Hallowe’en.

Halloween pumpkin offerings.

Since Halloween fell on a Saturday night I thought I’d invite some friends over to celebrate Samhain. It wasn’t exactly a party, it would have been a bit stressful to invite everyone I knew. I tested the water by inviting a few families to revel in some witchy goings-on. I also didn’t know how many people would fit inside our house as it is quite small. Next time I think a real party might be in order because we could have easily squeezed in a few more people.

A Pinterest Halloween board exploded in the living room. I had lots of fabulous help from friends who did their bit to turn my house into a Halloweeny hovel.

Halloween altar

This was a witch’s table. Complete with a collection of potions and poisons.

Halloween amigurumi collection

My amigurumi Halloween creations came out. My friend and I gathered some good looking twigs from the woods. This twig got stuck in a plant pot. (Thank you too to Sultanabun whose October blog post prompted me to have a go at making a collage).

witchy shelf

A witch’s shelf. Me and another friend had scoured junk shops to find cheap bottles, jugs and vases to turn into something suitable for a witches house.  I sprayed some with black spray paint and left others clear, which I had planned to fill with coloured water. I didn’t get round to that but they still looked good with their spooky labels.

Halloween party decorations

I planned on some fancy wreaths but didn’t quite manage it. I also bought a lifetime supply of black card, which I did manage to cut up to make lots of different silhouettes.

witches desk

My friend also made spooky spell books. This modern witch uses them whilst cross referencing wikipedia.

Halloween harvest table

Autumn harvest. I made people eat homemade chutney and piccalilli. People brought cheese (the empty cake stand did eventually display a massively stinky round of Exmoor blue), crackers, grapes and celery to accompany them. I also made blackberry vodka and it tasted just like blackberries. It worked! We picked the blackberries about six weeks ago and filled a kilner jar with them. Chuck in some sugar and a whole load of vodka and you get an amazing drink!

scary pumpkin face

Scary face, as requested by the kids.

Pumpkin pan. A Halloween satyr.

Pan and his pipe. I had trouble designing the image. I drew it out several times before I finally accepted one that would work. And it never turns out exactly the same anyway because cutting up pumpkin with a scalpel is a whole different kettle of fish.

Headless Horseman Halloween Pumpkin

Headless Huntsman. Unfortunately, I didn’t  finish this guy. I gave up after slicing my finger on a very very sharp blade. I also managed to slice through his arm too so I knew my pumpkin powers were waning. Anyway, I already have an idea for next year’s offerings….

Until next year! Happy Halloween!!

E's pumpkin.

 

Getting ready for Hallowe’en, Amigurumi patterns aplenty!

The Amigurumi Halloween collection.

I originally planned to start working on my Halloween ideas in the summer. That didn’t really happen and I’ve left it until late. Not a surprise. I’ve been rush rushing to get my brain babies out and into the open for a few weeks. I was pretty keen to get some patterns up and running by October but have been somewhat disorganised. Having said that… I’ve only gone and done it!

working on halloween project.

A tray of mess is what I have had sat on my lap every nap time for about three weeks. I have made many variations of witches, bats, cats and pumpkins. I started pretty much from scratch but the idea is based on one I had about four years ago. I remember starting to write the witch pattern down (based on some Christmas angels that weren’t very good). I think it is probably a good thing that I lost what I’d written because I found the initial attempts…

working on a witch

Hidden in a bag under the stairs were some sorry looking heads and hats and unidentifiable things.

Yucky old witch head.

Poor, yucky old witch head. Ugh, it belongs to the cat now. It’s been clawed and beaten but it’s robust enough that the stuffing is still there inside her green head. Anyway, I shall move on to how she looks now…

Halloween amigurumi. Little crochet witch.

She’s in need of a haircut but other than that, I am very pleased with what I’ve come up with. Begone manhands!

little purple amigurumi witch.

Here she is, off to a party. She’s got her fancy hat on and she’s carrying her fabulous pumpkin. She’s got some mates too…

Mini crochet bat. Halloween amigurumi.

amigurumi halloween cat

She also thought she’d try growing pumpkins in her veg patch. She was quite pleased with the results.

mini crochet pumpkins for a cute garland. Free pattern!

