This pumpkin is a rectangle. You crochet a flat panel of about 12 by 30 cm in half double crochet, seam it into a tube, gather both ends, and then needle-sculpt six slices through the middle. The result is a proper pumpkin with the deep creases you usually only get from knitting, and a long stem that bends because there is wire inside it.
It is the most forgiving pattern on this site: no increases in the pumpkin at all, only rows. The stem is the only shaped piece, and it takes 18 rounds.
Every row and round is written out below, plus the sculpting sequence.
What you need
- Yarn: orange and khaki green, sport or DK
- Hook: 2 mm — this one is worked tight so the fabric holds its shape
- Notions: stuffing, a long tapestry needle, 1.3 to 1.5 mm wire for the stem, two buttons (23 mm and 17 mm), stitch marker, scissors
Abbreviations
- ch chain, sc single crochet, hdc half double crochet, slst slip stitch
- BLO back loop only, inc increase, dec decrease, T-ch turning chain
Pumpkin panel
Ch 32, then work from the second chain on the hook. Every row is worked in the back loops only.
- Row 1: 30 hdc (30)
- Rows 2 to 24: 30 hdc in the back loops, ch 1, turn (30)
Keep going until the panel is about 30 cm long. That length, gathered, is what gives a 12 cm pumpkin.
Seaming and gathering
- Thread a long needle and pass it through the top loops of one short edge, pull, and go around the circle again until the hole closes.
- Join the two long edges with slst. Leave a long end for the sculpting.
- Turn the piece right side out so the seam is inside.
- Stuff with fibrefill, not too firmly.
- Gather the second short edge the same way and pull tight.
Needle sculpting
Bring the needle out through the inside of the pumpkin, then pierce it from top to bottom. Repeat six times, each time returning to the top, adjusting the thread with your hand as you go. Pull each slice tight before starting the next one.
Stem
Attach the khaki green yarn at the top of the pumpkin and work 21 sc around the opening.
- R1: 21 sc (21)
- R2–3: 21 sc (21) — 2 rounds
- R4: (5 sc, dec) x3 (18)
- R5: (4 sc, dec) x3 (15)
- R6–8: 15 sc (15) — 3 rounds
- R9: 2 sc, dec, dec, 9 sc (13)
- R10: dec, 11 sc (12)
Insert a small piece of wire now — the stem is worked around it, so it bends and stays bent.
- R11–17: 12 sc (12) — 7 rounds
- R18: 6 dec (6)
Stuff the stem tightly and pull the hole closed.
Face
Embroider the mouth in black with small stitches, then fill a little triangle for the tooth in white. Sew the two buttons on as eyes with red thread: the 23 mm one first, then the 17 mm one, slightly lower. The size difference is what gives it the lopsided look.
Notes
The panel tension matters more than the stitch count: at 2 mm the fabric comes out stiff enough to hold the slices, and at 4 mm it sags into a ball. If you only have thicker yarn, work fewer rows and accept a squatter pumpkin.
More pumpkins: Mini Pumpkin Man is the velvet character version, Pumpkin Bunny is the plush one, and Plush Pumpkin Kitten wears the pumpkin as a body. Everything is on the patterns page.
Pattern source: pumpkin with a bent stem, by softtouch_amigurumi.
