Crochet Crayon People and Backpack Pals

Today is National Crayon Day! Who knew?! So I had to celebrate with these crochet crayons! Crayons hold very special memories for me, of my childhood, and maybe not in the way you might think.Sure, a box of crayons was a staple of Easter basket goodies for the better part of a decade, as it was for any child of the 80s and early 90s. To this day, nothing says Easter like crayons and a coloring book.

But to my younger sister and me, crayons were so much more than coloring. They were a community. People get a great deal of laughter out of the stories I tell of the days when my kid sister and I played “Crayon People,” a game we had invented in which the bucket of assorted sized crayons were families. The smallest little crayon nobbies were the babies. The broken in half crayons were little kids. So it goes, all the way up to the grown up daddies who were completely new, not even sharpened, pencils. They were families. They had names. The children grew up (we made them age through the different sized crayons, keeping them in the same shade of crayon, of course), and had families of their own. We found a purpose, and gave life to every crayon, even when they were beyond coloring with.

Y’all laugh. It’s ok. It’s silly, but I can’t even begin to express the simple joy that these memories bring. I can still hear my little sister’s kid voice excitedly, “Erin, wanna play Crayon People?”

I can even remember, with sadness, how awful I felt as I began to outgrow this game; when it didn’t hold the same amount of excitement it once had. There is something oh so bittersweet about growing up, isn’t there?

So, today, as Crayola retires a piece of my childhood, (Congratulations, Dandelion, on your retirement!) I wanted to share this very special memory with you in bringing my crayons to life, so to speak, in these crochet crayons. It is sort of my own personal apology for leaving them behind. Miss Purple here, is in my kid sister’s most favorite color. 😉

With the new life I’ve given these crayons, I’ve found that my own little children love pretending and imagining with them! These are magical crayons that, with no mess, manage to color the whole house. 😉 I hope your children enjoy them too!