Jack-o'-lantern pony bead pattern

About this design

A round Orange pumpkin with a two-bead Brown stem, square Black eyes, a triangle nose and a jagged grin. Only three colours are used, and most of the beads are orange, so it is quick to sort and lace. At 13 beads wide it is one of the larger keychains here, and it also makes a good Halloween decoration on a door handle.

Bead counts: 111 Opaque orange, 21 Opaque black and 2 Opaque brown, 134 pony beads in all.

Lacing it

The stem is two rows of one bead; keep the cord ends even as you lace them so the stem sits in the middle. Each row is one unbroken run: thread it onto one end of the cord, pass the other end back through the same beads from the opposite side, and pull both ends evenly so the row settles under the one above. The pattern has 14 rows, and you need about 236 cm of cord: that allows for both ends passing through every row, a loop at the top and enough to tie off.

Finishing

After the last row, tie the two ends in a tight double knot under the final bead, add a drop of glue if the cord is slippery, and trim the tails. The finished piece is about 7.8 cm wide and 12.6 cm long with standard pony beads, a good size for a Halloween keychain or a door-handle decoration.

Colour plan

Opaque orange does the most work, 83% of the 134 beads, followed by Opaque black at 16%. Opaque brown (2) is used only a little: small details worth marking on the chart so you don't miss them. 26% of the grid is left empty.

Working notes

It is laced in 14 rows from the top, and needs about 236 cm of cord. Every row is one unbroken run of beads, centred under the row above, so it laces exactly as charted.