Another spectacular tree at the library, this one by the front door. The bonus is that you get another view of where I work.

Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!

I wanted to block and photograph the finished triangular scarf to show you today but 1)I forgot to block it and 2)when I remembered about the blocking it was raining and I knew I wouldn’t be able to take photographs. And so, you get some random groups of 3 today.

Three things I’m knitting:

1. Man socks for Dale. I’m using Dream in Color and it’s awesome.
2. TTL Mystery socks for me. I’m almost done with the foot on sock 1 but haven’t even started the foot on sock 2 so I think I’ll be behind for this week’s clue.
3. Test knitting for Susan. I think this is going to be another fabulous design.

Three things I’m planning:

1. The menu for our Halloween party Saturday night. Anyone got a spooky name idea for margaritas?
2. Costumes for our Kiwanis Halloween party tonight.
3. Where to plant all the bulbs I bought last spring. Yes, it’s past time to get them in the ground. Whoops.

Three things I’m loving:

1. Our fall foliage. I think it’s spectacular this year.
2. A schedule that’s finally slowing down. Dale and I have had a lot more unplanned time lately and I’m grateful for it.
3. I finally made a meatloaf that didn’t fall apart. I’ve been plagued with this problem for years and I figured out this week that 1)the burger I was buying was too lean and 2)the mixture was too wet. I rectified this slightly and wound up with a much better looking meatloaf. Yay me!

And that’s 3 groups of 3 and I’m done.

Okay, one word. Peak.

I heard on the news the other day that Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday. That’s a lot of money and, while I don’t think you need to spend money to celebrate Halloween, it did inspire this week’s Ten on Tuesday topic: 10 Ways to Enjoy Halloween.

1. Decorate! Nothing gets you in the Halloween frame of mind like pumpkins and fall leaves and candles.
2. Have a party. We haven’t had a Halloween party in ages but we’re having one this year and it’s been really fun planning and prepping for it.
3. Eat spooky food. We traditionally have American Chop Suey on Halloween but I have been known to serve dinners near Halloween that include things like maggot casserole, witches fingers and moldy biscuits. It’s really just rice, chicken and biscuits but you can see a photo here.
4. Give out candy. We don’t get a lot of trick or treaters in my neighborhood but the ones that come are usually kids we know and I love seeing them all in their costumes.
5. Dress in costume. We made costumes mandatory for our party and we are also having a Halloween party at our regular Kiwanis meeting this week. It’s fun to pretend to be someone else for a while.
6. Watch scary movies. Halloween is a must for me.
7. Carve pumpkins. This is all part of the decorating thing. I’m not very creative with this but Dale is awesome.
8. Roast pumpkin seeds. Toss in a bit of oil and roast them and then dowse them in salt. Mmmm.
9. Listen to scary music. I still think the Disney sound track “Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House” is the best one out there. Except for the barking dogs. That’s just dumb. Okay, and maybe the alien space ship sounds. Also dumb.
10. Be with the people you love. That’s still the best way to celebrate any holiday, in my opinion. And on Halloween you get the chance to scare ‘em!

I don’t do much with photo processing. I use the software that came with the camera to adjust things and convert my images from RAW to JPEGs. I use Photoshop to resize and occasionally do some post processing but that’s about it. But the other day I took a photo of foliage at our town graveyard and I thought this photo could use some fun processing.  Enter Picnik.

Here’s the original photo.

And here’s the photo with a Halloween texture.

Here it is again with some ghosts added for eerieness.

I like it with what they call a Lomo-ish effect.

And it’s pretty cool with the Gritty effect.

Here is it with the Orton-ish effect.

And probably my most favorite of all, the Cross Process effect.

I definitely had fun with this and I think some of those processes really enhance the photo for the better. Which one is your favorite?

The sugar maples at Rhinebeck were certainly beautiful and very showy with their oranges and reds and yellows. I think this hydrangea blossom in dusty rose (remember when that was THE color back in the 80s?) was just as beautiful.

I have no plans for this weekend except to hang around at home and get some stuff done. Thank goodness! Make it a good one, my friends.

