You have probably been able to tell… I’m in a bit of a knitting funk. It took me FOREVER to finish those few baby things. And while I should be getting back to Dad’s Christmas sweater, I just wasn’t feeling it.
I thought maybe starting something new would kick start my knitting mojo, so I started something I’ve wanted to make FOREVER.
A knitted pumpkin!
The pattern is Hello Gourdgeous, and it might have actually worked to kick-start my mojo… had I not decided to knit the darn thing in cotton! While it’s going to be nice when finished, I hate knitting with cotton. I started this think early last week… it really should be done by now… but…
Still… I’ll keep stitching on it when I can. My mojo will return eventually. It always does.
This week’s walkabout is a tiny bit of a cheat post…
It’s not what I see when out walking, but what the neighbours are seeing when they walk by MY house right now.
The weather this weekend was quite lovely, so I took advantage of the weather and got my house ready for Hallowe’en. You may recall that last year, I started a small collection of skeletons. Well this year I’ve added to it, and I’ve decided what my overall theme will be…
So now I can welcome you to my Garden of Bones!!!!!
It will grow each year as I continue to add more boney characters, but for now it’s all focused around the main walkway.
The driveway garden is filled with skellies of all sorts.
As you can see, the creatures are both real and mythical, as well as prehistoric… and some are things that don’t really have skeletons, but have been “skeletonized” none-the-less.
I particularly love this mermaid skeleton I was able to get this year.
On the other side of the walkway….
I got these fun, “ground-breaker” skeletons… basically just arms, legs and a head on spikes you can pose so they look like they come out of the ground.
On one side of the stairs, I’ve got a buzzard and armadillo (it just seemed like these two needed to stick together)…
and on the other, a pair of skeleton hands reach up from the beyond…
And when you finally get to the porch…
You’re greeted by this big guy! I’m so happy to had added a full-sized skeleton this year, and he won’t be the last one. I’m hoping to snap up a couple more after Hallowe’en on sale!
But he’s not all!
There’s also some bats flying about, an a couple of skull lanterns.
But it’s not all skeletons….
Every garden needs a couple garden gnomes… and if they are zombified, so much the better!
An naturally I need a black cat…
Or two…
Dad gave me the arched kitty last year, and I’ve had the sign since we were at the townhouse. I got it from the Dollar store, and it’s held up really well over the years.
I have some lights to put up still, but Dave and I are doing a Trunk or Treat event with the Bonneville,a couple days before Hallowe’en, and we are going to use them on the car.
I will also wait to put out my pumpkins – they are styrofoam, and we get a lot of wind, so they just blow around here.
Still, I’m thrilled with my spooky little corner…. and I can’t wait until candy night!
I’m happy to say, that the background of the sewing kitty has not been a slog at all.
Burton and I worked on it every evening this weekend, and we were able to finish the whole bottom of the piece.
We were even able to get a start on the background around the machine head. One more weekend and I think this one might just be done and ready to frame!
I woke up this morning, and some how, I’ve spent 20 years with this amazing guy.
It certainly doesn’t feel like a whole two decades, but apparently it is.
You’d think for 20 years, we’d celebrate by doing something big. But we’ve been on the go so much lately, we’re actually looking forward to a nice quiet night at home. Not to mention, big really isn’t in the budget.
That’s not to say we aren’t marking the occasion. I’ve ordered a model for Dave to build (HMS Hood), and he got me a couple candles from my favourite candle place. Including this adorably devilish one…
Maybe we’ll go big for 25…. but I’m happy just to wake up each morning with Dave by my side.
Earlier this week, I told Dave we were getting up bright and early the next day to head to Chatham, a town about an hour to the southwest of us. I’d been playing on Facebook Marketplace again, and found a lady down there with a pile of Christmas Blow-Molds. You may remember from earlier this year, that I’d gotten a couple for Dad, to add to his display.
We headed out in Dory, had a lovely drive, and a lovely exchange with the lady. Apparently the blow-molds had belonged to an elderly neighbour couple. The husband used to put on a big display every year, but sadly, passed away this summer. The wife was cleaning out the house, and since she wasn’t able to assemble the display, put all the blow molds on the curb for the garbage. Thankfully, this good neighbour knew what they were worth, and told the wife she would sell them for her.
She had quite a few, and by the time we got there, several had already been sold. But I still managed to score a good haul.
But the one I’m really excited about…
Santa on his sleigh! The sleigh has one blade that needs to be reattached, but Dave’s confident he can figure out something to fix it. Apparently, it had a couple reindeer at one time, but the ones that belonged to this are long gone.
Still, I know Dad is going to be thrilled. They are his birthday present, but I’m probably going to give them to him a little early. His birthday is only a week before Christmas, so if I give them to him at the start of December, he’ll be able to include them in this year’s display.
Afterwards, Dave decided he wanted to do some thrifting… making me stop at every thrift store we came across in the area… and Chatham has a lot of thrift stores. Surprisingly, we didn’t end up buying anything (and I didn’t take any pictures). But we finished up with lunch at a great little diner in a town called Thamesville on the way home.
Dave had a double-decker bacon cheeseburger with onion rings, and I stuck with my tried and true chicken fingers.
While the nights are chilly, the day still warm up nicely. So there’s still quite a bit blooming in the garden.
But the garden continues to throw up surprises…
The Queen Elizabeth rose put up her first bloom this year. She was one of the roses I bought that were in bad shape. I take this flower as a sign that’s she’s going to do spectacular things next year.
And I was in complete shock when I went out and saw this…
ANOTHER of the clearance Clematises I bought has bloomed. And it has several more buds. Hopefully the frost will hold off long enough to let them bloom.
And this one too…
One last flower from Chicago Peace would be a wonderful end to a wonderful gardening season.
As I mentioned earlier this week, I finally finished up the Bearly Bonnet.
I didn’t have any more of the Regia Tweed left, so I had to crack into a skein of Fat Cat I had left over. It’s a little heavier than sport weight (it’s DK), but that’s okay, as I wanted a bigger hat anyway.
It turned out a much better size, and should last baby a few weeks, at least. Now… it’s onto something new!
I woke up yesterday morning, looked out my bathroom window…
And decided I needed to go for a walk and take in all that beautiful fall colour.
I had stuff to do, so I didn’t end up going until late in the afternoon, but by then, the light was perfect. While there are a lot of beautiful trees in town…
I decided to head up River Street. It leads out of town, and within five or so minutes of walking, you’re in the country. There are still houses on one side, though they become spaced out further and further apart as you walk. The other side of the road is all farm fields, meadows and hedgerows.
If it wasn’t for the occasional truck dieseling on by, one could almost imagine herself as Elizabeth Bennet walking that three miles to Mr. Bingley’s house.
There are quite a few sugar maples in the area, and they really do turn amazing colours.
They almost glow in the landscape.
But it wasn’t just trees….
I don’t like the Virginia Creeper in my yard, but it does turn a brilliant shade of red in the fall.
There were wild asters all along the roadside.
And lots of milkweed. The stuff on the left wasn’t quite ready yet, but the patch on the right as nice and dry. I opened a few pods and helped them on their way, and stuck a couple pods in my pocket for planting in the garden next spring.
It was a beautiful walk, out of town and back in. A perfect fall day.
I FINALLY got the Bearly Bonnet off the needles (more on Thursday), so I’ve been able to get back on track with my tiny stitches.
I used my evenings this weekend to finish up the black work on the machine legs. Now all I have left is the filling in of all the boring beige bits. Hopefully it’s not too boring.
Wandering Cat Studio 