Dress Up

So, tomorrow is Halloween.  I get into Halloween.  It's the one day of the year that I am allowed to dress up as whatever I want.  (Plus it's the day before All Saints day, and I like All Saints day.)  I love to dress up, so I'm not going to miss the opportunity to do so.

Last year on Halloween, I was recovering from an accident and having skin grafted back onto my foot, so I didn't get to enjoy it much.  Granted, I still dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and hobbled around trick-or-treating for half an hour or so, until it started to snow and my foot started to ache way too much to continue.  Suffice it to say, I didn't get that many miles out of dress up for Halloween last year.

ON A QUICK SIDE NOTE: Check out my sweet Alice in Wonderland costume.  This is me in it four years ago for a Disney party (you can see John from Peter Pan in his pajamas and top hat at the bottom of the photo, I think).  It isn't a great photo, but it's the only one I could find of me in the costume right off.  Aunt Becky made it; she's so darn talented!

Okay, maybe you can only see his top hat, haha.  Anyway, my hair looks weirdly dark and I'm not looking at the camera, but the costume looks great, yes?  End of side note.

This year, Halloween really snuck up on me.  I wanted to be a Swiss girl, you know, with a skirt and girdle and braided hair and everything, but I just didn't have any time to put it all together.  Plus, I couldn't find a costume, because they were all 'sexy.'  I wanted something like this, but not sexy:

So I just literally couldn't find anything and I just sort of ran out of time.  Now I have NO idea what I am going to be for Halloween, which... did I mention that was tomorrow?

My second choice for a costume was Jane from Tarzan, but that is also shockingly hard to find.  What is wrong with the world?  Many, many things.  And, in case it wasn't clear, I really hate the whole 'sexy insert-anything-you-want-here' revolution that is sweeping through a perfectly good holiday.  I mean, nowadays there's such a thing as a 'sexy m&m' costume.  I just do not see the appeal; it's way more fun to actually dress up.

Plus, in Alaska, if you did that you would freeze your butt off.  Just sayin'.

Hopefully I can throw something together before tomorrow, but I just don't know if it's going to happen.  Sad.  I'm going to have to have some kind of dress-up party to make up for all the missed dress-up Holiday opportunities.

Crocheting: An Adventure in FUN.

Just to update you on the status of my teach-yourself-to-crochet endeavor, I can now say that things are going swimmingly.  I have mastered the single crochet stitch, the half double crochet stitch, the double crochet stitch, and the triple crochet stitch, as well as a type of edging called picot.  This afternoon, I've been working on learning the "Little Fan Stitch," which I think is every bit as cute as it sounds like it would be.  You can see an example of everything except the Little Fan Stitch in this swatch, which I am proudly displaying.  That's the picot trim, by my nose; it's all nice and wavy:

I think that as far as getting started goes, it was quite a bit tougher than knitting, but now that I semi-know what I'm doing, I finally understand why Grandma said it would be easier.  Also, when I poke the hook up through the yarn, it always looks (to me) like a sea monster's head bobbing above the water.  I thought that was appropriate to mention on this blog.

In other adventurous news: this morning I was woken up by a trash can hitting the house just under my window.  It's been extremely windy and stormy all day long.  I'm going to go for a walk.

I guess I'd better start  bundling up.

(Good thing I bought EAR MUFFS.)

I'll post photos of the Little Fan Stitch when I finish with a swatch of it.

Also, the entire upstairs portion of our house smells like paint because we're making props for a production of R&H's Cinderella, which Ashleigh is in - she's Queen Constantina.  Today, we painted fake big wheels of cheese.  I think this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "stinky cheese."  Also, that probably has a lot to do with why I want to get out of the house... phew.

Crocheting: An Adventure in FRUSTRATION.

Last night, I went to the store.  It was extremely dark and foggy, but I live fairly near the North Pole, and so, these things are not that unusual around here.  Braving the chill, I was able to make my goal of purchasing some Teach-Yourself-To-Crochet materials.

So far, things have pretty much gone like this:

Yes, at first, I was very confused.

Then I sort of mastered the Single Chain stitch deal.

I felt pretty good about that.

But now, I am attempting to learn the Half Double Chain stitch deal.

This is not so good, and has resulted, more or less, in a lot of this:

Me: Why don't you cooperate, Crochet Hook.

