Knitted Pumpkins, Upcycled Jumpers/Sweaters

This project was very popular last fall in the US, but I never got around to trying it. I was looking forward to trying it out coming up to Halloween, but as it is not actually cool at this time of year in Australia, getting the sweaters, or jumpers as we call them, was easier said than done!

Pink tone pumpkins

I visited 4 different op shops trying to find anything knitted, but they had already sold out (it is spring here, and a hot spring at that). On the fourth stop, the lovely lady allowed me to dig through a storage bag to find some. I was not game to tell her that I was actually planning on cutting them up. *blush*.

The best ones I have seen use ribbed or cable knit sleeves to create the lines on the outside of a pumpkin. None of the jumpers I could find had that on the sleeve, but they did in the body, so I just folded them over and sewed them into a tube before cutting. Worked like a charm. Hover over the images for step by step instructions if you’d like to try this for yourself at home.

Sewing a piece out of the jumper to form a sleeve shape

The 3 different sized pieces

Running stitch along the bottom (inside out), them pull together to gather and tie off

Ready to stuff.

Stuffed and ready to gather top.

I used rubber bands to fasten, then went over the bands.

Some frayed jumper to finish off the black ones.

Raffia for the pink tones

Using a doubled over strong thread, stitch from the top to the bottom and back through again, tightening until you have reached your desired pumpkin shape.