A Super Garden Gnome with Glow In the Dark Teeth

Well, the countdown to Halloween is here. Only a few days left to make sure that everything is ready to go. I have gone over my checklist and made sure I have all that I need. I have even knit and felted a gnome hat. True to his character, my youngest has been building onto his ensemble so that he will indeed, be the strangest child on the streets this Friday night. I originally suggested that he be a garden gnome for Halloween. He quickly embraced the idea and began to notice and collect gnomes where ever he could. Then he decided that he must have a cape, so he became Super Garden Gnome. Then last week he came home with glow in the dark vampire teeth, and added that to the costume. This weekend we picked up some silly glasses. I am almost scared to see what he'll come up with next. I have a sneaking suspicion it may have something to do with his new long johns, which he insisted he needed after seeing his dad wearing some on Saturday. I can just picture it now, a long john wearing super caped garden gnome with harry potter glasses and glow in the dark teeth, oh and did I forget the camouflage belt? He is so different than my other two children, who are content to go as a football player and snow princess. Usually I can't even get them to wear a whole costume.

As for knitted projects, I've gotten a few things done.
An Alpaca hat, which I made for a friend's birthday and then stealthily kept for myself. I'll eventually get over the guilt.

A pair of Football mitts out of some stash I had lying around. No, not Stash the kitty although he did come out for the photo.

I also finished my Maine sweater a few weeks ago and an ear flap hat for Eric. I'll get pics soon.

I am currently working on a sweater for my son's 10th birthday, coming up in a week and a half. I am loving fair isle right now and will try to throw some into the sweater. I bought the yarn and colors before I had a plan and fair isle seems like a nice way to bring the colors into play in a creative way.

Time Out

It seems fitting that the weather is changing and the landscape is beginning to take on the look of fall. I have done a lot of my own changing while I adjust to getting to know a new me and accepting that I have a chronic illness. It didn't just happen, in fact for months I have avoided people like the plague and for years I have dealt with a variety of symptoms that come and go. It's only now that I can say with a certain level of acceptance that I am living with this. I like routine and knowing what to expect but I also do well with small amounts of change and usually get excited about what I might learn. That is the attitude I am attempting to garner here as I face an uncertain future and adjustment to my long term goals. I am also waiting for a name for my illness though I strongly suspect I know what lurks here. With luck, it won't be much longer. I haven't posted in a while because I have searched for the proper opening to what is going on with me. In some posts I left it out but that didn't seem like the thing to keep doing. It is not my intention to solicit sympathy just to offer an excuse for a somewhat noticeable change in my behavior that is difficult to explain in regular conversation.

In the meantime, I do not have a lot to show in the way of knitting but there are a few things I've been working on. I am rediscovering my passion for reading which had taken a backseat to knitting the past couple of years. I go back and forth between the two past times now and even though this is hard for me to believe, I have gone an entire day or two (or more, I've lost count) in the past few weeks without knitting. I also mixed in a trip to Disney World with the family a couple weeks ago. My plan was to make a bunch of baby hats for charity but I was so busy I managed to make half of one the entire week!

I've made two pairs of mittens in Noro for The Littles (my two younger children), but have already lost one of the second pair!

Alpaca Mitts for me,

A catnip light saber for my new kitty, Stash (I was originally thinking of naming him Darth). He doesn't quite like it yet, instead he fears the force...

and finally started working on my gray sweater again that was started in July. I am pinching myself because I wrote the pattern but cannot find it anywhere. I convinced myself last night that the sweater can still be finished (just the sleeves are left) and I have enough information to get by. As for my hope of sharing it with others, nada. It'll probably turn up in my son's bedroom around next April or so, along with the other mitten.

I am making myself finish the sweater. Once that is done I can move on to new projects. I have plans to knit a felted hat for my son's Halloween costume, a sweater for my oldest and then start Christmas presents. It doesn't seem like I am starting as early as I had planned this year. Hmmmm.