This October is gonna be great! The leaves are changing, the baseball playoffs are beginning (which means the Sox still have a chance to win it all!), I'll be taking a fun quilt class, there's Rhinebeck, and of course, Halloween.

To celebrate the start of this month packed full o' fun, I cut out the funnest pieces of B's batman costume. That's the wings (awesome!), the mask, the boot covers and the fab belt with bat applique. This evening I get to cut out shark teeth and fins! October rules.

shaaaark!

After a whole night of cutting, I've got all the black pieces of the Halloween costumes cut out. (That was five yards of black fabric!) That means B's batman jumpsuit is all cut out, along with the backside of S's shark (including the fun fin!). It's only half the shark, but man, can you ever tell what it's supposed to be. Tonight it's shark belly, teeth and mouth.

Duh - nuh, dun - nuh, duh - nuh....

The boys signed up for a little after-school baking class on Mondays. I thought they'd go for the outdoor after-school gym class, but baking is what they wanted to do. Okay. I casually checked the sign-up sheet Saturday night to see when and where the class was exactly and it says, "bring an apron!". Aaaaack! Where do I find a non-frilly boy apron in one day? (I, myself, don't really bake and so I have no idea where to find anything apron-y or bake-y anyway.) Guess I'll have to make one. Er, two.

I knew I had some cool "boy" fabric from Ikea ($7 for several meters), but could I whip up two aprons - with no pattern! - by Monday? I had to pre-wash the fabric Saturday night after the boys went to bed. Then I snuck into wee one's room to borrow a girly apron her aunt gave her when we were in Germany to use as a pattern model. I cut out pieces Saturday night and put off all the sewing until Sunday. No problem, except Sunday is hubby and my usual play day, where each of us gets to go out for a few hours and do our own thing (I go to knitsmiths of course), so there was actually very little sewing time during the day. And then at night there was the Red Sox game!

Awww, no biggie, the Sox are playing at home; the game starts at a reasonable time; it'll be over by 10:30; there'll be time to sew after. Nuh-uh. That game lasted forever. I was up until 1:00am, watching the game and running upstairs to sew between innings! The Sox ended up losing, but I think I came out a champ.

The aprons came out totally looking like aprons. I really wasn't sure of that outcome until pretty close to the end. All the early sewing was on fiddly straps and stuff, so it was a while before I had anything apron-y at all. After I cut the armhole curves, I had two pieces left over that, when I held them together, looked just like a pocket and so I had to add the pockets.

S told me his favorite part is how the stripes on the pocket line up with a couple of stripes on the apron. Thank you very much. I'm quite proud of that myself. (I was inspired by Amy Swenson's Rosedale sweater.) My own favorite part is the strap around the back. The boys still can't tie their shoes, so I wasn't sure about the practicality of putting ties in the back to close the apron. Then I just happened to find this apron on a wonderful sewing blog that had a velcro closure on the side to secure the apron. Brilliant! And I just LOVE how the stripes look on the boys' strap.

not too girly (well, once he puts some pants on!)

It was a little hectic for a day and a half there, but all's well that ends well. Well, that game didn't end so well. But the aprons came out very well and the boys are well prepared for baking class. I can't wait to see what they'll smear and spill on them first.

At wee one's baby shower, I got the book Fancy Nancy, which seemed shockingly pink and fancy to me. Are girls really like this? I now know that they are. At least mine is. My girl loves shoes! Only a year and a half and I've seen her try to try on practically every kind of shoe from a way too big rain boot to a tiny Polly Pocket slipper! But her faves are always the fancy ones.

These were her summer shoes:

"Supergirl" crocs (yes, they are sparkly)

And now she's got hip boots for fall:

Pediped Giselle boots

For inside, she's got ballet slippers that my knitbuddy Lisa knit for her and gave me at the baby shower.

Zoe Mellor's stripy shoes from 50 Baby Bootees to Knit

And next, I've got to get her some of these fabulously fancy slippers from knitbud Johanna's soft-soled baby shoe store:

disco slippers!

Ooooh, she's gonna love 'em!

I've gone just about as far as I can on my bell-sleeved Rebecca sweater. All the pieces are finished up to the yoke, I've joined everything together and have started the raglan decreases. And the orange yarn is just about gone! More is already on its way from my mother-in-law in Germany, but I have no idea exactly when it will arrive. Go, go, yarn!! Luckily, I've still got a few nights' work seaming up the sides and sleeves and taking care of the tangled mass of ends hiding under all those pieces. Luckily?

