Three Halloween knits (a little late, but still useful for seasonal inspiration)

See what I knit this October to get in the spirit of Halloween.

Each year, I find myself looking forward to Halloween and the many activities that come along with it. The past few fall seasons were quite eventful, however, which meant I spent little to no time getting in the spirit of Halloween.

While there was still quite a bit going on around this time this year, I was determined to do some stuff for Halloween and channeled that into one of my hobbies this past October. This, specifically, took the form of knitting Halloween decorations. Here are my October knits and what I learned along the way.

Strand Knit Jack-o’-lantern Table Mat

The first thing I knit for Halloween is this strand knit Jack-o’-lantern table mat. The significance of this project for me is that it was my first strand knit/colorwork knitting project. For non-knitters, this refers to projects where multiple yarn colors are used to form a particular design. This is something I wanted to learn how to do for a while, so since I happened to have spare yarn in fall colors and wanted to decorate for Halloween, this was a good opportunity to try it out.

This project did not go well the first time around. I needed to start over and re-knit a few times because it took various attempts to figure out how to tension the strands in the back of the work. If the strands were too long, the stitches would be too loose, and the back would be sloppy. If the strands were too short, the work would pucker up rather than lying flat (which is what happened in my case). Hence, I needed to strike a balance between not making my floating strands too long while making them long enough for the piece to lay flat. I was a bit concerned throughout the project since it seemed like the piece wouldn’t flatten out, but once I seamed the left side of the jack-o’-lantern down at the end (which only needed to happen because of how I handled the left side, I think), the black yarn laid significantly more flat.

Overall, I’m pleased with how many first strand work piece turned out. It taught me how to knit from a colorwork knitting chart, what my process will be for knitting the correct color stitches, and other things to look out for along the way. This was the perfect strand knit project to start with since black yarn has very low stitch definition (meaning, it can mask mistakes that are made). I did make one mistake that I needed to improvise from instead of ripping back, and you (and I) aren’t even able to tell. It’s good to have these low-stake projects to begin with for new techniques.

Cable Knit Pumpkins

The next thing I knit for Halloween (and, more generally, fall) are three cable knit pumpkins. There were many stuffed pumpkin patterns I came across that had a more basic finish, but personally, I absolutely LOVE cables and cable knitting. They really give any knit piece that extra wow factor.

Knitting, in general, is a slow process, and it took me all day to make all three of these pumpkins. I’m very pleased with how these pumpkins turned out, and they are displayed on three different shelves in my apartment.

Fair Isle Knit Wall Tapestry

This piece is by far my favorite Halloween knit of the year. I thought I was only going to have a fraction of it complete in time for this post, but even with knitting being a slow process, it’s amazing how quick this piece came together.

When I was originally searching for Halloween knitting patterns online, I came across fair isle knit candle cozies. I don’t put my one candle on display, and acrylic (the synthetic fiber I knit with for these pieces) is highly flammable. So, I had the idea to create a wall tapestry collage of the three fair isle designs this pattern came with and repeat each pattern twice with inverted colors. To clarify the difference between strand knitting and fair isle knitting: strand knitting involves fiber color switching and usually has longer floats in the back, and fair isle is a more specific type of strand knitting originating from Scotland and Ireland that involves more detailed color alternation and geometric patterns. I will probably mention these two types of knitting a lot on Hobbyisms.

It took me a second to think through the colors and sections I wanted to knit and in which order, but once that was mapped out, the rest was pretty straight forward. The only thing left to do now is to knit a wooden rod to the top of the piece and secure the yarn to make it a wall tapestry. This was another low stake colorwork project, but it was a great trial piece to fair isle knit for the first time. I’m even more pleased with the outcome of this!

Hobbying for the Holidays

Hobbying is a great way to get in the spirit of the season. Halloween is very quickly approaching (as of the publish date of this post), but there are many hobbies you can consider for the holiday season ahead and the next Halloween. This could include knitting, crocheting, painting, photography, sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, quilting, woodwork, drawing, candle making, general crafting, among many other hobbies that are not listed here.

I hope this post inspired you to pick up a hobby for the upcoming holidays, and that it is possible to learn new skills within your hobby if you stick with it.

Happy hobbying!