After the friends and the shopping, truly the next best thing about going to Rhinebeck is seeing all the wonderful hand knits that people are wearing. Now granted, they aren’t all beautiful – enough with the February Lady Sweater, people! And there is the occasional thing that’s so ugly it’s hard to believe anyone would knit it much less wear it (like the poncho/shawl thing with stripes and pom poms that made Laurie, Manise and I drop our jaws in horror) but a lot of what I saw was really beautiful and I came home all inspired to knit new things.

Like Monica’s Herbivore.

And her Wandering the Moors shawl.

There was also JessaLu’s Aestlight Shawl.

And Laurie’s Onerva.

Those small throw-around-your-neck sort of shawls are fun to knit and great to wear and now I’ve got some new ones in my queue.

First up, though, is this:

The Stupidly Easy Triangular Scarf knit with one luxurious skein of Silk Maiden from my stash.

I love it already.

Like Ruth, I wasn’t planning on going to Rhinebeck this year. Sharon told me months ago she wasn’t going. And then I forgot to book a hotel room. And then I heard the rooms were sold out. I knew that several of my friends had decided to opt out this year and it just didn’t seem worth the travel time and money to go so I spread the word that I wasn’t going.

And then I got sad just thinking about not being there. And then I talked to Hillary and realized that she would be there and that if I didn’t go I would miss seeing her a lot. And I wanted to see the newlyweds again. And then Dale said, “let’s go!” So I called the hotel and go the last room available and we went. It was quick because of other commitments but it was worth it.

The foliage was incredible this year. Truly, it was breathtaking. The drive through Hyde Park was amazing and the trees at the fairgrounds did not disappoint.

It was crowded but not as crowded as it was on Saturday, I’m sure. I mostly shopped with JessaLu and I bumped into lots of people and spent a fair amount of time talking with Laurie, Monica, Kim, Maryse, Manise and Vanessa.

I stood in the shortest line I’ve ever seen for the artichokes french and Dale had fried pickles. We didn’t try the pretzels but they looked and smelled wonderful.

There was shopping, of course, but I only bought 2 4oz braids of Into the Whirled and some cashmere/merino/silk from a vendor that had lots of shiny beads but whose name I can’t recall.

And there were sheep. Lots of beautiful, smelly, woolly sheep. It wouldn’t be a sheep and wool festival without them.

I had fun with our topic from a few weeks back, 10 Things in Your Refrigerator so I thought it would be interesting to recycle that topic and do 10 Things In Your Freezer Right Now. I have not only my freezer/fridge combo but I big freezer in the garage. It comes in handy for all this stuff, that’s for sure.

1. Turkeys. I cooked one a couple of weeks ago but I think there are still 2 more out there. I think they might be breeding in the cold and dark.
2. Pie crust. Whenever I make pie crust I make an extra batch and stick it in the freezer. That way, when I want to make a pie, the crust is ready to go.
3. A big bag of chopped green peppers. These are from our CSA this summer and they freeze great and it’s so easy to just scoop out what I need for a recipe.
4. Cranberries. These also freeze great and will be used for cranberry sauce and cranberry pecan pie when Thanksgiving rolls around.
5. Mystic Pizza. As frozen pizza goes, this is pretty good.
6. Spaghetti Sauce. I made a big batch last winter and froze the sauce in amounts that are not too much for just Dale and I. I was thinking, though, that we could have spaghetti on one night and then meatball sandwiches on a second night and that should use up all the sauce.
7. Chicken, pork tenderloin, hamburger and other assorted packages of meat. I buy it when it’s on sale, of course.
8. Ice. I’m ready for a martini at a moment’s notice.
9. Kona coffee from Hawaii that Dale’s friend Arthur brought us. I’ve been hording it but it won’t last forever.
10. 2 ripe bananas. I really need to bake a banana bread and get rid of those.

That’s just a sampling of what’s in my freezer. What’s in yours?

Rhinebeck was awesome and I promise to tell you all about it . . . on Wednesday.