A cute knitting pattern for a complete pumpkin patch including leaves and vines – no sewing required
This year is slowly coming to an end. Autumn is one of my personal favorite seasons. I never really was a summer guy. So, I’m really looking forward to the leaves turning red and of course, decorating my home with all things autumny. And that’s why I came up with this super cute pumpkin patch pattern.
The pdf comes with 9 pages full of detailed instructions and tons of close-up pictures. It has been test-knitted and edited for perfect results, and thousands of fellow knitters have already finished their cute little pumpkins.
Here’s the story behind the pattern: You see, I really was not satisfied with the existing pumpkin knitting patterns. A lot of them didn’t really look like the real deal, involved a lot of sewing to get things in shape, and most of them lacked leaves on top of that. I wanted a full pumpkin patch instead.
You’ve probably seen my pumpkin egg cozies and I basically took these as a basis to create the full pattern. It really took a lot of tinkering but I feel the results speak for themselves. The knitting process is almost a bit like magic as you can slowly see the pumpkins taking shape.
You will have to know how to knit in the round on double-pointed knitting needles (quite a lot of people have finished using magic loop as well) and some rather rare increases and decreases. But don’t be afraid! There are step-by-step instructions available for all of these.
Plus, I even recorded a video of me knitting the pumpkins for visual learners. So, I guess this really is saying there’s no excuse for you not to give it a try.
Note: If you can’t get enough pumpkins, make sure to check out my pumpkin parade with 4 more different types of pumpkin
Materials you will need:
- Scraps of the Wollmeise Twin (in the colors Good morning and Pistazie; I used around 70 yards) or any other fingering sock yarn scraps for needles size 2.5 – 3.00 mm.
- Double-Pointed Knitting needles 2.5 mm. Frequent readers probably already know that I am a huge fan of the Knitter’s Pride Karbonz because they are the only ones that don’t end up crooked after 5 minutes.
- A tapestry needle and scissors.
- Stitch markers (optional)
- Thin wire and a wire plier
- Toy stuffing
Note: I earn a small commission from purchases through links in this article
Knitting techniques
This pumpkin patch is mainly shaped through a combination of increases and decreases – some of them may be a little bit more uncommon. It‘s probably not the easiest pattern for beginners but I tried to link to tutorials so you can catch up before you start. And I know that many advanced beginners finished this pattern with a bit of patience.
- K = knit
- P = Purl
- SSK = Slip Slip Knit
- K2tog = knit two together
- KLL = Knit left loop
- KRL = Knit right loop
- K1TOG RL = Knit 1 together right loop
- K1TOG LL = Knit 1 together left loop
- K3tog centered = Slip 2 stitches knitwise, knit one, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over the one knit stitch.
- I-Cord for the vines
- ….And a standard longtail cast on.
These pumpkins are knit in the round on a set of 5 double-pointed needles. If you still need to do some catching-up, here’s my tutorial on knitting in the round. You might also check out my blog post with 10 tips for better results with dpns. A lot of people have finished them using magic loop as well.
In the pattern, I tried to provide you with a couple of different options. You can knit these pumpkins with leaves and vines, or just with a short little stem if that’s what you prefer. I leave these choices to you and your own creativity.
Again, here’s the direct link to buy this pattern.
While I did knit these on 2.50mm needles, nothing speaks against picking heavier yarn weight and bigger needles. I’ve seen tons of knitters doing just that with amazing results! Also, while green and orange might be the obvious choice, you could also pick totally different colors.
Note: Previously this pattern was available for free. I thoroughly revised the pattern in August 2021, recorded a video, and took new and better pictures. In that process, I decided to add it to my Etsy/Ravelry shop for a small fee. This will allow me to continue creating new and existing new patterns. Thank you for your understanding.
Anyways, that’s my pumpkin knitting pattern. Download it and feel free to comment with your feedback and your questions.
Thank you so much for sharing these with us! they are perfect and I’m off to buy some yarn.
thank you so much bernadette and feel free to reach out to me in case you need any help 🙂
And what if I’ve already subscribed before, can I then not have this pattern…?
Hey Suze,
no worries. You’ll get every free pattern with the next newsletter. I try to space them out every 2 weeks so I don’t spam people’s inbox. The next newsletter will actually come out today 🙂
Thanks! That’s great news! I love the pattern.
