Iron Craft Challenge #19 – I-cord and Grapevine Pumpkin

Are you like me? Do you walk about gift and decor stores saying, “I could make that”? Do you furtively try to snap photos without getting caught by the store clerk? Well, that is how this Iron Craft project came about. I was at a high-end decor store here in Minneapolis and saw these grapevine pumpkins with i-cords in fall colors running through. I loved how they looks and knew it would be very easy to duplicate.

The hardest part of this project was finding an undecorated grapevine pumpkin. All the ones at Michael’s and Jo-Ann had so much stuff hot glued to them already. (Come on craft stores, we want to glue our own stuff on!) I finally found the one I used at Menard’s, a hardware store. You can also get them online, but I wanted instant gratification. At 14″ my pumpkin is quite a statement piece as a centerpiece or in a fall display.

This project really couldn’t be simpler. I used worsted weight yarn in fall colors from my stash, though you could really use any weight yarn you have on hand. I personally stayed away from bulky weight yarns as I wanted thinner i-cords. Then just knit up i-cords that are long enough to go from the top of your pumpkin to the bottom. You can add as many cords as you want.

My pumpkin was open at the bottom so I pulled the tails of the cords inside and tied them in. (That way if I want to change it up next year, I can just take the i-cords off.) A tapestry needle was helpful in pulling the tails to the inside.

For pumpkins you can’t reach inside of, you could weave in the ends of the i-cords and glue them to the pumpkin.

I added a few fall “berries” around the stem of mine to finish it off.