Happy Samhain!

From sunset on the 31st October till sunset on the 1st November, the Gaelic festival of Samhain is celebrated. It marks the end of the harvest and all the preparation for the cold, dark months of the year, and the beginning of the winter.

Samhain Jacket from Knits for all Seasons

I love the rhythm of the seasons, especially this time of year. In fact nature's constant cycle provided the perfect inspiration for my second book, Knits for all Seasons, way back in 1993, featuring the Samhain Jacket in the November chapter.

No surprises then that I'm pretty keen on Halloween.  Ever eager to get as many reasons to party as possible into the calendar, from the very moment that an American friend introduced us to trick-or-treating when the kids were little, we've had some gloriously memorable celebrations.  So when the grandlings started to arrive a  few years back, I was more than happy to rekindle the tradition.

We take pumpkin carving very seriously in our family, so in the afternoon we started work. After deciding the larger one should have a traditional face with a few moons and stars on the back, Tristan reckoned the second one should be a tad more interesting and mentioned a design he'd seen bearing a cat. This got the creative juices flowing and we too eventually decided to go for a more radical design. Pumpkin carving can be a stressful occasion, but this year we all collaborated rather well on a joint effort - I drew it, Tristan carved it and Philip photographed it!

Witch on the front...

...and a cat on the back

Isabella, Ava, Lyra and Louis quickly got into the spirit -  their costumes, hair and make-up immediately transforming them into fully-blown witches, ghouls and vampires. 

Ava starting the transformation

Before ⬆ and after ⬇pics  at the hair and make-up session - purple lips, blue hair, with green faces for the witches and an alabaster one for the vampire...

Luckily the rain held off, so we made a jolly round of the street, scaring our tolerant neighbours with blood-curdling cries of trick or treat as soon as they opened their doors!

It was one of the scariest nights ever for visiting trick-or-treaters - we were relieved to hand out the treats to this spooky crew!

Couldn't bear to waste all that lovely food inside the pumpkin, so we nibbled on delicious roasted pumpkin seeds, followed by pumpkin soup for supper.