Easy Knitted Pumpkins

You love those yarn pumpkins but you're not the greatest knitter? No worries, you can still get great results with basic skills.

Forget the rules and just have fun.

Here's an easy pattern you can make with a simple garter stitch - even the kids can do it. 

After all, my kid did.

Last week, I shared my brand new kitchen makeover and received some rave reviews.

I was floored and humbled, of course.

There were so many lovely comments and questions.

My inbox was overflowing.

Surely everyone wanted to know how to make those delicious new curtain panels.

Right?

Wrong.

They were eye candy. Sewing isn't generally a big draw.

It's nice to think about, but not on the actual to do list.

That's the general sentiment anyway.

No. The questions and comments regarding DIY were all about my daughter's darling tiny knit pumpkins.

Turns out my girls can do more than just sing...my older daughter made that Jack Skellington pumpkin.

Everyone wanted to know-

How did she make them? What did she use for the stems? Are they stuffed? And with what.

Ok friends, I can take a hint.

Lucky for me, I have access to the creator.  

So I have all the juicy DIY details. And pictures.

I mean, come on, blogger here. The minute I saw the yarn and the needles I called to her.

Take pictures!

Now, before we start, I want to share the fact that we are rudimentary knitters around here. The kids took one class when they were in elementary school. 

And yes, there are a million knitted pumpkin tutorials out there, which she googled. But most of the patterns were for crochet, beyond her or too complicated.

However, rather than give up, she decided to do it her own way. And I love that.

These pumpkins aren't perfect, but they don't have to be. 

Crafts are supposed to be fun. Worrying about words like right and wrong sucks the joy out of the process.

So she decided to wing it. And have fun.

When her tiny treasures were completed she told me that the lines on the pumpkins should ideally be vertical rather than horizontal, but I didn't even notice.

And based on the number of emails and questions, I guess no one else did either. 

No, all I saw was a bucket full of sweetness. Holding a handful of knitted pumpkins. 😉

How To Make Knitted Yarn Pumpkins

The best thing about this particular "pattern" is that it's super easy.

It's perfect for a beginner. Or for the kids. 

1. Gather Supplies

She grabbed some orange yarn, needles and a small pumpkin pulled off of my old fall pumpkin wreath to model size.

She also needed orange thread, a needle, scissors, polyfill and wired ribbon. 

She used two different sized needles. Hmmm.

When asked about it, she told me that since she hadn't knitted in years and the yarn was tight, the smaller needle made it easier to grab the yarn.

Now of course, the stitches won't be uniform sizes this way, but you can't tell on the pumpkins. 

Remember, winged it...is this my kid or what??

Although, she did say that after this craft, she's ready to go back to using uniform sized needles. Her fingers are used to it again.

2. Cast On And Start Knitting

Next, she cast on and starting knitting. She used a basic garter stitch, adding stitches until she was happy with the length.

She created several different sized pumpkins so each one required a different number of stitches. 

You can make them as large or small as you like. You'll just need to adjust your stitches. 

3. Create A Rectangle

She continued knitting until she had a rectangle long enough and wide enough to create her pumpkin. 

As I said, each one was different. 

4. Create A Small Bowl Shape

Ok, so now she removed the yarn from the needles and started to shape her pumpkins.

To do this, she wrapped one side of the rectangle around to meet the other and using orange thread and a needle, she stitched the two sides together...basically creating a short cylinder.


Then she turned it upside down, knotted the thread and then looped her orange needle loosely through the yarn along the bottom hem or seam. 

And pulled. When she did that, the ends pulled together towards the center creating a bowl. 

5. Stuff It And Close It

At this point, she grabbed a tiny bit of polyfill and stuffed. 

When she was happy with the size and poof, she repeated what she'd done on the bottom of the pumpkin and closed the top up!

She ended up with a small, sweet orange knit ball.


Adorable.

6. Add A Stem

To add the stem, she used a brown wired ribbon. She cut a small piece, again the size will be determined by the size of your pumpkin. Bigger pumpkins will need bigger stems.

And vice versa.


She folded the ribbon in half and then onto itself to form a small circle. Then she stitched it to the top of the pumpkin. 

Lastly, she used her fingers to mold and fluff those little knitted cuties into their perfectly imperfect shapes.

And voila! Magic. A plate full of lovely little pumpkins.

Whipped up in an evening. From scratch with rudimentary knitting skills. 

Seriously.


We'd originally planned on stringing them up and creating a banner for the living room fireplace or the kitchen hood.