Mar
Making the Actual Candy Corn Shape
So basically you’re gonna start with the white tip because that’s the easiest way to get the cone shape right. I made like fifteen of these last July 2024 when my sister asked me to help with her kid’s birthday party and honestly the first three looked pretty rough but once you get the rhythm it’s fine.
You need three colors obviously – white, orange, and yellow. I used Red Heart Super Saver in White, Pumpkin, and Yellow because it was literally what I had in my stash and I wasn’t about to go buy fancy yarn for candy corn. Some people use the softer stuff like Caron Simply Soft but idk the Red Heart holds its shape better for something like this where you want it to actually look like candy and not just a blob.
Start with a magic ring in white. Do 6 single crochets into the ring and pull it tight. Then you’re gonna increase every stitch in round 2 so you end up with 12 stitches. Round 3 is where people mess up – you do single crochet in first stitch, then 2 single crochet in the next stitch, repeat around. That gives you 18 stitches total.
The Annoying Part About Increases
Here’s what drove me absolutely crazy and I’m still annoyed about it – counting the increases when you’re trying to make it three-dimensional. Like flat circles are easy, you just follow the pattern, but when you’re shaping a cone you have to start doing fewer increases or it gets all wavy and weird. I must’ve frogged the fourth one I made like three times because it kept getting this ruffled edge that made it look more like a sad party hat than candy corn.
After round 3, do one round of just straight single crochet with no increases. Then round 5 you do sc in first 2 stitches, then 2 sc in next stitch, repeat. My cat kept trying to steal my stitch marker during this part which was super helpful obviously.
You’ll notice the white section is getting wider as you go. For candy corn you want about 6-7 rounds of white total depending on how big you’re making them. Mine were about 3 inches tall when finished because that felt right for the party favor bags but you could make them bigger or–
Switching to Orange
Don’t cut the white yarn yet, just drop it and pick up the orange. You can weave the ends in later but if you cut too early you’ll have more ends to deal with and that’s just annoying. The orange section should be the biggest part since that’s how real candy corn looks.
Continue the same increase pattern but slower. Like maybe do 2 rounds of straight sc, then one increase round. The goal is to make it bulge out in the middle. I was watching some true crime documentary while doing this part and honestly not paying super close attention which is probably why my orange sections were kinda inconsistent sizes.
The thing about the orange is you want maybe 8-10 rounds total. It should be noticeably fatter than the white part. Keep stuffing as you go with polyfil or whatever you use – I just grabbed the cheap stuff from Walmart. If you wait until the end to stuff it the whole thing gets misshapen and you can’t fix it without it looking lumpy.
Stuffing Tips I Learned the Hard Way
Don’t overstuff. Seriously. My first attempt looked like an overfed traffic cone because I kept shoving more polyfil in there thinking it needed to be really firm. It doesn’t. You want it to hold its shape but still have a little give. Use the back of your crochet hook or like a chopstick or something to push the stuffing into the tip of the white section.
Also stuff gradually as you work up the orange section. Add a little bit every 2-3 rounds. This keeps everything even and you won’t end up with that thing where the bottom is packed tight and the top is all floppy.
Yellow Section and Closing It Up
Switch to yellow the same way you switched to orange – just drop the orange and pick up the yellow. The yellow part is the shortest section, maybe 4-5 rounds. You’re gonna start decreasing now to close up the top.
Do one round of straight sc in yellow just to establish the color change. Then start your decreases. I do sc in first 2 stitches, then sc2tog (that’s single crochet 2 together, basically a decrease). Repeat that around. Next round do sc in first stitch, sc2tog, repeat. You’re basically reversing what you did at the beginning.
The top is gonna start closing up like a little dome. Keep stuffing until you can barely fit the polyfil through the opening anymore. Last round is usually just sc2tog all the way around until you’ve got like 6 stitches left. Then cut your yarn leaving a long tail and thread it through those last stitches, pull tight to close, and weave it in.
What I’d Do Different Next Time
The proportions took me forever to figure out. Real candy corn is pretty specific about the ratios – the white is smallest, yellow is middle, and orange is biggest. But when you’re crocheting it you gotta exaggerate that a bit or it just looks like a striped cone. I’d probably do like 5 rounds white, 9 rounds orange, 4 rounds yellow if I made them again.
Also I tried making some with variegated orange yarn thinking it would add dimension and it just looked muddy and weird. Stick with solid colors. The Pumpkin color from Red Heart is actually perfect – it’s that specific orange-orange that candy corn is, not too red and not too yellow.
