Here are a handful of holiday FOs that will be gifted to as-yet-undisclosed recipients.  This Christmas-colored Ballband Dishcloth came out more like a Brick Walkway Dishcloth:

I love this cowl (rav link) – my first. It’s made from super-soft Malabrigo yarn.

Here’s a Hurricane Hat – recognize the yarn?

Who will be the lucky winners?

Happy (almost) birthday, QP!! I gave my sister this shawl over Halloween weekend – my first! I loved making it. The pattern (rav link) was easy once I figured out my yo problem, & tell me what is made out of Malabrigo Silky Merino is not decadent. This Tatami colorway was Meg’s request, and Ellen at Purl Diva delivered.

OK, let’s cut to the chase. I loved Kaleidoscope Yarns. Loved it. The selection was amazing & very fun, and the staff was sooooo helpful and friendly. I met the Crafty Hedgehog and bought a pattern of hers! I was also bowled over by the staggering volume, variety & quality of samples. Christine and I enjoyed a long visit and came away with some fun purchases.

I got these two skeins of Berroco Vintage:

and this pattern.  I’m a super-happy customer!!

While I was away, C challenged DH with his very own word game, using a dinosaur key from a workbook. He used the existing key, but created fill-in-the-blank dinosaur names for DH to figure out using the key. Granted – I’m Mom, but I’m impressed.

So, this has been quite a series of Halloween posts! Phew – last one. The grand finale. Time for candy!

The boys were animals, and Daddy surprised us all by showing up as a hunter!

A nearby front yard scene:

Sweet Rewards:

My friend Kathren hosted another nice holiday shindig for Halloween this year.  We had so much fun eating, drinking, decorating treats, chatting, listening to scary music.  The kids got nice, fat sugar highs and ran in circles before things got ugly and we had to flee the scene.

Here are a couple decorating shots:

The carving of the pumpkin is a very fun, very exhausting event in our household. All three boys are amped up, full of ideas and requests to help, & frankly – we’re outnumbered.

Diggin’ right in:

Help from Daddy:

Ooo – got the nose!:

Boo!:

How about some yarn to celebrate!

Two gorgeous skeins of String Theory sock yarn – the photos don’t really do justice to the subtle hues of color within:

And some fabulous hat-bound (I think) Island Yarns Handspun I got in downtown Bar Harbor – 180 yards of a wool/silk blend:

And yes – I AM buying the candy today. Yum………oh, and BOO!

{sigh}

How much money have we spent the last few years replacing cameras? I shutter (haha) to think. And dammit – this one was our fault! Makes me even more upset. We dropped it on those beauuuuuutiful Acadian rocks during a handoff. It fell open-lens first.

But, for the first time, we replaced our Canon Powershot with……another Powershot. Consider that an endorsement! In the past, we had always taken the opportunity to try to find something better, yet still relatively cheap.

However, I was camera-less for a week, which explains the very recent blog silence. And today’s word-heavy post. But I did cut most of the expletives – you can thank me later.

I have some yarn photos from our trip coming up, with Halloween in full-swing as well! So stay tuuuuuuuuned, AH-hah-hah-hah-hah!!!!!