Had a couple of visitors for lunch today - Jack, Sooty and Mel popped around to keep me company while Andy's away. It didn't even occur to me to go OUT to lunch, so I popped down to the shops and grabbed a chook and some bread rolls, and made up a quick salad ... how boring am I?! Jack was feeling a bit guilty about running late, until we reminded him that daylight savings ended last night - so in fact he was half an hour early!! Someone's got some clocks to wind back when he gets home .

Also put the finishing touches on the house decorations this afternoon - moved my pumpkin on the brick piers next to the driveway, and installed Marcus the Carcass in our garden bed next to the path. Pretty pleased with the final look (OK, apart from the photo being a bit dark) - not too bad for our first Halloween! Now to see how many trick-or-treaters we get tomorrow night ...

One of the guys at work hosted a halloween party tonight - a very good turnout from all in attendance as everyone made the effort to dress up. Lots of witches and vampires for the adults, and superheroes seemed to be the most popular theme for the kids.

We'd been asked to bring a plate along, so I trawled the web and found a great looking recipe here ... just the thing! Made the ears up on Friday night as it recommended they sit overnight ... my first attempt at making pasta dough from scratch. Even so, I sought a second opinion from Mum just to make sure - I didn't want to end up making playdoh!

I'd booked the Jeep in for a service this morning, so spent three and a half hours there waiting for them to finish - managed to get a fair bit done on my latest crochet project though! Had just enough time left after getting home to cook up the eyes and finish the dish plus get changed into my outfit before having to leave for the party. I don't think I got too many strange looks as I drove along ...

It was a pretty big night - at least 60 people, so the chiminea was fired up outside on the deck as the night got a bit colder!. It was a bit hard to take photos with 1" fake nails and my wig getting in the way, so I'll have to try and get some more photos from the others at work during the week.

As I drove home today yearning for the luxury of travel in the transit lanes, I noticed a lot more leaves whipping around in the wind ... and realised we're living in a city that has REAL seasons!! The changes we've noticed in the weather this year have been pretty distinct, and we're very definitely in autumn / 'fall' at the moment.

The leaves all seemed to turn in a matter of a week or so, and we must have had a lot of wind in the front before the rain I had on the way home - kinda fun to drive through great drifts of autumn leaves on the road between work and the freeway. Although getting smacked in the windshield with big maple leaves can be a little distracting when you're not used to it!!

Daylight savings ends this weekend, it's already difficult to drag myself out of bed in the morning when it's pitch black outside! Still, all the better for spooking people next Monday for Halloween . Must get the rest of those decorations up soon ...

I was asked a little while ago to a blanket with an American-flag theme, as a Christmas present for one of our friends to take home at the end of the year. He was a bit surprised on the weekend on the weekend and I was steaming the already-finished piece on the table!

Here's a piccie of the blanket drying out ... after the Fall Leaves pattern, this one was much easier - not so many ends to weave in!! The Wool-ease yarn also came out a bit softer after the steaming, more so than I expected for a wool-acrylic blend - so I'm quite pleased with the result.

I've been getting inspired by reading a few crochet and knit blogs on the net - so thought I should put up a few piccies of the other projects I've finished. I don't think Andy will let me turn this into a crochet blog, so I'll just have to make do with the occasional post here and there .

First, my McRae tartan afghan - probably more of a 'lapghan' as it's not quite so big. This is one we brought with us, I actually finished this while we were in the UK (has it been five years already?!). The tartan pattern is pretty standard, so I modified it to come up with the McRae 'modern' hunting tartan. Even though it's a pretty simple pattern, I love the effect. Might get around to doing one for the dress tartan one day.

Next - Andy's blankie. A Vanna White pattern, I'm actually onto my third from that particular book so I'm getting my money's worth! This one is done in a chenille yarn, so it's big and warm ... although the ends keep working themselves out after I've woven them in! This one lives on the back of the couch, within arm's reach for snoozing in front of the telly ... just right for the end of a long day spent arguing with the contractors .

Another ripple pattern - my second place winning entry  from last month's Puyallup Fair. This one really sold me on blocking the finished piece, it really brought out the stitch pattern and it now drapes beautifully! Unfortunately I didn't get much in the way of feedback from the judge, just 'looks and feels great' ... with a score of 98% I was hoping to find out what element pipped me into second place!

My most recent project is an autumn leaves pattern - from the Vanna White book again. Hadn't tried on of these tapestry style ones before, but I know now that i don't like changing colour every other stitch ... there are so many ends to weave in!! I'm only about halfway done on finishing this so far - still have to finish all the yarn ends, then block it out to size.

Currently working on an American-flag inspired afghan (another Vanna White pattern) for a friend at work to give as a Christmas present. Not quite so many colour changes as the autumn one, so I'm enjoying this one a lot more!

Another crochet demo today, this time in Redmond so it was a little closer to home. Hadn't volunteered for this one originally at the guild meeting, but Steve popped around to help Andy work on the Mustang for the afternoon ... that's my cue to do something else!

This one looked a little more 'commercial' - there were a few tents set up in the carpark outside the shop, with sample yarn and a few hooks donated by the store. We even had a few learners! The knitting side of the tent was much busier, but I think they had a few more instructors ... I think there was a mixup with the guild volunteer list, as we ended up with only three - myself, Lester and Heidi.

I managed to help out a couple of learners, even to the point where one was producing a basic granny square - but it made me realise, how do you really teach someone something you've been doing for 20-odd years?! (20 years? Has it really been that long?!) I think I'll need to do a proper crochet-teaching course if I want to do any more of these!

The controversy  for the afternoon came in the form of the 'fastest crocheter' competition. All the entrants were given a 'control' ball of yarn and a hook so everyone was on equal footing, and we had ten minutes to work up a small swatch in single crochet (or double crochet as I'm used to calling it!). My hands were shaking like a leaf and I kept dropping stitches all over the place, but when the timer called 'hooks down!' I'd won by about a row and a half! Yay for me. We got to keep our yarn and hook from the competition, and I also received a wrap for my hooks, a 'wild knitting woman' badge and a pair of 'yarn goddess' felt slippers. Well ... at least I got to keep the ball of yarn and a new hook .

Where did the controversy come in? Miss Second Place retired to the knitting side of the tent after the competition, and was heard accusing me of misreporting my rows ("thirteen rows, she must have been lying!!"). Not to my face, of course . Perhaps she was just upset at missing out on the cheapie 'yarn goddess' slippers? Crocheted mittens at twenty paces ... where's Andy to defend my honour when I need him??

Got home at about 4.30 and Andy was finishing up in the garage - Steve had retired home about an hour previously. They'd discovered some rust in the floorpans which was not spotted on the pre-purchase inspections, so there's some more fibreglassing to do now. Still, it's not in too bad shape for ~40 years old!