jason Schwartzman.) Back on topic, my dear friend Mary made a joke about us needing bandit hats during our last yarn bombing. She joked that we needed tube sock bandit hats like Asher wore in the movie. A fleeting thought. A simple joke. I, of course, couldn't get the damn idea out of my head. I needed to make that hat. Already have my Halloween costume planned. Getting to be warm- no need for winter-like face masks. I really had no functional use for this mask. But still, I needed to make it.

After watching the movie, again I started to cast on. I've been asked for the pattern. I rarely write down my patterns. My patterns are more like recipes. I just knit a bandit hat with a mouth. Make sure to stripe the collar (I had to frog this part back. I was done with the ribbing, I looked at a picture of Ash and realized I had the striping part all wrong.) And when you start decreasing down the crown, stop when you have a good sized tube and start knitting a sock. Then knit some fox ears and sew them on. I stuffed the sock a bit with some polyester toy stuffing to help it keep shape.

It fits me and my husband Brandon better, I had made it adult size. But Bailey, my 3 year old pretty much has claimed it as his own. It looks like he has his Halloween costume squared away.