holiday mystery gnome start

This will be my only post about this for the duration of the month (so I don't spoil the surprise), but I wanted to share the beginning of my next gnome... an advent mystery knit along! Sara Schira, the designer of these adorable beings, has had mystery gnomes at various times in the past and this is her latest installment of a holiday/winter gnome. It's my first mystery knit along (and perhaps my first knit along?). We know how much yarn we'll need, how many colors, and what "types" of colors (light, dark, etc) to use but other than that, it's a surprise! There will be daily clues this month to take us through the pattern and reveal, ultimately, a "Gnandad" gnome who has been off on worldly travels. 

I chose colors last night and of course by this morning had changed my mind. I swapped in a more muted navy instead of the brighter blue. We'll see if I stick with that or switch back. Depending how the clues work out, maybe I'll use both! This is a bit out of my comfort zone because I'm such a particular planner, but I am going to enjoy trusting the process and releasing some control here. I am positive that the finished gnome is going to be amazing. 

Gnolan, finished

Well. This guy's a charmer. I have to say I am very pleased with how he turned out! The colors mom and I picked are bright and whimsical, and those little arms just make me smile. The slightly damp post-rain garden atmosphere felt just like home to him. I could see him puttering around deadheading flowers and getting seeds in the ground for the winter season. He's a fan of the pansies. 

And the mushroom!!! I was watching a bunch of seasonal "small things to knit" videos on YouTube last night and I just had to try out this little mushroom. Together they make SUCH a cute pair. I can't even believe how great they look together. Pretty soon it will be time to box him up and send him off to his new home. Until then I'm going to enjoy him in my kitchen. 

 

mom's gnome in progress

I started this guy in the bright days of August but set it aside until this week. I had just about half of the hat started and left it at the fussiest part. After wrangling an octopus of needles and yarn in ever smaller rounds, the hat was done and topped off with that cute little curlicue. 

The body went pretty quickly after that. There's nothing quite like stripes to keep me going! It's like Pringles. Or popcorn. Just one more.... I am so thankful I attended that workshop back in February where Sara went through the particulars of finishing up all the little details. I learn so much visually that having it done and discussed in person has made it all really stick with me. This is a fun picture of me trying to not drop any of the weighted stuffing as I'm closing up the bottom. 

 

He looks kind of funny without a face! I finished that up this evening, too. The arms have also been made and attached, I'm just hoping for better light tomorrow to take some great photos out in the garden. For now I leave you with a colorful bowling pin. 

stashing and starting

Yesterday in the craft room was all about stashing and starting. First, here's a round up of all the fabric I acquired on the "tour" of local quilt shops with my parents. The top row are from Golden State Quilting up in Campbell. OMG. The Charley Harper horsey print! The mushroom and fabulous hippy horse from Ruby Star Society (Sarah Watts and Melody Miller... two of my faves)! They have also always had Tula Pink fabrics when I've gone in, which I resisted this time but mom did get some very cute bunnies and owls. It's so nice to have a shop nearby that you know will have the latest from your favorite designers. 

The bottom row big three are from Back Porch Fabrics on our trip down to Pacific Grove. I got the Anna Maria Parry zinnias and the somehow irresistible mustard/hot pink blender and mom snuck in that beautiful Charley Harper butterfly fabric for me. I thought she was getting it for herself! Monarchs are "a thing" down there, so it's a fun thing to remember the trip with. 

Last are a few fat quarters from my true LQS in Morgan Hill, Quilts and Things. Somehow this visit my eye was drawn to all the pinks and oranges, which is quite unusual for me! The checkerboard print in the middle is not coming through quite as eyewateringly neon in the photo as it truly is in person. I am 99.9% sure that's a Tula Pink blender. I'm not sure what any of these will be used for, but in laying these out I can see an interesting project potential taking shape in that bottom row.... 

Mom and I also spent a loooong time winding yarn. The two balls on the right were wound for me at the shop where we got them (Fillory) and will turn into a sweater for my dad - along with 10 of their closest friends when they arrive on order. Realizing I was going to start that sweater project made me want to line up a couple of others that have been on my mind since the yarn crawl in spring. The blue and coral on the left are going to be another Hold Sway Sweater, and the brown is going to be some sort of boxy summery top. Not shown are the yarn hanks for my next Shift cowl I have planned, also with yarn from the crawl supplemented by that aqua peeking in the background (from a trip with mom to A Pop of Color in town). They won't get made if the yarn's not wound! So we wound. And wound. And wound. 14 cakes! I did not snap a picture of them, but it was a lot. They are all now nestled in project bags waiting patiently for me to get started. I think my plan is to get them all cast on and started a bit so that I can work on whatever I'm in the mood for without the barrier of "ugh casting on" to deal with. 

Also part of the day was spent with mom choosing a gnome. I showed her my book of Gnomes of Grimblewood that I got at the workshop in February and suggested she pick one for me to make. I already sent her some cute earrings, but I have been thinking of starting another gnome so it would be fun to send it along to her house. ( I haven't made one since April! So much for doing one a month ;) ) We did some stash diving and came up with a rainbow of colors to use on one of the tall stripey guys. I've already cast on and knit a few rows, so more to come. 

It feels good to be organized in the craft room again, to have infused a few new things, and to have some plans! It was also really fun to take a tour around my favorite shops with my parents. I am lucky in how many great places there are pretty close by. May they continue to thrive.