Muchas gracias.
Cömo se descarga el pdf? Gracias de antemano
You have to subscribe to the newsletter and then you will get it as part of your welcome gift:)
I subscribed. Went to inbox and spam. I did this this morning. Nearly 10 hours ago. How long does take for email?
Hey Colleen,
That is hard to tell, but 10 hours should be more than enough. Then again, I can only tell you that my server sent you an e-mail. I got no clue of telling you what Yahoo does with my email. But your subscription is currently still unconfirmed, sadly
So I left my name and email address (under duress) and still got nothing! Why the subterfuge?? This is very deceitful! You need to be closed down!
While I am open to constructive criticism, I will speak out when I read bullshit and do it loudly.
This is a free pattern and I am not getting any money for it. If you don’t want to provide your email address that’s just fine and nobody forces you to do so. I can totally understand it.
Subscribing to my newsletter (which, btw, I have only gotten very positive feedback so far) is a free choice you can make or not. I don’t see the duress and accusing me of it is very insulting, to say the least. And the fact that you did not verify your e-mail-subscription so I can send you the pattern has nothing to do with subterfuge or deceit. Quite to the contrary: It’s making sure that no strangers can subscribe you to a newsletter you never wanted to by entering someone else’s email address.
And on that note, I’m very sure the over a thousand people who successfully downloaded this pattern now and started knitting the pattern would probably not like it if I close it down.
So, the next time you choose to comment harshly on somebody else’s project of love, maybe think again and phrase your problem in a way we can come to a mutual understanding and not alienation. The world has seen enough of that in the past 4 years.
I much appreciate your pumpkin pattern. Easy to follow plus I learned a new stitch increase technique which is beautiful. I wanted to add a photo but can’t see where to do that – sorry, my fault not yours. 😳
Hey Jaci,
you cannot add a picture here on my website. However, you can upload it to Ravelry as a project, or Instagram and tag me. And rumor has it I’m always delighted to find a picture in my plain old email inbox as well *grin*
Norman
Hey Dona,
always a pleasure. Have fun knitting it!
Norman where can I find the video of you knitting the pumpkin?
Karen
How about my youtube channel which is linked in the pattern and here on my blog?
It’s a great little pattern. Simple reading will solve your problem. Get over yourself.
Lovely pattern, had already made some pumpkins with a slightly different pattern but needEd a leaf pattern, yours fitted really well, liked the different LL & RL stitches, had to look up how to do them but they look great, thank you.
You live, you learn. Glad I could be of help!
For the truth, such a cuties pattern ever, I am going to fall in love with those
Thank so much for the very cute pattern! I’m really enjoying making them. I do have a couple questions though. Right before row 23 on page 5, you say to move the start of the round over two stitches. Does that mean knit two extra stitches with row 22, place the marker, and start row 23 from there?
Also on page 5, right after row 24 it says “Repeat rounds 22+24 eight more times.” Both rows 22 and 24 are just knitting. Is doing 16 knit rounds right? I assumed you meant repeat rows 23 and 24 eight more times, but that doesn’t seem to be working for me. Any tips?
Last thing, and this is very minor, the row/round numbers for the decrease portion of the pumpkin (41 to the end) just repeat the numbers 41 and 42.
Thanks again!
Hey Maya,
there were three typos in the first version, and you found them. You should have gotten an e-mail with the errata (drop me an e-mail and I can send it to you in case you didn’t get it!) But I’m going to answer it here anyway!
1) The problem is: The row would start with an SSK; I don’t like knitting these kind of stitches at the beginning or the end of a needle. So, I shuffled the stitches around by two stitches. And yes, in this case I knitted 2 extra stitches and started the row from there. In the new version of the pattern, i started the repeat with *ssk,k5, ….k2tog* anyway and leave the shuffling to the reader. I thought I wanted to be smart, but I wasn’T 😉
2) it should be repeat 23+24
3) and yeah the row counts after 42 are messed up. I blame copy and paste.
Not sure if because using hotmail, but no confirmation e-mail (did check subscribe), nada. Put your domain on safe senders list, still nothing. Tried 3x. Something isn’t working. 🙁
Hey there, It still says your e-mail is waiting for confirmation. So, I suppose it might be in the spam folder.
