Pumpkin-Palooza 3

Since October is almost half over, I need to keep plugging away with my Pumpkin-Palooza series. After all, we'll want to start working on our Christmas projects pretty soon!

Today's first item turned out to be one of my favorite fall projects. It's a variegated yarn-wrapped pumpkin.

I found this yummy yarn at the Michael's Craft Store in Marquette. It's made by Loops & Threads - the same company that made the yarn I used for my fall wreath.

The style is Country Loom™ Colorburst; the color is Chocolate. It's a variegated yarn with brown, copper, gray and white.

I started with one of those orange foam pumpkins from Dollar Tree, some glue sticks and my hot glue gun - used on the lowest setting. I decided to work from the bottom up, so I simply began gluing and coiling the yarn at the center.

I worked my way out from the center - then up the sides.

I took greater care in gluing each row closely to the previous row as I did the sides and top, so the orange pumpkin didn't show through. I stopped when I reached the stem. Since these foam pumpkins have very short stems, I beefed it up a little with some cardboard attached with hot glue.

Lastly, I wrapped the new cardboard stem with some copper wire-edged ribbon I had on hand. That was it!

I love variegated yarn, but one never knows exactly where the color will change when starting a project. I was delighted when it began changing to brown about halfway up the pumpkin. This yarn has a marvelous sheen to it.

And I love the texture this style of yarn gave to my pumpkin.

I actually did the next project first. It's another yarn-wrapped pumpkin with the same yarn, but this plastic Dollar Tree pumpkin is smaller. I began by wrapping the tiny stem with my copper wire-edged ribbon. I wasn't fussy about how the stem was wrapped at first, as I would adjust it later.

My plan was to just get the ribbon on the stem and start the yarn at the top on this one.

I applied a bead of hot glue and pressed the yarn onto it - continuing around and around the plastic pumpkin - finishing this one at the bottom.

After that, I adjusted the copper wire for my stem, and it was finished.

This pumpkin didn't have a noticeable color change, but it still has a great texture.

I have one more project today. I found a plain burlap pumpkin at Dollar Tree in early September.

I just attached a faux leaf with hot glue and tied a copper ribbon to the stem.

Nothing much - just a little embellishment.

If you haven't yet tried making a yarn-wrapped pumpkin, give it a try. It's a quick and easy project, and there are so many interesting yarns available in the stores nowadays.

And I'm not finished yet. Pumpkin-Palooza 4 will be posted next week.

All is well in the Keweenaw.