A Cuddly Crochet Jack-o'-lantern
Introduction: A Cuddly Crochet Jack-o'-lantern
Worried about a pumpkin price hike for this year's Jack-o'-lantern? Hate the mess of carving an actual pumpkin? Do you just crave another seasonal cuddly dust collector? If you nodded to any of those questions let me take you along for a spooky session of crocheting!
Supplies
A crochet hook and an orange yarn are self explanatory, but you will also need some green yarn for the pumpkin's stem, and some black yarn for the mouth and the eyes. Some stuffing material is optional but highly recommended.
Want more details? I used a 3 mm yarn and a corresponding crochet hook.
Furthermore I will be using some standard abbreviations for stitches:
* SC - Single Crochet
* HDC - Half Double Crochet
* DC - Double Crochet
Step 1: The Foundation
Let's start off slow. Chain 20 + 1 stitches, chain 1, turn your work around, and move on to the next step.
Step 2: The First Rib
Next we will form the first of many pumpkin's ribs.
1. slip stitch
2. 2x SC
3. HDC
4. 12x DC
5. HDC
6. 2X SC
7. slip stitch
8. chain 1 & turn your work around
Do this three times to make a single rib.
Step 3: Making the First Crease
To make ribs as pronounced as possible, we have to make creases very sharp.
1. 20 slip stitches (red yarn)
2. chain 1 & turn your work around
3. 20 slip stitches pulling the yarn from the opposite side (green yarn)
4. chain 1 & turn your work around
Repeat stitches from Step 2 to make another rib.
Stitches form row 2 are somewhat unusual. They might be difficult before you get used to them.
Step 4: Making the Second Crease
Since ribs are made of three rows, pattern repeats every two ribs. Here is how to make the second crease:
1. 20 slip stitches pulling the yarn from the opposite side (green yarn)
2. chain 1 & turn your work around
3. 20 slip stitches (red yarn)
4. 557
chain 1 & turn your work around
Repeat stitches from Step 2, but the first row is crochet pulling the yarn from the opposite side (first orange row after red one in the photos). Note that you have to yarn over the crochet hook in a counter clockwise direction.
Step 5: Rinse and Repeat
Repeat steps 3 through 4 until you are happy with how big your pumpkin is. You can stop at anytime after you finish steps 3 or 4. I opted to go with ten ribs, which means I stopped after finishing the fifth Step 3.
Before I show you how to turn what you see on the photo above into a pumpkin, let's talk about Jack-o'-lantern's face.
Step 6: Carving the Eyes
I think this goes without saying, but use black yarn for eyes. I only used brown because my lighting and camera setup wouldn't let me take nice photos if I used black yarn.
1. 6x SC in a magic ring
2. SC, chain 2, SC; all in the same stitch (in an odd stitch of the previous round)
3. slip stitch (in an even stitch of the previous round)
4. repeat 2 & 3 two more times to get a triangle
Pull up the loop and sew the yarn as shown in the last photo and congratulations! One eye done, one more to go.
Step 7: Don't Cut Yourself!
Eyes were very simple to make, mouth comes with longer set of instructions.
1. chain 21+1
2. 2x slip stitch (starting with the second chain from the hook)
3. SC
4. DC, chain 2, imitating HDC (as seen on photo 4; instead of yarning over, put crochet hook through the bottom loop of previous DC and through the same chain you used for DC in 4.; after pulling up the yarn, you end up with three loops on your hook as seen on photo 5; yarn over and pull through all three loops) [this forms a downwards zig-zag]
5. SC
6. HDC (pull the yarn through first and fourth chain (photo 6) so that you end up with four loops on your hook (photo 11), pull through all)
7. repeat 3 through 6 once
8. repeat 3 through 5
9. 2x slip stitch
Step 8: Frankensteining It Togeather
And so we find ourselves in much the same situation as the famous dr. <PERSON> did. We have multiple body parts that have to be stitched together. 694