There’s a dragon in the pumpkin patch
Her she’s is - meet Bluey (as my daughter named her and quite right too as it’s her toy).
It’s always lovely when something you make for a present it appreciated, even more so when when it’s enthusiastically received. Our youngest, on her birthday a few days ago, walked into the dining room (we always display presents in a box with the cake outside and whatever I made sitting next to the cake) to be greeted by her gifts and the first thing she said was “Yay, my dragon!”. Now that’s the type of reaction you want. The dragon (later named Rainbowey, then changed to Bluey but most definitely declared a girl) then sat next to our little munchkin whilst she opened her cards and presents. After which the little dragon had to come to Legoland with us on our adventures. So she did. I managed to convince the birthday girl to leave the dragon in her bag for the dragon rollercoaster. “But she’s a dragon and can fly and will love it.” All valid points. Instead Bluey watched from the sidelines and flew around later.
It’s now become so much of our birthday traditions as a family that when I ask my kids what they want for their birthday they often reply with a crochet request. Funnily enough whenever my sister asks what the kids want it’s with an aim to knitting or crocheting them something and my mum always notes what their favourite colour is so they get knitted ‘Nanny jumper’ from her as well, as do we all. It’s one of my favourite things - discovering what my clever family makes for everyone. I love it. There used to be a real stigma against homemade items but I’m glad that’s disappearing and becoming more fashionable. So much time goes into any homemade item that it really is an act of love. My husband thinks I’ve run out of ideas for him but I have a few left up my sleeve.
So these pumpkins are wanted. My eldest would decorate for Halloween as if it were Christmas so I’ve kept her busy with these little projects and crocheted new pumpkins every day. They’re quite quick so a perfect project to satisfy a short amount of time. I love it. Check out the pattern on the Just Pootling page as it’s wonderfully simple and perfect for a beginner. The best bit about this pattern is that you can adapt it to achieve all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve made a couple of classic pumpkins alongside a more squash-like shape. But I love this one because it breaks from the norm.
It’s always lovely when something you make for a present it appreciated, even more so when when it’s enthusiastically received. Our youngest, on her birthday a few days ago, walked into the dining room (we always display presents in a box with the cake outside and whatever I made sitting next to the cake) to be greeted by her gifts and the first thing she said was “Yay, my dragon!”. Now that’s the type of reaction you want. The dragon (later named Rainbowey, then changed to Bluey but most definitely declared a girl) then sat next to our little munchkin whilst she opened her cards and presents. After which the little dragon had to come to Legoland with us on our adventures. So she did. I managed to convince the birthday girl to leave the dragon in her bag for the dragon rollercoaster. “But she’s a dragon and can fly and will love it.” All valid points. Instead Bluey watched from the sidelines and flew around later.
It’s now become so much of our birthday traditions as a family that when I ask my kids what they want for their birthday they often reply with a crochet request. Funnily enough whenever my sister asks what the kids want it’s with an aim to knitting or crocheting them something and my mum always notes what their favourite colour is so they get knitted ‘Nanny jumper’ from her as well, as do we all. It’s one of my favourite things - discovering what my clever family makes for everyone. I love it. There used to be a real stigma against homemade items but I’m glad that’s disappearing and becoming more fashionable. So much time goes into any homemade item that it really is an act of love. My husband thinks I’ve run out of ideas for him but I have a few left up my sleeve.
So why is Bluey in the pumpkin patch? Well this year’s Halloween is coming in the midst of massive full-family homesickness. We decided not to go back home for Christmas which we had expected to do. This was decision that was incredibly hard and a little out of our hands. So in order to cheer everyone up a bit I’ve gone a little crazy on the crochet pumpkins. I saw an Instagram post from Kate at Just Pootling with a fabulous free pattern for pumpkins. It was incredibly similar to one I had made before and misleads the pattern for so it was perfect timing.
Before I go on (and on and on) about my crochet pumpkins check out my eldest’s jack-o-lantern clementines. So simple we all got involved and perhaps a little carried away. She’s even named them and yesterday said “Where is Bill? Have you eaten Bill?” Whoops! These clementines are taking over our house. We have so little display space that the stairs have become something of a display area as they are corner stairs so have that useless space to use. This is where the scary clementines are sitting.
So these pumpkins are wanted. My eldest would decorate for Halloween as if it were Christmas so I’ve kept her busy with these little projects and crocheted new pumpkins every day. They’re quite quick so a perfect project to satisfy a short amount of time. I love it. Check out the pattern on the Just Pootling page as it’s wonderfully simple and perfect for a beginner. The best bit about this pattern is that you can adapt it to achieve all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve made a couple of classic pumpkins alongside a more squash-like shape. But I love this one because it breaks from the norm.
The thing I love about all these pumpkins I keep seeing on Instagram is that they are such a variety of colours. You get the classic orange and autumnal varieties and that but I’ve also seen blue, white/cream and purple. My favourite stalk was a cinnamon stick. Brilliant! Unfortunately I find them difficult to track down for a reasonable price here otherwise that would be wonderful. Can you imagine the smell? I may redouble my efforts. I’ve taken inspiration from all I’ve seen and gone a little crazy. What do you think?
Yes, I’m blowing my own trumpet here but sometimes that trumpet needs to be loud. Fanfare anyone?
I’ll update when the others colours are done. I’m currently working on a big purple one. For now back to the pumpkin patch.
Sayōnara
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