Halloween is my favorite holiday, even though I celebrate in a different fashion these days than I did as a kid. I was lucky to have one of those moms who hand-made every Halloween costume, from JoAnn Fabrics patterns or our wild imaginations. My sister and I usually had some grand idea near the end of summer (Rainbow Carebear, Catwoman, Snow White, a penguin, etc.), so the three of us looked through the big pattern books at the store and picked out fabric. I don’t know how my mom, a teacher, found the time to complete two costumes every year, in addition to her school work, but we were always happily outfitted by Oct. 31.

Pittsburgh weather can be fickle around Halloween, as I remember being a not well-clothed gypsy in 50-degree weather, and a fully-clothed penguin in 75-degree weather. Regardless, a few other things made the holiday fantastic: my birthday is Nov. 2, and since I attended Catholic school, Nov. 1 is a holy day, and therefore a day off. A sick candy-filled tummy could properly recover!

I always had costume birthday parties with games, treat bags, and cakes that my wild imagination was, of course, a big part of as well. Ever the crafty kid, one year, I made a paper mache pumpkin pinata with newspaper, flour water, and paint, and after many hits with a baseball bat, it refused to break! I think we eventually just took it down and broke it open on the ground. Who knew I was such a good paper macher?!?

I have tons of Halloween stories to intersperse among my posts in the coming month, but right now, what am I doing to prepare for the holiday? Well, I designed some crochet Halloween buddies for your holiday enjoyment. First off, ghost and candy corn finger puppets, specially designed to fit each finger based on length. I’m working on a kid version, but my hands are pretty small, so it won’t be too different. And then a stuffed smiling candy corn. Both are available for sale in my Etsy Shop and I will probably be selling or listing the patterns here. Trick or treat!