Halloween....

Happy (belated) Halloween! It's always been one of my favorite holidays. You don't have to make a huge dinner, you don't have to buy presents, and the whole point of the evening is to acquire as much candy as possible -- what's not to like?

We have always made a big deal about Halloween, and this year, in addition to luminaria on the driveway and lots of lit jack-o-lanterns, we added some tombstones to our yard (Elvis and I made them over the weekend out of foamboard):



The kids looked amazing: a non-sparkly vampire, a mad scientist and a witch.


And this year, a zombie also made her appearance...

Guess who?

Happy Halloween!

Halloween recap

It's been a wild couple of days, but here's the (belated) Halloween recap.

Happy Halloween

from the Blue Ballerina



the Wizard



and Parrot Boy.

Catching up

This week will be a week for catching up, while trying very hard not to get further behind. N. did indeed have pneumonia (we had the pleasure of a chest X-ray early last week), in both lungs, and Tuesday night we came ominously close to a hospital admission. The docs gave him another night on the second oral antibiotic and thankfully he turned the corner that night. Now, less than a week later, his cough is nearly all gone and he's fine. The amazing resilience of kids.

I'm glad N. is better in time for Halloween. I've always loved Halloween -- even before those creepy big-box costume stores appeared, trying to turn every eight-year-old girl into corporate America's collective Lolita fantasy -- and I always enjoy making costumes for my kids. My piece de resistance thus far was 2005's Fish Costume





but I have high hopes for Elvis's choice this year: The Parrot. His sister G. wanted to be a ballerina (cool, I thought, I can buy a tutu!) except she insisted on being a BLUE ballerina. Do you know how hard it is to find a blue tutu? N. decided to be a wizard. Even though he doesn't really know anything about Harry Potter. Go figure. As long as there aren't pupiks hanging out or a real excess of bad taste (Tom wistfully mentioned a Lisa Nowak costume, complete with a jar of Tang, a roll of duct tape and a pair of Depends), I'm flexible.

This


is a skein of Black Bunny DK-weight merino, along with a card of glass buttons I got at Stitches East. It's for a baby shower gift, for someone who loves orange. I'm going to be dyeing up some more BBF DK-weight in the coming weeks, which is machine washable and perfect for little baby sweaters, so look for it.

But first, I'll be posting a Black Bunny Fibers roving update tomorrow morning. I've got 6 batches of roving, including a lovely border leicester/mohair blend.




Inspired by Rhinebeck, I blew the dust off my wheel and produced this:



(from a Blue-Faced Leicester roving from Black Bunny). I'm definitely getting more consistent; I just need to work on spinning a bit thinner. Everything I produce seems to be aran-weight or heavier.

Last, I would be remiss if I did not mention that today is my mom's birthday. I can't believe she's seventy-seven. She's in great shape and excellent health, but it still scares the bejeesus out of me that her age sounds so, well, old. She doesn't read my blog (she doesn't know what a blog is) -- which probably explains why her heart is still in such good shape -- but Happy Birthday, Mom. You're the best.*



*Also happy birthday to Owen....