Little Knit Pumpkin

The Little Knit Pumpkin was designed because Fall was approaching and I hadn’t knit a pumpkin before. As I was playing around with ideas, more ideas came to me – how about a leaf? A soft stem? Oh! How about a curly q? So, this Little Knit Pumpkin was born. It’s quick, easy and super squishy (even my 22 year old son wants one!). You can adapt it to any size by simply casting on more or less stitches and then adapting the length to be double the length of your cast on. There is also a free printable gift tag available for gifting your pumpkin at this link.

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Measures:

3″ / 7.6 cm tall x 5″ / 12.7 cm across

Materials Needed:

To view a video tutorial on how to make the Little Knit Pumpkin, click on the image below. This will take you to my YouTube tutorial. There are time stamps in the show notes section to help guide you to the section that you might need to access.

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Stitches and abbreviations used:

Bind off

Ea: Each

K: Knit

K2tog: Knit two stitches together

K3tog: Knit three stitches together

KFB: Knit into the front and back of the same stitch (1 stitch increased)

Kfbf: Knit into the front, then back and then the front of the same stitch (2 stitches increased)

Long-tail cast on

P: Purl

P2tog: Purl two stitches together

Pfb: Purl into the front and the back of the same stitch

St (s): Stitch (es)

Directions for Little Knit Pumpkin

1. Using the long-tail cast on method, cast on 30 stitches. Be sure to leave a tail of about 12″ / 30.5 cm – 16″ / 40.6 cm for sewing later.
2. Knit in garter stitch (knitting each row) until piece measures double what your cast on measures. (In my case, the cast on row measured 7″ / 17.8 cm, so I knit until the panel measured 14 / 35.6 cm”).
3. Bind off knit-wise leaving a 36″ / 91.5 cm long tail.

Sewing the Little Knit Pumpkin

1. Fold the panel in half so that the short sides meet each other.
2. Using the shorter tail left from the cast on, sew the two short sides together.
3. Turn piece inside out so that the seam is in the inside of the pumpkin.
4. Using the long tail, sew around one opening using a long or running stitch so that the piece can be gathered.
5. Gather your stitches and secure that end of the pumpkin by sewing a few more stitches. DO NOT CUT YOUR YARN
6. Push yarn and needle through the center of the bottom (where you just gathered your stitches) to the top opening of the pumpkin.
7. Sew half way around the top of the pumpkin using the long / running stitch as you did for the bottom.
8. Before finishing the top, stuff the pumpkin to your desired fullness.
9. Finish sewing the top and gather the stitches.
10. Secure the top stitches by sewing a couple of stitches. DO NOT CUT YOUR YARN
11. Push the needle with yarn through the center of the pumpkin from top to bottom and give a little tug (to give more shape, push the top slightly with your finger to guide the shaping).
12. Secure the shaping by sewing a couple stitches at the bottom of the pumpkin.
13. Moving the needle with yarn around the outside of the pumpkin, sew through the top to the bottom of the pumpkin, giving the yarn a tug as it comes out the bottom (this will create a pumpkin segment).
14. Repeat the last step to create as many segments as you like.
15. When you are done creating the segments, secure the yarn by sewing a few stitches at the bottom of the pumpkin.
16. NOW, you can cut your yarn 🙂

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Stem Directions for Knit Pumpkin

1. Cast on 10 stitches
2. Work garter stitch until piece measures .75″ / 2 cm
3. Bind off knit-wise leaving a 12″ / 30.5 cm tail
4. Fold stem in half so that the long ends meet
5. Sew the long sides of the stem together starting at the top and then working your way down the side. Do not sew together the bottom section of the stem, as that will be sewn to your pumpkin.
6. Attach stem to pumpkin.

Leaf Directions for Knit Pumpkin

1. Cast on 1 stitch leaving a 10″ / 25.4 cm tail for sewing
2. Kfbf (3 sts)
3. K1, kfbf, k1 (5 sts)
4. [P1, pfb] twice, p1 (7 sts)
5. K2, kfb, k1, kfb, k2 (9 sts)
6. P3, pfb, p1, pfb, p3 (11 sts)
7. Knit across
8. P3, p2tog, p1, p2tog, p3 (9 sts)
9. K2, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k2 (7 sts)
10. [P1, p2tog] twice, p1 (5 sts)
11. K1, k3tog, k1 (3 sts)
12. Using tapestry needle, draw yarn through the three live stitches and pull to secure.
13. Fasten off and weave in end and use the other tail to sew to your pumpkin or the Curly Q.

Curly Q Directions for Knit Pumpkin

Below are two types of directions for the Curly Qs.

Option 1 (Softer curl)

1. Cast on 20 (You can cast on as many stitches as you like, but 20 is what I use for the pumpkin)
2. Kfb across
3. Bind off knit-wise

Option 2 (Tighter curl – this is the option I use for the example)

1. Cast on 20 (this works with any multiples, so feel free to cast on as many as you like)
2. Kfbf across
3. Bind off knit-wise

Sew to your pumpkin, take a pic and tag me on social media @handmadebystacyj or #handmadebystacyj. I’d love to see your pumpkin!

Patterns created by Handmade by Stacy J are not to be sold or copied in any way. The images, pattern and charts are copyrighted by Handmade by Stacy J and may not be duplicated. You are welcome to sell your makes. However, I ask that you credit me as the designer and you are responsible for providing your own photographs. Thank you!

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