Sometimes, some e-mail providers block certain addresses and then there’s nothing I can do about it on my end 🙁
If you got a different e-mail-adress (like gmail) try that.
Norman
Cutest pumpkin ever! Thank you for the pattern. Question on the 8 repeats don’t you need to shift one stitch each repeat or it won’t line up?
or it won’t line up?
I said it above, but will answer you here directly as well. You do need to shuffle your stitches ever so often, yes. The decreases and increases should line up. Or you start the round with a KRL, then no shuffling is needed.
Missed that, thanks. There is one more question. What amazing little table thing do you have planned for us for Christmas?. 😁 if you start traveling again, I hope you keep your knitting blog going too!
Hey again Joyce,
quite honestly, I don’t know yet. Didn’t make up my mind about this years xmas theme *Grin*
And even though I sadly don’t see any major traveling happening anytime soon, I did go on 5 vacations this year, so I definitely will keep my knitting blog going 🙂
Most of my issues were covered with Maya’s email, but it seems you need to change the beginning of round every other round during the 23 – 24 repeats or the numbers don’t work. Maybe that’s why it says to repeat 22 thru 24?
Looking forward to seeing this done, it’s very cute.
I never got the updated version.
Hey Anne, just drop me an email and I trigger the email with the update for you again 🙂
And yes, you may have to shuffle around the stitches along the way. The KLL/KRLs should form one continuous line and so do the SSK/K2togs. If you got troubles reading your knitting, stitch markers will work wonders.
During later tries, I usually started my needles with KRL and it with a KLL. It’s a bit harder to knit, but that way you avoid the shuffling.
Hi, Norman! You were on the front page of Ravelry as a most-accessed pattern and I had to investigate. So I subscribed and downloaded your Cute Pumpkin Patch pattern. Love your tutorials and your website–very clear and enjoyable. But…
I must be having an obtuse knitting evening (should probably wait until a new day) but I am off to a confusing start.
Round 10: Join in the round by distributing the
stitches to 4 needles and knit across. You may
place a stitch marker here to mark the beginning of your round so you don‘t get confused
later on.
Round 11: Change to the orange yarn and
*k1, KLL, KRL, K1* (24 stitches);
There are 12 stitches to distribute to 4 needles, so 3 stitches per needle, right?
Then how do you get 6 stitches from the 3, doing Round 11?
I’ve watched the KLL and KRL tutorials and it’s not adding up because I am_________?
Also, I found my I-cord inverted and would appear on the wrong side?
I’m used to M1L and M1R but somehow I think I’m making this way too complicated. I plan on making these as gifts–they are by far the nicest ones I’ve seen and other than my current fog, you’ve done a great job with explanations and detail.
Thank you so much for your help.
Marti
Hey Marti,
so happy to hear that you are enjoying my website.
I’ll probably add an icord tutorial to my website this week.
As for Round 11: I usually distribute the stitches in twos. So 4,2,4,2. That way, I don’t have to knit a KRL/KLL as a last or first stitch. Though, no matter how you distribute, you should end up with the same amount of stitches.
So, on the first needle you knit a knit stitch, and then you do a KLL into the same stitch, then you do a KRL int he next stitch, knit two, do a kll into the last stitch you knit, then a krl in the next stitch and knit one -> 8 stitches
Norman
Thank you!
Norman, thank you so much for the adorable Pumpkin Pattern. I got it yesterday, printed and started. I decided to do a white pumpkin. I will post a pic when I finish.
Hi Norman,
I forgot to mention, after row 24, you say repeat rows 23 and 24, 8 more times, which would make the next row, Row 44 not Row 41. Is that correct?
Hm…i can’t follow you, but maybe my math is wrong. Repeating these two rows 8 times results in 16 rows. 24+16 = 40 -> so the next row is 41?
I LOVE pumpkin patch pattern!!! Thank you soooo much!! Linda
Thank you so much for giving your pattern away free. And for the precision design work. I just followed you on Insta — oh my goodness, the amanita mushrooms! Go you! And thank you again!
Cute pattern, but it doesn’t actually say *anywhere* in this description how you actually get it. Now, since I can read, I see in the comments that you have to sign up for the newsletter. It would have been helpful to have that information somewhere in this lengthy description, and not a very confusing “Anyways, that’s my pumpkin knitting pattern. Download it …” at the end.
