The Most Wonderful time of the Year (And I don't mean Christmas)

Halloween Happiness

I hope you all had a fun Halloween and Bonfire night! Halloween has always been an event to look forward to in our family, a chance to celebrate all things spooky, enjoy the last fine autumn weather before the trees loose their last of this years leaves, and of course a perfect reason for dressing up!
As it was half term for my mini me Lilly, we had plenty of time to decorate the house with pumpkins and cobwebs (Some had been already kindly provided by the spiders). We also had a wonderful day out at Trentham Gardens.

How gorgeous are these wire dandelion sculptures? They are made by Amy Wight, and really worth a visit. To me dandelions represent an innocent childhood, the passing of time, and these sculptures, which look so delicate yet are created from metal, inspire me to believe you can be tough and dainty at the same time!

Spooky Inspiration Station

Halloween is a brilliant time to be creative. I crocheted an adorable little pumpkin for a friend, unfortunately I was so excited to give it to her that I forgot to take a photograph! But here is the link to the pattern, which is free on Ravelry.
 http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spice--clove-knit-and-crochet-pumpkins

 

I love to dress up. Any excuse and I jump at the chance! This year Lilly had her heart set on being a creepy doll, she already had a shop brought dress and all it needed was a spooky face, so I dusted off the face paints and here's the result.





For my own costume, I decided to make use of the face paints too and went for a sugar skull look, inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, or Dia De Meurtos, which takes place from October 31st. This colourful, traditional festival honours the relatives and loved ones which have passed away. There is more information about it here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead

Here are some projects you could try if you love sugar skulls like me! This garland, by Brenda K. B. Anderson, is a free pattern, it's been on my to do list for a while now, I must get round to hooking it up. I would put this around my dressing table mirror I think! You could also sew the skulls together and make a quirky scarf.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sugar-skull-garland

 

 

I also found this adorable set of amigurumi dolls, I think they are so cute! They are by Little Bitty Knitter Designs. It's worth having at look at all this designer's patterns, they have almost every character you can imagine. These would make perfect gifts.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-amigurumi-halloween-skeleton-dolls

One More Project

A while ago I treated myself to this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amigurumi-Animals-at-Work-Amigurumipatterns-Net/dp/9491643045

 

As sloths are my spirit animal, I chose to make this fella first, meet Sidney the Sloth! He is a bit of a geek and loves nothing more than chilling out on the sofa watching Dr Who. Bow ties are cool.

 

The pattern was easy to follow and fairly quick to make. The fuzzy effect was created using a pet slicker brush. I was sceptical but it did turn out well! I also changed the nose design slightly. I just love him! I usually never keep my work (Lilly snaffles most of it!) but I might have to make an exception with this guy <3