and what better way to celebrate than to knit up a patch o' ponkins? Our actual pumpkin patch was pitifully pathetic this year with such a short growing season. In fact, I can see why in years past mainers survived on potatoes and apples, because they're pretty much the only steady crops that grow here, which is fine by me!

 NOT this year's harvest...

 

So in the absence of thick, sumptuous, real pumpkins I knit my own patch.

 

I was worried folks would be disappointed if they didn't have options, since pumpkins are like people: they come in all shapes and sizes. The first is a boxy, sort of modern, serious-type pumpkin while the second is a rounder, fatter, happy-go-lucky one. You can also choose between a sturdy, stuffed stem or a thin i-cord stem. Ok I admit in retrospect I may have gone a little overboard with the customization: perhaps most people don't take their pumpkins as seriously as I do, but there it is. 

 

Materials:

1 skein Briggs and Little Heritage in Orange (Try Hunter Orange for a spooky Jack-o-Lantern, Gold for a dramatic pumpkin, or any other color you'd like. You will be able to get a few pumpkins out of one skein.)

Less than 1 skein Briggs and Little Heritage in Fern (or another green) for foliage

available at https://www.maritimefamilyfiber.com/product-page/heritage-red-spectrum-collection

Size US 7 doubled pointed needles, worked on 5 needles.

Stuffing (I used wool roving which gave me a nice, dense pumpkin. You may want to add some beans to the bottom of your pumpkin if you want it to be heavier.)

Darning needle

 

          The spooky pumpkins have attracted a (kinda) black cat!

 

Small Square Ponkin:

Cast on 8 stitches. Divide 2 per needle across 4 needles.

Round 1: Knit through the front and the back of each stitch (KFB) all the way around. (16 sts)

Rnd 2: K

Rnd 3: *K 1, make 1 right (M1R, see tutorial below), k to last stitch, make 1 left (M1L), k 1* . This should bring you to the end of your first needle. Repeat between ** for the next 3 needles.

Rnd 4: K

Repeat rounds 3 and 4 until there are 80 stitches for a smaller pumpkin, or more for a large, square pumpkin.

 If you would like a rounder, plumper pumpkin than knit a few rows even here. For a flatter pumpkin, continue to decrease round.

Decrease Round 1: K 1, slip 1 knit 1 pass slipped stitch over (abbreviated SKP), K to last 3 stitches, knit 2 together (K2tog).

Rnd 2: K

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until 16 stitches remain. K2tog around. (8 stitches remain).

Begin icord stem: Stuff! Switch to green yarn.

Move all stitches to 1 needle and knit an icord to desired length. To work the icord, knit to the end of the row, but instead of turning your work, bring your working yarn and your stitches back to the end of the needle and begin knitting the right side stitches again. This will feel awkward but it will settle into a nice small tube and is a useful skill to know. Decrease by knitting 2 together (continuing with icord) until only a couple stitches remain, break yarn and thread through stitches, weave in ends.

Rotund Pumpkin:

Cast on 8 stitches, divide 2 per needle on 4 needles.

Rnd 1:KFB around

Rnd 2: K

Rnd 3:KFB around

Rnd 4: K

Rnd 5: increase 1 stitch per needle

Rnd 6: K

There should be 9 stitches on each needle.

Rnd 7: *K 1, Make 1 right, k 2, M1R, K 2, M1L, K 3, M1L, K1* Repeat around each needle.

Rnd 8: K

 Continue in established increase pattern until you have 112 stitches. Knit even for 15 rows, or more for a rounder pumpkin.

Decrease round 1: *K 1, SKP, k9 (or to center 2 stitches), k2tog, SKP, K 9, K 2tog, K1* Repeat between ** for each needle.

Rnd 2: K

Continue as established for decreases until you have 16 stitches remaining. Stuff pumpkin. Switch to green color for stem, K 15 rows even, stuff stem, K 2tog around, break yarn and thread through remaining stitches.

 

 

 

Vine: Cast on 45 stitches. Cast off 45 stitches. To get a curly vine, you can curl it around something and spray it with hairspray, or thread a wire through it.

 

Leaf: Cast on 5 stitches.

Rnd 1:K

Rnd 2: KFB each stitch (10 stitches)

Rnd 3-6: K

On next round, knit 3 stitches and move the rest to a holder or a spare needle. Work just these three stitches for 3 rows of garter stitch. Begin to decrease, 1 stitch at a time every other row. Break yarn and thread through last stitch.

 

Pick up 3 stitches from the other side and repeat.

 

Pick up the last, center 4 stitches and repeat directions.

 

Tuck in all the ends and sew vine and leaves to pumpkin in a perfectly pleasing manner.

 

Make 1 Right:

Pick up a stitch in the 'shoulder' of the next stitch:

 Then knit the stitch on the needle, which will count toward your stitch count.

 

Make 1 Left:

The same concept as M1R, except you knit into the shoulder of the stitch you have just completed.

 

 

Bonus bunny trail:

When I was little, my grandmother knit an enormous, perfectly starched pumpkin and set it in the middle of her dining room table, which was always festooned with seasonal china and decorations but of course was hardly ever used. Also predictably, 8-year-olds such as myself weren't allowed to touch the magnanimous pumpkin, no matter how plump and squishy it looked. I begged my grandmother to make me one and she replied that I'd have to make one myself, as she was up to her elbows in all sort of tasks. I whined that I didn't know how, and she said "just go for it!" Her advice I think had aformative impact, because after several attempts, I did make one for myself, and was all the more empowered that I was actually able to make something I wanted with no instructions. I kept the pumpkin for many years: made out of Hunter Orange and Dark Green Briggs and Little. It got a lot of love, in every season.