Knitted Halloween Witch

Knitted Halloween Witch

This knitted Halloween pattern shows you how to make a knitted witch, perfect for gift giving or table decorations.

What you need

Double worsted weight yarn (8 ply) in purple, black, white/flesh color and light brown
Size 6 (4mm) straight needles
small piece of card stock
polyester stuffing
yarn needle

Instructions

The body is simply the dress shape with no arms, worked flat and sewn up, with a piece of card stock inside the bottom edge to hold in the stuffing. The head, nose, hat cone and brim and cape pieces are all knit separately and assembled at the end.

Witch Body

Using purple cast on 20 sts.

Knit 2 rows.

Knit in the front and back of each stitch. 40 sts.

Work in Seed Stitch (k1, p1 across, then p1, k1 back), decreasing 1 stitch at the beginning and end of every other row until 20 sts remain.

Note: To work decreases in Seed Stitch, look at what the third stitch needs to be (the opposite of what it appears, i.e., if it looks like a knit stitch it will a purl on this row) and work either a k2tog or p2tog to keep row in Seed Stitch. It is most important to ensure that you’re knitting knits on top of purls and purls on top of knits to make the Seed Stitch pattern work rather than strictly following the normal stitch pattern.

Work 2 rows even, then k2tog across. 10 sts.

Cut yarn, thread yarn through remaining stitches.

Sew the two side seams together. Cut out a piece of card stock slightly larger than the opening at the base of the body.

Fill the “dress” with stuffing and place the card stock inside the bottom of the dress to hold the stuffing in. Set aside.

Head

Using flesh color, cast on 20 sts.

K into the back of every st.

*K1, kfb. Repeat from * across. 30 sts.

P1 row.

K1 row.

P1 row.

*K1, kfb. Repeat from * across. 45 sts.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 16 rows.

*K2tog, k1. Repeat from * across. 30 sts.

P1 row.

K1 row.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k1. Repeat from * across. 20 sts.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k1. Repeat from * across. 10 sts.

Cut yarn, thread yarn through rem sts, draw up tight and fasten off.

Sew side seams together. Fill with stuffing through the opening at the bottom. When firm, draw up and fasten off.

Nose

Using flesh color, cast on 10 sts.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 8 rows.

K2tog across. 5 sts.

Cut yarn, thread through stitches and fasten off.

Hat
Using black yarn,  cast on 64 sts.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 10 rows.

*K14, k2tog. Repeat from * across. 60 sts.

P1 row.

*K13, k2tog. Repeat from * across. 56 sts.

Continue in this manner, working 1 fewer st between decreases each right side row, until 4 sts remain.

K2tog twice. Fasten off.

Hat Brim
Using black, cast on 60 sts.

K1 row.

*K2, kfb. Repeat from * across. 80 sts.

Beginning with a purl row, work in Stockinette Stitch for 19 rows.

*K2, k2tog. Repeat from * across. 60 sts.

Purl 1 row.

Bind off.

Stitch side seams together. Sew cast on and bind off edges together. Slip the brim over the hat and sew into place.

Witch’s Cloak

Using black, cast on 52 sts.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 12 rows.

*K12, k2tog. Repeat from * to last 9 sts, k9. 48 sts.

Purl 1 row.

*K11, k2tog. Repeat from * to last 9 sts, k9. 44 sts.

Purl 1 row

Continue to decrease in the same manner every other row, working 1 fewer st between decreases, until *k5, k2tog. Repeat from * across. (When you get to *K7, k2tog, you can add a decrease at the end as well.)

Work in Stockinette for 11 rows, ending with a purl row.

Kfb of each stitch.

Work in Stockinette for 8 rows.

Bind off.

Coat Edges (Make 2)

With black, cast on 6 sts.

Work in Garter Stitch until this piece is the same length as the length of your coat edge. Bind off.

Bottom Edge
With black, cast on 6 stitches.

Work in Garter Stitch until this piece is the same length as the bottom edge of coat.

Bind off.

Sew pieces into place on coat.

Sleeves (Make 2)

Using black, cast on 40 sts.

Work in Garter Stitch for 4 rows.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 10 rows.

Continuing in Stockinette, k2tog at the beginning and end of this and every row until 34 sts remain.

*K2tog, k6. Repeat from * across.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k5. Repeat from * across.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k4. Repeat from * across.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k3. Repeat from * across.

P1 row.

*K2tog, k2. Repeat from * across.

P1 row.

K2tog across, end k1.

Cut yarn, thread through stitches and draw up. Stitch both side edges together.

Sew the edges and sleeves to the main part of the cloak as shown in the picture.

Broom

Using light brown, cast on 20 sts.

Work in Garter Stitch for 6 rows.

Bind off.

Use a straw and push light brown strands of wool down one end. Cut to side and wrap knitted broom strip around the straw. Stitch into place.

Spell Bag

Using purple, cast on 30 sts.

Work in Stockinette Stitch for 15 rows.

Bind off.

Sew the two sides together to form a bag.

Use black yarn to embroider the word “spells” on the bag, and make a cord with black yarn to put at the top of the bag.

Finishing

Stitch the nose to the face and make eyes with black yarn.

Place the cloak over the body and sew the head on top.

The broom and bag can be secured to the cloak with a couple of stitches.

 

Comments

  1. Lisa Ogilvie says

    I do love this wee witch. 17 pages to print seems rather excessive.

  2. Alison Grant-MacDonald says

    The body is wrong, it’s too small. Is there an updated pattern?

  3. Body pattern wrong, doesn’t tell you how many rows to do between each decrease. Please can you help.

    • Vikram Goyal says

      Hi June – the pattern has been reworded and more explanation has been added. Let us know if you still have issues using it.

  4. i have tried this pattern the body is slatted on one side could it does not tell you what to do after .could you please send me the updated pattern .

  5. Instructions for body and hat are incorrect. Do you have the correct instructions to send me please? Thank you.

  6. Pippa Precious says

    Instructions for body seem incorrect, is there another version of this pattern you could send me please, thank you

  7. pamela gelfand says

    incomplete instructions

  8. I really want to do this, but I too am confused about the body instructions, any changes to know about?

  9. Guest on Dec. 4, 2012 7:57 am. Could you send me the updated version of the pattern?
    Thanks you,
    Pat

  10. Okay, so I followed the pattern for the body and ended up with one straight side and one angled side. this can’t be correct! Is there a corrected version of this pattern?

  11. thanks for updating the pattern, have now finished it and I love her (as does my granddaughter) x

  12. a real treat to make

  13. Ok so I’m not an experienced knitter but what about the body. I’ve knitted according to instructions and have a wedge shape that I’m to leave loose on a thread and at no point am I told what to do with it after that. confused.com

  14. This is very cute! My grandchildren will love her. Thank you very much for this pattern.

  15. A lovely little project, thanks. Easy to make if you have some knitting experience.

  16. Looks Real cute, but hard to make!!

What do you think of this project? Let us know!