I can’t help it, I love Halloween. The costumes, the colors, the stories, and the traditions are all wonderful and exciting. I was the child who wore pumpkin earrings (that I still own) for the entire month of October. I borrowed my mother’s Halloween pins and looked forward to being allowed to wear my pumpkin socks (which I outgrew before I could wear again). Every year, my mom still breaks out her Halloween pins and dutifully pins them on Halloween cardigans and you can’t help but smile that her dedication to decorating for the holidays extends to her person. I was reminded of this when searching Ravelry and stumbled upon a Halloween vest that KnitPicks designed back in 2006, and can’t help but feel guilty that I have no desire to make one for her.

As I’ve gotten older, I break out my pumpkin earrings less and less, but I have not lost my enthusiasm when it comes to the holiday. These days, I break out purple and black striped tights and wear them with a black dress and tall black boots. If I go to a costume party, I find myself piecing together costumes from items I found while thrift shopping and items that I’ve created.

Though I should have assumed, a quick search of Ravelry revealed an entire section dedicated to costumes! Perhaps next year I’ll add a hat to my Halloween work attire in the form of a Mummy, Candy Corn, Wig or Pumpkin Top. I could even knit my dog a turtle costume!

Despite loving fall, I think one of my current fallacies is that I struggle to plan my decorations ahead of time. For example, it would be easy to knit mini pumpkins during the summer, when having wool on your lap is sweat-inducing. Last June I knit Christmas stockings for my sister and her husband, but I didn’t truly sit down and work on the rest of their decorations until after Thanksgiving. Perhaps one of my problems is that I don’t feel inspired to knit holiday-specific items until it’s time to use and enjoy them, and by then it’s too late.

Maybe next year I’ll make use of KnitPick’s Halloween yarn sale, which makes me wonder if I should have gotten more of a head start on my gift knitting for the upcoming holiday season… It’s hard to believe that I haven’t started yet (I’m usually just over halfway done by now)!

Stay safe this Halloween and remember, all Halloween candy goes on sale November 1st…