About the Pattern
Halloween is hands-down one of my favorite holidays (followed closely by Valentine's Day!), so when I had some extra Feels Like Butta yarn leftover from my Rainbow Bobble Blanket pattern, I just knew it would make the perfect garland filled with simple ghosts and pumpkins!
This free beginner-friendly pattern can be easily adapted using your own yarn scraps, and uses a crocheted foundation chain, tassels, and pom-poms as the basis for the garland. I'd love to see if you whip one of these up for the fall holidays - be sure to tag #StitcheryandCo and @allisonmclark on Instagram so I can marvel at your work!
Materials
- Feels Like Butta by Lion Brand Yarn in White, Pale Grey, Orange, Mint, and Pink
- Sharp scissors (I love my pair of X-Acto Multi Material Scissors!)
- Pom-pom maker (I love to use this set of four by Clover)
- Crochet hook (to match whatever yarn weight you use)
- Yarn needle
Instructions: Part 1
Creating Ghosts and Ghouls from Tassels
I like to create tassels using a hardcover or board book, as they make it easy to slide the yarn off at the end! I recommend experimenting with different sizes of books to see which one you like best; larger books will make larger tassels!
Begin by unraveling a portion of your White or Pink Feels Like Butta yarn. I added both white and pink ghosts to my garland, but you could use any color!
Hold your yarn end(s) in the center of your book, and begin to wrap the yarn around the book.
Continue to wrap your yarn around the book. The thickness of your tassel will be determined by how many times you wrap the yarn around the book. For these tassels, I wrapped the White and Pink yarn around the book 50 times.
After you have finished wrapping the yarn around the book, cut the yarn from the skein.
Place your loop of yarn down onto a flat surface. Use a pair of sharp scissors to cut the bottom of the yarn loop in order to create a thick strip of yarn threads. (This is why I recommend a pair of sharp scissors - it can be tough to cut through this bulk of yarn!)
Lay your bundle of yarn onto a flat surface, keeping the yarn lengths even.
Using the same color of yarn as your ghost, cut a piece of yarn that is approximately two feet long, as well as a shorter piece of yarn that is about six inches long. Lay your longer length of yarn (about two feet long) down vertically in front of you. Place the thick strip of yarn threads down horizontally on top of the vertical yarn, so that that the long piece of yarn is at the middle of the thick strip of yarn threads.
Re-shape your tassel by brushing the thick strip of yarn threads down into the same direction, making sure that the long length of yarn that is holding the bundle together is kept separate. Use a shorter piece of yarn (about six inches long) to tie a knot around the tassel, about one inch from the top of the yarn bundle. This will create a round ball-shape at the top of the tassel (aka, the head!). You will want this knot to be very tight and sturdy, or else you risk strands of yarn slipping out from the tassel over time.
Instructions: Part 2
Creating Pumpkins from Pom-Poms
The pumpkins are a cinch to create! I used the Clover Pom-Pom Maker Set, with the 85mm and 65 mm pom-pom makers for the large- and medium-sized pumpkins. When using a pom-pom maker, you will begin by winding the yarn around each arch of the maker before cutting the yarn (see next step).
After you cut the yarn, you will need to use a long thread to tie a knot around the pom-pom, which will keep the pom-pom's strands in place. I used Feels Like Butta yarn in Orange for the pom-pom and changed to the color Mint to tie off the pom-pom (so that it would look like a little stem!).
Normally when you make a pom-pom, you only need to tie one thread around the pom-pom's strands. However, I tied several additional Mint threads around mine and then cut them short so that they would look like little tufts of leaves poking out from the top of the pumpkin.
Remove the pom-pom from the pom-pom maker by opening one arch at a time. If necessary, you can use scissors to trim any loose strands or shape your pom-pom into the perfect circular pumpkin shape. Remember that you'll need the long strand of Mint yarn at the top of your pumpkin in order to attach it to the garland! I made 5 medium and 5 large pumpkins.
Instructions: Part 3
Putting it All Together: Creating the Garland
Once you have your pom-pom pumpkins and tassel ghosts created, you'll just need to crochet a simple foundation chain to serve as the length of your garland! I crocheted my foundation chain while holding both White and Pale Grey yarns together, which causes the colors to create a subtle marbled appearance and produces a thicker foundation chain. Of course, you could also stick to just one color - it's up to you! If you're brand new to crochet, I recommend checking out this video tutorial on how to stitch a foundation chain by Crochet Guru.
My foundation chain is 315 chain stitches long, and I placed a ghost or pumpkin every 15 chain stitches. In order to attach each ghost or pumpkin to the garland, I used a sturdy yarn needle to carefully thread a yarn tail from each item through a chain stitch on the garland. Remember that both the ghost and the pumpkin have long yarn tails that were designed to be attached to the garland!
Once one yarn tail from either a pumpkin or ghost is threaded through the foundation chain, carefully tie the yarn tail to its corresponding yarn tail in order to tightly secure it to the garland. Use a pair of scissors to trim the excess yarn from the garland.
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