Hi friends, Happy Friday! My goodness, I've had a crafty week. I spent a good part of Wednesday working on all things black and orange. If you're in the Toronto area, why not tune in to Breakfast Television on Tuesday morning to get a dose of Halloween inspiration? They'll be filming the Live Eye right here in the Canadian Living Test Kitchen (exciting!) and we'll be on hand with great ideas for spooky food, crafts and jack-o'-lanterns. Yesterday I took a leap forward in time to Christmas, and spent my afternoon surrounded by red and green. I'll be presenting – twice! – at the upcoming Seasons show and it's time to get my samples ready. If you're in the area and want to learn how to make a cute Christmas ornament, or want to get some great ideas for packaging gifts from your kitchen, I hope you'll stop by. Knitting! I took pity on myself and blocked the first little bit of the shawl I'm making. Now I've got a much better idea of how much (and how fast!) I have to knit in order to finish on time. And a way of justifying buying those blocking wires I've been dreaming about. And now, some links, in case you've got some free time for reading or crafting (or both):

• How to sew leather elbow patches on your sweater.
• Knit a sweater for a sad penguin. They're surprisingly stylish birds. (Thanks to Beth and Miriam for sending me these links!)
• Wearing a DIY spider fascinator seems like a good way to participate in the workplace costume contest without having to ride the subway in a toga. (via The Hairpin)
• Under "why didn't I think of that?": make your own shower cap. And it's way, way nicer than the free ones you get in a hotel room.
• How to fold origami bats. These would be a nice seasonal addition to my paper crane and boat folding skills.

All right: only five more hours until Friday night nacho time begins. Have a great weekend!