October is Orange

I just realized that there has been orange in at least one photo in every post this month (not that there have been that many posts, but still) and that it continues in today's post. Lots of orange.

The month is winding down, and that means that I needed to get a bunch of projects done for the Rav thing. So I did. Yay. In time to photograph with the kiddos yesterday.

It was leaf day, so they were in the neighborhood. First up - I made a pumpkin hat for Aubrey. It's adorable, too big, but adorable.
She'll be able to wear it for years - which is a small consolation. Another consolation - her brothers both enjoyed wearing it, especially Mason.
And yes, that last one is Elliott whipping the hat around, which explains my facial expression. Next up, I finished the Multnomah you saw last time. After I took it off the blocking pins, I didn't take it off all day. I love it that much, and it's like wearing nothing around your neck, it's so soft and light.
Color is perfect for fall as well. Also perfect for fall? Owls. I whipped up a few for the nephews, as a Halloween present (and because Aubrey was getting presents - Aunt Annie needs to be fair). They turned out so cute! I really was tempted not to give them away.
But I did. And it was worth it. Mason had fully accepted his owl into the family in about 2 minutes:
Luckily, Elliott's owl survived it's emergency craniotomy performed with a jig saw (not sure he has a future as a neurosurgeon, but you never know).
All in all, I think they liked them.
I also finished Peggy's birthday present (finally). Still cringing a bit about the cutting of a knitted item, even if it was felted. Guess that means I'm not ready for steeks yet.
And Aubrey got to wear her little shoes home. She could not be bothered to pose for the camera.
Last night I finished up the last of the October projects, the Fire yarn.
Ended up with about 335 yds of worsted weight yarn. And am very happy with it. So not what I would normally choose, but that goes to show you it's good to step outside the comfort zone every now and then.

In other news, last football game of the season is tomorrow. The reports about maybe being possibly eligible for playoffs with a win ended up being false. Volleyball continues, they don't play again until next Wednesday (maybe I'll make it to that game, the girls are a bit miffed that I didn't get to a game in this round). Girls soccer lost a heart breaker on Monday - the refs were atrocious. you know it's bad when trainer Annie starts yelling at the refs! Boys soccer won an amazing game on Tuesday. With 1:25 left in the second overtime (each OT is 15 min) the winning goal was scored. Talk about drama. They play again tomorrow night, and it looks like I'll be going, at the request of the team.

So that's my big plans for Halloween - hope you all have a happy and haunted one!

I thought it was all supposed to be winding down...

Last week of October. Usually by this point life is settling down. Fall is usually so crazy busy for me and I'm usually kind of grateful for this time of year to roll around. Somehow, this year, it's not happening, and I'm not really upset. Weird.

Last weekend, that's where we'll start. Friday night was football, we lost, in the rain, far away, again. Have you picked up on the pattern this season yet? But that meant Saturday was free for apple picking. The Perry fam picked me up, in the rain, and we headed out to Patterson's. Got some yummy donuts, and then hit the play ground.
Didn't stay long, as it was raining, and we still had to go to the other farm to get the apples. But the boys were surprisingly photogenic. So we climbed back into the truck, doled out the donuts (I highly recommend the pumpkin - so good) and headed to apple farm.
It was hard to convince Mason not to pick up all the apples from the ground, but we succeeded. The boys enjoyed picking the apples, and even Miss Aubrey appeared to enjoy her bundled-up self.

Then we headed back to pick out a pumpkin. Or two. Elliott liked this one, for a minute, and then moved on.
I was a little too busy pulling the pumpkin wagon to actually snap a pic of the chosen pumpkins, but they were good ones. It was cold and wet, and not everyone stayed happy the whole outing, but it was fun. Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate and we can do the hayride and what not.

The rest of Saturday was spent watching football, ND was that close! Couldn't knit during the game, I was way too stressed. Afterwards, I started spinning the Fire fiber. Friday night, I finished it.
I love it so much. More than I thought I would. Just goes to show you shouldn't judge a roving, it's too hard to know what the yarn will look like. Plying will happen this week.

Sunday was Browns-Steelers. I started a new project, the Multnomah shawl out of some Malabrigo Sock. OMG. So soft. Would be wasted on the feet. Great pattern, quick and easy. So quick that Thursday night it looked like this:
Done, almost. See here's the problem:
See that, I ran out of yarn about 20 stitches away from being completely bound off! Crazy. So, I bit the bullet and ripped back to before the patterned bit.
I had increased to a number of stitches based on someones note on Ravelry, and ended up with 6 extra stitches on the first pattern row (which is 2 rows of increases). So in ripping back the 2 increase rows, I eliminated the extra stitches and gave myself enough yarn to finish. Which I did, today.
Yay! I'll block it tonight. Close up on the feather and fan pattern:
Monday night, I went to Ellie's and felted the slippers for Peggy. I'm going to put the finishing touches on them today, I hope.
Much better size now. I wore them around the house the other night to get them fitted to shape of feet, I'll think they came out pretty great, not sure I want to give them away....