Super-interesting construction though, and lovely softy 🙂 Thanks!
Hey Cake,
there is a big download form. Maybe you are running adblockers or something and it doesn’t show for you 🙂
Hello,
I tried to subscribe but I don’t receive a confirmation e-mail,
neither in my inbox nor in my junk folder.
Thanks in advance for your help
Hey Dominque, I tried to add you manually. Let me know if it worked.
Thank you for the pattern!
Quick question: can you do this on 40 inch needles, magic loop? Or just double pointed needles? Thanks. Very interesting pattern. I look forward to starting it.
Hey Cathy,
I don’t knit a lot with magic loop. So I couldn’t possibly tell you. But I’ve seen a couple of ppl did it on Ravelry… So I guess it’s doable, if a bit tricky the first and last couple of rounds
Great pattern! Just wondering how long it takes to get the download after subscribing and confirming the subscription? Thought I saw somewhere it said allow 15-20 minutes for pattern to be emailed. It’s now been a little over an hour with no pattern email. And I checked junk email as well. Not there either. Thank you.
Hey Steph,
apparently, there is a problem with hotmail addresses. Nothing I can do. Seems like they are blocking some emails.
Do you have a tutorial for K1togll + K1togrl available? I don’t feel it’s very neat how I did it and doesn’t continue the same look as the increases.
Hey Kelsey,
the tutorial is linked right here in my pattern at the bottom. You’ll also find a video on my youtube channel and of course if you click on “stitches in the menu 🙂
Hi Norman,
Thank you so much! Very helpful tutorials on all the techniques used 😊Can’t wait to start this pattern.
Question: will I be able to start a vine, add leaves, continue the vine a bit and then continue right into the orange pumpkin?
Hey Jennie,
well I always add the leaves later on, but yes it’s one smooth transition from vine to pumpkin. only the leaves are knit separately.
For now there is no easy method. But if you stick to the newsletter, you will get every new pattern straight to your inbox!
I got the pattern today and its so lovely. I have WM Pure in orange. I have to find some green to start.
I remain wonder of row 23. You say to Maya, that row will begin whit SSK. Still in pattern it start with K2tog and end with SSK.
Hey Carol,
there was an earlier version that had some minor errors I fixed by now (and you seem to have the fixed version). On top of that, an earlier version shuffled the stitches around in round 23 because that’s what I do. But it had some users confused so I left that out and just mention that I’m doing it and leave it up to the knitter.
This pumpkin pattern is ADORABLE! I will have some down time soon and plan to try it. I’m wondering if you are working out a leaf that looks like pumpkin plants really grow. These are really nice, but ummm, not botanically correct. Just a question of options.
Hey Shirley,
you are of course correct. But I wanted to keep these pumpkins as easy and accessible as possible. Knitting a true pumpkin leaf without a provisional cast-on or sewing would be impossible, and even then you need a lot of wire.
I did some tests and do have the notes somewhere still. But I don’t think I will publish them. It didn’t really look all that cute either.
Thank you for sharing your adorable pumpkin patch. I’m working on my second pumpkin. I’ll add leaves later, so I haven’t made a leaf yet. I love the added dimension you have given to your pumpkins. I caught the pumpkin obsession two years ago from my local yarn shop, “addicting”.
I’m putting a marker at every increase location on this pumpkin. I was knitting and watching American Football last night and had to rip out all the orange. (It was a good game). With the markers there shouldn’t be any mistakes. Many of my pumpkins have a carry along yarn, so for my second with your pattern it’s a thread with tiny sequins.
Thank You Norman!
Hey Sonja,
thank you for sharing this little story and the idea with the bobbins.
As for adding sequins – that’s a lovely idea and I’m sure it will bring a bit of sparkle to your life!
Norman
OK, I am voting to see you make a Great Pumpkin!!! Also, thank you so much for the best pumpkin pattern ever!!!!
And I now have to look for the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin story… I think it I actually have that on an app, believe it or not. I loved it, too, as a kid, and because you reminded me of its existence I can now show it to my kid.
Lastly, I thought you responded very generously to the “old crotchety” (why does this word have to look so much like crochet) person. If it were me, I probably would have deleted their comment entirely. I do use the word “old” quite deliberately, as the suspicion about newsletter technology sounds very much like something my 83-year old mother might say IF she EVEN could use a computer.
