Chunky Knit Yarn Covered Pumpkins
I love the changing of seasonal decor and finding new crafts to try. Here is a tutorial on how to make chunky knit yarn covered pumpkins for your home!
Today is all about pumpkins!
I am so excited to share this DIY with you!
If you know me by now, then you know I love all things budget-friendly.
Free is my favorite word.
I always hit those end of season sales to snatch up the clearance goodies at 80% off, so at the end of fall, I usually grab some craft pumpkins for the next year.
I love to decorate with them, but they aren’t the prettiest.
When I made a chunky knit pillow cover last year, I fell in love with the yarn!
I am by far not an expert knitter. It was super simple to do and inspiration struck when it came time to decorate this fall.
The other day, I stumbled upon some chunky knit yarn in a clearance bin and I snatched it up super quick!
But I wasn’t sure what I was going to use it for this year.
So when I went to pull out my fall decor, I stumbled upon a craft fail from a few years earlier.
It was a painted pumpkin that turned out….well…meh. Then I tried to cover it with yarn and that was another DIY fail.
But when I saw it this year, and then remembered the yarn, I knew what I could do!
So I started by filling in the gaps with this chunky yarn and was so pleased with the results.
I am sharing a tutorial video of this project over on youtube and couldn’t wait to share it with you here as well!
Here are the supplies you’ll need for this project.
Chunky Knit Yarn Covered Pumpkins
(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)
Craft Pumpkins
Chunky Knit Yarn – I used Yarn Bee yarn Jumbolicious in Biscuit and Eternal Bliss in Light Gray
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
These craft pumpkins are hard plastic, so I knew using a glue gun wouldn’t melt them like some foam pumpkins.
I started with the ribs, running a bead of glue from top to bottom down one rib at a time.
Then you simply place the yarn over the bead of glue and hold for a few seconds.
Leave the tail of the yarn loose – you will secure those areas later.
Work around the pumpkin until all the ribs are covered.
Next, you start filling in the the open areas, working around and around until the pumpkin is covered.
I did find the twisted chunky yarn to be a bit difficult.
Well, maybe not difficult.
Definitely more time consuming.
When I would cut the yarn, I noticed that the yarn would come untwisted.
So I found myself doing a lot of re-twisting and tucking and gluing, but it works!
It just needed a bit more love and attention to get it to look just right.
The other chunky knit yarn was much easier to work with.
This is the Eternal Bliss yarn in Light Gray.
One time saving tip I found was to cut about 5 or 6 strips of yarn ahead of time.
As I worked around the pumpkin, I noticed that the yarn sizes were pretty much the same.
You may need to add a few smaller pieces to fill in all the gaps.
Now for the bottom – you have all those dangling tails and that won’t do.
Take your time and work the bottom pieces together to have the entire bottom covered.
You don’t want to overlap the pieces or it won’t sit flat, so there may need to be some extra trimming done to get it just right.
One the pumpkin is fully covered, make sure you glue any loose pieces down, especially around the stem.
This entire project took less than an hour each pumpkin.
I just had a hot cup of coffee on hand, a crime solving podcast playing and enjoyed myself.
This would even be great for crafting with the kids!
I love how soft and squishy these yarn covered pumpkins are!
And the texture is fun, too!
I think it’s a neat way to customize your colors for your fall decor!
I’m putting the finishing touches on my fall decor, but plan to share a full fall home decor tour soon!
I have a question to ask you – would you want to see a video tour of my home decked out for fall? Leave me a comment below – I would love to hear from you!
I hope this gave you some crafty inspiration this season.
I’m always so very thankful that you read these posts and follow along. We couldn’t do this without you, so I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and your visits to my blog.
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I am so glad this inspired you! Hope you have a blast creating your own yarn pumpkins!
That is a great idea, Mrs. B! I will have to give that a try myself. I’ve heard it works for cutting rope, so I don’t see why it couldn’t work for yarn as well.
I love the pumpkin that you made,already have my yarn,going to try this tomorrow!!!! Thank You!
First of, thank you for sharing this information; I always wanted to make these without paying an outrageous price for a class. Anyway, I was thinking about the yarn unraveling at the end once cut and thought, what if you singe the ends with a lighter? Of course you want be careful with that method but, I think the singed fibers would meld together. The other option would be to hot glue the ends before applying to the pumpkin. I’ll have to test them out.
I am so glad you enjoyed this! I hope the time with your best friend is memorable. What a special thing to be able to cherish!
I am going to Lima, Ohio in October to visit my bestest friend. We always do crafting when we are together. I learned how to make Gnomes and we are excited to make some for the holidays. I wanted to do something simple with pumpkins and came across your tutorial for chunky yarn. Yea, its something simple that we can do while chilling and watching Hallmark movies….a little wine also. You are fantastic and I hope to come across some of the other creative ideas you demonstrate. My time spent with her is so special to both of use. We have been dearest friends for over 50 years and are God Mothers to each others daughters. To. keep this going this long and be hundreds of miles away from each other is amazing.
I am so glad you like this, Ivory! Thanks for taking the time to comment! It means the world!
I gotta get this beautiful, soft yarn 🧶 to make pumpkins like this. I love this diy. Thank you so much. Wow!!!
I can’t get enough! You’ll have to share your favorites – they are my new guilty pleasure too!
Oh cool – I love that blog – I will have to go check those out!
Yes, please, to the fall home tour. Your true crime podcast comment has me smiling…these are my new guilty pleasure, during the pandemic.
These are cute.I just saw some on Navage Patch you might want want to look at.
Jen these are too stinking cute!! I love the texture they add! So honored to join yall this week – thank you!