When I started a homemade Halloween costume contest on the Chronicle parenting blog, the Poop, my intentions were purely snarky. Hypothesizing that Bay Area parents had become incompetent with needle, thread and do-it-yourself construction skills, I expected that truly horrible attempts at crafting would be submitted. The blog would post the photos of last-minute bedsheet ghosts and horribly executed Pokemon characters, and we would all have a good laugh.