Kneedles & Life

a little bit of yarn. a little bit of life.

Healthy Pumpkin Hummus Recipe

Tis the season for all things pumpkin – even hummus! I love hummus, especially making my own. You know exactly what goes into it and there’s no weird preservatives. It’s also super cheap to make!

I recently made a chocolate hummus you can find in this post that is super yummy and not too sweet. This pumpkin hummus is also not sweet, but that’s how I like it. You’ll see that it has no refined sugar, just pure maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup lol) which is a healthier sugar substitute.

Enjoy!

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The Coffee Bean Pumpkin – Easy Knitting Pattern

Anyone else continuously adding more pumpkins to their house all season? I just added the fourth one to our tv cabinet and my husband said I was getting a bit extra LOL. Can’t stop, won’t stop!

The Coffee Bean Pumpkin is an easy knitting pattern named after the Coffee Bean Beanie patterns I have been designing this year. You can check them out here! The slip stitches create a little coffee bean looking stitch, hence the name.

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best selling items for markets

Hey Maker! If you’re a small business owner, you know how hard it is to decide what inventory to offer and what your customers will buy, especially at markets. You typically don’t take orders at a market, so you need to have actual items available for purchase. I usually do one or two markets during the holiday season and I am by no means an expert. So I polled my followers on Instagram who do markets and asked them for their best selling items! I have rounded up my favorite patterns/designers in each category to give you a list that I hope will be helpful as you prepare for another successful market season. You got this!

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Hats

Hats is the obvious first category, right?! I selected a few simple, gender neutral patterns that would be great sellers at markets. If you live somewhere cold, you will most likely sell a lot of hats in a variety of sizes.

The first is my own. The Lazy Day Beanie is a bulky weight design written in 8 sizes. It’s quick and great for the whole family. You can top with a pom pom or leave it plain! I almost always use Lion Brand Color Made Easy for this design!

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ten easy things i do to save money

Something you may or may not know about me and my family is that we live on one income – a teacher income. We have been blessed in many ways, including my small income on the side, but we are also smart with our money and make sacrifices each day. We are able to live an enjoyable life and say “yes” to most things we want for a number of reasons that I want to share with you.

You may wonder about my income. Blogging and designing pays for our groceries and any personal shopping (more yarn lol) I do, but my husband’s income pays all the bills, big purchases, traveling, etc.

I want to share this list with you incase you’re trying to make the switch to a single income, or you’re living paycheck to paycheck and can’t figure out why. Nothing here is really profound or unique, just personal ways we save money each day in our own lives. We are fairly minimalist in how we live and don’t have a lot of stuff (besides kids toys now haha). I’m sure many of you can relate to a lot of these!

So here’s what has been working for us. Like I said, we are very blessed in many ways. Also what works for us may not work for you and that’s the beauty of life. Everyone is different! Comment and let me know a way that you save money each day that may help me or someone else!

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little obsessions bringing me joy in 2020 quarantine

I made a short list of some of my favorite things (besides family, obviously) right now that have been making me happy! Comment and let me know if you’ve tried any or there’s something currently bringing you joy!

Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. This means if you purchase through my link, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog in this way and helping me create more content!

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how to make the most of your mornings as a mom

I write this to you at 10:33 on a Saturday morning. I have about 20-30 minutes before my daughter wakes up, and I feel like I’ve had a fairly productive morning, especially for a Saturday. I am a mom and do not work a conventional job so I have the blessing of staying home with my daughter, but I won’t lie, those nap times are super special and important. I am a wife, homemaker, blogger/influencer, and small business owner on top of being a stay-at-home mom. Since having my daughter, it is a daily challenge to get things done, but being her mom is my first priority and everything else gets done around caring for her.

If you’re anything like me, mornings are your most productive time of the day. I know that if I don’t do certain things in the morning (like cleaning) they won’t happen at all. But the time feels like it FLIES by too quickly every. single. day. Something that helps me is having the same routine. Every day we wake up at the same time, eat breakfast at the same time, play, nap, etc.

In this post I will walk you through MY morning routine. The things I get done are sometimes different but the general flow is the same. I hope it helps you organize your mornings too!

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Toddler Food Ideas

Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peas and hummus.

Ever get bored feeding your toddler the same food every day, but can’t think of fresh ideas? There’s so many options out there but sometimes my mind just goes blank. I asked my mom friends on Instagram what their kiddos have been eating and loving lately and put them all together in a list! I loosely organized them by food groups so it’s easier to sort through and find what you’re looking for.

Hope this helps you and your littles find some new favorites! If you have ideas that aren’t on the list make sure to leave a comment below!

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my top 5 favorite youtube workout channels that are totally free

Anyone else love a good home workout? I don’t like to get ready and drive to a gym only to have people watch me awkwardly workout LOL, and I also don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for a class or trainer. If you’re on a budget but don’t want to sacrifice your health, I’m sharing my favorite YouTube accounts that offer awesome, doable at-home workouts and classes for FREE.

I have used all of these at various points of my life and highly recommend them. Some also have paid content but there’s plenty of free videos to last you forever.

These are in no particular order – enjoy!

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easy peasy squeeze pouch recipes

Hey moms (or dads too)! This one is for YOU. Do you have a picky eater? Want to sneak a few more veggies into your kids diet? Need a snack on the go? My daughter will eat most of what I give her, but sometimes it’s hard to get enough variety in her diet, especially with veggies. We spent 2 weeks “introducing” carrots before she would swallow one, but I mixed carrots with applesauce one time and she sucked it down.

I want to emphasize that these pouches are a great supplement to what your child is already eating. They are not a meal, and I am not advocating that they should be the only way you feed your child fruits and veggies. 😉 Phew, glad we got that out of the way.

Just a heads up – this post is for parents who don’t really follow recipes and “just eyeball it” like me. You won’t find any measurements or special prep with these recipes! Just simple, quick, throw it together combinations for the busy parent who still wants to make sure what they feed their kid is healthy and clean.

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