Pumpkins

Hello, thank you for dropping in.  Proper blogging is resuming.  The last leaves are still clinging onto the tree branches in beautiful colours of yellow, amber and red and while almost everyone on my Facebook feed seems to be putting up their Christmas decorations I am firmly stuck in the autumn and today I want to talk about... pumpkins.  If you've been here for a while you'll already know that I'm not keen on Halloween or its pumpkins but it seems that the squashes are here to stay and I can't fight progress.  I have come to the conclusion that the pumpkin is a perfectly acceptable autumnal symbol (although a Halloween lantern will always be a swede for me).

 

 

Last year, The Teacher took Tom Kitten to a pumpkin farm and they had a lovely time in the field, where she took some sweet photographs before buying a pumpkin.  She enjoyed it so much that I knew she would want to go again this year so I hatched a plan to knit some little pumpkin hats for Tom Kitten, Cottontail and their Big Cousin, who is five years old.  The weather can be bitterly cold here in October and I wanted to keep their little heads warm and cosy.  I used Stylecraft Special DK in Spice and Green, lovely soft yarn which can be washed in the washing machine when a hat is dropped in the mud by an excited child.

 

The hats were very well received and I was thrilled to bits.  The Teacher told me that they engendered lots of positive comments and laughter from other people at the farm and as it was indeed a bitterly cold day, they kept the children warm and cosy.  I was very pleased with myself.

 

 

The hats also kept the children's heads warm and cosy when we went to Guernsey, where the weather was not as kind as it has been during our previous visits.  Storms delayed our departure by twenty-four hours so Tom Kitten wasn't there in time to help his aunt carve her pumpkin.  I think she managed very well without him.

 

When we returned home I realised that my heart had softened towards the pumpkin.  The Teacher had piled the pumpkins she had bought at the pumpkin farm onto her mantelpiece and, inspired by that, I felt the urge to crochet some little pumpkins for my own autumnal decoration.  I hunted around the internet for a suitable pattern and found one in Attic 24 here which in turn led me to June's pattern here.  I used yarn and stuffing from my stash and in a couple of days I had these four beauties.  They are cute and squishy and one of them is even sparkly and I love them.  It's that simple.  The Teacher has already asked me to make some for her for next year and I think I might have to make some more for myself, too. 

The pumpkins won't be on the mantelpiece for much longer as I shall be putting my Advent calendar there on Sunday but in the meantime, I am enjoying them very much.

See you soon.

Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x