13 Halloween Crochet Decorations to Make With Yarn: Combine Creepy Characters, Cute Details, and Fall Colors

Halloween is the perfect excuse to grab your yarn and make something a little spooky. Share your favorite crochet and hand knitting projects, from tiny ghosts to pumpkin hats and candy corn keychains, plus the unexpected acts of kindness this handicraft hobby has brought into your life.

Picked out a few Halloween inspired patterns for this year — finished the first one today!

I crocheted my Halloween costume this year!

My elderly neighbor, Michael (65), makes amazing crochet Halloween decorations. This year, he taught neighborhood kids to crochet gifts for children in the hospital. Last week, my daughter (12) came home crying. Yesterday, she sobbed, “Mr. Michael wants us to give our toys away!”
She’d struggled to finish a complicated toy and wanted it to be a gift just for me. I hugged her and gently explained how much a handmade gift could mean to a sick child. The next day, we finished her little pumpkin together, and she proudly delivered it to the hospital.
Honestly, I felt bad for misunderstanding Michael at first and it was so weird, cus that man is sweetest. He never meant to pressure the kids, he just wanted to teach them that handmade gifts can bring comfort to someone having a hard time.
She decided the next pumpkin would be just for me, and I promised to keep it forever. I think Michael taught all of us something beautiful: handmade gifts aren’t just about the person who receives them, but the love we put into making them.

Bright Side

I am scared that Halloween Cardigan will look weird.

I think I came up with something pretty good for Halloween.

If your library has a yarn swap, use it. Ours puts out a free exchange bin every fall, where people drop off leftovers and take whatever they need for Halloween handicraft projects.
Last year, when I dropped off some black and orange skeins, I found an envelope taped inside the lid. It held a handwritten pattern for a crocheted black cat in worsted weight with a 4 mm hook, which is smaller than usual so the stuffing doesn’t show through.
The margin notes said things like “go slow on the ears” and “stuff firmly BEFORE the last six stitches, trust me.” There was no name, just a line saying, “Make one and pass it on.” I made the cat (the stuffing tip was right), copied the pattern by hand, taped my copy inside the lid, and left a few balls of black yarn in the bin.
Two weeks later, there were three more copies in different handwriting. The librarian has since started laminating them.

Bright Side

A little collection of knitted and crocheted pumpkins to go with my office’s Halloween decorations!

I just got finished some Halloween/fall garland.

My neighbor Joan crocheted trick-or-treat bags for the fifteen or so kids on our block for almost thirty years. She passed away in the spring of last year, and most of us assumed the tradition went with her.
That September, her husband Frank knocked on my door holding one of her hooks. Joan had apparently told him I was “the other crochet lady on the street,” and he asked if I’d teach him. He’d never made a stitch in his life, and his first bag looked like a fishing net that had given up.
Joan’s pattern was on an index card in her own shorthand, so our first two evenings were mostly spent decoding notes like “sc 2tog x4 then the thing.” A few more neighbors joined in, but Frank insisted on making at least eight of the bags himself. Each one got a tag that said “From Joan and Frank.”

Bright Side

My Halloween crochet gang is growing... and they’re up to no good ... Are you crocheting anything for Halloween this year?

Halloween sweater.

Last Halloween, my attempt at being thoughtful went badly. My best friend had just moved into her first apartment on her own, so I decided to crochet her a wreath with pumpkins, bats, and candy corn.
The free pattern I found turned out to be British, and nothing on it said so; looking back, the only clue was that it said “tension” instead of “gauge.” A UK “double crochet” is a US single crochet, so every stitch I made was a size too tall.
The fabric came out loose and gappy, the stuffing bulged through, and the pumpkins looked like wrinkly orange brains. I hadn’t steam-blocked anything, so the bat wings curled in different directions and the whole wreath sagged to one side.
I almost didn’t give it to her. She looked at it for a long moment, then laughed so hard she had to sit down. It lives in her coat closet from November to September and goes back on her door every October, and she introduces it as “made with love and no reading comprehension.”

Bright Side

Just in time for Halloween!

Every crocheted bat, hand-knitted ghost, and lopsided yarn pumpkin in these stories ended up meaning far more than the stitches it took to make. This Halloween, let your knitting or crochet hobby turn into a handicraft that brings a little warmth to someone else’s doorstep.

READ NEXT — 11 Crochet Projects for Halloween and the Fall Season: Spooky on the Outside, Full of Love Inside

What was the first Halloween project you ever made with yarn, and do you still have it?

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