Yarn Pumpkins Tutorial

Here’s a great way to use up scrap yarn and create fun little colorful decor for the fall season – simple yarn pumpkins.
Creating yarn pumpkins is simple – the activity is suitable for ages 10-100+. Use them as mantle, table, or shelf decorations or give them as gifts for the season along with my free Halloween Crochet Printable Care Cards.

Supplies:

Scrap yarn in your favorite colors (it doesn’t have to be fall colors – have fun with it!)
Cardboard
Scissors
Brown Paper (or see twig alternatives)
hot glue gun
Optional decor (see optional decor)

Yarn Pumpkin Video Tutorial

https://youtu.be/umuQWQVmjP8

How to Create the Yarn Pumpkin

Take a 2″ piece of cardboard and wrap yarn around it to your desired thickness. The more yarn, the thicker pumpkin you’ll have. After playing around with it a few times, you’ll determine your desired number of wraps.

yarn pumpkins step 1 - yarn wrapped around cardboard

Take a strand of yarn and thread it around the top of the yarn wrapping and tie tight (like you would to create a tassle)

Do the same thing with the bottom of the pumpkin and trim the extra off of the knot

Steps 2 and 3 of making yarn pumpkins - yarn wrapped around cardboard and tied at both ends

Slide the yarn wrapping off of the cardboard and fluff gently with your hands (it just needs a little smoosh – the imperfections is what makes this such a fun craft).

Yarn removed from cardboard and shaped into a pumpkin

How to Create the Yarn Pumpkins Stem

Take a 1/4″ slip of brown or kraft cardstock and roll it up, adding hot glue intermittently to keep everything together

A brown stem created with a 1/4 inch piece of kraft paper

Add glue to the top of your pumpkin and attach the stem

Stem Alternatives:

If you want to add a dash more interest to your project (or you don’t happen to have brown or kraft cardstock laying around) you could use one of these alternatives:

Glitter paper
cinnamon stick
twig from your lawn
dowel rod (painted or not)
chenille stem

Embellishing your Yarn Pumpkin

If you’re going for something a little more, you could embellish your yarn pumpkin to create a work of art (or a jackolantern) – some ideas are:

Paper rose
wiggly eyes
felt face cut outs
plastic spiders
gemstones

If you’re interested in making more pumpkins from yarn, check out the pom pumpkins tutorial and the Loom knit pumpkins tutorial.

Tagged Halloween