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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Pumpkin Love!

So, much like all the other white girls in yoga pants, I'm in love with fall!  My world is flavored with pumpkin pie spice! I'm dreaming of the end to this heat wave in SoCal so that I can bust out my boots and cozy clothes. It's just not right to spend all of September in shorts... However, the water park near our house is staying open through October because of the heat, so maybe it's not all bad.  It just doesn't feel like fall.  More like we're in Summer Overtime.

Despite the crazy hot weather, I've been festooning my abode with pun'kins! Every year I make Jake buy me these insanely expensive fairy tale pumpkins (as opposed to the much more reasonably priced carving pumpkins) to decorate the house.  I rationalize it by saying that if we buy them in September I can leave them out until the day after Thanksgiving and we're set for our entire fall decorating scheme.


However, this year I've decided to crochet my own pumpkins!  For a girl that is used to paying $15 each for the real-life suckers, this is quite a steal, since I was able to make 2 pumpkins from one skein of Super Saver.  Plus, I can snuggle with them on the couch, which real pumpkins don't enjoy very much.

I saw some gorgeous blue pumpkins on Pinterest (don't you just adore Pinterest?! I'm on there, like, 18 times a day.  Pinterest is my Facebook... but I digress...) so I had to make myself a blue pumpkin too.  It's a little darker than a real life blue pumpkin, but I'm claiming creative license here and adoring it anyway.



I'm really happy with the way that the stem of these pumpkins turned out. It's hollow, so you can bend it and it stays in place.  So cool!  The ridges make it look like a real pumpkin stem, which makes me giddy every time I look at them.  I was able to do it by using front-post half-double crochet, which I abbreviated to fphdc (so when you see it in the pattern, that's what I'm talking about).

If you'd like to make one (or twelve) too, here's how I made mine:

FAIRY TALE PUMPKIN
(to make one 9" pumpkin)
Supplies:
180 yards of worsted weight yarn for pumpkin body (for my pumpkins, I used Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White, Aran, and Pumpkin, and Caron One Pound in Azure for the blue pumpkin)
Small amount of green for pumpkin stem (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Tea Leaf)
Size J crochet hook
Polyester Fiberfill Stuffing - I used approximately 10 ounces
Yarn needle

(use main body color)
R1: 9 hdc in a magic loop, pull loop tight, sl st to first hdc to close round. ch 1 (9 st)
R2: 2 hdc in each hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (18 hdc)
R3: (2 hdc in first st, hdc in next st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (27 st)
R4: 2 hdc, (2 hdc in next st, hdc in next 2 st) 8 times, 2 hsc in the next st, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (36 st)
R5: (2 hdc in first st, hdc in next 3 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (45 st)
R6: 2 hdc, (2 hdc in first st, hdc in next 4 st) 8 times, 2 hdc in next st, 2 hdc, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (54 st)
R7: (2 hdc in first st, hdc in next 5 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (63 st)
R8: (2 hdc in first st, hdc in next 6 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (72 st)
R9: sc in each st around, sl st to first sc to close round, ch 1 (72 st)
R10: hdc in each st around, sl st to first sc to close round, ch 1 (72 st)
R11-26: repeat rows 9 and 10 (72 st)
R27: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 6 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (63 st)
R28: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 5 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (54 st)
R29: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 4 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (45 st)
R30: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 3 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (36 st)
R31: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 2 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (27 st)
R32: (hdc 2 st tog, hdc in next 1 st) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (18 st)
Fasten off, leave a long tail (like 2 yards)

Stuff the pumpkin! Stuff it very full, it will look lumpy and not very good at this point, but that's okay!  Just make sure it's stuffed very tightly.

Attach stem yarn anywhere along the edge of R32, ch 1
R33: (hdc 2 st tog) 9 times, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (9 st)
R34-41: fphdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to close round, ch 1 (9 st)
R42: fphdc in each st around, sl st to first hdc to close round (9 st)
Fasten off, leaving a 18" tail.

Using yarn needle and stem yarn, whipstitch top of stem closed.  Fasten off and weave in end.


To make the ridges in the pumpkin I used a big yarn needle (trust me on this one, you need a big needle for this, the little ones will get lost in all the fiberfill).  I threaded the tail end of Round 32, and poked my needle straight through the center, from the edge of the stem out through the bottom hole of Round 1.


Then I used a running stitch and wove the thread in a (mostly) straight line back up to the stem.


I pulled the thread snugly to create the side indentation, and made a little invisible knot at the base of the stem to hold the tension.  Then I poked my needle back through the center and did the whole process again on the opposite side.  At this point, it's going to look like a crocheted booty.  Yes, I'm an emotional 3rd grader, because it makes me laugh.


Then I made indentations to create quarters.  Then I made an indentation between each of those lines, ending with eight plump ridges.


I pulled my yarn through the center of the pumpkin one last time and fastened it off at the bottom of the pumpkin, weaving in my remaining tail.


xoxo

Friday, September 5, 2014

Summer Vacation is Over!

Holy Schmowzow, Dynamos!  I don't know how it happened, but I lost control of this summer vacation.  Whole weeks slipped by without my knowledge, lost to daily swim lessons and play dates and one delightful week with the cows and the redwoods in northern California.


This is from our visit to the Muir Woods.  It was so beautiful!



I made twenty-five pounds of soap before the weather got too hot, and I discovered that I passed my one-year soap making anniversary with a grand total of 85 batches (totalling nearly 400 pounds!).


My kid read everything in the house this summer.  I found her in her room like this one day.  It was pretty hilarious.

I did virtually no crocheting over the last 6 weeks.  I know, sad face.  But something about having the kid home full time, and the hot weather, and the beach calling my name EVERY SINGLE DAY (we didn't go every day, more like twice a week, but it still CALLED every day. LOL!) made it so difficult to get anything done that took more than an hour to complete.  I did get out my sewing machine and whipped up some summer fun purses.  My one bit of crochet was making the flower for my denim hobo bag.  Yes, that's a Star Lord pin.  Are you jealous? LOL!  I know, you only get jealous over Groot...


Recycling a pair of jeans that were too big!  Win win!


The handles on this one are a little floppy.  Next time I will use fusible fleece inside and they will be perfect!  It's my favorite! 


This was my one bit of back-to-school crafting.  I used THIS tutorial to make some eco-friendly sandwich and snack baggies.  It was ridiculously simple, and they turned out awesome.  I didn't make the cute curved edge on mine, since I wanted to be able to "seal" them all the way across with velcro, so Mims's baby carrots and mini-crackers wouldn't roll out of the bag. She thinks they're cool, which is pretty good.  I don't know how many more years my handmade stuff is going to be okay at school, but she's in second grade so I figure I'm good for at least this year.  LOL!

How was your summer?  Did you make anything cool?  

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