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My favorite type of knitting projects are quick little patterns that I can knit up in a few hours. If it’s a way to use up some of the yarn in my stash too, that’s even better! And that’s why I’m loving this mini knitted pumpkin pattern. It’s fast, frugal, and quick to make too!

How To Knit A Pumpkin

When I decided to craft some small knit pumpkins, I opted to create a knit pumpkin pattern in the round using circular needles. Using circular needles creates a seamless piece which sounded good to me.

I also decided to create some “ribs” in the pattern by doing a purl stitch every 8 stitches. As you’ll see farther along in the instructions, this will be helpful when you’re doing the finishing steps on the pumpkins,

Once that piece is knit on the circulars, you gather the top, stuff it, and then gather the bottom and add a few more finishing touches, such as the painted wine corks I’m using for my pumpkin stems.

Here’s another nice feature of this pumpkin knitting pattern – You can create a larger knit pumpkin using this same pattern by simply changing to bulky yarn and a larger needle.

Sound like fun? It is fun! Let’s take a closer look at the details of the pattern, and the free printable knitting pattern will follow at the end of this post.

My Easy Pumpkin Knitting Pattern

To begin knitting my mini pumpkins, I use 16″ circular needles in US Size 6 (4 mm) with medium weight size 4 yarn. To make a larger pumpkin, I use US size 10 (6 mm) circulars with bulky weight size 5 yarn.

Cast on 36 stitches using the long tail cast on and using enough yarn to have a tail of approximately 12″ left after casting on.

Place a marker and join yarn to begin knitting in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Row 1: Knit around

Note: This beginning part of the pattern is a little tight on the circulars, but in the next row we will increase and things get better!

Row 2: *K1, Kfb* around (54 sts) (Kfb means to knit into the front and the back of the stitch to increase.)

Begin Pattern Rows:

Row 3: *K8, P1* around

Repeat Row 3 for a total of 30 pattern row rounds or until piece measure approximately 5-1/2″ from the beginning. (If using bulky yarn, piece should measure approximately 7-1/2″)

Next Row: *K1, K2tog* around (36 sts)

Next row: Knit around. At end of round, remove marker. Cut yarn, leaving a very long tail of about 50″.

Thread yarn tail onto a blunt, large-eye needle, and thread through the stitches on the needle, removing them from the needle as you go. Pull to gather the stitches and close the opening, but do not tie off yet at this point.

Now thread the cast-on tail onto a needle, and weave it through the stitches on the bottom edge of your pumpkin so you can begin to gather this opening together, leaving it open a little bit for stuffing. Add the stuffing to your pumpkin. In an upcoming step you will be drawing the yarn through the middle of the pumpkin, so I usually use my fingers to clear a path through the stuffing in the middle of the pumpkin to make that step easier.

Pull to close the bottom opening, but do not tie off.

Next, thread your needle back onto the long tail at the top of the pumpkin. Take the needle down through middle of the pumpkin and out the bottom. Bring the yarn to the top again, lining it up with one of the purl stitch ridges. Take the needle down through the middle of the pumpkin again and out the bottom, pulling it to tighten and create a ridge.

Continue to pull the yarn through the pumpkin in this fashion, lining up the yarn along the purl stitch ridges, until you have completed all six ridges.

The final time you bring your yarn down through the middle of the pumpkin and out the bottom to complete the last ridge, pull it tight and then tie the two yarn tails together and cut the yarn to complete the pumpkin.

Adding The Finishing Touches To Your Knit Pumpkins

To finish my homemade knit pumpkins, I use a wine cork to make a stem, giving them a couple coats of paint first.

Once the paint is dry, you can add the painted cork to the top of your finished knit pumpkin, using a bit of glue to hold it in place. You can tie a bow around the cork using some contrasting yarn too if you wish. (Note: you could also use cinnamon sticks trimmed down to size if you do not have any wine corks.)

Your homemade knitted pumpkin is now complete!

Use Chunky Yarn To Knit A Larger Pumpkin

Another nice feature of this pattern is that it works just as well with larger needles and bulky yarn too! Just switch to larger needles (US size 10) and use a chunkier yarn (size 5 yarn) and the final result will be a pumpkin that’s a couple inches bigger all the way around.

For the larger pumpkin in the picture above I used Lion Brand Hue & Me Bulky Yarn in the color of Grapefruit (even though I was making a pumpkin . . . 🙂 )

For the smaller pumpkin I used Lion Brand Heartland yarn in the color of Gateway Arch.

But your pumpkins don’t necessarily have to be orange! Each pumpkin only takes about 1.5 ounces of yarn, so take a look through your leftover yarns (both regular and bulky) and then have fun knitting up your very own colorful pumpkin patch!