The pumpkin man is a small velvet pumpkin with legs, arms and a sprout on top. He is about 12 cm tall, made in orange, black and light green chenille yarn, and he is built from four separate pieces: a head that is a flattened oval squash, a body that grows out of two joined legs, two arms folded flat, and a tiny stem.
His head is not a sphere. It starts with a chain, which gives an oval from R1, and the five dents you sew afterwards are what make it read as a pumpkin rather than a ball. That detail is the whole pattern, and I have written the dent placement out at the end.
The rest is straightforward: 12 rounds of body, 5 rounds per arm, 3 rounds for the stem, and a face in black sport weight. It is a two-hour project once the yarn is out.
What you need
- Yarn: velvet or chenille in orange, black and light green, plus a little light pink for the cheeks
- Hook: 4.5 mm, or whatever matches your yarn
- Safety eyes: 8 mm
- Notions: black and light brown sport weight for the face, stuffing, yarn needle, scissors
Abbreviations
- MR magic ring, ch chain, sc single crochet, slst slip stitch
- inc increase, dec decrease
- R round, and the number in brackets is the stitch count
Worked in continuous rounds throughout.
Head (orange)
- R1: ch 6, starting in the second chain from the hook: 4 sc, inc in the last chain, 4 sc on the other side of the chain, inc (12)
- R2: (sc, inc) x6 (18)
- R3: (sc, inc, sc) x6 (24)
- R4: sc around (24)
- R5: (2 sc, inc, sc) x6 (30)
- R6: (2 sc, inc, 2 sc) x6 (36)
- R7: sc around (36)
- R8: (2 sc, dec, 2 sc) x6 (30)
- R9: (2 sc, dec, sc) x6 (24)
Insert the eyes between R7 and R8, 5 stitches apart, on one of the long sides of the R1 oval — look at the head from the top and you will see which side that is. Start stuffing.
- R10: (sc, dec, sc) x6 (18)
- R11: (sc, dec) x6 (12)
Finish stuffing, slst, and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing.
Legs and body (black)
Make two legs. The first one is fastened off; the second is joined to the first.
- R1: 6 sc in MR (6)
- R2: sc around (6)
- R3: (sc, inc) x3 (9)
Cut the yarn on leg 1. Work leg 2 the same way, then attach it with 1 sc in any stitch of leg 1 and continue:
- R4: counting that joining sc, sc around both legs (18)
- R5: (sc, inc, sc) x6 (24)
- R6–7: sc around (24) — 2 rounds
- R8: (4 sc, dec) x4 (20)
- R9: (8 sc, dec) x2 (18)
Stuff the legs and the body.
- R10–11: sc around (18) — 2 rounds
- R12: (sc, dec) x6 (12)
Finish stuffing, slst and fasten off.
Arms (make 2, black)
- R1: 6 sc in MR (6)
- R2–4: sc around (6) — 3 rounds
Do not stuff. Fold the arm in half and work 3 sc through both sides to close it, then slst and fasten off leaving a long tail.
Stem (light green)
- R1: 6 sc in MR (6)
- R2–3: sc around (6) — 2 rounds
Slst and fasten off, long tail for sewing.
Assembly
Before you sew the head to the body, make the dents. Look at the head from the top: R1 is an oval, and the face sits on one of its long sides. Thread a long piece of orange velvet yarn and drag it from the top of the head to the bottom, passing alternately under and over the rounds, then pull before moving to the next dent. Five dents, evenly spaced, the front one slightly wider — about 2 stitches either side of the eyes.
Then thread brown sport weight over each dent to underline the shape, and only after that sew the head onto the body, lining the eyes up with the legs. The arms go on the last round of the body, one on each side, right under the head. The sprout sits on R1, on top.
Finish with a V-shaped mouth in black, two small blush lines one row under and one stitch to the side of each eye, and, if you like, a little bow at the neck.
Notes from making it
Velvet yarn shows every pulled stitch, so keep the tension loose and even; the dents are what give the pumpkin its shape, not tight crochet. If you use a smoother yarn, the pumpkin reads smaller — go one hook size up to keep the proportions.
The same construction, with a white head instead of a pumpkin, is the Plush Pumpkin Kitten. For a bigger Halloween project there is the 26-inch Grinch, and if you want a doll in clothes, Castor the Magician Cat is the one. Everything is listed on the patterns page.
Pattern source: Mini Pumpkin Man, as shared by the original designer on the amigurumi pattern blogs.
If you want the bigger Halloween doll, Jack Skellington is 22 cm in black and white chenille with a spiky jacket hem.
For a plush project with no dents to sew, Purple Zombie Bunny is five pieces and some embroidery.
For a pumpkin in a hat rather than a pumpkin man, Pumpkin Bunny is one piece of orange chenille.
Another pumpkin-carrier: Halloween Ghost Puppy, in a ghost costume with a basket in its mouth.
If you want a pumpkin with a face, Sculpted Pumpkin with a Bent Stem uses two mismatched buttons.
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