I never liked peas as a kid, but then again, the only “vegetables” I liked were potatoes and ketchup. I blame the school lunches, which I never ate b/c we packed our own, but the green beans were overboiled and almost brown, and the carrots a pile of orange mush. I had all sorts of techniques at home for avoiding veggies at the dinner table, some of which my sister still likes to describe. If I were drinking milk that night, or some other opaque drink, I would deposit the veggie from my mouth into the cup and later toss that in the garbage when I cleared my plate. Often I would put the veggie in my mouth, then place it in a napkin when I wiped my mouth; later I flushed it down the toilet to get rid of all evidence. Sometimes I could hide them in something else on the plate that was going to get discarded. If it was at the end of dinner, I would hide the veggie in my mouth until it was time to get up. All of these were performed with a sweet sense of victory. Such is the slightly conniving child I’ve always been. Actually, I prefer the term “resourceful”!

I’ve matured into a vegetable-loving adult, and now I’m the one sending my parents veggie recipes, making my own salad dressing, and growing a veggie garden out of my windowboxes. And crocheting up peas in a pod! I’ve always liked the phrase, “you’re two peas in a pod.” Well, unless it’s someone I’d rather not be hanging out in the same pod with! And then in college, my friend Michi (a girl) and I walked by the upscale maternity store A Pea in the Pod on Newbury in Boston, and fell in love with it the way maternally-inclined women do.

Click below for the peas in a pod pattern!

For the pod:

With an F hook and pea green yarn, ch 4 and turn. (Starting from the next row, always ch 1 turn at the end of each row)
Sc across row (3)
Sc across row again (3)
2sc in first st, sc, 2sc in last st (5)
Sc across row 4 times
Inc in middle once and sc the rest (6)
Sc across row (6)
Sc, dec middle two sc, sc (5)
Sc across 4 times
Dec , sc, dec (3)
Sc across row
Sc across row again

Ch 1, sc around edge. It will curl in on itself a little, which is good!
Finish off and leave about 16 inches of tail.

For the peas:

Ch 2, 4sc into 2nd ch from hook. Join. (4)
Ch 1, 2sc into same st, sc into next. Repeat all the way around. (Make sure right side is facing outwards and keep the original yarn end tucked inside) Join.
Ch 1; sc into same stitch and all the way around. Join.
Ch 1; sc next 3, dec, sc the rest. Join.

Stuff pea lightly and do NOT ch 1. Sc, then dec, and repeat (sc,dec) until the pea is closed up. (It will get a little tight crocheting at this point). Finish off and tuck end inside.

Repeat the above Pea instructions to make another.

Now is the time to embroider beads or a mouth. You can also do it before you close up the pea. I arranged the eyes and mouth so that the pea is wider horizontally (smush it a bit if necessary).

Weave in the original yarn end on pod, preferably on the right side (inside of pod where peas go) in the “corner,” because this area will be tucked together shortly and won’t show.

With the long tail, thread a needlepoint needle, and pinch the ends of one side of the pod together. Stitch the first two sets of sc on top together, pulling tightly. Pinch the other side and see if the peas fit in there well.

With yarn on the inside, thread through the middle of the pea, entering from the side. Then stitch the bottom loop of the sc along the rim of the pod directly next to the top left side of the pea, so that it “gathers” this part of the pod. Continuing, do the same thing to the inside loop but at the bottom left of the same pea, to “gather” the bottom.

Stitch through the second pea in the same way you did the first and also work the pinched side of the pod the same way as the first. Snip and weave in end. How cute!