Using Them for Actual Stuff
So my sister wanted them as party favors but you could do a bunch of things with these. Some people attach them to bobby pins or hair clips. You could make a garland by sewing them together through the sides – like maybe 10 or 12 of them on a string for mantle decoration or whatever.
I’ve seen people make them into keychains too by adding a little loop at the top before you close it off. Just chain like 8 or 10 stitches, slip stitch back to where you started to make a loop, then continue closing up the yellow section. Thread a keyring through the loop and boom, candy corn keychain.
You could probably make them smaller and use them as earrings if you’re into that. I’m not personally but I saw someone on Instagram doing it with like thread weight yarn and a tiny hook. Seems fiddly but the result was pretty cute.
Size Variations
If you want bigger ones use a bigger hook and thicker yarn. I stuck with a size G hook (4.0mm) and worsted weight but you could easily use bulky yarn and like a K hook if you wanted chunky decorative ones. They’d work up faster too.
For tiny ones go down to sport weight or even thread with a smaller hook. The pattern stays the same, you just adjust your materials. Though honestly anything smaller than what I made seems like it would be a pain to stuff properly.
Common Problems I Ran Into
The color transitions sometimes look sloppy if you’re not careful. What helped was making sure to pull the new color tight on that first stitch so there’s no gap. Also when you’re weaving in ends later, weave them horizontally along the color line instead of vertically through different colors. It hides better.
Tension issues made some of mine lopsided. Like one side would be tighter than the other and the whole thing would curve weird. I had to really focus on keeping consistent tension especially in the orange section since that’s the biggest part. If you notice it curving as you work, try loosening up a bit on the tight side or tightening up on the loose side for the next few rounds.
The tip of the white section sometimes came out too pointy or too rounded. Too pointy happens if you don’t increase enough in those first few rounds. Too rounded means you increased too much. It’s a balance thing. I found that doing exactly 6 rounds of white with the increase pattern I mentioned earlier gave the right shape.
Yarn Amounts
You don’t need much of each color. Like maybe 15-20 yards of white, 25-30 yards of orange, and 10-15 yards of yellow per candy corn. So one skein of each color would make you probably 20+ of these easily. I still have most of those skeins left from the batch I made.
I didn’t measure exactly because I was just pulling from my stash but it’s really not much yarn at all. They’re small and work up quick once you’ve got the pattern down. Maybe 20 minutes each once you’re not thinking about it anymore.
Pattern Adjustments for Different Looks
Some people do the stripes in different orders or add extra colors. I saw someone make rainbow ones which completely defeats the purpose of candy corn but they looked cool I guess. You could do pastel versions for Easter or something – pink, lavender, mint green in the same striped pattern.
You could also make them flatter by not increasing as much in the middle. Like if you wanted them more 2D for appliques or to sew onto a bag or whatever. Just skip some of the increase rounds and it’ll stay flatter instead of getting that bulged middle section.
Adding surface details is another option. Like you could embroider little faces on them or add glitter by brushing on some watered down glue and sprinkling it while wet. I didn’t do any of that because the party theme was simple and also I’m lazy but it’s possible.
Storage and Durability
These hold up pretty well actually. The ones I made last July still look fine, they’ve been in a box in my sister’s garage and haven’t gotten gross or misshapen or anything. Acrylic yarn is good for that – it doesn’t attract bugs or get musty like natural fibers might.
If you’re making them as decorations you’ll use year after year, maybe spray them with some fabric protector or scotchgard type stuff. Keeps them from getting dusty and grimy. Though honestly they’re fast enough to make that you could just make new ones each year if you wanted.
Don’t leave them where dogs can get them. My sister’s dog grabbed one and it was just shredded polyfil everywhere. The yarn itself was fine but the stuffing went everywhere and it was a whole thing.
What Hook Size Actually Matters
I said G hook earlier but really anything in the 3.5mm to 5.0mm range works with worsted weight. Smaller hook gives you tighter stitches which means the stuffing won’t show through as much. Bigger hook makes it work up faster but you might see little bits of white polyfil poking through the stitches.
I prefer the tighter stitch look for these since they’re supposed to look clean and candy-like. But if you’re making a ton of them and speed matters more than perfection, size up your hook and just make sure you use white or cream colored stuffing so it’s less noticeable if it peeks through.
Honestly the pattern is super forgiving. Like you could probably mess up the stitch count by a few and it would still look fine from a distance. Nobody’s gonna inspect your candy corn that closely unless you’re entering it in a county fair or something.