The Shedir hat is just so pretty. And it's even prettier on a baby.

A big thanks to Jo for posting her mods to make a baby-sized shedir! My girl is actually a toddler now (a toddler?! can you believe it?!), so I upped Jo's numbers a bit to find a size between the baby shedir and the adult shedir. I cast on 112 stitches, which is seven pattern repeats, and worked 4 repeats of the main cable pattern. Like Jo, I skipped most of the plain knitting rounds between decrease rounds at the top. The finished hat doesn't quite cover wee one's ears fully (that calmer loves to shrink up), so I probably could have kept those rows in after all. I'd estimate it took about three-quarters of a ball of calmer (which is good, because I didn't have a full ball of this color to start with).

Finishing this one was a bit of a struggle for me, since I kept messing up those rows where the starting marker moves. I simply don't have the head for knitting anymore like I used to. I'm too tired at the end of the day to do semi-complicated knitting without screwing something up. But I hung in there. For this...

It's about time for me to get cracking on those Halloween costumes! This weekend, I started with the jumpsuit part of B's batman-style costume. And yesterday, we were ready for the first fitting.

see my tiny sewing corner?

He's excited about it, although he's discovered that fittings aren't quite as cool as he thought they'd be. I think he'll change his tune when I sew up the next part: the sleeves with those giant bat wings.

I, however, am thrilled that the thing fits. I've never made a jumpsuit before and got wee bit worried about how to adjust things if it was too short in the torso. Luckily, there did end up being enough room for all his little boy parts, if you know what I mean.

I keep expecting Michael Kors to burst in and say:
"That crotch is insane!"

It's a little wrinkly here and there and the the two sides of the zipper are about a millimeter off up at the top, but for a Halloween costume that'll get one wear - and in the dark! - it rocks! Seriously, I'm convinced this is the way to learn to sew: just make Halloween costumes for a few years. There's lots of practice of all kinds of fiddly stuff, and none of it has to be perfect. Even if it's a little off or a little wonky, it's still a batman (or a Spongebob or a pumpkin)!

More sewing, but not Halloween sewing.

I spotted this fun Alexander Henry "Turtle Bay" fabric at my newest favorite local quilt shop and, knowing how good my girl looks in orange, decided I had to make her a little turtle top. I've been wanting to make her a peasant top with some shirring, so I ordered the cutie-patootie Olivia Top pattern from Pink Fig. The Pink Fig patterns are so hip and adorable but still nice and uncomplicated - right up my alley.

First, let me say, I LOVE how it came out. The pattern pieces are simple. The instructions have big photographs of what you're doing and the shirring wasn't hard at all.

Now, I did find a few problems with the pattern, namely, that the seam allowance wasn't given anywhere in the pattern or on the pattern pieces and that there was no cutting layout. I guessed at the seam allowances (they tend to vary for clothes from 3/8" to 5/8") and the thing fits, so no big whoop, but it was nerve-wracking not knowing for sure. This morning I discovered that the Pink Fig website has corrections for the pattern, including the 3/8" seam allowance (darn, I split the difference and sewed 1/2") and the fact that some of the grainlines were also off in the pattern pieces (another oops that I spotted, but was able to ignore). I still feel like a cutting layout would be helpful, or at least a note about cutting, as the sleeves need to be cut on the fabric when folded. (Ever knit raglan sleeves where the front raglan decrease line is a little shorter than the back? Rowan does this a lot. Well, you know you can't just make two of the same sleeve, you've gotta "reverse the shapings" for the second sleeve. You do that on fabric by cutting one sleeve reversed with the wrong side of the pattern or on the wrong side of the fabric.)

But, I got through these omissions just fine and am so thrilled with the result that I've already started a Lily Dress (another Pink Fig pattern) for wee one.

Hubby came in while I was working on wee one's new little outfits and asked, "oh, is this her Halloween costume." Ugh.

Yesterday, while I was snapping pics of her in her new turtle top, wee one was, as usual, carrying her dolly around. At one point, she even insisted that I take a picture of dolly. She laid her down on the floor where I always lay out my knitting for pictures and then stood over by me behind the camera and pointed at her. How could I say no?

Little did wee one know that her new dolly is almost done. When she took her nap, I pulled out dolly number 2 for a quick comparison photo.

