Happy Halloween!

What am I dressed as today? A turtle, of course!


I have dressed up as a turtle every Halloween since 1999. Why, you ask? Are you sitting in a comfy chair? Ready for a silly story? Good. Here it goes.

I was in my first year in university and my best friend, who was in Grade 12, came up to visit me for Halloween. She wanted to pick up some decorations and a costume at Value Village and, although I already had my strawberry costume, I went along with her.

While Courtney was off looking at festive trinkets, I was perusing the kids Halloween costumes. I found this adorable turtle costume marked "Ages 3-5" and picked it out for a closer look. It was meant to cover a child head to toe. I studied the costume for a moment and thought, "Hey! That would fit my tiny frame. I wonder what it would look like?" I didn't bother to remove the hanger from the costume, nor did I take off the cardboard label that covered the costume like a sandwich board. I slipped it over my head and squeezed into it. I walked over to a mirror to take a look at myself in the turtle suit. "Cute," I thought.

I strolled back over to the rack where I found the costume. I tried to pull it back over my head. Uh oh. It wouldn't budge. I started to panic. I ran over to Courtney. I told her I was stuck in this costume meant for toddlers. She laughed. I was not as amused. I asked her to help me pull the costume off, but she couldn't get it to budge either. I looked at price tag and it read $14.99. Shit. $14.99 is a lot of money for a student. Do you know how many boxes of Kraft Dinner $14.99 could buy? But I had to buy it. I couldn't take it off without destroying it.

You know where this is going, don't you? I walked up to the counter and told the cashier I had to buy the costume that I was wearing. She scanned it. I paid. When we got back to my dorm room, Courtney broke the plastic hanger in two and retrieved the pieces while I cut the cardboard label off the costume. Only then, could I pull the turtle suit back up over my head.



And that's why I've worn this costume for 8 years. I need to get my money's worth.

Of course, this story is only to distract you from the fact that I haven't finished my Socktoberfest socks. I guess I still could finish the second sock today, but, chances are, it'll have to wait until early November.


This is the Hedgerow sock pattern knit up with Oceanwind Knits Merino yarn in sweetgrass. I really like these socks.