Happy Halloween!

 

I didn't make this costume, but it looks so cute on Shadow I had to post it. After I got some photos and took it off, he 'attacked' it. Grrrr....

Silhouette Pumpkin

Silhouettes seem to be all the rage now. You can find examples in just about every October issue of every crafty magazine out there. I love the idea of doing something that is so easy and relatively inexpensive!

This little guy came from "Country Living" magazine. I downloaded the template from their website and traced it onto a white fake pumpkin. Then I just painted it with acrylic paint. The "Nevermore" was my own touch, since I can't think of a Raven without the quote from Edgar Allen Poe. BTW, did you read that poem in school? I can remember about 3 lines from it, and that it was about a girl named Lenore. 

I don't have my Halloween decorations out yet, only my Fall ones. I'll probably do Halloween next week, since I'll be in Ohio the first week of October. The first of the month is when I decorate for any given holiday (although I probably start Christmas soon after Thanksgiving since it is such a BIG holiday.)

Baby Blanket

I have finally (after about a year!) finished this baby blanket. Almost...I just have to weave in the ends. It is a gift for Dr. A's granddaughter. (BTW, I called her 'Riya" in a previous post, I think. Her name is actually "Diya.")  The repeat of the rows is like this: singles, singles, doubles, then a row of front post triple crochets. In the FPTC row, you do two stitches, then skip a stitch, do two more, and then you take the 6th stitch and pull it back to that skipped stitch. It makes a crossing pattern that is really pretty.
I noticed that on the back, the post rows made a kind of 'ridge.' So what I did with the next row (all singles) was to 'catch' half of each stitch before the FPTC row, pulling in the ridge. It flattens out the back, which I think will be more comfortable. I'm sure that doesn't make sense at all, since I don't have any idea how to write crochet instructions, but trust me, it works.
The border around the edge is very simple: in the first round, you just do all singles. Then you do a single, half and double in a stitch, skip two stitches and do another sc/hdc/dc all around. In the second round, you do a sc/hdc/dc in the 'spaces' between the stitches.
This would have been done for me to take to work today, but I got started on a HUGE organizing project. Our attic ladder/doorway is broken so you can't go up and down it too much. So I handed down about six boxes of Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff to my husband, as well as a box of sweaters. (It's already feeling like fall here--yay!)
I wasn't planning on sorting through it all but once I got started I just went with it. Managed to reduce six boxes down to four. Once I start to decorate, I can sort even further and decide on more things to either go to charity or decorate the office with. It's a big task but at least it's 90% done!

Come to think of it, most of my tasks seem to always be "90%" done, LOL!