Anyway, I took a deep breath and decided to be brave. I thought I would try something new, you know, just give it a go. So…. I have added these to a Ravelry shop. Me and Husband worked together to sort out how to actually open a Ravelry shop after Bake Off last night. For peeps that have never done this before, it was quite confusing but I think it’s worked. The pattern has had some ‘likes’ too! It has joined my Owl pattern on Ravelry but unlike the owl pattern I am charging a small fee for this Halloween Collection. A lot of work has gone into, not only designing the patterns themselves, but also making sure it all looks smart and lovely. This is partly down to the help I’ve had, so thank you to my friends who have all done their bit to support me and give me advice. X

Zeens and Roger now has a Ravelry shop. Woot!

And an Etsy shop! Woot Woot!

I think it’ll take time to learn how to use these selling platforms, I have no clue what I’m doing. None at all! But I will get there eventually.

Wait! Hang on a minute! Just because I can, I’m sharing the pumpkin pattern here! Huzzah! If you like it, think about popping over to the shop to purchase the rest of the pattern for the full set. Thanks very much.

Small crochet pumpkins. Free pattern!

Mini Halloween Pumpkin (Measures about 2.5cm across):
Using orange yarn.
Round 1: 6 into a Magic Ring
Round 2: inc around. [12]
Round 3: (sc in next st, inc in next) around. [18]
Round 4-5: sc around. [18]
Round 6: (sc in next st, dec). [12]
Round 7: dec around [6].
Fo and leave an extra long tail (at least 50cm).
Stitch closed by threading needle through the front loops and pulling tight to close hole. Thread the tail through the top centre of the pumpkin keeping the yarn tight. Wrap the yarn over the outside the pumpkin and thread through the bottom centre of the pumpkin. Repeat this 4 or 5 more times for a good pumpkin effect. Keep the yarn nice and tight. Secure yarn and fo. Thread some green yarn through the centre of the pumpkin and then back through, leaving a loop (be careful not to pull it all back through). Knot the ends together tightly and snip tails short.

Cute little crochet pumpkins. Free crochet pattern!

And there we have it. Now that it’s all done I feel a bit weird. I have lots more ideas for the future but my head is going a bit crazy and it’s working faster than my hands can. I wish someone would pay me to play.

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A mishmash of catch ups.

Putting together the fireplace blanket.

To begin my mishmash here is some progress on the fireplace blanket. I can tell it’s going to be a weighty blanket for its size. Soon it’ll be finished but I am so gonna run out of wool.  More balls have been ordered but not sure yet as to whether it’ll be enough for an impressive border.

new witchy amigurumi

I’m also working on a witchy pattern for Halloween. I’m not 100% happy with her hat yet. And she’s got man hands, which’ll have to get sorted.

A stripey birthday card

My first Sharpie adventure. A simple birthday card.

Say hello to Marceline

We got a cat! This is Marceline the Vampire Queen. She arrived during the last week of the summer holidays. Daughter of Cinnamon, Grandaughter of Nutmeg.

Marcy on the bed.

She’s a lovely girl who likes shades of red.

Marceline in the garden

She has been enjoying some late summer sunshine…

Marcy exploring her new garden

And getting to know the garden. She thinks leeks are tasty.

messy veg patch. end of season.

It’s the end of the season for sure. This is the point where I stop trying to maintain the garden and let it go nuts. I’ve got to be good and go out there for a tidy up. Nemotodes arrived in the post last week so I know I’ve got to get a move on. Hopefully these parasitic wormy friends will sort out my vine weevil problem. The idea is that they’ll feast upon the grub guts like there’s no tomorrow.

salvia patens. cambridge blue.

Salvia Patens. Time to gather their seeds so I can grow more. It’s a bit wet out there right now though.

Autumn berries.

Hawthorn and Holly. I used to get excited about seeing all this red because I thought I could nick it at Christmas to decorate my house Pagan style.  I now know that it’ll all be gone by then. The birds will scoff them all.

Pink cosmos and bee

Pink Cosmos. I’m impressed that I’ve still got flowers in the garden at all. There is still quite a lot of colour out there. Still, it’s not really Autumn yet.

calendula in the front garden.

These Calendula are in the front garden. I don’t really look after the front the way I do the back garden. It gets straggly and neglected.

calendula and bee

It doesn’t seem to matter to the bees and their friends. They still get their buzz on.

Any way, I should go now to continue with the crochet. I’ve got a long list of things to finish and more yet to start. Also, I’m gonna make a pie for tomorrow’s tea. Bake off is making me do it.