Back in August, I ordered Jimmy Beans’s “Fright Club” kit — 31 days of knitting to make a Halloween-inspired cowl and fingerless mitts 🙂 It came in September — a nice spooky box filed with 31 red and black bags marked for each day.  

Knowing myself as well as I do, I started early! And I have been diligently knitting away at it (almost) daily since — but even with my head start and the “rest” days when the little bag had a treat instead of yarn (and there was no knitting assignment!), I have consistently been a day or two behind.  And looking ahead to the finishing directions, I see that the 31st day requires me to knit the thumbs on both mitts and also the top edgings of the cowl and the mitts (14 rounds of knitting for each!) — plus binding off and weaving in all the ends (there are a lot of ends!).

And, well, my Halloween weekend is pretty booked up — carving pumpkins, pulling together a costume for our family festivities, sipping hot cider, snitching candy from the trick-or-treat bowl by the door…And while I definitely plan to enjoy some knitting time too, I don’t intend to stress out trying to bust through the end of this project.  It has been a fun knit and I want to keep it that way!  

The point has been to have some seasonal knitting on my needles.  Sort of like having skeletons in the living room or wearing pumpkin earrings.  And ever since I decided (in a moment of sheer brilliance!) to consider Autumn-Halloween-Thanksgiving as one season, my skeletons go up in early September and hang about companionably until late November.  Candy corn?  Fair game in mid-September as well as mid-November!  Pumpkin earrings and Halloween knitting are to be enjoyed for 3 months.

I really, really like being present to the season of the moment.  Life is an immersive experience!  So, while (inevitably) a few things not-exactly-Autumnal have shown up on my to-do lists (choose Christmas cards, order wreaths, get tickets for Puget Sound Revels “The Christmas Revels” ) , I am keeping my focus on the beauty of Autumn, the festivities of Halloween, and the grace-filled celebration of Thanksgiving. (Chain-reading Halloween mystery books helps! Haha!)

Wishing everyone a Boo-tiful Halloween with all the happy pleasures that brighten your days and lighten your nights!