A handmade halloween

It's official...the season of celebration has begun. Do you love Halloween as much as I do? I'm grateful that as a mom I have even more reason to get into the Halloween spirit. And, to me, Halloween is the ultimate excuse to get creative, jumpstarting the season of handmade.

Our weekend began at Two Pony Gardens with a horse drawn carriage ride, delicious brick oven pizza, and a much welcome spirit of community. We are so grateful to Katherine over at Kitten's Lost Her Mittens for letting us in on this little secret. The farm, the farmhouse, the horses, the people, the food - all so beautiful. And reminiscent of some of the community revelry we left behind in Ann Arbor. 

Then it was time for the little lion to don her costume and practice her roars at the Hay Day celebration in downtown Linden Hills. I knit Ava's lion hat and tail using a combination of three different patterns and some of my own innovation. I'm so happy with how it turned out! And after just a tad bit of fretting that she might not want to wear her hat for trick-or-treating, the girl has been insisting on wearing her hat ever since. This is the ultimate success. Notes for the hat and the tail can be found here on ravelry. I found the yellow velour sleep outfit at a local consignment store and modified it only slightly so Ava could wear her shoes underneath. I don't think I could have found anything more perfect to clothe a little lioness!

Mama got to do some trick-or-treating of her own at Becky Lyon's vintage and antique button sale held at Linden Hills Yarn that afternoon (oh, but that's a whole other post!). 

Ava helped carve our pumpkins and make our annual batch of pepitas. We've recently been roasting all of our squash seeds (acorn, sweet dumpling, butternut, etc) with just a touch of tamari as recommended by Ava's Waldorf teacher, Ms. Kerry (why didn't I think to do this before?). They are smaller, a bit more tender than pumpkin seeds and oh so yummy. But for the pumpkin seeds I've gotten into the habit of using this recipe - seriously yummy, addictive little things. Cut back on the spicy cayenne and they will be more palatable for the little ones - Ava goes nuts for them.

When I was a little trick-or-treater I had a giant orange plastic pumpkin treat container; I wanted to create something similar for Ava, but from felt instead. I made her treat bag by sketching a pattern and sewing it all together just in time for Halloween eve.  

We culminated our weekend with trick-or-treating on Halloween night. "More house, More house" the little lioness repeated, even as Will and I had each taken her through the neighborhood and bedtime was approaching. Us big kids enjoyed cozying up to a warm bonfire, libations and eating an occasional treat from the abundant leftovers. Will's 11th hour urging that "we don't have enough candy, we're going to run out!" spurred me to stock up - way up. He says this every year - maybe it's his ploy to ensure ample stash that he can munch on in the days following Halloween eve.

I hope your weekend was festive, just the right bit of spooky, and filled to the brim with sweetness.