Fall is my favorite season, which is probably why a majority of my patterns follow that theme. As a kid I always loved getting to carve pumpkins with intricate details but most of all, I loved Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving had always been my favorite holiday because of how my big Italian family always got together. Halloween was always a close second though! As we all got older and moved across the country, Thanksgiving became less of a big deal, but it created a perfect opportunity for Halloween to rise in the ranks to #1 Holiday.

These days I carve my pumpkins on Halloween night with some crazy detailed Tim Burton character (I use a stencil, I am not a pumpkin carving artist) and I make pumpkin seeds that usually don't make it to the end of the night. With the current state of the world, I shall continue this tradition because it's not like we can go out anyways...

I also have this annoying habit of starting to decorate for Halloween in July, which is why my house is a pumpkin patch with the accumulation of SO MANY CROCHETED PUMPKINS. I probably made ten pumpkins in order to perfect my new pattern AND I had a group of eight people test the three larger sizes (link included at the end of this blog post).

Today is the release of one of the Halloween designs I made last year: the Puff Stitch Pumpkins! During the testing of this fun pattern, I whipped up a mini version and I'm ready to share it here with you! The three larger sizes are available for purchase in PDF form in my Etsy shop and Ravelry store. I also recently released a spider amigurumi pattern that you can check out while you're there! I have been having a great time putting together the patterns I've created over the last year. It's a wonderful feeling to step out and have the confidence to release your brain child to the world!

My favorite part about this pattern is the texture, all of those puff stitches create this yummy squishiness. It's also a great way to eat into your stash, as this fluffy pumpkin is a great stash buster. You could go with the traditional colors or have fun and do bright colors like one of my testers did.

Anyways, I'll stop babbling and show you these pumpkins!

To get the PDF for all four sizes: Etsy Ravelry

To get the PDF of this Spider: Etsy Ravelry

Mini Pumpkin

I have included the stick variation as a freebie here on my blog, the PDF does however have a crocheted stem version for all four sizes.

Material:

~70 yds of any weight 4 yarn
4.0 mm crochet hook (G hook)
Tapestry Needle
Stick to insert as a stem
Glue for the stick
Polyfil
Extra decorations (optional)

Stitches and Abbreviations
MR- Magic Ring

ss- Slip Stitch

Puff- Puff Stitch - (yarn over, insert hook and pull up a loop) x 5. When you have 11 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through all loops, ch 1 to secure.

Puff inc- Puff Stitch Increase - Place two Puff stitches in the same space.

Puff dec- Puff Stitch Decrease - (yarn over, insert hook and pull up a loop) x 5. When you have 11 loops on your hook, (yarn over, insert hook and pull up a loop) x 5 into the next space. When you have 21 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through all loops, ch 1 to secure.

FO- Fasten Off

Notes:

Do not turn when completing a row, this will create irregular puff stitches.
When finishing each row, do not ch 1 (securing ch of Puff) prior to ss to the beginning of the row, doing so creates too big of a hole when stuffing the pumpkin.
Each Puff Stitch is made in between the stitches from the previous rows.

Pattern for the Mini:

Row 1: Work 6 Puff in a MR (You need to ch 2 after the MR to get the right stitch height) ss to beginning ch, ch 2 (6 Puff)
Every stitch after this will be placed in between stitches.

Row 2: Ch 2, (Puff inc) x 6, ss to beginning ch (12 Puff)

Row 3: Ch 2, (Puff 1, Puff inc) x 6, ss to beginning ch (18 Puff)

Rows 4-5: Ch 2, Puff around, ss to beginning ch (18 Puff) (2 rows)

Row 6: Ch 2, (Puff dec, Puff 1) x 6, ss to beginning ch (12 Puff)

Row 7: Ch 2, (Puff dec) x 6, ss to beginning ch (6 Puff)

FO, leave an extra long tail to create pumpkin segments. Tail should be around 5 feet (you may find this too long, but its better to have too long of a tail than one thats too short)

Stuff pumpkin (not too full since there are holes created by the Puff Stitch).

Using the long tail you left and a tapestry needle, weave through the front loops of the stitches made during the last row and pull tight to close off the hole. Take your needle back through the hole you just closed up and pull tight until the sphere is indented. Now you are going to wrap this tail around the outside of the pumpkin and back through the same hole you started with (first segment made). Repeat around until you have your desired number of segments, I repeated three times to get 4 segments. Tie a knot and fasten off your tail, hide tail inside of the pumpkin. Using glue, insert your stick into the center of the pumpkin you just made and hold for a few seconds until your glue dries. Once dry, you can add extra decorations to spruce up your pumpkin.

And Voila! Mini Pumpkin.

Want a more basic pumpkin? Click HERE for another free pumpkin pattern here on the blog!

Hope you enjoy this mini pumpkin and have a very happy spooky season!

-Lizzy

If you like this free pattern, consider buying me a coffee?

Tester Photos