Wowza. Old dolly totally looked just like that. Once. Well, here's hoping that new dolly, when she's all done, will become just as loved and just as dirty as old dolly.

(Wait, wasn't the point of this whole thing to get the dolly clean?)

(his shirt says "Red Sox" in Japanese - Dice-K is pitching tonight!)

He loves the bat wings! Now to sew them into the jumpsuit. And get started on that shark...

Yes, I'm a maverick. I didn't spend the weekend at Rhinebeck, like the rest of my party. Instead, I spent the weekend palling around with a known sewist.

I thought I was going to go to Rhinebeck. For real. Hubby had been making plans for how to entertain the kiddos for the day and a half I would be gone. It was all set. Then Rhinebeck snuck up on me. Suddenly it was "this coming Saturday" and I was in the middle of sewing Halloween costumes and fall outfits for wee one. Out of nowhere this image popped into my head: the possibility of spending my free weekend at home, sewing. My knitting and sewing buddy, Rhinebeck ride, and now fellow maverick, Johanna, had the exact same idea. So we did it. Our husbands took the kids out and away and we sewed and sewed and sewed and ate and sewed and sewed some more. It was awesome! I felt like a kid again, with no place to be and no responsibilities. I felt like Ron Livingston in Office Space when he decides not to care about work anymore. I felt like the maverick John McCain imagines himself to be. I'm not saying that having a family, being a knitter, or going to Rhinebeck are burdens I needed to be liberated from. It's just that it was so ridiculously fun to throw all my plans aside and do something totally different.

So here's what I sewed:

click for the big picture!

I finished the quilt top of my 2007 block of the month quilt. Twelve blocks, sashing and a pretty, pretty Kaffe Fassett border.

click for the big picture!

And I pieced together the big blocks for the sock monkey quilt. Wee one can tell that it'll be all hers once I get the border and backing fabric. For now, she'll have to be content with her new ruffly corduroy pants.

look they're the same color as Elmo!

These are from another Pink Fig pattern, the Bella Pants. They were so fun to make and I totally adore them! Wee one likes to shuffle around in them, watching the ruffles flop around and listening to them swish up against each other.

I also made progress on wee one's black dress and the boys' Halloween costumes. I'll show you more of those this week.

So I may have been a maverick this weekend, but I'm not switching parties just yet. I missed all of you whom I usually see at Rhinebeck! I've shown you what I did this weekend. Now you tell me a little about what you did and what I missed!

He loves the teeth! Tonight, I sew in the shark fin and then he can really start looking cute, um, I mean scary.

Wee one's new little black dress! She practically looks like a model walking down the runway, doesn't she? In reality, it's nearly impossible to photograph her in anything as she's constantly in motion, coming after the camera or playing with toys. When she bent down to play with her dolly and blankie, I was able to get this next pic that shows my favorite thing about this dress. I just love how that ruffle looks when she's in her standard baby-squat. Usually, it's a rather un-ladylike pose, but it's positively delightful in this dress!

The pattern is Pink Fig's "Lily Top". I had some issues with the Olivia Top pattern I made from the same designer and this one had the same issues (it's essentially the same pattern but with a ruffle and an optional sash, so be sure to check the corrections page on her website), but it also has the same awesome style and simplicity, so it was another big success. And with the added the shirring at the chest, it has that perfect girly shape.

It's too fabulous!

Wee one had a kiddie Halloween party to go to this weekend, so I put her brothers' costumes aside for a night and put hers together for its debut.

My big, fluffy pumpkin girl! After seeing a similar costume for sale on etsy.com, I was inspired to make her a pumpkin tutu. I practiced by making her a little pink play tutu last month. Since she seemed to enjoy that one, I went ahead and cut longer tulle strips in pumpkin-y colors for the real deal. I tied on all the long orange pieces, added a few short green bits at the front for the stem and she wore it like a genuine Halloween fairy! I was worried that the tickly tulle or the sheer girth of the costume might bother her, but after walking around with her arms straight out at her sides for about three minutes, she got over it and had no problem walking and crawling and climbing around in it.

Here she is showing us the back with the long green "stem" that ties into a bow at the neck. I was trying to snap some pictures and she kept turning around and squatting down to get herself some more popcorn from our plate on the floor. Just showing off her costume at the best angle, I'm sure! She spent the rest of the party climbing up onto chairs and sliding down out of them on her slippery tulle bottom. Silly girl!

