Knit R2-D2 Makes Knitting, Geekery Cool

I’m a bit of a geek, mostly thanks to my husband, and of course I’m a big old knitting geek, so I’ve absolutely loved seeing the pictures of the knit R2-D2 that was briefly on the streets of Bellingham, Wash., in honor of International Yarn Bombing Day last month.

Knitter Sarah Rudder told a local TV station she was inspired to knit the wooly robot because of a bunch of concrete barriers downtown that look like R2-D2. She measured the thing (technically called a bollard) and improvised a pattern, which can now be found on Ravelry. It takes about 1,200 yards of yarn and took her about three months to knit.

The robot made a brief appearance at the farmer’s market back in June, but Rudder says she hopes to make it regular event given the positive response people have had. Besides, what do you do with a giant R2 cozy in your house?

[Photo by Sarah Rudder.]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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