little love No.1

A blue valentine.

I’ve been smitten, well maybe ridiculously fixated, with a little crochet heart from an old workbasket magazine, the “heart in crochet” from Vol. 24, No. 5 February 1959 to be exact! (Ravelry page for the original) I have a few issues of workbasket, but mine are all from the 40’s. So while totally obsessing on that heart, I stumbled across this pineapple crochet heart pattern, it worked up perfectly and completely soothed my crazy for the original heart.

important things of note:

1. While not completely identical to the workbasket heart, when done in thread…it’s almost a perfect match! The only difference, this pattern has one less shell under the pineapple bit & a few less spokes on the base of the pineapple.

2. I used a 1.65mm (7) hook & #10 thread (if you want it bigger use the patterns suggested 4mm (G) hook and corresponding yarn)

3. When you get to row 11, you will be just working ½ the heart (basically 1 hump) you’ll break yarn at the end of row 14. Then reattach on the other side to finish the other hump (the line after row 14 that begins with “right side facing” should have a ch 2 after “st sh in same space”

4. If you like my postage stamp edging, here is how I worked it…on round 2 of the border work a sc, ch2, sc in each ch3 space. Would be sweet with any border!

5. Mine measure 3½ wide x 3¾” tall (I didn’t block or starch it..but you could:)

6. I will probably still buy every single copy of workbasket I run across..but its good to remove one knotch from my crochet ocd belt!

Cake Batter Muffins

When my sister first shared this recipe with me, I didn’t believe her. Crazy soft & squishy, freak your mouth out muffins with only 2 ingredients ..please.

But it’s true.

All you need is:

One 15 oz can pumpkin (OR soda pop *see end of this post for variation).


One 18.25 oz box cake mix (any flavor we’ve used butter, yellow, white, orange, spice, chocolate, REALLY ANY FLAVOR you like!)

Mix the pumpkin and the cake mix. DON’T add any eggs, oil or water! NOTHING, just the pumpkin & the cake mix powder! Keep mixing until there isn’t any powdery spots. 

The batter will be a bit thick, so spoon them as best as you can into lined muffin tins. They don’t rise much, so I fill them pretty full and bake as directed on the box. Usually 350º for 18-25 min. Check with a tooth pick, if it comes out clean they’re done! These orange pumpkin muffs took right around 25 min.

OPTIONS:
*Stir raisins, cranberries or nuts into the batter.
* Sprinkle a little raw sugar on top, prior to baking for a sweet crunch.
* Eat just the batter. 

Also they can be vegan, just check your cake mix box (we found Duncan Hines only contained wheat & soy :)

*This same super easy recipe can be changed up by simply substituting one 12oz can of soda pop for the can of pumpkin & following the same steps as above! Imagine, french vanilla root beer muffins, red velvet Dr.Pepper muffins, Pepsi spice muffins or maybe strawberry sprite muffins! SODA MUFFINS!

*The soda batter will be a bit loose, more like traditional cupcake batter. With these I only fill the tins ½ to ¾ full (they don’t rise much either) but they are a more spongy cake like texture than the pumpkin muffins & if you over fill them, they may cave a little in the centers because of their softness.

Oh the possibilities & combinations! What’s not to love!

Thanks sister!

the thing about socks

..they aren’t just for your feet..

I adore sock monkeys, well anything sock animal, well REALLY anything that is practical/useful, that has a dual purpose & the ability of turning into something ultra sweet like sock animals!

Recently I picked up this sock monkey book, it’s printed on a heavy weight matte stock (it feels so good) & is filled with seriously sweet hand drawings depicting the techniques used to create all of the different 40+ animals & dolls, it’s 48 pages and was only $10! Hopefully you can find it locally, or you can always get it online from them directly at foxsox.com (it looks like on their site you can get 1 lb of monkey sock 2nds for cheap!) If you happen to have an old pair of socks lying around (really any kind of sock will work) and want to have a go at making a sock monkey or elephant, here are their original free instructions!

This isn’t even my 1st sock animal book, it’s my 5th.

Really who wouldn’t love a ribbed elephant or sock BANANA!

I’m not even sure what it is about socks, I have quite a few knitting books on socks too, but I have never even tried to knit a pair, I like the idea of it though!

Everyone in my family is slightly sock obsessed, well, they like to “wear” them.

My daughter:  Loves anything plaid, argyle or wild, usually a thinner dress style sock, toes, no toes, long, short is doesn’t matter, if they match eeeh it’s ok, even better if they don’t! She will wear a sock even after it has a hole!?! She has a christmas shoe (instead of a stocking) and loves it when we fill it with socks!

My husband: I think if he could have one wish, it would be to have new socks for every day of his life, he says there is just something wondrous about a snug, well-fitting sock. His favorites are goldtoes & smartwool in browns, greys & earth tones, crew length. He has left & right socks !?! When pairing socks once long ago, he said “you have 2 lefts there.” I said “what?” he explained that with his large feet he actually has a left & a right sock and I was paring up 2 lefts. All I could do was laugh! 

Me: I tend to favor stripes, wide stripes (¼” -½”wide) usually gray with another color, orange, green, somewhat of a witchypoo sock, 100% cotton, but in reality, I am usually barefoot.

The dog: anything soft and squishy, he will hunt out lose socks. Sometimes he will just wander into where you are with a sock tongue hanging out the side of his mouth & look at you like…what? He has a thing for kleenex too.

The cat: She’s indifferent towards socks, but I guess, really prefers to be barefoot too!