Is it okay to wish you a Happy Halloween a day late? Seems fitting this year as all our preparations seemed very last second. Not to mention recycled from years gone by. Still, that's the essence of tradition isn't it?

The trick or treaters seemed to like our Coraline inspired orange. Well, the brave ones who ventured out in the pouring rain did anyway.

Honestly, the weather was so nasty that I put off photographing anything until this morning. And I think the toothpick fanged pumpkin looks better by day anyway (he was totally inspired by a picture I saw here).
And there's something about a little row of ghostie lollies in the early morning susnshine.

In a bookshop recently, I was browsing through a copy of Pippa Middleton's book 'Celebrate'. She has a tutorial for making these. Or there's mine. No royal connetions, but hey, it's free. Not that I'm accusing Pippa of harvesting ideas. Heck, these are as old as the hills - we used to make them when we were kids.
But it does raise an interesting question. As bloggers, are we now more averse to freely sharing information, when it is clear that many people are making money (yes that evil word) from the same skills, by way of book deals, or publishing their own ebooks, or selling patterms on Ravelry, or goods on Etsy?
Not that I am against any of these things. I've contributed to a book and been paid for it (and believe me, I know it is not an easy way to make money). I have no problem in paying for a pattern I'd like to knit or an ebook or magazine I'd like to read. I am pleased to support the skills of talented people by my spending habits.
But what does make me a little sad, is the creeping suspicion that by doing so, somehow it is damaging the cohesiveness of our blogging community. In the olden days, blogging was a great way to transfer skills, knowledge and ideas. There was no Pinterest, no Ravelry, even Google Reader was pretty new fangled. Trends travelled by word of mouth, there were tutorials written, swaps organized, photography projects to join in with. It felt like the greatest party and I just couldn't wait to be part of it.
These days, I wonder if bloggers feel a little daft to be 'giving away the goods for free', when other people are monetizing the same thing. Or just that the resources availible on the web are so vast, that there doesn't seem any point in adding another small voice into the mix.
But one of the things that first drew me to blogging was the sense of community that it provided. I'd like to feel that again. So I'm cooking up a plan - a game for us all to play, where the sum of the parts is so much more fun than the individual. It'll take a little while, because it's an investment in time and effort, but I'll let you know when it is ready and I hope that you are up for joining in!