Knitting and my new favorite artist

This awesome picture is from an artist named Banksy. An absolutely amazing artist. Visit his site and look at the outdoor work he's done. I love his sense of humor. This pic has everything to love. It has tea (I love tea). It has Grannies. It has knitting. It has punk knitting grannies. What's not to love?

I finally cast on for the Minimalist Cardigan (try spelling that out three times fast) and it's coming along swimmingly. I started on the back and I'm about a third of the way through. I'll have a pic sometime later this week. I began this on Halloween night and added a little more on during the boring carpool wait at school.

If posts are a little sporadic this month, please be patient. I took the Nanowrimo challenge and a lot of my creative writing urges are being consumed by it. Plus, I have knitting and spinning to do. Oh, yeah, and I have to figure out how to fit in cooking, cleaning and the children. There's a husband in the mix somewhere too, but I'm afraid he might be ending up last on the priority list. He'll live.

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to the Halloween edition of AllThingsShea.com.

Have you been wondering what to dress your cat up as for Halloween? Well, the wonderful people at Cat Prin are here to help. For a couple a thousand yen, these too could be yours!

Here are a few samples from their site.

Anne of Green Gables - for those who want to seriously humiliate their kitteh!

OOOOO! Scary Leopard Kitty!

Frog Cat - I particularly like this one. My cat needs this.

Lovely Girly Blouse - doesn't she look happy?

Bunny Cat - confuse all the kids in the neighborhood! It's not Halloween, it's Easter!

Even more crazy cat costumes from their site are HERE.


More Links and Funny Safety Tips for Halloween:

• Here's a few Halloween Links for you:
  

The Worst Halloween Costumes of All Time from retroCRUSH

Ultimate Guide to Halloween Candies of 2007 over at I-Mockery

• These have been done elsewhere, but they're so funny I thought I'd repeat them. Here's some Important Halloween Safety Tips for you on this scariest of nights.

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster or murderer, NEVER check to see if it's really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go alone.

6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

8. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out.

10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.

12. Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

13. If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are female. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.

15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Crystal Lake, Salem, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), anywhere in Texas where chainsaws are sold, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to he nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange you ran out of gas because you thought you had most of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

17. Beware of strangers bearing tools. For example: chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawnmowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any devices made from deceased companions.

18. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This also applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices.

19. Dress appropriately. When investigating a noise downstairs in an old house, women should not wear a flimsy negligee. And carry a flashlight, not a candle.

20. Do not mention the names of demons around open flames, as these can flare suddenly. Be especially careful of fireplaces in this regard.

21. Do not go looking for witches in the Maryland countryside.

Scouts

Well, tonight was a big deal in the Cub Scout world. The Eldest earned his Bobcat badge and a ton of other stuff. He was so proud of himself.

I am not very involved in the Scouting world. Not because I don't want to be (except for camping. You'd have to pay me to do that and then supply power for my hair dryer and proper lighting for my makeup) but because I'm trying to let this be something that he and his father do together without my interference.

The Eldest has always been a "Mama's Boy" (which is fine with me since I won't have to marry him - let some other woman retrain him like I had to with his Dad) and this is the first time they've really done something together. Also, his Dad never got to do this growing up so he's living vicariously through the Eldest. So, basically, I stay back in the shadows and try to offer encouragement and a few "atta-boys" on the way. And this way, I don't have to go camping.

Besides, somebody's gotta watch the Youngest. Although camping would be more restful I think. Maybe I will take up camping... Can you knit well by firelight?

Early Halloween Fun

Yesterday, our church had our annual Halloween Tailgate Treat. This is loads of fun. Everyone decorates the back of their cars and hands out candy to all the trick or treaters. There are prizes for the best decorated tailgates and for the best costumes. I won the tailgate contest a few years ago, but wasn't feeling well enough to put the work into it this year. We did get the kids dressed up and off to trick or treat though.

It was like wrestling with a wild monkey to get the Youngest all dressed up. We tried to paint his face white, but did a lousy job of it. Maybe I should have said a large octopus instead of a wild monkey. Every time we moved a hand away so that we could decorate his face, another hand/arm appeared to block our efforts. We were exhausted before we ever got into our car to head to the church parking lot.

We decided to try and head the wild monkey off at the pass by putting him into his favorite wagon. It only worked for a while, but every second he was contained we considered to be a blessing. He's truly a hand full.

I got a couple of pics for you from it that cracked me up. The first has some skeleton boy who we didn't know, but who decided to get in on the picture taking action. You can tell my boys are related, they have the exact same "who the hell are you and why are you in our picture?" expression.



The other was taken right after we got back to the house. We were trying to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time. We made the mistake of saying peekaboo. He's covering his mouth to play peekaboo. He doesn't quite have the whole idea of covering your eyes to play it, but he's getting closer.




Last pic is knitting related. This is my second swatch for the Minimalist Cardigan and is also the correct one for gauge. The pattern calls for sevens, but I'm getting gauge with the sixes. So, guess that's what we'll use huh?