spooky knits

Happy Halloween guys! Any fun plans for the evening? We are doing the usual: handing out candy to the trick or treaters and then going next door to my brother’s annual Halloween/birthday party. The kid decided to be Alvin the Chipmunk this year and the hubby is a chicken. I’m going as my usual angry 90’s grunge teen.

I surprised the kid with a special Halloween hat (although honestly, I plan on “borrowing” it to wear year round!) As you know, he had some strong opinions on the scrappy monster socks that I was knitting for the #monstersockkal2018. The skulls were his idea (colorwork chart from the awesome Alterknit Stitch Dictionary by Andrea Rangel). But I had my heart set on some cute Halloween cats (chart from 150 Scandinavian Motifs by Mary Jane Mucklestone) so we ended up compromising. One for him and one for me :) The yarns are a mix of mini’s from havirland and knitty and color. Both of these talented ladies know their Halloween.

For the hat, I decided to go all out on the spooky factor and used the Cake or Death chart from Alterknit. I don’t usually go for morbid things like the Grim Reaper but I thought this would be right up the kid’s alley. And boy was I right! He loves it and says it’s the coolest thing I ever made him. So a win for this knitting mama!

Now I’m off to decorate the gingerbread haunted house. I hope that you all enjoy a fun and safe night. Will you be dressing up as anything?

this and that

Wouldn’t it be lovely to start the new year with an empty wips basket? I am trying to get at least all of my lingering socks finished by then. The above pair was a fun knit. The yarn is Felici in the Spring Blooms colorway and the pattern is a free one on Ravelry called the ifthen socks. It is a simple and lovely pattern for self-striping yarns. I modified the pattern slightly by omitting the eyelets for the back of the leg.



I celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago! It was a wonderful day filled with all of my favorite things: family, food, knitting and yarny presents (of course!)



I had the hubby buy me an extra special present from MustStash yarns. Aren’t the colors gorgeous!?! Can’t wait to dive into these as a special reward for getting the sock wips finished.



We are finally experiencing proper autumn weather with the temps dropping into the 50’s. It’s been lovely getting to bundle up in handknit sweaters and socks again. Not to mention putting all of my favorite cold weather dishes back into the dinner rotation: chili’s, stews, soups and casseroles. It’s been fun choosing a different casserole to cook every Wednesday, with the added bonus of having plenty of leftovers for the following day’s lunch. My favorite recipes are the simple ones that instruct you to dump everything but the kitchen sink into your largest casserole dish, sprinkle in a ton of shredded cheese and bake for 30 minutes. It’s the comfort food of my childhood since my mom learned how to cook “American food” from old church recipe books :)

What are you guys whipping up lately? Any favorite fall dishes or casserole suggestions?

knitting the season

Hi guys! Are you falling for all the Fall knits right now? There are SO MANY sweaters that I want to start and it’s making me kinda paralyzed with indecision. So I decided to play it safe and pick a project that has been on my wishlist for a few years now: Edith, a cozy oversized wooly cardigan by Pam Allen. This is pretty much a product knit since the actual knitting is very simple. Lots of stockinette. In boring beige. Makes for good movie night knitting though (side note: I recently watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and thoroughly enjoyed it! The series is one of my YA faves so I was gearing myself up for disappointment. Happy to say that it exceeded all of my expectations. The actors that played Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky had the best on-screen chemistry. And I loved all the scenes with the sisters together).

Ok, back to the knitting. It’s the start of Soctober and I am looking forward to lots and lots of sock knitting. Finally finished my Mind The Gap socks which the hubby is wishing was his, poor chap. So I ordered more yarn from Trailing Clouds to knit him his very own. I also have two new socks on the needles: a plain ol’ one out of a new-to-me commercial sock yarn from Germany called Comfort Sockenwolle. Plus my first Must Stash Yarn socks in the Pumpkin Spice Latte colorway. Both are fulfilling all of my autumn knit cravings for the moment. Speaking of cravings, I recently raided Trader Joe’s of all of their seasonal Fall goodies.

What are your current Fall cravings? Watched anything good lately? Have a fun knitty week!