Thursday, September 22, 2011

G's (Award Winning) Crocheted Garden

My son G loves to help me out in the garden. But living in the northwest it is often too wet to get outside in the real dirt. So now he can harvest vegetables even when it is raining. So I designed this garden for his Easter basket in 2009.

He knew I was making the vegetables. I was planning to surprise him with the garden mat, but one night when I was tucking him in he told me, "Maybe we can find some brown yarn and make a garden for my vegetables." I told him I would talk to the Easter Bunny. Little did he know I had already made him a mat with 20 pockets to plant in while he was sleeping just the night before.

When he saw the Garden sticking out of the top of his basket Easter morning he exclaimed, "That's my Garden! It's just what I asked for." He spent the rest of the morning harvesting his vegetables, cooking them into a "stew", and then planting them again. My sister, a school psychologist, has used them to help G practice patterning.
G's Garden is made from cotton and alpaca yarns (with a couple acrylic blends), and contains:
1 Tomato plant, 2 Broccoli,

3 Radishes, 3 Carrots,
3 Potatoes,

4 Strawberries (they tend to spread), and don't forget the 2 Lettuce (though I forgot a pic).

With an easy button, G's Garden rolls up and is ready to go!

Everyone who sees it wants one for their kids (or themselves), but I could never charge enough to be worth the time but into all those little plants. I have been working on writing up the patterns for all the little veggie plants for awhile now. I considered adding Watermelon and Squash vines to complete the collection, but decided to stick with root vegetables and those that grow close to the ground.

When I heard about the CGOA Design Competition this month, I sent in a complete set (minus the broccoli & tomato plants, and 4 of each of the others). I just found out that my Garden placed 3rd in the "Small Wonders" category. Such an honor among so much talent!

1 comment:

  1. That is adorable! Such a creative idea and what a great message it sends to a child.

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