Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

What a great evening we had for trick or treating tonight. It was about +12C and no wind. (No gale force winds like we've had for the last three days. My usual spots that collect leaves are full yet again. Took 12 bags of leaves to the compost yard today. Four more wouldn't fit on the truck, and there's probably at least 10 more bags in the second driveway alone waiting to be cleaned up. All these leaves are coming from the graveyard across the road. All of my trees are bald and have been for weeks now. Grrr!)

Hubby is on his way home from Alberta and is spending the night in Winnipeg, I believe, at one of these places. Our nephew called and asked if I wanted him to come down and hand out stuff while we were gone. We don't go too far, just up around the corner, two houses past my parents' place, up a side street around the block back to our place. Takes about an hour. Didn't know at first if I should let him do that or not. That kid is an eating machine, and I didn't really have any extras. (He already found my Halloween candy on the weekend, hidden in the hall closet. One bag that was opened mysteriously dwindled to only five bars.) I get about 50 kids, so I made 60 treat bags. Guess I'd have to raid the cupboard if I run out. Don't think cans of soup would be appreciated. Actually, if I ran out I'd just give some of the boys' stuff out -- but not to worry -- I'd feel so guilty doing that I'm sure I'd end up buying them replacements! We had probably close to 50 kids tonight. I saw evidence when I put something in the garbage that yes, indeed, a few treat bags didn't make it out the door. I had probably seven left over of the 60.

The boys wanted to be bats. I tried making wings out of an umbrella, but I didn't like how it turned out. I tried to bribe them with store-bought costumes, but they wouldn't budge. I ended up getting black bristol board today and made wings out of that. I used black yarn leftovers to tie them to their arms. I used two of my headbands to hold the ears on. (Unfortunately the Littlest One didn't have a solid black shirt. There's writing on the front of this one, so I turned it around backwards. The Oldest One had something on the front of his so I covered it with a piece of felt. Hard to turn his around cuz it's hooded.) They returned with lots of goodies anyways. I actually get quite a few kids maybe around 12, 13 years old, that don't even bother with a costume of any kind.

I'm working on the first sleeve to the aran sweater. It's moving along really quickly, which is a good thing. I started it yesterday and will soon be to raglan shaping already. I figure the way this is going I should be able to start sewing it up on the weekend.

I brought some yarn home from the store, mostly new yarns that aren't moving. Thought if I make some scarves or hats as samples we may start selling some of it. So far the only thing I made is this drop-loop scarf. The yarn is Patons Bohemian in Pink Pow. (The color really sucks in the picture. The web site shows a truer color.) It was the last ball we had. This yarn was one of our best sellers last year, everyone was making these scarves. It's a free tear-off pattern that I modified a little narrower where I only had one ball. I cast on 12sts on 6mm needles, knit every row til the yarn was gone, but on the last row K2, cast off 8. Take the remaining 4sts off the needle and unravel each side. Voila! I tried making the same sort of scarf with this, but it didn't work. I ended up frogging it. Now I think I'll just make a basic child-sized hat with it.

I've been trying and trying to get my pictures to upload, but it's no go. Tried Blogger, tried Flickr, grrr! Just click here to see my Flickr album.

Happy knitting!