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

Autumn Orange

Oak

It’s been an unseasonably warm autumn (although, many “unseasonable” weather patterns seem to be becoming more “seasonable” with the climate warming up). Still, temperature  aside, the trees and plants still respond to the fewer hours of sunlight, getting ready to sleep in the coming winter months.

Oakdale Park

The leaves promise to be extra vibrant this year, and already we’re seeing some pretty landscapes close by our home. This park is a short hop, skip and a jump from our back door and we try to make a pass through the trails once a week. Fun to see the landscape changing throughout the year.

This time of year also inspires the use of orange in some of the needle felted critters. Particularly, those enjoying the types of things most readily associated with this time of year.

Pumpkins:

Pumpkins

Acorns:

Owl holding acorn

and, Pumpkin pie!

Owl eating pumpkin pie

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

Hedgehogs, Otters and Ballooning Bears

I’ve been working on adding some new critters to the shop these last few weeks. And, a few most recent additions are some of my favorites, and some of the more fun to work on.

Hedgehog

Hedgehog v. 2

Otter

Otter

Ballooning Bear

Ballooning Bear

It’s getting to be the time of year where I have to focus more on production and less on coming up with new designs. But, I’m happy to have been able to sneak these guys in.