Mary and the cabbage patch

The end of gardening season is already here! It's been a while now that my tomato plants are dead and that we've eaten all the zucchinis from my little community garden. This year was the less productive that I've had in my three seasons long, urban gardening adventure. This summer, I've met all kinds of problems that I had not experienced before. For instance, my carrots and beets were eaten by some rodents. Also, most of the herbs (two types of basil and cilantro) and the swiss chard that I planted (twice!) have rotted due to the very rainy spring that we've had.

 Still, I'm really thankful that I had the chance to grow my own vegetables this year again. I was lucky to have a garden so fast, since we just moved in the neighbourhood last May. The waiting lists for community gardens are usually long.  Because of this, I've enjoyed fresh parsley (which I'm totally addicted to!) all summer long and even though the cabbages have suffered multiple slugs attack, they became crunchy and big. Luckily I had Mary with me to help harvest them!

I'm happy that I finally uploaded the pattern on ravelry. I finished the doll, which is the second one of my Hocus Pocus inspired doll, nearly a week ago but missed the time to finish the final version of the pdf. But now it's available if you'd like to take a look!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mary---hocus-pocus

Do you have a garden? What did you grow this summer?

My first pattern

It's fall again and it makes me happy. All the colorful leaves, the crisp morning air and the pumpkin pie! There are so many things I like to do in the fall, like: go apple picking, wear woolly sweaters, cuddle with my lover, drink hot chaï lattes, cook hearty meals and... getting ready for Halloween!
 I can't say Halloween is my favorite holiday, because I just can't put Christmas in second place... Still, I'm a huge fan of making my own costume and eating chocolate!

As a child, I loved all Halloween related activities. Every year, I helped my parents decorate the house and carve a pumpkin. My mom would make me a costume, even though I wouldn't always ask for the easiest one. We would pack little bags of candies for the trick-or-treaters and most importantly, I watched my favorite Halloween movie. And that's exactly what inspired me for my first pattern.

I designed a little doll inspired by the character of Sarah Sanderson in the movie Hocus Pocus. It's one of the three witches from Salem (the blond one actually) who are brought back to life on Halloween night. My goal is to make a doll for each sister before the end of the month. Sarah is already up on Ravelry if you want to check her out! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sarah-6

If everything goes by as I want, Mary (the brown one) should be ready at the end of next week. Hope you have a nice long week-end with a lots of knitting ahead!