Pumpkins - it’s that time of year again

 With the weather outside on the turn and autumn well and truly underway, my thoughts turned to Halloween and of course, pumpkins. Years ago I would purchase pumpkins and spend ages scooping out the insides and carving a face ready to be lit with a tea light candle. Now whilst I love the look of a good carved pumpkin, and boy have I seen some amazing ones thanks to social media, one thing I cannot stand is the physical scooping out and the smell! 

Social media has also shown me some lovely crochet and fabric pumpkins. With this in mind I set about trying to see if I could make my own version. Looking through my stash I found some lovely chunky wool that changed colour, through shades of browns to purples and dusky pinks. This reminded me of the beautiful colours that nature displays. Using my 5mm hook I did a chain that was slightly longer than the height I wanted the finished pumpkin to be as I wanted to squash it slightly in the middle. Using back loop stitches and working in rows, it was fairly straightforward to crochet a length of fabric that would be joined to make a tube, gathered and then stuffed. A stem was made as well as a couple of twists in green. The final embellishment, a couple of miniature looking pine cones.

I love the final outcome. It is so tactile you can’t help but want to give it a little squeeze. There is no smell (or the mess involved) that the natural pumpkins have and it can be brought out every year as either a general decoration or part of a larger Halloween display. I can see this one won’t be the last one that I will be making. Now where is the rest of the chunky yarn stash ..............




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