Knit Pumpkins for October, Halloween, and Thanksgiving

When you live in a small city apartment with not enough closets for storage, you need versatile seasonal decor. I made these easy knitted pumpkins because I knew I could use them for both Halloween *and* Thanksgiving! That's also why I used brown and yellow-brown yarns. I thought orange might be too Halloween-y, while browns could work for both October and November.

I loosely followed the directions for these knitted pumpkins. Scroll down and read the comments before you knit - helpful amendments have been added there! I made the two bottom pumpkins shown here using those directions, but varied my needle and yarn sizes. The larger pumpkin was made on larger needles, and I did 55 stitches across and I think about 30 rows.

I didn't have the right tools for the stems shown in the tutorial, so I cut about 6 - 10 pieces of yarn (depending on my pumpkin size) all the same length. Then I knotted them at the bottom to form a sort of tassel, trimmed the yarn beneath the knot, and then glued the "stem" onto the pumpkins with tacky glue. 

I'm debating whether or not to add veins like the original tutorial does. I think I like them as is so far!

New Fall/Autumn Printables in the Shop!

We're still unpacking and getting settled into the new place. What is it about the last few boxes of random bits and pieces? It seems like it's always hard to find places (or storage) for the remaining items once I'm 95% unpacked. Does that happen to anyone else?

But I'm still here, and still trying to blog when I can! I thought I'd update you on some new pieces I've added to the shop for fall/autumn. The first reads "I Love Autumn", with the "o" replaced by a maple leaf. The words are in orange on a antique paper-looking background.

This piece is also available in red, for anyone who thinks cherry red fall leaves are the prettiest. I can't decide if I love bright orange or bright red ones the best myself.

Can you tell I like maple leaves? They always seem to be the brightest, loveliest colored leaves out of all the tress. And they come in so many varieties and shapes! So I couldn't resist creating a printable set of two maples, one in scarlet and one in golden orange.

Last, I created an "I Love October" digital print with pumpkins replacing the o's in "October". In Massachusetts, that's when we get peak foliage. It's also the best time of the year for picking apples at local orchards and visiting farmers' markets.

I hope you like the new printables! You can see more of the digital prints available in my store - HeritageCurrentCo - here.

Easy Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Chip Cake

This cake takes about five minutes to mix together, and comes out incredibly moist. It's actually a little hard to cut because of this - hence the raggedy-edged, not-so-pretty cake slice shown here - but it's so delicious that you won't care!

As I mentioned in the last post, we're in the middle of moving - a perfect time to use up extra ingredients in the pantry! We just happened to have a can of pumpkin left over from the fall, and a yellow cake mix from a Thanksgiving sale. I'd heard of people mixing pumpkin with chocolate cake mixes for muffins, so I figured you could do the same thing with yellow cake mix. After searching for some recipes online and reading the comments where people suggested subtle changes, here's the easy pumpkin dark chocolate chip cake recipe I came up with:

1 box yellow cake mix (you could also use spice, chocolate, white, etc.)

2 eggs, preferably room temperature

1 can pumpkin puree

1 tsp. vanilla extract

cinnamon, cardamom, mace, cloves, ginger

dark chocolate chips (you could use semi-sweet, white, or butterscotch as well)

Preheat your oven according to the directions on the box. Select a pan size from the back (or wing it, like we did), and grease and flour it if the directions call for it. I used a Duncan Hines mix, and that's what they advised.

Pour the cake mix into a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and crack both eggs into it. Add the vanilla, the pumpkin, and as much or as little spice as you like. I like a good amount, so I added several dashes of each. In the comments I read, some people also added 1/4 c. sugar to sweeten it up a bit. If you're not including chocolate chips, you might want to do this. With the chocolate chips mixed in, I think it might be overkill. Totally up to you, though! I tend to like things less sweet than other people do.

Mix according to package directions - usually 30 secs on low to moisten the ingredients, then 2 minutes on high. I didn't feel like cleaning beaters, so I did this part by hand. The batter was a little lumpy, but I suspect it was mostly due to the cake mix being in a warm kitchen for months. The lumps turned into cake - rather than flour-y pockets - so no harm, no foul. They just didn't look so pretty as pockets of white in the finished product. But taste is what matters, right?

Gently fold in the morsels/chips. We had about a cup left in the pantry, so that's what I went with. I thought it was a good amount. You could add more or less - just go with whatever you like!

Pour into the prepared pan, and bake according to directions. We didn't have cake pans around (they'd already been packed), so I just went with a large greased 12" skillet. I forgot the flouring part (whoops, you can tell I have a lot on my mind) but the cake didn't stick too much and only took 25 minutes to bake. That's why I like this cake so much - you don't have to do things perfectly and it will still be wonderful!

I opted to leave it plain, but since it's not overly sweet, I think it'd be even better with a light cream cheese or whipped cream frosting, or even just a dollop of CoolWhip.

Animal Prints by Zara Illustrates

These "Country Badger" and "City Fox" prints by UK-based Zara Illustrates have had me smiling all day! I think they'd work wonderfully with taupes, browns, and tweeds in a living or dining room. They'd add a wonderful touch of humor and lightness, and would be great in combination with pops of blue, orange, or red.

See more of Zara Illustrates' work here!