Gnarley

This guy is pretty rustic looking. I bet he likes to camp and makes a really good bonfire breakfast. Meet Gnarley, my April gnome for the Year of Gnomes by Imagined Landscapes over on Ravelry. 

This was the first pattern I made out of the Gnomes of Grimblewood book I got at the gnome workshop in February, and it was pretty fun. It did take me until the very last day of the month to get everything stuffed and assembled. Somehow I thought this would be a quick one, but I think I am just slow on double pointed needles with tiny yarn. This may also mean I am not going to do a gnome a month - I need a break to work on other things (like so. many. concerts. coming up). 

I used leftovers for this guy. The body is "Jamie Fraser" from Honey Girl Farms and the beard and nose is "Adawehi" from the same. The cabling on the body may be a bit lost in the variegation, but I am pretty pleased with how he turned out. He looks very outdoorsy. Like I want to give him a log to chop. And who knows? Maybe he is channeling a bit of the Jamie Fraser vibes. He'll have a Scottish accent, for sure. 

gnibblets

These are possibly the tiniest things I have ever made and perhaps the cutest. I can't even. TINY GNOMES!!!

When Sarah Schira mentioned in her gnome workshop I took last month that there was a tiny gnome pattern for earrings I pretty much decided right then that was going to be my March gnome-of-the-month. As one might expect, these were *extremely* fiddly to knit for me. Some people may like small numbers of stitches on multiple needles. I'm not one of them. But it was only like 14 rounds and the end result is so worth it that I did it four times. 

Finding the earring hooks in my stash was not hard, and it took just a few attempts (and a couple broken ones) to get these little Gnibblets hooked up and ready to hang. Aren't they just amazing? I will be wearing my green guys on St. Patrick's Day, for sure. 

gnoah the first

You guys. It happened! The gnome workshop this weekend was so. much. fun. And look at the little guy that came home with me - so much whimsy packed into this little dude. 

Sarah was friendly, well spoken, and has a knack for teaching. A lot of techniques are packed into this pattern, and I was able to follow her instruction quite well and was grateful for the chance to see it done in parallel and hear her useful tips along the way. Her love of the craft and of the little personalities we were bringing to life was apparent, and I was charmed both by her designs and her reflections on how magical her path had been to bring her to the point that she is doing and loving what she's doing now. 

It was a companionable experience to sit in a room full of knitters all puzzling over the same pattern, helping each other with questions, and generally cheering each other on. Marinating in the atmosphere of Just Having Fun was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. I have been enjoying social knit nights at the shop for a few weeks now, and this experience was right in line with the supportive community of women I have met there. This place is a gem and a gift to my crafty heart. 

As to the project, I was intrigued by the clever use of i-cord, the relative ease of sewing all the bits on (despite my normally extreme dislike of fiddly bits like that), and the many ways a bobble can be fashioned to make a nose. Gnoah came together relatively easily for me, and I am definitely planning on enjoying and being challenged by each of the patterns out of Sarah's book. 

When I got home and started messing around with his hat and stance, I decided what he really wanted was a walking stick. I had cut some rosemary for a flower arrangement on my way inside, and one of the leftover twigs was the perfect size. He makes me smile! Which is of course the point of it all, isn't it. 

kaffe the red

I'm very excited to have splurged on myself for a workshop early in February to learn to knit gnomes. Mom and I walked into my LYS in November and were greeted by the most. adorable. knitted gnomes who were scattered among the shelves. A few weeks later I noticed the pattern designer was going to have a workshop to teach gnome making. The folks that run the store are really friendly, so it seemed like a great way for me to continue exploring town and perhaps meet a few new people. I signed up. Fast forward a couple months and I saw an announcement on instagram (totally serendipitous, I spend like zero time on that platform) that the designer is having a Year of Gnomes to-do on her Ravelry page where the idea is to try to make one gnome a month. That seems fun and achievable so I figured I'd give it a shot. I want to wait until the workshop to learn how to make the 3d gnomes, so I bought her pattern for a cute cup cozy. It turns out that the YoG only counts for the 3d guys, but that's ok. I can do the rest of the months and this was a fun thing to knit! 

I dug through my yarn stash to find some leftovers that I thought had enough contrast for the gnome to show up and went to work. It was so fun I had a hard time putting it down - thankfully a lot of my work that day was able to be done with yarn in hand, so by the evening I had a cozy finished and ready to block. This was a fun, low pressure way to remind myself that I need to be careful about how I tension yarn when I'm doing color work and trying to hold both colors at once. The yarn in my right hand ends up tighter than the one I hold in my left, and things get a little out of whack. It's nothing that made the cozy not coze, but something I definitely messed around with while I was blocking. 

The end result is super cute (here finishing blocking on a cup), and if I make more I might consider going down a needle size to make up for my looser knitting. It fits on my travel mug, but is a little bit big likely because I was trying to knit loose enough that I didn't have my floats too tight. No big deal. I am calling him Kaffe the Red because the orange beard obviously means he's a redhead. 

Pattern: Gnome Need to Thank Me by Sarah Schira (my Ravelry page)

Needle: 2.5 mm and 2.75 mm

Yarn: madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Terra, Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Blueberry Mix, and Greenwood Fiberworks Yakity Yak in Lime - three animals in one cozy!