12 Halloween Sweaters, Pumpkins, and Quilts That Show the Work Before October Ends

I learned to crochet about five and a half years ago and decided to get rid of a bunch of my beginner projects by passing them out to trick-or-treaters. It was such a hit with the kids that I’ve continued every year since.

This year I had a ton of leftover amigurumi from previous years, and a few leftover from my mom, who helped make them the first year but has since stopped because “you make too many things anyway.” So I decided to mostly do more complicated things that were more time consuming, which means a lot more dolls than usual.

Roughly 1 to 7 hours each, depending on how detailed it is. I’d say most take 2 to 4, with the exception of the dolls.

Still on my list: Ms. Chalice from Cuphead. My neighbor’s daughter requested that one.

I just gifted this hanging goose to my bestie, and now I immediately want to make one for myself.

I sewed magnet pockets onto the back of the hanging itself, then there are pockets on the back of each outfit to switch out the magnets. I can’t even explain how obsessed with this pattern I am.

The pattern is from MollsMadeIt. She is a genius for making this pattern and deserves all the credit. The pattern has links to all the materials needed, namely the strong magnets I used.

Mom has an October birthday, so she has always been fond of Halloween. She was eyeing pillows in a shop with me a week or two ago but never bought anything, so I hope she likes these.

The pattern is Valeria Chérie’s crochet pumpkin pillow. The vines and the faces I added myself.

I’m not great at sewing though. Not a single face stitched on straight.

And yes, I am a daughter.

I recently made a Halloween cookie sweater from cassraecrochets and bought entirely too much yarn. I let free shipping get to my head and bought 4 skeins of each color. Anyway, I used the extra to make this super cute cat sweater. Two sweaters for the price of one.

The pattern actually called for two pumpkin squares, one with a bite out of it, but I have two cats so I did two kitties instead.

I was afraid it would look too Halloween-y, but I actually LOVE how it turned out. And I still have a bunch of green, purple and orange left.

Yes, I know I need to weave in my ends. I have finished the ends on the Halloween sweater, and will be weaving in all of the ends from the cats maybe for the rest of my life.

In September I took on the goal of knitting my first colorwork sweater in time to wear for Halloween and the fall season. Naturally, I picked a pattern that calls for ladderback jacquard to manage float length. I’m nothing if not ambitious.

This is the Nocturnal Jumper by saskie&co in size 2. Well, it flew off the needles in a couple of days shy of a month, my fastest knit to date.

I made some mods, including adding German short row shaping as many projects on Ravelry mentioned, and I think that made a huge difference in fit. I also added decreases in the body and increased the sleeve decrease interval once I hit the elbow.

The ladderback jacquard is an amazing technique and I’m so glad I learned it. I’ve already started applying it in my next projects.

I haven’t knit in like 20 years, but I really felt like getting into it, and I made this cute hat for my son.

It has several mistakes, but overall I’m really happy with it. The yarn is Malabrigo Rasta in Sunset and Lettuce. It’s so soft and the colors are lovely. I really liked working with it.

I had to adapt the pattern for my son’s head. It’s the Perfect Pumpkin Hat from foxandpinestitches.com.

Would you frog it or just keep going? The legs are supposed to be HALF this size. It somehow didn’t hit me until I finished the shorts. I have been working so hard on this. The yarn is so thick I keep having to take breaks to rest my hands.

How it happened: after connecting the boots, the rows were written out as row 1 black, row 2 black, row 3 white, row 4 white, for 15 rows. Counting by 2s, I figured when I had 7 groups of black and white plus 1 extra row, I was done. That way I didn’t have to count each row.

Look, it made perfect sense at 3am!

I guess another option is to make the arms longer and accept the fact that he is now a lanky pumpkin.

I’m keeping them, only because I don’t want to re-do those shorts. And he’s finished.

As I post this I don’t remember the pattern owner’s name, but it’s from Etsy. I’ll update as soon as I find it.

Found it. The pattern creator is PeachPenguinCrochet.

I’m a preschool teacher and I’ve been making a bunch of these trick-or-treat bags for my coworkers to take and give to their kids.

I showed my co-teacher the bag yesterday, and one of my students, about 3 years old, saw it and took it right out of my hands with a big smile on his face and started walking away. He just decided it was his.

I gently took it back and explained that it wasn’t finished, because I had to add the teeth to the jack-o’-lantern smile at that point. And he said, “But when is it going to be done?”

I consider this the best compliment to my crochet so far. He saw it and liked it enough that he decided he was going to take it home.

When I told him it wasn’t done, he seemed to understand that he would need to give it back so it could be finished, and he wasn’t sad. But I’m thinking of making small versions for my kiddos to have.

Living in a tiny apartment with a very narrow main entrance forces me to get a little creative with holiday and seasonal decorations.

I’d been seeing a lot of posts showing vintage Halloween decorations, which inspired me to give it a go. Very happy with how the cardboard pumpkin entrance board came out. It was so easy and quick to make.

The bow is the Big Giant Quilted Bow pattern by Lindsey Grace Creates. Halloween on one side, fall on the other. The Halloween side uses Hey Pumpkin fabric from Riley Blake Designs, and the fall side is random fat quarters from my stash.

I started August 8 and finished September 2, so three and a half weeks. My in-laws came for an extended visit on August 6, so it was my goal to finish it while they were here and I had extra help with the kids.

The pattern is Spooky Sampler by Stacy Iest Hsu. I added the border myself. I love the result, but the math on the pattern was off for most of the blocks and I had to re-math them. It also was written in a way that was not easy to follow, so I was rewriting instructions as I went as well. It was worth the frustration, but I would NOT recommend this pattern unless you really, really love how it looks.

The back is made from two pieces of a fabric that was my mom’s from 2005. They were from totally different lots and it took me 2.5 hours to match the prints, but I’m so pleased.

We’ll just overlook the fact that it was a kit from 2025. It’s from the Fat Quarter Shop 2025 Spooky Box, and I don’t think they sell it outside their boxes.

First time doing free motion quilting on my new-to-me sit-down Bernina q20. I’m in love with this machine. I just sort of yolo’d swirly leaves.

The backing fabric was recycled from an old blanket.

Forgive the cat fur.