Halloween and a Bit of Lace

We had lots of fun getting ready for Halloween.


 We made gingerbread cookies, and I finally had a chance to try piping skeletons onto the gingerbread men.  A slightly finer tip may have been helpful, but I'm pretty pleased as I haven't done much piping before.  They had featured these cookies last year in Canadian Living, and I've been wanting to try it ever since.  The round ones are monsters, and there were pumpkins, houses, ghosts, and moons as well.  We used jelly beans and candied fennel to decorate them.

We had fun carving pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa,
who also sent home delicious treats.  I just love how my little one sticks her elbows out while she's eating her gummy-kabob.

My eldest enjoyed trick-or-treating in her butterfly costume.  This is the version of the costume that she wore to dance class; she wore black pants and a black long sleeved shirt as well on Halloween, along with glow bracelets.  The costume was really easy to make, as it was cut out of felt with the stripes and dots sewn on, and elastic used for the harness and wrist-straps.  Add pipe-cleaners (I hear they're called chenille stems these days, but I just can't get used to that) to a headband, and off we go.

My youngest decided as we were getting her costume on that she wasn't having anything to do with that, and cried and yelled until I removed the offending articles.  After that, we discussed other options, all disagreeable to her.  We stayed home while my eldest and her aunt went out (shoot!  I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of the dog, who was dressed with a hood to be an Ewok), only the younger daughter did try to follow them out in her shirt and diaper, only to be brought back in.  We'll try again next year.  Lucky for her she has a sweet older sister who shares her candy.

I also knit up a beret for myself, the #24 Lace Beret by Kate Gagnon Osborn, in an Alpaca/Camel/Merino/Silk blend that I picked up at a fibre festival over a year ago.  I'd had this one on my list since I bought the magazine with the pattern about a year ago, and it's been calling to me over the last few months (knit me!  knit me!).  Finally, I dropped all my other projects, and spent a few days enjoying this.  I knit it in a slightly larger gauge so that it would fit my head, and it's just fine.  I also learned that when blocking, if you leave your knits to dry on a wire laundry rack, it will leave an imprint from the rack on your work.  It's pretty minor, but there are two parallel lines running across the hat, so next time I wash it, I'll put it on a towel instead.  I think I'll wear it everywhere for the next little while.