This weekend was a bit crazy. Saturday was a marathon. Football game at 1pm (we won, against a Div. 1 team, which, in all kinds of crazy, means that if we beat the Div. 3 team we play this weekend, we're still somehow possibly going to the playoffs), boys soccer had a game at Newbury and had to be on the bus by 4:30 (game time was 6) I was planning on going, had thought to take my time, get some dinner, and leave when I needed to in order to get back to the rink for the hockey game at 8:30pm. Yeah, about that, as I was pulling out of the school's driveway, I got a panicked phone call from one of the soccer players because the ref was insisting on seeing the MD's note saying he was cleared to play with the brace on his wrist (just so you don't think I'm negligent, he's played with the brace on for the past month and no ref has required the note until now).

So I quickly turned around and went back to the office to retrieve said note, ran to main office to make copy of the note (in football the ref's have to keep a copy of the note, so I was being prepared) and got in the car and headed out. No dinner. Got to the game just before it started, only to realize that they did not have a trainer on duty. So I stayed for the whole game (only had to take care of the other team, funny how that works). But we won! Which means that they play again tomorrow, at home. Fingers crossed that it doesn't rain too much.

So after the game ended, I high-tailed it out of the stadium and back to my car, worried that I was going to be late for the hockey game. But the little kid game was still being played when I got there. I love it when the real games are late because the little kids go over, it was a theme this weekend, because that's how it went on Sunday too. Can you believe that it's hockey season already?! Neither can I. After the game on Sunday, I headed out west to hang out with Liz, and stayed out there until Ellie's plane arrived. It was a long weekend.

So, for this week, I've got girls soccer and volleyball in the playoffs today, the boys game tomorrow and the football game on Saturday. Those are guaranteed, any wins today or tomorrow adds something to the schedule, which was supposed to be empty. Huh.

Mid Month Report

How is it the middle of October already? And why does it feel more like the middle of November weather-wise?

Last week was rainy and chilly, this week it's been rainy and cold. There's a difference. How can you tell the difference? This week, the fire got turned on. That's the difference. Last Friday was was chilly and rainy, so what better to do than go apple picking?
Miss Kaylee is an excellent apple picker - I really wish I had taken video so that you could hear her, "I can twist and pull! I did it! I put it in your bag Aunt Annie!"
She also picked a lovely pumpkin. Can you tell that she's a bit of a ham? Perfectly posing herself for the camera.

Last Saturday was homecoming, and... first football win! Boys soccer also won that morning, as well. Football plays again tonight - in Ashtabula. Might be a bit rough. My best two linemen are injured. One isn't playing at all, and the other one is going to try - he's promised to take himself out if his elbow (which requires micro-fracture surgery, that he's putting off until after basketball season) hurts too much. Which we all know won't happen, so if he reverts to his, I'm-not-moving-my-arm-while-playing pose, I'll sit him. All 6'7" of him. Good times. Did I mention that there's a chance for rain/snow mix tonight? Can't wait!

But having the game tonight means that I've got tomorrow to myself for knitting and college football! Good games tomorrow - Texas/Oklahoma and then the big one, ND/USC. Fingers crossed. Before football though, I'm supposed to go apple picking again, with my nephews - keep your fingers crossed that the weather permits the outing. I'm hoping to up the adorable pictures with some in the pumpkin patch...

Speaking of pumpkins, I finished the first Kleine Kurbisse sock.
Here's the stitch pattern unstretched - doesn't look like much right?
But when you stretch it out, you really see the pumpkins. I love it.
I also finished up a pair of slippers for Aubrey - why is it that anything knit in baby sizes is automatically cuter?
They are to match the slippers I'm making for Peggy (her birthday present, as requested) which are currently in progress:
I've started the second one, hoping to go to Ellie's sometime this weekend or maybe Monday to felt them so I can finish them.
That picture was just for scale, the mama slippers are seriously ginormous. I got an order in from Webs yesterday, which means that after the second slipper is done, I can start another project, which is (hopefully) going to be awesome. In my head it is awesome, which sometimes worries me, other people tend to give me the "crazy look" when I think a project is this awesome.
Very excited about that pattern booklet too, it's awesome as well. Especially for this sweater - can't wait to make one. That photo, btw, gives no hint to the awesome project. You'll have to wait on that one.

The last project I though was particularly awesome - still to be featured on the blog, it hasn't been gifted yet - earned me a prize on the Harry Potter Rav group, which arrived in the mail yesterday (it was a good mail day!)
Stitch markers that are inspired by Professor Trelawney (crazy Divination teacher from the books) and are themed on tea leaf readings. Very cool.

I've been slowly adding to my Tapestry Cowl this week. It's such a time suck, just to get the 3 rounds a day. It doesn't help that I'm easily distracted while knitting it. Need to not watch anything interesting on tv while knitting on it.
But it's really pretty, and so soft, I'll be happy to wear it when it's done. I need to get going on some spinning this weekend as well.
Pretty Fire fiber. Hoping for a 2-ply DK to worsted weight yarn out of this. We'll see how it goes. This is the order that the fiber will be spun, attempting to spin the 2 halves in the same order, so there's another four bits that look just like this.
Going to be really cool, and very season appropriate. Good for football watching - because Sunday is Browns/Steelers, followed by Halloween card crafting with Meagan - it's going to be a good weekend! Hope everyone else has a good one too - especially the Jersey folks, Mom is visiting this weekend for Miss Sarah's birthday party! So jealous!