Pumpkin Time

Over the past 20 years (wow, that long?) i have painted over a thousand pumpkins to sell and give away. It has been a fun tradition.

Last year, instead of painting pumpkins, I made pumpkin hats for my youngest son's Kindergarten class. There are 22 students. Originally I thought I would try a variety of pumpkin patterns available from random shops. Snappy friends suggested turning my patterns in to pumpkins....oh, they were so fun. These three patterns are on sale today 9/26/13.

This, the first one, is "Victoria's Sunhat", started with a stem top (pattern to follow below) with additional rounds added.
Here are a trio of Snappy Tots' patterns, disguised as pumpkins:

Moody Pumpkin (bottom left): Start with medium brown yarn and follow "stem top" pattern below. Adjust last round of stem top to finish with 30sts. Switch to orange yarn (sample is Red Heart Pumpkin...and isn't that yellow). Start on round #5 of "Moody Bear". Continue until desired length. Curls are Red Heart Tea Leaf. Little leaf is a free pattern.

Victoria's Pumpkin (top center): Start with green yarn (Red Heart Tea Leaf) and follow "stem top" pattern below, ending with 32 sts. Switch to orange yarn (sample is Loops and Threads Impeccable Pumpkin). Start on round #3 of "Victoria's Sun Hat". This can be finished as written OR if desired, the stitch pattern can be continued to the bottom. To do this, work as written but do not add band. After repeated rounds, work 2-3 rounds with one less dc in between every other rib (*3 dc, fpdc, 4dc, fpdc*). Continue to decrease if necessary (*3dc, fpdc*). The bottom can be left as is, for a fun ripply edge or add rounds of fpdc/bpdc ribbing (see 2nd photo of this post).

Georgia's Pumpkin (bottom right):  Start with green yarn (Red Heart Tea Leaf) and follow "stem top" pattern below, ending with 32 sts. Switch to orange yarn (sample is a miscellaneous orange yarn I have). Start on round #4 of "Georgia's Sun Hat".Stitch count needs to be adjusted slightly for some sizes to have 32 sts.

Stem Top: With g hook and yarn, make a magic loop of 6sts (or preferred method for starting a circle of 6sts). Working in the round, sc 6. In BLO (for just this round), sc 6. 2sc in next st, sc 5. Work 2 rounds of sc. 2sc in next st, sc 6. *2sc in next st, sc 3*, repeat. In FLO (for just this round), *2sc in next st, sc*, repeat. 2hdc in next st, *hdc, 2hdc in next st*, repeat. *hdc 2, 2hdc in next st*, repeat. (32sts) Sc in next st, sl st in next. Change to orange yarn.

Curly Vine: With G or H hook, ch 12-20 (depending on desired length), work 2hdc in 2nd ch from hook, *hdc, 3hdc in next st*, repeat to end of chain. Finish off. Use tails to attach vine to base of stem.

Almost any pattern can be turned into a pumpkin. The important part is to match the amount of stitches from the last round of "stem top" to a round in your pattern. Find a round in the pattern you would like to use which is close to 32sts and start there.