Crochet Hook: Because I don't want to.

Me: I will break you in half.

Crochet Hook: No, you won't.  You paid four bucks for me.

Me: ^%^&$%%&*&%@##$@*

Yeah, so far, all I have to show for HOURS of work is this small fabric swatch, which proves that I can at least crochet the single chain:

Yeah, sad as it is, I'm pretty proud of that little swatch.  Although, to tell you the truth, I probably didn't even do that right.  Le sigh.

Some days, you know?

Probably the best thing to do would be to find someone who actually understands how to crochet, the problem there being that everyone I know knits, not crochets.

Before she passed on, our dear grandmother was going to teach me how to crochet.  I never got the chance to learn from her, but boy, would that have been a dream!  She's the one who told me that learning to crochet would be easier than learning to knit.  To which I emphatically say, 'Huh?'

Alright, I guess I'll give my poor hands a break and get ready for Nate's cello concert.

Hoot.

This is a mask.  It is gorgeous.  I want it.  I also really want to learn to sculpt masks from leather.  These are incredible.  I'm partial to owls, but there are many amazing animals in their shop.  I'm just so impressed by these; I thought I'd share.

Also, in case you're wondering about the process as much as I am/ for my own future reference, I am including a handy link to a tutorial on making leather masks.  Maybe I'll do it someday.  I also think just learning to work leather, maybe making leather bracelets or something, would be fun.

Today, however, my goal is to learn how to crochet.  We'll see.

I mean, I guess that's more of a long-term goal, but my plan is to at least START today.

It's raining out, so it's a good day to put this plan into action.

This goal stems from my love of hats.  I really want to make a dark blue/bronze one.

I already have too many hats.  But they're SMALL.  I can stuff them all in one drawer.  It's less of a problem than if I collected jeans, or something.  Those take up a lot of room.

I would, ahem, like to point out that I live in Alaska.  Hats are very practical here.

Someday, I'll also crochet an afghan.

Simple goals, really.

On the plus side, I've heard that crocheting is easier than knitting.  And I already know how to knit, and that isn't so hard!  So this crocheting thing is going to be easy-peasy, right?  Right.

Oh.  And I'm also making chicken and dumplings for dinner.

It just seems like an appropriate sort of thing to do on a wet, cold, fall day like today, don't you think?

Plus, I have a delicious chicken and dumplings recipe.

Plus, for some reason, cooking chicken and dumplings makes me feel like Ma from the Little House series.  I'm not sure why.  I don't think she ever even made chicken and dumplings.

It just does, okay?

It looks like I might have a busy day at home, after all.

Trifecta

Sooo... I went for the piercing.  I got it done yesterday.  The last time I pierced my ears, I was eight, which was quite a while ago.  I was a little nervous, but I didn't remember it hurting last time.  I think this time it hurt a little bit more than it hurt last time, but it wasn't bad.  It feels completely fine now.

At first I was kind of like, "What did I do!?" because I just wasn't used to seeing it on my ear.  But now, I'm really liking it.  I'm actually so glad I did it.

That said, I think I can officially say that this is my last piercing.

Do you have your ears pierced or anything?

WE ARE TERRIBLE BLOGGERS.

I think I can forgive us, though.

In unrelated news, though, I think I'm going to get my ear pierced again.

I already have just normal earlobe piercings, one on each ear.

I want to add one to my right earlobe, so it will be pierced twice.

I'll stop there.  I just really like the number three, and I like how twice-pierced lobes look.  I'm not really a big piercings enthusiast, or anything like that.

Oh, and, hey, check out what I bought:

Yeah, I just couldn't help myself.  And it seemed very appropriate to mention on this particular blog.

I also bought a whole bunch of blue beads.  Why?

Why, so I can re-create the butterbeer cork necklace, naturally.

I also really want to figure out those dirigible plum earrings, but that seemed like a much more time-consuming project.

I've got to find a Ravenclaw tie, too, because I want to dress up for the new film.  Not as Luna; just as someone who's in Ravenclaw.  I would definitely be in Ravenclaw.

Also, because Luna has some gorgeous long hair, I am reminded that I should update you on that front: operation growing-out-the-hair seems to be progressing well.  It's getting longer.  I haven't cut it... well, except my bangs.  I don't think that should count.  I will keep you updated, and you can keep me accountable, kay?

I love you!