August & September 2026
Enjoying summer days and looking ahead to Halloween.
10/9/20262 min read
Summer felt like it was flying by, and I spent the last couple of months finding all the ways to enjoy the great weather with family and friends. We explored the zoo and a few parks with hikes, and we made it to the State Fair and Renessance Fest too.
I entered some of my knit items in the Minnesota State Fair for the first time this year, and I won a 5th place ribbon! I’m so excited that so many people got to see my work. I found one cowl and one shawl on display, but with so many beautiful projects in the Creative Activities building, I never did track down my other pieces.
My knitting time has been pretty limited lately. I finished my Chain Link Armored Cowl Vest and several pairs of socks. I’m still not fully happy with the fit of the socks, so I’m tweaking them as I wear them and figuring out where I want to make adjustments.
Unfortunately, my kid’s hand knit sweater from last Christmas went into the dryer and was felted. I set aside a week of focused craft time to make a new one, and thankfully I had plenty of the same yarn left, so I was able to make a replacement. They absolutely love it, and it has been hard to get them to give it up on wash days. A small child sweater knits up so quickly! I just wish I could make myself a sweater in a single week.
Most of August and September went to final sourcing for the Halloween projects and finishing as many of our other home projects as I could, so October can be a deep dive into Halloween crafting. I started a few of the Halloween projects in September, mostly fixing up pieces for the decor and planning out some huge gallery wall spaces.
Every year I furnish our garage so we have one big space where everyone can gather at once. This year I found some low cost chairs and a bench, but most of them need work. I reupholstered a bench seat and cleaned up the other pieces. The large chair still needs caning, which I’ve put off for too long, so I’m hunting for some long stretches of time to work on it. So far most of my projects aren't all that exciting or pretty by themselves, but once the whole place is put together they will match so well.
The front yard is already set up, since I like to do that at the beginning of October. We have some dapper skeletons hanging out there now. The kids were a little wary of them at first, but now they say hello every day when they get home.
The party is coming up fast and there is still so much to do. Wish me luck, and come back in November for the full tour of our Transylvania Castle.
