Last-Minute Halloween Makes for Beginners: Crochet, Knitting and Embroidery
These are small Halloween patterns. Each one is free to read on the designer's own page with no account needed, and each pattern belongs to its designer: we link to it and don't copy it. Times are quoted from the designer, or marked "not stated" when there isn't one.
This list uses US crochet terms with the UK name in brackets, and hook and needle sizes in millimeters first.
Crochet
1. Crochet Pumpkin for Beginners (3 sizes) (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Melissa Hassler, Lovable Loops
- Level: Beginner (designer's rating)
- You need: worsted (#4) yarn in a pumpkin colour plus a little brown, a 4 mm (G-6) hook, fiberfill stuffing, a yarn needle
- Finished size: small 2" base × 2" tall, medium 3" × 2.5", large 3.5" × 3"
- Time: not stated
We picked this because the pumpkin starts as a flat rectangle of half double crochet [UK: half treble], so there's no working in the round and no magic ring. Every row has the same stitch count, and the designer gives it.
Heads-up: rows 2 onward go in the back loop only, which makes the ribs. You'll sew the short ends into a tube, gather both ends shut, stuff it and sew on a small stem.
2. Tiny Ghost (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Nicole Chase
- Level: Beginner (designer: "Minimal crochet experience is necessary")
- You need: about 16 yd of white worsted (#4) yarn and a scrap of pink, a 4 mm (G) hook, stuffing; 9 mm safety eyes are optional
- Finished size: about 2" tall in worsted
- Time: the designer says it "comes together in under an hour"
A small first amigurumi (a stuffed crochet toy). It's one piece, worked from the top down in mostly single crochet [UK: double crochet], so there are no arms or ears to sew on.
Heads-up: it starts with a magic ring, and the wavy hem is one round of single and double crochet [UK: double crochet and treble] worked in the front loops. If you add safety eyes, they go in before you close it up. Safety eyes are hard plastic and can work loose, so for a baby or any child under 3, embroider the eyes with yarn instead, as the designer suggests for babies. (US rules ban small parts on toys made for children under 3.)
3. Crochet Candy Corn Coasters (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Anita Young, Creating Me
- Level: not stated
- You need: worsted (#4) cotton in three colours (the designer used I Love This Cotton in White, Curry and Glowing), a 5 mm (H) hook, a yarn needle
- Finished size: not stated
- Time: the designer says she "made up several in just a couple of hours"
The coaster is a flat triangle in single crochet [UK: double crochet] that loses two stitches every other row, and the stitch count is given at the end of every row but the last. The designer used worsted cotton, which suits a coaster: it soaks up drips and doesn't melt, which acrylic can at high heat.
Heads-up: you change colour twice, at the end of rows 6 and 12, and the decreases are single crochet two together. There's a free printable PDF on the page.
4. Crochet Candy Corn Bunting (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Jen Hayes Creations
- Level: Beginner (designer's rating)
- You need: worsted (#4) acrylic in white, orange and yellow (the designer used Red Heart Super Saver), a 5 mm (H-8) hook, a stitch marker, a yarn needle
- Finished size: each triangle about 6.25" wide × 5" tall; the designer's 7-triangle bunting is about 77" long
- Time: not stated
Only single crochet [UK: double crochet], worked in turned rows with a stitch count after each one. For the top strip you single crochet across each triangle with 12 chains between them, so you can stop at three triangles if time runs short.
Heads-up: the stripes mean colour changes on every triangle, and that means ends to weave in. The pattern starts in a magic circle but gives a chain-2 alternative.
5. Witch's Cauldron Trick-or-Treat Bag (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: My Fingers Fly
- Level: Easy (designer's rating on her PDF listing)
- You need: worsted (#4) yarn, about 22 yd black and 10 yd for the "brew", a 5 mm (H) hook, a yarn needle
- Finished size: about 3.5" tall × 3.5" wide
- Time: the designer says "you can crochet several in an evening"
A small drawstring bag worked almost entirely in single crochet [UK: double crochet], with the increases and decreases written out round by round with stitch counts.
Heads-up: it's worked in a continuous spiral up to round 13, so a stitch marker in the first stitch of each round helps you keep count. It also uses front-loop and back-loop rounds, one colour change and a chained drawstring. The whole pattern is free to read on the page with no sign-up. The PDF version costs $1.99 in the designer's shop, or it's free if you join her Facebook group, which needs a Facebook account. You don't need the PDF to make the bag. The optional glued-on plastic bugs and eyes are small parts, so leave them off for young children.
6. Crochet Bat Appliqué (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Tiffany Bliss
- Level: not stated
- You need: a little worsted (#4) yarn (the designer used cotton), a 5 mm (H) hook, a yarn needle
- Finished size: not stated
- Time: not stated
A flat bat made from one starting chain of 17 in three rows: slip stitch, single crochet [UK: double crochet], half double [UK: half treble] and double crochet [UK: treble]. There's no stuffing and no sewing unless you want to stitch it onto something, and there's a video.
Heads-up: the wing points and ears are tiny chain-3 points worked back down the chain. Go slowly there, or watch that part of the video.
7. Easy Crochet Spiderweb Bunting (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Delia Creates
- Level: "easy, beginner friendly" (designer)
- You need: worsted (#4) cotton (the designer used about 75 yd of black for a 5.5 ft bunting), a 4.5 mm hook (the designer says this should match a G-7)
- Finished size: each web about 3" tall × 6.5" wide after joining; 10 webs make about 5.5 ft
- Time: not stated
Each web is only three rows of chains and triple crochet [UK: double treble], and the webs are joined with single crochet [UK: double crochet] along the top. The designer's video covers triple crochet, but it plays in a pop-up player after ads and won't show if you use an ad blocker.
