The harvest will be bountiful this year!

Textured Pumpkin started when I had half a skein of Lion Brand Mandala left, with colors that were PERFECT for something rather pumpkin-y. I searched and searched for a pattern, but I couldn’t find any that I really liked. And so, I begun crocheting a prototype, using some unlabeled orange acrylic yarn from my endless stash.

This pattern is more of a recipe than anything - to be honest, I was mostly experimenting during each size. Yardage is approximate since I forgot to weigh yarn at any point while making these.

All pumpkins are crocheted in the round from the bottom up - rounds are continuous, which means we begin the next round without slip stitching the last stitch and the first stitch together. A stitch marker is recommended to keep track of the beginning of each round.

The bases for each size use different stitches for increasing and mainly that is because I was experimenting. The small pumpkin base is crocheted with hdc stitch rounds, the medium with sc stitch rounds, and the large pumpkin with alternating sc/hdc stitch rounds. You can use whichever method you prefer. The only notable difference is the sturdiness of the bottom of the pumpkin. The medium pumpkin has a bit more sturdiness in its base than the other two, but that is pretty much it.

The body of the pumpkin is constructed using front post stitches and hdc/sc stitches to form recessed lines. The tops for each size also decrease slightly differently - the method used for the larger pumpkin results in a slightly deeper center. The pumpkin is then shaped with a long tail by inserting the tapestry needle into the top center of the pumpkin through to the bottom center of the pumpkin multiple times, making sure that the tail lines up the recessed stitches during each insert. This way, the tail is hidden behind the front post stitches and is not visible.

A taller pumpkin can be made by doing more repeats of Round 6 (small) or Round 9 (medium/large) and decreasing the top with fpdc2tog stitches as in the large pumpkin instructions.