Pumpkin Goes Large

I am totally in love with white pumpkins! It's an odd declaration but nevertheless it's true. Don't get me wrong I love traditional orange ones too, orange is just a fabulous colour, full stop. Largely overlooked unless you are an Orla Keily fan of course. In fact, I seem to be adding a lot of orange to my wardrobe lately, since having a colour consultation with the lovely Jill from Styled in Colour (I hope to talk more about this on a later date).

Anyway, back to my latest obsession, white pumpkins, or the Lumina Pumpkin to be more precise. I found a fab pumpkin guide on a gorgeous blog post by Erin of Ernest Home co. Who knew there were so many varieties of pumpkin? Over here in the UK we only really see orange pumpkins in the supermarkets around Halloween and they are a relatively new delight. I have tried growing pumpkins a couple of times with varying degrees of success, I am not sure we quite have the climate for it in Lancashire. Growing up I have memories of my mum trying to hack into a swede to create our 'pumpkin' for Halloween, looking back I am so grateful for the effort she would put into carving this tiny, but rock hard vegetable, it really was a labour of love and I was always really proud of her end result (thanks Mum x).

Again, I digress, just a few minutes on Pinterest and I am lost in the beautiful world of this serene fruit. Yes, I know, I always classed it as a veggie but it is technically a fruit! Just take a look at these fabulous pumpkin pictures.....

.....who knew a pumpkin could look so elegant?

Naturally this new found love has led to a new crochet make.

I wanted to create a larger version of my little orange pumpkin, so I followed my Pumpkin pattern using two strands of off white DROPS Paris and a 7mm hook. This method of doubling up the strands worked well for the pumpkin body, leaf and stalk but when I doubled up the strands for the tendril it just looked far too bulky. So I used one strand only, with a 4mm hook - resulting in a more delicate tendril.  I love the end result and my littlest was so delighted she laughed out loud and played catch with it as soon as she saw it!  With so many pumpkin varieties to choose from and such a lovely range of DROPS Paris colours to use I suspect there will be a whole pumpkin patch eventually! If I can't grow them I will have to make them instead!

Project Notes:

Final Pumpkin dimensions:

• Diameter - 18 cm
• Height - 10 cm, not including the stalk

If you would like to make a pumpkin like this, here's my material and equipment list:

• 3 x 50g balls of DROPS Paris, colour no 17, off white for the pumpkin body
• approx 25g  of DROPS Paris, colour no , pistachio for the leaf and tendril
• small amounts of DROPS Paris, colour no , beige for the stalk
• 60g polyester fibre for stuffing
• 7mm & 4mm crochet hook
• small scissors
• yarn needle