Oakdale Poncho and Stormcrow Hat

With winter right around the corner, we took advantage of a nice autumn walk in one of our favorite parks to showcase two new patterns. The first is Oakdale Poncho, an easy-to-knit piece that is perfect for wearing on those in-between days, indoors or out.

Oakdale Poncho

Knit with Malabrigo’s Dos Tierras yarn, a blend of wool and alpaca, gives the fabric a lovely drape.

Oakdale Poncho

The second pattern is a smart hat that is also a quick and easy knit, making it a perfect project for gift giving (especially for some of those hard-to-buy-for men).

Stormcrow Hat

Stormcrow is knit with Blue Sky Fiber’s Woolstok, a 100% wool yarn that comes in a variety of easy-to-combine colors.

Stormcrow Hat

Shoe Polish, Superwash and Strawberry-Rhubarb Goodness

Shoe Polish Socks

Virginia has a new sock pattern available knit with Madelinetosh Twist Light. It’s an asymmetrical pattern that incorporates both cables and lace. Simple, but elegant.

Shoe Polish Socks

Pattern can be found on Ravelry.

Handspun Superwash Merino

And, my spinning has yielded about 230 yards of 3-ply (using the chain-ply method) yarn from 4.5 oz. of superwash merino. It’s a little thicker than what can reasonably fit through my CSM (another thing to be shared later), so this yarn might have to wait to become something else.

In the meantime… we enjoyed “harvesting” some fruit when organizing the freezer, yielding a super simple strawberry-rhubarb crisp. So simple, that a written recipe is hardly needed. Essentially pile the frozen strawberries and rhubarb into a big bowl, defrost for a bit. Add some honey (1/4 cup, more or less depending on desired sugar load), a sprinkling of flour (I use a gluten-free blend) and cinnamon. Spread that into a 9×13 pan, top with some ground-together pecans, oats, olive oil (just a drizzle) and molasses (another drizzle). Bake for 50 minutes at 375ºF (more or less until the bubbling is on the thicker side).

If you’re feeling a little more decadent, top with a little vanilla ice cream!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Brego

This time of year the garden is a great source of pleasure and pain! The weeding seems never-ending, the creeping things creep, the spreading things spread, but there’s also plenty of blossoming and blooming and plants beginning to bear fruit.

Milkweed Blossom

Wee Tomato

When we’re not stuffing our faces with the vegetable and fruit bounty, I have been knitting a bit. I have a new pattern, Brego, which is 25% until July 5 (no coupon code needed). I had the chance to use the lovely 4-ply sock yarn from Ancient Arts in the beautiful color Chocolate Lab.

Brego Socks

Brego Socks

Even with the darker color, this yarn shows the stitch pattern pretty nicely.

Linen Tank

Since I last posted, I also finished my version of Hane in Shibui Linen.

Grilling Veggies

Hope you are enjoying the bounty of the season as much as we are!