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This easy knit pumpkin pattern is perfect for beginners and anyone else who wants to make a bunch of pumpkins quickly.
Using garter stitch worked flat, it’s the stuffing and finishing that makes this knit square into a pumpkin shape. Let me show you how to do it.
Supplies
For the small pumpkins you’ll need about 30 yards of worsted weight/medium/weight 4 yarn. The orange pumpkins shown are worked in Caron Simply Soft in color pumpkin, while the black one is Caron Simply Soft Party in black sparkle.
The larger easy knit pumpkin used three strands of worsted weight yarn held together. I know one of them is the Simply Soft and one is a very old skein of Southwest Trading Company Vegas yarn. I’m not sure what the third one was but I think it was some kind of cotton. I ran out close to the end and subbed in some Red Heart Super Saver (also in color pumpkin) to finish it off. This one weighed 89 grams before stuffing so my guess is it used about 165 yards.
You’ll also need straight knitting needles in an appropriate size for your yarn, or one size smaller than what you might normally use. The small orange pumpkins were knit on size 8 US/5 mm knitting needles, while the black was on size 6 US/4 mm needles. The large orange was worked on US 10.5/6.5 mm needles.
In addition you’ll need scissors, the longest yarn needle you have, and something to stuff your pumpkins with. One of mine has yarn ends and random scraps, and the rest have regular Poly-fil stuffing.
Size
The size on these can vary depending on what size needles and how many stitches you use. Before making into a pumpkin, the small orange ones were 5.5 inches/14 cm square, and the black was 5.25 inches/a little more than 13 cm.
The finished pumpkins are basically the same size, at about 10 inches/25.5 cm around and 2.5 to 3 inches/6 to 7.5 cm tall. They can vary a little depending on how you stuff them.
The larger pumpkin was made with a square of 8.5 inches/21.5 cm and made a pumpkin 17.5 inches/44.5 cm around and 6 inches/15.25 cm tall.
Gauge is not critical as long as you like the look of the fabric. If you make one and find the stuffing is showing more than you’d like, knit on smaller needles.
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Easy Knit Pumpkin Pattern
Instructions are for the smaller size, with the larger size in parentheses. But you can use this method to make whatever size you like.
Cast on 24 (30) stitches.
Work in garter stitch (that’s knitting every stitch of every row) until your piece is roughly square.
Cut the working yarn, leaving a really long tail, and thread it onto your yarn needle.
Slide all the stitches off the knitting needle and onto the yarn by picking them up with the yarn needle.
Pull tight, go through those stitches again, and pull tight again. The hole doesn’t have to completely close but it shouldn’t be huge either.
Fold the square in half so the side edges are together. Sew up this seam until you get back to the cast on.
You can do this any way you like but the neatest way is to take your needle under the stitch at the top of the wave of garter stitch on one side and the stitch at the bottom of the wave on the other. Pull the yarn somewhat tight every inch or so.
Once you’ve made a tube with one closed end, add your stuffing.
You want to shape it into more of a pumpkin shape as you go. Knitting stretches so I promise you this will work.
When you have a shape you like, take the yarn needle and weave in and out through the stitches of the cast on. Pull tight and either weave through again or work back and forth across the stitches to mostly close up the hole.
Finishing Your Pumpkin
Next, take the sewing needle around the outside of the pumpkin from top to bottom. Stick the needle into the center bottom of the pumpkin and pull through to the center top (this is why you need a long needle if you’re making a big pumpkin especially. Pull tight so it makes the pumpkin a little more squat.
Repeat this three more times around the pumpkin. You can play with how tight you want these strands to be as it will change the look of the pumpkin.
Hide the yarn tail inside the pumpkin and cut the excess.
Stem Ideas
To finish your easy knit pumpkin you’ll need some kind of a stem. The black pumpkin stem was worked with the same yarn as the pumpkin, while the others I used a bulky brown yarn that happened to be sitting on my desk.
For the smaller pumpkins I cast on 5 stitches and knit in garter stitch for 1 inch/2.5 cm. Bind off and cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Fold the stem in half and sew the bind off edge and the side closed. You can sew the other end closed if you like, too. Then sew the stem to the center of the top of the pumpkin.
The larger pumpkin has a stem that is 8 stitches wide and knit for 1.5 inches/3.8 cm. For that one I didn’t bind off, just left a long tail that I slid through the stitches to close up the top. Otherwise it’s finished the same. I feel like this gives the stem a rounder look but you can do it either way.
If you don’t want to knit a garter stitch stem, you can use a wooden bead like I did on this one, or use a piece of a stick, a cinnamon stick, a knit cord, a pipe cleaner…there are lots of options.
There you have it! This easy pumpkin knitting pattern can be made up in a bunch of different ways, using different sizes and colors of yarn, different numbers of stitches, even different stitch patterns.
If you’re ready to try another variation on the knit square pumpkin, check out my easy pumpkin knitting pattern using ribbing.
