a special crocheted pumpkin!
The Halloween CAL in my Ravelry group is in full swing – I’ve never seen such a variety of pumpkins, and we’re only halfway through the month! This is going to make for a really fun roundup post 😀
I decided to join in with the CAL this time, because I’ve been meaning to try something unusual for a long time, and this is the perfect opportunity…. Meet my darling blue pumpkin (we’ll come back to the unusual colouring a bit later):
As a designer, you don’t often get to experience your own designs in the same way as anyone else does: you remember most of the pattern and how the construction works, and don’t have to follow many of the instructions to make another one. I made my Pumpkin pattern in 2008 and haven’t made one in 3 years, so it was like a completely new pattern to me; I’d completely forgotten it. To my surprise, I discovered it’s actually a really good pattern, simple but very clever – no wonder it’s so popular 😉
Anyway, back to my pumpkin: I didn’t think a spooky face would really fit his baby blue colouring, so I tried for a cute pumpkin face (I think it ended up looking a bit like a Pokemon, but I like it!)
Now, why would I make such a silly-coloured pumpkin? Because this is no ordinary yarn: it’s glow in the dark yarn!
(Bernat Glow In The Dark was unfortunately discontinued a couple of years ago, and I can’t imagine why they don’t re-release it every Halloween; it’s perfect for Halloween decorations and trick or treating costumes! I was lucky enough to recognise it in the unlabelled bin at the factory outlet sale before I left Canada, and grabbed all I could find. Sadly, there was nothing in yellow, orange or green, hence the baby blue and white pumpkin.)
But this makes it totally worth the unusual daytime colouring:
GLOWY! How cool is that?!
An aside: it’s actually very difficult to get a photo of anything glowing in the dark! I managed it in the end by setting up the camera on the tripod, focussing manually on the pumpkin, then draping blackout fabric over both the pumpkin (inside my old light box frame) and the camera before I took the shot. Before I quite perfected this technique, I ended up with this ‘ghost pumpkin’ photo:
…which I think is pretty cool too!
If you’d like to join in with the Halloween CAL, it’s going strong on Ravelry and we’d all be happy to see you there! 2.5 weeks of seasonal fun to go…
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wink said
Oh. My. YARN! I have dreamed about Glow-in-the-dark yarn and was pretty convinced that it just didn’t exist! The result is perfect btw 😀 Perfect for Halloween indeed!
xo,
wink
N said
Isn’t this cool??? OMG!!! Incredible!!! Love it!
Gillian McMullen said
June, I just searched on “glow in the dark yarn” and came up with this website that tells you how to make it yourself:
www.ehow.com/how_5941486_make-own-glow-dark-yarn.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask
It looks like a bit of a task, but if some enthusiastic June fan wanted to make some and sell it to the rest of us . . . ?
Just a thought!
Gillian
June said
Hmm, interesting! I hear that acid dyes are pretty nasty though.
I also noticed they said “Use fluorescent paints on the knitted or crocheted project after it is done for more intense glow-in-the-dark effects” – which was something I’d already suggested on my Facebook page, and makes me wonder why you can’t just paint the whole finished project (worked in regular, non-glow yarn) with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint – seems like that would be a lot easier!
If anyone tries this – dyeing the yarn, or my fabric paint suggestion – please report back! This is info that needs to be shared 🙂
A Gamer's Wife said
Haha, that’s awesome! I was going to start making some pumpkin amigurumi, but it’s even cooler as a jack o’ lantern.
truetigress said
That’s a shame they discontinued that yarn. I was wondering why I wasn’t able to find it anywhere. 🙁
I wanted to make these cute little ghosts for Halloween in that yarn so they’d glow in the dark. Maybe I can find some on ebay….Thanks for the information and that pumpkin is toooo cute!!!
Beth @ Remarkably Domestic said
That yarn is brilliant. I, too, am bemoaning the fact that it’s discontinued! I wonder if it was just too difficult to produce?
June said
I suspect it’s more likely that it’s not a very nice yarn to crochet with: it’s a bit splitty, not very soft, and, I suspect, not very hard-wearing, so not very appealing year-round. But for novelty accessories, that doesn’t matter – it’s worth it for the fun effect! I know the yarn stores stock special red and green glittery yarns for Christmas season; I think it’d make sense to produce and stock the glow yarn just for those few months too. It’d be a lot more sensible than all those new silly novelty yarns I’ve seen made from ribbons and lace and pom-poms – I wonder how long those will stay in production…
queen of string said
I have some “glow in the dark: string from Canadian Tire, I am now wondering if I could make a passable pumpkin from it 🙂
June said
Sounds like it’d be worth a try! I’d love to see it if you do 🙂
Haley J. said
Oh, he’s adorable! And besides, he looks like he was carved from one of those white ghost pumpkins, so he’s not too fantastical, either. 🙂
June said
Yeah, let’s go with that! A perfectly legitimate colour scheme 😉
Cora said
I thought they had re-introduced the white glow-in-the-dark color. Guess I was wrong 🙁
June said
I thought I saw that too, a few months ago, but I looked on their website just before I wrote this post and there’s no mention of it anywhere, except under Discontinued Yarns 🙁 A real missed opportunity for them.
Jennifer said
Awesome your pumpkin!!! 😀 so fun idea brilliant!
Brenda said
I love it!! Too bad it isn’t offered any more. Could we bombard Bernat to bring it back?? Maybe in time for Christmas?? I’ll start it!! I will go to Bernat and find their contact page!!
Thanks for sharing!!