Reflective Knit Pumpkin Candy Bowl Coozie

This is a knit pumpkin candy bowl coozie with a reflective face! The yarn I used for the face has a reflective thread in it, making it light up and glow when it is hit by light. So you can leave it outside and when cars drive by it will glow a spooky face or when kids are using their flashlights to get to the house it was light up! (Also works when you take a picture with flash)

Items you'll need:

1 Skein Lamb's Pride Bulky - Orange

1 Skein Red Heart Reflective - Grey

1 set of size US 10 circular needles

1 Stitch Marker (Optional)

1 darning needle

This is a very basic pattern, the only skills you need are knitting, purling and knitting in the round.

Knitting Pattern:

Note- this pumpkin is knit in one piece on circular needles and is knit completely in the round. This pattern is worked with a rib and is then turned inside-out for the finished product. For the cast on I used a short tail cast on, but you can use whichever method you prefer.

Abbreviations used: K-knit P-purl

With the Lamb's Pride yarn CO 72 stitches leaving about 8 inches of tail

Join your work to knit in the round adding a stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round.

Set-up round: *K 10 P1* repeat from ** 5 times, K 11

note: if it is easier for you, you may put a stitch marker before each pearl stitch so you don't have to count each time

Repeat this round until you run out of yarn, or until desired length. - a full skein is large enough to fit over a very large candy bowl.

Next, using Red Heart Reflectives cut a 2 foot piece of yarn and prepare to make your spooooky face. Turn your work inside out (be careful not to drop your stitches off the needle when doing this.)

For the face on mine, I did it by hand and did not make a chart. If you make a mistake or don't like a stitch it is very easy to take a stitch out, so I thought it would be more fun to just play around vs. following a chart...and it was!

Make sure your face is centered that is the most important part. Think about how big your image will be from the base of the mouth the the top of the eyes and make sure you stay within that perimeter to keep in centered. I tried to stay 3 stitches away from the purl row on both sides and about 13 stitches from the top and bottoms.

I used no real technique here....just thread your yarn onto your darning needle and starting from inside the pumpkin come up through the stitch you want to cover with the new color and then down on the other side of the stitch to completely cover it with the new yarn. This is not a fancy technique, but seeing as it's only a pumpkin candy bowl coozie...I didn't think anybody would mind. :P I found it easier to start from the left and work to the right. I made the smile first to make sure it was centered then moved onto the nose, then eyes. When you are done, loosely weave in the ends.

After you have made your face thread the 8" tail of your work and onto your darning needle and thread it through every stitch on the bottom pulling it together to start to form the shape of your pumpkin. You can do two things here, 1. pull the tail as tightly as you can to make as small of a circle at the bottom as you can then weave in your ends, or 2. pull the tail loosely and leave an opening at the bottom so your bowl can lay flat on the table and not be completely encompassed by the coozie. I chose to do the first option.

Next: Using a very stretchy bind off, bind off very loosely so that you can fit your coozie over the bowl you have chosen. (I used Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php )

Next you slide your coozie on your bowl, fill it with candy and wait for the trick-or-treaters to arrive!

Thanks for following my instructable, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have and I hope you enjoy halloween!