My urge to shop for fabric and yarn picks up as the season here in Western Pennsylvania turns to Autumn, bringing chilly weather and thoughts of the holidays. With Joann now only a memory, I thought that (maybe) I’d have an easier time this year, but Michaels has picked up their game around sewing and yarn, so the challenge remains. Also, I happen to live pretty close to a Michaels location that would give a small to mid-sized Joann store a run for their money on fabric.

I’ve found some success in curbing that shopping impulse by pausing, and then browsing crochet, knitting and sewing on social media for ideas and have found many wonderful options.

My recent foray into projects that use (mostly) stash supplies included me trying out the “googly eyes” craze. I saw a pumpkin crocheted around a pair of these eyes, and while I can’t find it again (and I’ve looked), I remembered enough of it to make one that I found to be acceptable.

A few weeks back I had picked up a package of the eye sets. Michaels calls them “Wiggle Eye Rings” but I still like the word “googly“.

From what I remember of the pattern, the stem was flat and much less prominent. I decided to use a technique I had learned years ago when making crocheted candy canes and wreaths for Xmas tree ornaments. The process involves chaining a number of stitches (I believe I used 12), and then beginning with the second chain from the hook, crocheting 3 single crochet stitches in each chain stitch on the way back down to the start. That results in the curly stem, which is not unusual for pumpkins found in the fields.

I also think that pattern only had two rounds of crochet around the googly eye connector (the U-shaped plastic that connects the 2 eyes). I did the initial round of double crochet, and then two rounds of single crochet, increasing with two single crochet in each stitch on round two, and and then either one or two single crochet stitches in between an increase. It was a small enough project, I had no deadline, I was watching Dateline on Roku TV, so I figured I’d give that a whirl and see how it looked.

If it turned out to be a mess, no harm, no foul. I could frog it, and start over. As it turned out, I was pleased with the results the first time around!

I glued a magnet to the back of each of these and plan to take them to work. Let’s face it, we can all use something to smile about in the day-to-day slog that is the full-time job.

After working one of my side hustles this morning (church organist gig), I came home and was feeling the urge to crochet or knit, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I thought about opening the 3-skein package of Red Heart Roll With It Sparkle Yarn in Amethyst that I have sitting around here and tempting me, but decided instead to work on finishing my Color Tipped Scarf by Purl Soho. My progress is pictured above, and the Plymouth Yarns Highland Soufflé wool is delightful to work with – especially in those colors. It’s squishy and warm, and I know it will get a lot of use this Winter (I started it last Winter,… so me only taking about a year is not too bad), and I’m SO CLOSE to being done.

As the light of Summer evenings fade to the earlier nightfall of Autumn and then Winter, my silly pumpkin magnets, as well as working on a knitting WiP have helped to boost my spirits. I still have the “Sunday Scaries“, but I work with a lot of really great folks and am grateful for them AND for my job.

All in all, I have a lot to be thankful for right now, which is a good mindset for the coming month of gratitude! I am still in shock that it will be November (!) at the end of this week,… especially knowing how fast the holidays come once November arrives.

Next on my to-do list: finding a silly crochet pattern in a Xmas theme that I can use with my remaining googly eyes.

For now, though: Happy Halloween to all this week, and keep on stitchin’ !!

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