Woolly Gnome Ideas

WOOLLY WITCH: Here the gnome pattern is turned into a witch, the woolly witch. The body is knit the same, adding green for the face. The brim of the hat uses 2 strands of worsted weight yarn in the I-Cord Bind off, creating a wider brim after felting.

A big nose and chin is needle felted to the face, after felting, using matching green roving. The hair is black and purple worsted weight yarn sewn to the underside of the hat's brim. Then the yarn plies are pulled apart to give the hair a frizzy-look.

I embroidered the chain stitch around one of the boots to give it a striped look. I have also knitted stripes into the boots, but no photo of this.

The bats are cut out of black acrylic felt. Then attached to a strand of black 24-gauge wire and poked into the witch's hat. Happy Halloween!

PHOTO TWO: Gnomes for every season: WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER & AUTUMN

CURLY MOHAIR BEARDS: The curly, wild looking beard below was created using 'washed mohair locks'. They are short pieces of silky soft mohair, the first clippings of a kid goat. The short pieces are then needle felted to the face individually, until a full-beard is created.

The mohair locks come in 1 and 2 ounce packages. I bought my 'cola-colored' mohair from a store in Minnesota called The Fiber Studio, 4810 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis, 55419. The store owner's name is Pam Angier. The store's phone number is 612.822.1600. Their website is www.thefiberstudio.com.

PHOTO THREE: These two gnomes were knit using the same yarns, Nature Spun worsted weight. The gnome on the left uses 2 strands of worsted, knit together, and size 13 double point needles, whereas the right gnome, uses one strand of worsted yarn and size 10-1/2 double point needles.

The left gnome's hat was embroidered with vegetables and a simple feather stitch wrapping around it. A tomato was created using red roving and needle felting it into a ball and adding a stem to the top.