Knitted Pumpkin Tutorial

Because Everyone Loves a Knitted Pumpkin!

Walk into any home decor store right now and you’ll see everything from foam to fabric pumpkins. Somewhere on that spectrum are knitted pumpkins. In true Knitting in the Park style, I said to myself “self, you can make that!”. And so I did.

And now I’m sharing how I did it in this knitted pumpkin tutorial so that you can also make that!

Note this tutorial is for a shorter, squatter pumpkin. I’ll include instructions for making yours taller if you wish.

I will also be listing a few of these finished pumpkins for purchase in my online store in case you are not a knitter.

Knitted Pumpkin Tutorial

What You’ll Need:

For this tutorial, I’m using faux velvet yarn. This means that any bulky weight yarn designed for about a US size 10 needle should work.

Click here to see the tree skirt that you can also make out this yarn!

If you want to use a different weight of yarn, drop the type of yarn in the comments on this post and I can help you customize this tutorial for you!

One of these large skeins of faux velvet is enough to make about three pumpkins if you’re following this tutorial. However, you can easily customize these instructions to make almost any size pumpkin.

You’ll also need one US size 10 circular needle or DPNs, and a tapestry needle.

Lastly, you’ll need something to stuff the finished pumpkin with. I have left over polyfill from when I made my hat pompoms, so that is what I’m going with. However I would also imagine that you could use crumpled paper, left over yarn bits, fabric cabbage and so on.

Knitted Pumpkin Instructions:

Cast on 90 stitches.

I prefer using a long tail cast on method. And if you can stand knitting with it, leave a longer tail. If not, don’t panic.

Also, if you are a stickler, or a perfectionist, you can opt for a provisional cast on and make cinching the stitches at the end a bit more seamless. I personally don’t have the patience for this cast on method. If opting for this you’ll also need a bit of waste yarn or stitch holder.

Note: If you want to leave a long tail for cinching the pumpkin up later you can coil the tail up and use an extra stitch marker to clip the excess out of the way until you are ready for it later.

Now that you have cast on your stitches, knit in the round until your pumpkin measures about 10 inches from the cast on edge. For taller pumpkins keep knitting until it measures about 15 inches.

Break your yarn leaving enough of a tail to weave back through your live stitches. Cinch them together as tight as you can. If you are working with the faux velvet yarn be careful not to pull too tightly or you risk breaking your yarn. You can opt for a bit of butchers twine or strong thread if you are afraid of breakage here.

Flip the pumpkin over and using the extra long tail, or an additional piece of yarn, gather these stitches together. You won’t have to grab every stitch. Every third seems to work just fine. Work the yarn all the way around the bottom of the pumpkin and cinch the pumpkin about halfway shut – this is a great time to start stuffing.

stuff the pumpkin until its almost full, you’ll be weaving some yarn through to create the ridges of the gourd so you don’t want to over stuff it and make it impossible to reshape.

Grab your tapestry needle again and another length of yarn. Twice the length of your arm should be plenty. Working from the bottom, insert the tapestry needle and pull it through the top. Then wrap the yarn around one side of the pumpkin back down to the bottom. Repeat this wrapping the yarn around the opposite end of the pumpkin. Pull it a bit snug each time so that the yarn cuts into the side of the pumpkin. You’ll want to repeat this process until you have about six indents or ridges in your pumpkin.

Knot the thread and snip the ends.

Now for the final touch!

Spice things up by glueing half of a cinnamon stick to the top of your pumpkin for a sweet little stem. I’ve got some beautiful green yarn which I’m debating making some leaves out of for these. But for now, I think I’m going to leaf them as they are!