Heads-up: in rows 2 and 3 you work into the top of each triple crochet, not into the spaces between them, and the last stitch of each row goes into the turning chain, 3 chains up from its base, so count as you go. The designer's optional finish is spray starch and a hot iron on the cotton setting.
Knitting
8. Easy Knit Pumpkin (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Brome Fields
- Level: Beginner (designer's rating)
- You need: bulky yarn (the designer used Bernat Pipsqueak chenille), 6.5 mm (US 10.5) needles, a darning needle, stuffing, and wool roving with a felting needle and pad for the stem. To knit it in the round, the designer uses a 16" circular needle; for the small size you need a shorter cable, or a long one for magic loop.
- Finished size: small 6" wide × 3.75" (50–55 yd), medium 9" × 5.5" (95–100 yd), large 12" × 7.5" (140–145 yd)
- Time: not stated
There's no shaping at all. For the small size you cast on 30 stitches and knit a tube about 6" long, then gather the ends. The designer also gives a flat version in stockinette (knit the right-side rows, purl the wrong-side rows) that you seam afterward, so you don't need a circular needle.
Heads-up: the flat version means purling and sewing a seam, and the stem is needle-felted from roving rather than knitted. Chenille is soft, but its stitches can be hard to see, and a different yarn will change the size. The "Save this pattern for later" email box is optional.
9. Ghost Dishcloth or Afghan Square (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Daisy and Storm
- Level: not stated
- You need: worsted (#4) yarn and 4.5 mm (US 7) needles, or DK yarn and 4 mm (US 6) needles; yardage isn't given. The designer doesn't name a fibre. For a dishcloth, 100% cotton is the usual choice because it soaks up water and acrylic doesn't.
- Finished size: about 10" (26 cm) square in worsted, 8.5" (22 cm) in DK
- Time: not stated
If you've made the garter stitch dishcloth from our knitting guide, this is a good next step. It's 45 stitches of knit and purl only: the ghost is purled on both sides, so it shows as garter ridges against a smooth stockinette background, inside a seed-stitch border. Every row is covered in the written instructions (the wrong-side rows all share one line), and there's a chart too.
Heads-up: you need to be comfortable purling. The wrong-side rows are all the same, but each right-side row through the ghost has its own sequence, so mark your place as you go. There's a sticky video ad at the bottom of the page.
Embroidery
10. Mini Pumpkin Hand Embroidery Pattern (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Floss Field
- Level: Beginner (designer's rating)
- You need: six-strand cotton floss in DMC 922, 730 and 320, an embroidery needle (size 7 to 9), plain cotton or linen fabric (a 9" square for a 6" hoop), a hoop
- Finished size: about 4.2" × 3.3" (10.7 × 8.4 cm) in a 6" hoop; the page gives sizes for 3" to 8" hoops
- Time: not stated (the designer says fewer than 450 stitches)
Only three line stitches: stem stitch, running stitch and back stitch. Nothing is filled in. The page shows which stitch and how many strands go on each line.
Heads-up: you'll need to transfer the design onto the fabric. The free PDF (US Letter or A4) explains three ways to do it, and has a mirrored copy for an iron-on transfer pen.
11. Easy Halloween Embroidery: Spiderweb (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: The Yellow Birdhouse
- Level: "easy" (designer; no beginner rating given)
- You need: a 6" hoop, an 8" square of fabric (the designer used black), a 2" square of grey or black felt for the spider, an 8" square of felt for the back, tissue paper, a pencil, a needle, small scissors, floss (the designer used white metallic DMC E5200 for the web, dark grey for the spider and white for the words), a pinch of stuffing and hot glue
- Finished size: fits a 6" hoop when printed at 100%
- Time: the designer says "you can finish it in an afternoon"
The web and the lettering are all split stitch with two strands, so you only need to learn one stitch for most of it. The spider is a small felt shape stitched down and lightly stuffed. The pattern is a direct download with no sign-up.
Heads-up: pencil doesn't show on black fabric, so the designer traces the pattern onto tissue paper, stitches through it and picks the paper away afterward with tweezers. On a light fabric you can draw the design straight on and skip that step. Metallic floss frays and tangles more easily than cotton floss, so work it in short lengths of about 12" (30 cm). The lettering needs very small split stitches, and the designer finishes the back with hot glue.
12. Spider Web on the Back Pocket of Your Jeans (designer’s site, opens in a new tab)
- Designer: Crafty Little Gnome
- Level: not stated
- You need: jeans (medium or light-weight denim is easiest, the designer says), embroidery floss, an embroidery needle (size 5 to 7), a water-soluble pen or chalk pencil, a piece of thin cardboard; a thimble is optional
- Finished size: a little smaller than your pocket
- Time: not stated
There's no pattern to print. You draw six to eight spokes and some curved lines, then go over them in back stitch or stem stitch. The designer notes that a web doesn't need to be symmetrical to look right.
Heads-up: slide the cardboard inside the pocket so you don't stitch it shut. Denim is stiff, so a thimble helps. This decorates clothes rather than mending them. The page is ad-heavy and can be slow to load.
Two kinds of project didn't make this list: a visible-mending patch with a bat or web, and a no-sew make. The free mending tutorials we found were either paid or didn't give step-by-step instructions, and the one no-sew idea we found was felt and hot glue with no template.
If you've never held a hook, start with Crochet for Absolute Beginners. For knitting, How to Start Knitting takes you through the garter stitch dishcloth first. For embroidery, How to Start Embroidery covers hooping, floss and six first stitches. The Starter Kit is one printable page covering what to buy for each craft and what to make first: Free printable Starter Kit (PDF), plus 2 free patterns a month.