Sleepy Hollow Acorns

Looking for a little treat without calories or sugar? Try my little acorn cushions. I just finished a batch and FINALLY added a new item to my Etsy Shop. These spookies were actually gathered from the grave site of writer Washington Irving in Sleepy Hollow NY. 

This huge ancient oak towers over the other trees at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and just happens to be in the private family plot of Washington Irving. It showers the ground with these little shaggy capped acorns. 

Irving's grave is the one decorated with flags and pumpkins. Quite humble, not what one would expect from the writer of such stories as The Headless Horseman and Rip Van Winkle.

 I gathered my acorns on an overcast, drizzly October day. Noisy ravens perched on the tops of gravestones. It could not have been a more perfect day for my spooky task.

I was determined to stay until my basket was full even though it started raining. I did fill that basket and I ended up with a stow away.

My Spooky Acorns would make a nice addition to your Autumn nature display or could even be a stocking stuffer for those people on your Christmas list who enjoy the eerie all year round.

Tree Bark Fall Poncho

Back in late spring I started this broken cable pattern poncho. That would give me enough time to finish it before fall when I looked forward to wearing it. It turned out that I put my knitting down a lot, sometimes for weeks at a time. The idea of a large wool poncho on my lap lost it's appeal during the warmer months. Also my tennis elbow flared up so there was another reason to set my knitting aside. 

Because I put it away so much I always forgot where I was in the pattern when I picked it up again. So, I just started back at the beginning of the cable pattern each time, whether right or wrong. It was supposed to be a perfect, tight fishbone pattern, instead it was looking like this. Which I love! It reminds me of something growing, like the bark of a tree. People who saw me knitting commented that it looked like bark. Cool, I just kept on knitting crazy and wrong, foregoing the original pattern for the tree bark look.

Well, it's finished and I have been wearing all around. Yesterday we stopped off at a "Bubble Shop", they sell bubble teas and lots of tasty asian sweets. You can see me and my finished poncho with an impressive amount of roll cakes. A couple of people have already asked me for the pattern. It's the same answer when I'm asked for a recipe..."Well, I can give you the ingredients but as to exact measurements you're on your own since I just kind of wing it."

Into Fall and Back in Time

Last week we went off on an excursion to Old Sturbridge Village. As we drove from New York to Massachusetts. it was obvious that they are ahead of us when it comes to Autumn. The colors became more and more brilliant as we went along. When we got there I was enthralled by this grove which is on the grounds of Sturbridge Village. 

Sturbridge Village is "an 1830s New England Living History Museum". We usually go there on Homeschool Day, but this time we ran of on a whim. They have farm buildings, homes, gardens, shops, a saw mill, grist mill, a cooper, a huge wood burning pottery kiln, yarn spinning, a blacksmith, a tinsmith and more! All working and manned with costumed educators. You can even try your hand at the various crafts and trades.

My younger pretending to do her "chores". 

One thing my husband and I really love about Sturbridge is their bookshop. It's chock full of everything we are interested in. Crafting and herbs for me, American History and trees for him. Since we are entering the spooky month of October I picked up 'Wicked Plants' for myself and a book about the Salem Witch Trials for the girls. I went back the next day and grabbed 'Vintage Knit Gloves and Mittens' by Kathryn Fulton. I started knitting these fingerless gloves as soon as we got home.