And not to disparage older people, as I know people in their 80s who actually do know how to use a computer, but sometimes have a hard time coping with it.
Anyway, again, thank you again for creating magic with your needles! And for sharing it so generously!
This so cute but not an easy knit. Ended up tossing the first one in the trash. May try again when not feeling like I am in a time crunch to finish. I cannot use double points, drop them on the floor, pull out the wrong one and end up with a bunch of live stitches etc. used magic loop with very flexible cord, which worked pretty good until I dropped one the decrease stitches and couldn’t pick it up. Would liked to have been able to get the pattern into knit companion but was unable to do so.
Hey Caroline. Have you tried knitting with a bigger needle size and heavier yarn? That did the trick for a lot of people.
Hey Karen,
my server says the pattern was delivered to your email address. I got no way of knowing or fixing what your email provider does with my emails. Some block the emails, others end up in the spam…that’s something I cannot influence.
Hi Norman,
I ve just received the Pumpkin pattern and read it through. Looks really good! Thank you.
I will make a pumpkin decoration or two in autumn. But for now I am thinking of using
your pattern for my knitted (not crochetted) cactai collection, I hope you don’t mind. I already made some flat, cylinder, ball, coil shaped ones in different textures but was straggling with forming segmented shape. Your really clever pattern is a great help.
Many of members of our local knitting and crochet group make amigurumi figures using crochet stiches and some people find that knitting 3-D objects is a bit old fashoned. I disagree. Your knitted objects are all so cool and inspirering!
I will make pumpkin-shaped cactus with thicker Aran weight yarn with 4.5mm or 5mm needles as I have some forest-green coloured left over yarn from last year’s jumper project.
Thanks again. Im looking forward to receiving your news letters.
Hey Ellie,
I actually still have a plan for a cacti pattern..probably will take till august or so. But yeah, you can totally use my pattern as a basis. That’s what they are for.
As for amigurumi. You can tell them that the Japanese verb amu (which forms the ami in amigurumi) stands for both knitting and crochet. And in fact, I believe that knitting is actually better at shopping 3-d objects. It just happens to be a lot easier with crochet as your stitches end up thicker 🙂
Hey there,
Thanks for sharing your pattern. It worked out amazingly and I love it!
Hi,
I subscribe to your newsletter. Received e-mail with link for pattern. Unfortunately, I did not save it. The link no longer works. It is a beautiful pattern which you obviously spent a long time designing. I would appreciate a new link. Thank you!!
I am currently reworking this pattern. I will drop an Etsy link once it’s available for purchase.
Question. The directions say to know in the round using dp needles. Is there any reason you can’t use circular needles? I am not very good at knitting in the round with do needles. Cutest pumpkin pattern I have seen.
If you can handle 12 stitches in the round with circular needles, sure. Most opt for magic loop, though.
Thanks for your quick reply.
Working around the pumpkin in getting small holes at the KLR increase…. Is this right?? Does the stuffing leak out????
Well, most increases will leave a little hole if you stretch things out. that’s normal and nothing will leak out as you can see in the pictures. Provided that a) you are knitting with a relatively small needle size compared to your yarn weight and b) you don’t overstuff. Hope this helps.
Hi Norman, I love these adorable pumpkins! I just purchased the pattern from Ravelry on 9/16/21. I can’t tell if I have the corrected version or not. I read thru the prior comments and I’m confused.
Round 23: *K2tog, k5, KLL, KRL, k5, SSK* … should I swap the K2tog with the SSK.
After Round 24, it says “Repeat rounds 23+24 eight more times” … I think that is correct.
Thank you! I just signed up for your newsletter. You have a new fan!
Hey Sarah,
if your pattern has a v2.0 on the first page, you have the correct pattern and I think you do. Either way, round 23 is totally correct and you do not need to change things there.
Hi again, I have to tell you how much I have enjoyed making these pumpkins. Your instructions, photos, and videos are great! Thank you for sharing your passion so others can learn and enjoy. For those that complain about the very small cost, don’t listen to them. I can’t even imagine the amount of time it takes for you to create, perfect, then document everything. Thank you!
I do have some more questions. I’m finishing up my third pumpkin and eager to start another. I struggle with the section of transitioning the vine to the pumpkin. Besides being fiddly and tight, I’m not sure when to shift the knitting to the opposite end of the needle like when knitting the icord.
