A Box of Crocheted Fruit

You may remember that, last spring, I made some crocheted vegetables for the school I work in. They were a delight to make and I was quite happy to give them away when I'd finished them because I'd already had so much fun crocheting, stuffing and photographing them.

I'd always intended to create a box of fruit too and, over the last six weeks, I have been slowly putting together a collection of nine items. As with the vegetables, a really fun part of the project was styling the crocheted fruits with some real ones, or arranging them on a plate or in a bowl. I enjoyed this so much. 

They were all a pleasure to make. Some, like the strawberry and plum, took an hour to make from start to finish. Others, like the grapes (those grapes!) took days and days; eighteen little crochet balls which needed to be made, stuffed and sewn up before being attached to a stem and leaves. The banana was fun, I think that was a really well designed pattern. The pear is my favourite though; the muted colour, the shape, the soft squishiness of the finished fruit.

I used cotton DK yarn, mainly scraps, in a mixture of mercerised and unmercerised yarn. The mercerised yarn (in the plum and apple for example) is slightly shiny and doesn't split as easily, so it's lovely to work with. The unmercerised yarn (such as the pear) is more organic, untreated, and has a duller sheen and splits more when you work. I actually prefer the look of it. Each fruit was crocheted on a 3mm hook.

I thought I'd scratched my crochet fruit itch with this lot, but I am already planning some pumpkins to decorate the house with this autumn.

I'll be joining in with Jennifer's Winter Project Link Party again over the coming months. I am usually more productive with my crochet and sewing when the weather is colder - especially when there are Christmas gifts to be made - and it's good to share them here and see what others who join up with the party are making too.