Jurassic Halloween

Well, we are all ready for Halloween. Costume is ready (dinosaur, of course) and the pumpkin is carved.

It's the dinosaur from the Jurassic Park logo!

After we carved it we were thrilled with how spooky it ended up looking! Let's just hope that big head can hold itself up through Halloween.

Our little one is a little spooked this year with all things halloween. Everything seems to be freaking her out a little (to the point that smiley faces look creepy to her now) but the promise of candy seems to be giving her the push she needs to go trick-or-treating. Fingers crossed!

Happy Halloween!

Sprinkles and Stripes

Well, just in time for snow (yes snow! in the first week of October) I finished knitting my daughter's new hat and mittens for this year.

I was looking to do something different that I haven't done before. I always think it's great to teach yourself something new on a small project, so my daughter's winter gear seemed perfect. And, oh my, how cute they turned out.

First up, the hat. The pattern is A Most Bespeckled Hat. A lovely, easy, and ridiculously cute pattern for a hat that uses fair isle, or stranded, technique. My first ever, and I loved it. I used Cascade Ecological Wool for the main colour of the hat, and I used Malabrigo Worsted Merino, in Deja Vu, for the "sprinkles". Using malabrigo means that each and every sprinkle was a different colour, and absolutely adorable. I can't even tell you how cute the pompom turned out.

This may be the cutest thing I've ever knit. Ravelry details here.

For her mittens this year, I thought I'd try out stripes. I used the same yarn - the ecological wool for the main colour, and the malabrigo for the stripes. Again, they turned out so cute! As I did last year, I lined these mittens with grey fleece to make them extra cozy and warm. It gets windy here in Calgary, so lined mittens are a great idea. I used techknitter's instructions for lining mittens found here. Just be sure to make the mittens slightly larger to accommodate for the lining. Here is the pattern I used for the mittens.

 Ravelry details here.

A quick dash to the store to get a new winter coat and snow pants, and she was all set for the snowy (and chilly!) morning. Nothing like waiting till the last minute to find out your child has outgrown all their winter wear! We went from shorts and a t-shirt to a snowsuit all in 24 hours. 

I guess this is why stores here start selling snow suits in August.