The White Hat Journal

Packing on layers of tights and black leggings she felt so bulky and awkward. There was the tiny undershirt and then the long sleeved shirt her mother also insisted that she wear. Then she put on the big black body, complete with tail and waited patiently for her mother to fasten all the snaps. Finally with a little pink nose, whiskers on her face, and ears on her head, the little girl was ready to head out into the cold.

Previous ears had been various homemade costumes – a colorful clown sewn from different multi-colored cloth, complete with a rainbow wig or a few years in a row it had been a bright pink puppy dog with long floppy ears. The clown had been pretty cool because everything was rainbow, even the pom poms her mother had fashioned out of yarn. The puppy dog had been her favorite though because it included not one, but two shades of pink. She even got to wear one of those plastic noses with that annoying little elastic band that went all the way around her head.

As long as she didn’t have a massive growth spurt, her costumes were normally recycled for a couple of years. Looking back, it was probably because her mother honestly didn’t have the time to make a new one every year let alone the money, but the little girl loved playing dress up, being someone else at the church carnival, so she didn’t mind.

This year though was special. She got to pick out a real costume from a magazine. She had to promise to wear it more than once and not fuss or ask for something different in future years. Her sister was small enough that she didn’t really have a say or an opinion and ended up as a brightly colored butterfly complete with large wings. It was loud and showy, which pretty much fit her to a tee. However, the little brown haired girl picked out a cat. A black cat with a white tummy and little white tufts of fur to wear around her wrists and ankles. She even got to have a tail with a white poof on the end.

Trick-or treating around the neighborhood turned out to be rather cold. Turns out her mother had been right in bundling her up in all the obnoxious layers. In the dark, you really couldn’t tell how bulky she felt. While some parents drove their kids from one neighborhood to the next, she was always walked from one house to the next with her little pumpkin of candy. This year she plucked up the courage to ask to be driven to her third grade teacher’s house. All the kids in her class had been invited to stop by and she didn’t want to be left out. Besides, then she could show off her fancy costume.

Surprisingly, her mother agreed, so with her sister also in tow, the three got in the mini-van and off they went. Years later she can no longer remember what type of candy was passed out or how long they stayed on that front porch while her mother talked with her teacher. What she does remember is how awesome that magazine-ordered costume was and how her teacher commented that it was one of the best (of course she probably said that to all of her students).

---

The Pattern
The blanket shown is the “Pumpkin Face Throw” from a RedHeart.com pattern, who’s home is now over at Yarnspirations. I made a couple of alterations from the original pattern, adding a thicker border to the outside, once the individual squares were all sewn together. I added two rows of the Heather Grey, one row of Amethyst, two rows of Spring Green, and a final row of Black. I also chose to use a different orange than suggested because I wanted my pumpkins to be brighter. I chose Neon Orange from I Love This Yarn. It goes well with Red Heart’s Spring Green, which is also neon-looking. One final tip is sewing the facial features of the pumpkins on before sewing all the squares together. This makes the placing of each piece much easier.