In December 2012 I had a fantastic holiday in Morocco, touring the Royal Cities and soaking in the culture. For a knitter and crocheter it is inspirational heaven! I took oodles of photos of tiles, carved plaster, carved cedar wood, painted ceilings, carved leather, fabric and embroidery. On the penultimate day we visited Chellar Kasbah in Rabat, an interesting site with ruins of a roman town, a koranic school, an Andalucian garden and a stork colony. By the path on the way out I saw lots of pretty little heart shaped leaves, like clover leaves, but more dainty and sitting atop long slender stems rising tall above other plants. I took a photo, just one photo. But I kept thinking about those little leaves ♥

When I came home I looked at the photo, it may not look inspirational to some, but for me it captured the mood. The leaves were a little ragged, clearly tasty food for some small creature!

I started designing hearts, lots of them, until I found one which felt just right. I call them Little Hearts….. and my little hearts were made into a small lap blanket in 3 cool colours that reminded me of the cool shade in the gardens of the Kasbah. Although I chose a 3 colour design, but you could do them in any colour scheme you like. Little hearts can be used in many ways - a cushion, a coaster, a table runner, a bed runner, a scarf, a stole, a shawl, bunting…..little hearts everywhere. The little hearts are small, so they make a great stash buster, using up all those last little bits of yarn from projects you have loved making……little hearts full of love ♥

This pattern provides the basic little heart motif and shows how to make a 4 ply small lap blanket or baby blanket (just udner 1m square). Other ideas are provided with examples of other little hearts I have made, in fingering, dk and laceweight. But how you use little hearts is up to you and your imagination. I hope you love them as much as I do. And if you are on Ravelry or Craftsy please share your project, so we can all see Little Hearts all over the world in loving homes ♥

Written and charted pattern, in English and US terms