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I don’t know about you, but I am very ready for fall to get here and for the 100+ degree heat and 90% humidity to go.
I’m convinced that anyone who says that their favorite season is summer has not lived in the south during the summer months.
Fall decorating seems to be getting underway though, all the stores are stocking up on everything fall + Halloween, and Starbucks recently re-released their fall classic Pumpkin Spice Latte (🤢🤮).

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’ve been making hoards of yarn gourds lately.
Last week I started selling them in a few local boutiques, as well as in my online shop.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how I finish my pumpkins, so in honor of pumpkin season starting, I’m going to share a few different ways of spicing up your yarn pumpkins.

The pumpkin pattern you use will typically show you how to adorn your finished pumpkin, you can easily change up the look just by changing the finishing adornments.

For all of the crocheted adornments, use the same hook and yarn weight that you used to make your pumpkin body. I generally use a no. 4 weight acrylic yarn.

The crochet hooks I used for all of these are my favorite ergonomic Boye hooks.

Simple crochet stem

Magic ring, 6 sc into ring.
For a larger stem, 2 sc in each stitch around.

In the back loops, sc around (6 sts or 12 sts)

In both loops now, single crochet around until the stem is your desired height.
I usually do about 3 rounds total for the smaller pumpkins and 6 total rounds for the larger stems.

Once the stem becomes your desired height, join with a slip stitch and fasten off, leaving a tail long enough to sew on to your pumpkin (generally about 10 inches).

The yarn I used for these stems is Red Heart With Love in Toast

Crochet vine

These corkscrews vines look more complicated than they actually are and make a nice addition to any yarn pumpkin.
Chain a number about three times the length that you want your finished vine to be.
In the second chain from hook, sc increase in each chain and repeat down the remaining length of the chain. You’ll see that it quickly starts to coil up.

Fasten off, leaving a long enough tail to sew on to your pumpkin.

Yarn used: Red Heart Soft in Leaf, the pumpkin is made with Lion Brand’s Vanna’s Choice in Rust.

Cinnamon Stick Stem

This is my personal favorite way to add a stem to my yarn pumpkins. It’s quick and easy. Plus it lends a subtle fall scent & who doesn’t like cinnamon?

You can use any whole cinnamon sticks for these and you can find them in the spice / baking aisle of pretty much any grocery store.

The sticks I’m currently using are from a small jar of cinnamon sticks that I found at Walmart.
I may or may not keep the jar in my craft cart just to open & smell now and then. 😅

I typically add these to medium and large sized pumpkins.

Depending on the size of your pumpkin and how tall of a stem you want in relation, you can break the cinnamon stick in half to create a shorter stem.
Most of the time I just snap the sticks in half with my hands, but for thicker ones you could use heavy duty craft scissors or kitchen shears.

To add a cinnamon stick stem, after you’ve stuffed the pumpkin, start cinching the top closed but don’t pull it all the way shut.
Insert the blunt non hook end of a crochet hook into the hole to make a tunnel in the stuffing for the cinnamon stick to go into.

Insert the cinnamon stick and finish cinching the pumpkin closed.

Pass the needle back through the stitches and tighten to secure the stem in place.
I’ve found that this is secure enough to hold the stem in place, but if desired, you could also hot glue the stem in place.
If you do use hot glue to secure the stem, be careful as acrylic yarn, and polyester stuffing can melt.

Suede Pumpkin Stem Tags

If you want a different and pre-made option, these cute little engraved pumpkin stems from Angie & Brit are a great choice.

Made of faux suede leather, they’re available in 25 different colors and engraved with seasonal phrases. They are available in packs of either 22 or 44 stems / tags.

Custom engraving is also available.
Angie & Brit also has faux leather leaves available to adorn your pumpkins.

Be sure to subscribe and come back later in the week for a pumpkin pattern round up post where I share the links to all of the patterns I’ve used so far.

This post first appeared on yarn-bending.com