A mushroom walk and some inspiration for crochet…

It’s become a little bit of a tradition in our family that each autumn we go on a ‘mushroom walk’. It’s not really any different to our usual walks that we try to do most weekends. Having a dog, three children (although the eldest is sadly becoming a reluctant walker) and being a lover of the outdoors, a walk somewhere along the coast or in the countryside is usually part of our weekend.

And at this time of year, whilst on those walks I keep an eager eye out for mushrooms and fungi. They fascinate me. There are so many different varieties, colours and shapes and I find them really quite beautiful.

Last weekend we went to one of my favourite places, Friston Forest.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fristonforest

It wasn’t meant to be a ‘mushroom walk’ but it soon turned into one – we were having our lunch by a picnic table next to the car park and noticed these mushrooms or fungi on the forest floor…

I knew then that this could become the annual ‘mushroom walk’! Unfortunately I had left my camera at home but did manage to get these photos on my mobile phone (a true test of the camera on my phone which I was pretty impressed with)…

The walk included going through the forest, across some fields and beside a river so there was varied terrain in which we saw a lot of different kinds of mushrooms and fungi. The walk was only a few  hours but as you can see, in that time we saw so many…

It was so still in the forest with hardly any wind and hardly any people. I loved being there so much and was spurred on by coming across and spotting more and more mushrooms and fungi…

The autumn colours were stunning…

…and my daughter found these two leaves which were absolutely amazing!

As the walk progressed and the more mushrooms we saw I became hopeful that we might see an ‘Amanita Muscaria’, commonly known as the fly agaric. You know, the mushroom that is red with white spots and is so so pretty. The mushroom that is often featured in fairy tales, children’s picture books and illustrations. We have seen them before so I kept my eyes peeled. But alas, not this time.

Having my eyes peeled to the ground searching for mushrooms, I hadn’t noticed one of my sons climb this tree- do you see him up there?! Please don’t think I am irresponsible- I have given my children the safety talk about climbing trees many times and I am always hugely relieved when they come back down to earth. I felt uneasy the whole time he was up there but those traditional childhood activities and allowing children to climb trees is something I do try to encourage.

So, with all these different shapes, textures and colours and having failed in my mission to find a fly agaric, I turned to my crochet. And what better to crochet on a Sunday afternoon, then my very own spotted mushroom…

It was simple to make. I used a spiral of 6 chains just going round and round for the white stem. The top is made in two pieces- a flat circle for the base and a circle including rounds with no increase to create the dome effect. I put a piece of flat cardboard in the base before stuffing it to maintain the familiar mushroom shape. The white spots are simply lots of French Knots…

I will keep looking out for the real variety though!

Happy Crocheting Everyone 🙂