After row 6, do I shift like doing icord or keep knitting flat?
After row 7, I assume I should shift, pull tight and row 8 is a knit row.
After row 8, do I shift like doing icord or keep knitting flat?
I hope that makes sense.
Hey Sarah,
I’m not quite sure how you can still have these questions after you watched the video? I mean.. I literally show it to you there.
you start knitting in the round with row 10. before that, it’s all icords.
Ok, I must be dense. I see your reference to a video of you knitting the pumpkins, but can’t find a link in the pattern. I even looked thru the list of videos. What am I missing?
There are like 3 big youtube buttons in the pattern. Why not click on them? And then it will bring you directly to my channel where you see all my videos and said pumpkin video.
Pumpkins ..so cute..I live in Vietnam..and I want to have this pumpkin pattern free….I want to make pumpkin for my granddaughter….please and Thanks
Hi! I’m on my second one of these cute, little pumpkins, and I just noticed that on round 47 it goes “K1togll, k1togrl” instead of the “K1togrl, K1togll” of the other odd number rounds as you shape the bottom of the pumpkin. Is this a typo or is the switch there for a reason? Thanks!
That is most certainly a typo. Thank you for catching that Stephanie!
Hallo Norman,
Ich habe dir schon bei Instagram eine Nachricht geschickt und dann erst gelesen, dass Fragen zum Stricken in die Kommentare gehören! Tut mir leid!
Ich habe nach wie vor das Problem, dass ich nicht auf die gesamte Maschenanzahl komme. Ich hatte nach Runde 11 nur 20 Maschen insgesamt, da ich zwei Zunahmen pro Nadel hatte. Ich habe jetzt eine extra Runde gestrickt und noch eine Masche pro Nadel zugenommen, um 24 Maschen zu erreichen. Aber jetzt habe ich das Problem weiterhin: es sind zwei Zunahmen in den Runden 13, 15, 17 usw., also 8 Maschen mehr pro Runde, aber in der Gesamtanzahl in Klammern stehen immer 12 Maschen mehr pro Runde. Wie bekomme ich denn die dritte zusätzliche Masche pro Nadel?
Ich hoffe, du kannst mir weiterhelfen!
Vielen Dank und liebe Grüße
Anna
Hallo Anna,
i hope you don’t mind me answering in English so other people may understand it as well.
The pumpkin has 6 segments. I always distribute my stitches in a way that there are two needles with one segment each and two needles with two segments each. It sounds like you are reading the pattern wrong and only create 4 segments.
Lot’s of people also make the mistake and assume a KLL or KLR was increasing AND knitting one stitch. But that’s wrong. A KLL is only the increase.
Hi Norman! I absolutely love your videos! I was wondering if I was allowed to sell any product I make, indicating you as the designer and link to your pattern or webpage. I know we can’t sell your pattern, obviously, but I wasn’t clear on the pumpkin once I made it?
Hey Melissa,
every pattern comes with copyright information on the last page. It should tell you everything you need to know 🙂
I’m so sorry to bother you. I did see it, but was confused of the line “pattern for personal and non-commercial only”, meant to not sell your pattern or not sell the pattern or any product made from the pattern. Sorry, new at this and don’t want to sell something and get in trouble.😊
This is a great pattern! I’m going to make one for my daughter.
Beautiful Pattern ….I make it for my table ….thanks
Such a cute pattern! I had trouble starting the orange color, but I found that if I put 2 stitches (one repeat or K1, KLL, KLR, K1) on each of the first and second needles, and 4 stitches (2 repeats) on the third and fourth needles, I was better able to keep track. The first and second needle will always contain one repeat. No need to shuffle stitches until the 2 repeats are too many stitches for the needle. A bonus is that if you lose where you are in the pattern, you just need to knit to the very center of the first needle, do the KLL and KLR, then knit to the end. Once I got the pattern established, I could see where the increases went and I could shuffle the stitches as needed. If you are using thin yarn, you may never need to shuffle the stitches, as a double set of repeats doesn’t take up too much room.
I am using worsted weight yarn and increased until I was at k10, KLL, KLR, k10. Looking forward to posting my finished pumpkin when it is done.
Thanks for your great patterns and help!