Quiet can be Quite Nice

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I'm not a big fan of the so-called "holiday" that falls on October 31st.

Other than it being the birthday of one of my oldest and dearest friends, I'd rather just ignore that day. I readily embrace the role of the Bah-Humbug All-Hallows-Eve Scrooge.

I dislike the evil imagery associated with the day, but more than that, I'm about fed up with the kids that have shown up at my door the past few years.

I live in the city, in a neighborhood with few children and no sidewalks, so the kids that do ring my doorbell are driven to my block from other 'hoods in a car that idles on the corner -- the parents don't even bother to get out and escort their kids to the door.

And the kids. Egads, the kids. They're teenagers -- too damn old to be doing this. They don't even wear costumes. They don't say "trick-or-treat" -- they ring the doorbell and just stand there with a look of entitlement on their faces. And they definitely don't say "thank you" afterwards. When you offer them your bowl of candy, they try to scoop as much as possible with both hands, or else dig through it looking for hidden treasures you don't have. At least if their parents were standing nearby, there might be hope of better behavior.

The final reason I don't love the trick-or-treaters is that the constantly-ringing doorbell is enough to send my two neurotic, anti-social, stranger-fearing cats completely over the edge. With every ding-dong, they wake up from a dead sleep and race like a bats-out-of-hell (how holiday-appropriate) to my bedroom to hide under the bed or in the closet. After a quiet 20 minutes, they'll tiptoe out, slowly relax, go back to sleep, and then start the mad scramble all over again at the next ding-dong. They even freak when they hear a doorbell on television, so we're not fans of the Domino's Pizza commercials.

I am officially crotchety and old. Soon I'll be standing on my porch waving a shotgun and yelling, "you damn kids get off my property!" I suppose every neighborhood requires a grouchy spinster-lady whom the kids all think is a witch. Ironic, since pointy-hatted, black-magic women are part of that undesirable imagery mentioned earlier.

So, anyway, I was thrilled to have a great reason to be out of the house last night. But then it dawned on me -- I don't usuallly leave for TNK until about 6:45, and kids start showing up at 5:30. So, I still had to go out and buy candy and have it ready on the off-chance that kids might show up. Arggh!

Every year I vacillate on what type of candy to buy. Do I buy candy I love, (anything dark chocolate, perhaps with a minty, gooey caramel or cookie center), and therefore reap the rewards of the leftovers? Or do I buy candy I hate, so that I don't eat all the leftovers? This was a candy-I-hate year -- Strawberry Twizzlers. Yuck. So I'm now the proud owner of boatload of leftover Twizzlers stinking up the house. That artificial strawberry smell is downright nauseating.

At 6:15 I got a group of four kids who were just as bad as previous years. I couldn't wait for them to get off my porch and back into that idling car on the corner. And after they left, I decided I'd had enough of the rude little brats, grabbed my knitting and left early for TNK.

But enough of the Halloween-hating rant and on to more pleasant topics.

There were just five of us at TNK last night -- myself, Deb, Sheddy, Rita, and Norma.

Deb, Sheddy, Rita
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I was not fast enough on my feet (when am I ever?) to capture Norma photographically before she left to have coffee with a friend, (but that doesn't mean I don't love you, Norma!) It was good to see her -- she had been absent from our last couple of knit nights.

Although our numbers were small, it was really a nice, comfortable, intimate group and I enjoyed our quiet time together. Sheddy shared pictures of her granddaughter modeling the snowman hat Sheddy knit for her -- so cute! She felted the "carrot" nose a little, which I think is a brilliant way to get it to stay pointy and not be droopy. I want to knit one of these hats! The pattern is Jane's design, and there's an action shot of Jane wearing it here.

Jane would like to make that pattern free and available on her blog, but isn't quite sure how to do so. Any TypePad users know if one can upload to and host MS Word or pdf files on TypePad? If so, please leave her a comment with instructions. The real question might be - where is there a good, free file-hosting website that's not likely to disappear in six months? This site looks somewhat promising, but after Googling "free file hosting", there appear to be dozens of others, so, who really knows?

We missed Jane and everyone else who stayed home last night, but it was good Jane didn't come, as her hubby had quite a scare and needed her close to home. So glad he wasn't hurt!

Sheddy gave me a printed photo of the Think Pink scarf she knit while out of town, so I scanned it for everyone's benefit:

The paper got a little rumpled in my knitting bag - sorry Sheddy!
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And speaking of Think Pink scarves, Norma requested that I show pictures of some of the other contestants' entries. I didn't get a digital image from everyone, but a few of the folks did put them on their blogs, so I will link to them, (or to pictures on my own blog):

• Amy Kane
• Zonda Belmont
• Anne Margaret White
  
• Deb Abresch
• Gina Davis
  
• Katie
• Robin Hasty
• Susan Chang

Hey -- look what Sheddy brought me, just 'cuz:

Oh, goody -- a surprise!
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And look what was inside:

Fizzy Bath Bomb from Soak, inside a Sheddy-knit washcloth
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Thanks so much, Sheddy! I love it! Love the cinnamon-y smell of the bath bomb, and I especially love the hand-knit washcloth! This may be the first hand-knit item I've ever received. (My grandma crocheted me things, but I can't remember if she ever gave me hand-knits). I really love washcloths, so, Yippee!, and thank you!

And speaking of surprises, I just found out I won Robin F.'s blog contest in honor of her 1-year blogiversary. Whoo hoo! I love surprises! Thanks, Robin!

Once again proving my point that life is made better through knitting... :-)

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