Finally, my Lana Grossa yarn has arrived from Germany so I can finish knitting my Rebecca sweater! Oma tossed in some candy and magazines for the boys (along with some socks we apparently forgot there), which, sadly, are all getting a lot more love than the yarn right now. It took almost a month for the box to arrive, which means that I'm now in Halloween costume sewing crunch and can't spare a minute to knit. I've got batman boots to sew, shark fins to attach and lots of other fiddly bits all to finish up before Friday.

So knitting will resume. Next week. (Stay tuned this week for Halloween updates every day! The kids are loving it!)

B's bat hood is totally cool! I'm so proud of myself for making it, with its inner lining, the pointed little pleated ears, and the elastic in the back to get the fit just right.

There's some darn good sewing in there. When I showed it to B, he said, "Cool. But I don't have to wear the hood the whole time." Uh, you mean the like "whole" forty-five minutes of trick-or-treating? Oh yes you do, buddy! Mommy spent twice that much time making you this kick-ass bat hood and you will be wearing it. Seriously though, it really does top off the entire look to have the sleek black bat head and ears thing going on. And once B tried it on and looked at himself in the mirror, he was convinced too. He liked it so much, he couldn't resist that little grin when I took his picture. Being a bat is cool.

Shark fin. Ooooh, scary!

Shark jaws. Yikes, terrifying!

Shark eye (not yet sewn on). Uh, almost creepy.

Shark pillow (not yet stuffed). Um, what?

The pillow is the last thing left for me to make for S's shark costume. It will sit inside the costume on top of S's head to keep the top of the costume, the shark nose, nice and pointy and keep the mouth opening right in front of S's face so he can see. I've been resizing this pattern as I go, since the only version of the now out-of-print pattern that I could get online was the adult size. It's been tricky getting everything in the right spot. With the original sizing, the fin would have been coming out of his butt! To get it all right, I've resewn the body about four times, each time bringing things up and in. We've finally got it to where it'll work with the mouth in front of his face, the fin on his back, and the sleeves near his arms, but it all depends on that pillow keeping the nose up. No pressure.

For now, the costumes await their final touches and trimmings: a batwing here, a shark mouth there, and a whole lot of tulle. Tomorrow, they come to life!

... but , the boys don't look anything like a shark and a batman.

Oh yeah, that's because they're not. Not yet. This was how they dressed for school today. The boys' school doesn't officially allow kids to wear Halloween costumes to school. (I'm guessing they're probably worried that 150 big kids in "Scream" masks might scare the pre-schoolers.) The teachers, however, have been real creative in coming up with backdoor ways for the kids to dress up. In kindergarten, they made Halloween "black and orange dress-up day". Last year, they organized a trip for the first graders to visit a local senior center in their costumes - what's cuter than sixty six year-olds in Halloween costumes?! And this year, the second grade teachers invited kids to dress up as their favorite book character.

So, take another look. Who are they?

 
you may have to be or have a second grade boy to get the second one!

Here's a clue:

It's Asterix and Fluffy!

Hubby reads the Asterix and Obelix cartoons to the boys in German and they love them, so when I started looking around at their books to find a costume idea, S jumped at the chance to be Asterix. And we already had the perfect hat: it's wee one's viking baby hat from last Halloween minus the blonde braids! If you know some of the Asterix stories, you'll appreciate the fact that one of the other kids in his class actually came dressed as Julius Caesar! S has his magic potion hanging from his belt and is ready for him.

B insisted that he had to be Fluffy. Insisted. I suggested maybe he'd like to be Obelix - he's got some blue and white striped pajama pants that would be perfect. Or maybe Stink - all he needed was stinky sneakers and some gel to make his hair spiky. But no. Fluffy is "soooo funny" he said; he had to be Fluffy. My make-shift Fluffy costume - with an old fuzzy Banana Republic sweater - isn't perfect, he told me, but it's "fine". (I think he looks adorable!) Fluffy's hat is a hat I knit for myself ages ago. I sewed up some little pink ears, following strict design instructions from B, and stitched them on the sides. I think it's pretty cute. It's certainly fluffy. And B can do the funny, no problem.

So those are the first costumes of the day. Half way there! Pics of the boys' "real" costumes to come tomorrow. Here's hoping everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!