Lately I’ve been really into Gnomes. I think it started last Thanksgiving with my Gnomies sign! And it’s been all about Gnomes ever since!
So with Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought I’d make some crocheted Gnomes for my grandkids. Then they were so easy to make that I made a small one for my family room too! (That was after pricing small gnome plushies first. It was simply cheaper to make it then to shell out almost $10 for a small plush gnome to add to my tablescape. I used yarn scraps so it was actually free!)
But I digress. Yes, you heard me crocheted Gnomes are very easy to make. In fact you can probably whip one out in a day or so.
Now I made to gnomes to look slightly different, mostly by varying the hat and body colors. And of course the gender. I made boy gnomes and girl gnomes. I also varied the hats, some had longer hats that trailed down and others had the shorter version or the one that stood up to a point.
To make these gnomes I used a couple of different free patterns I found on the internet. (You could of course purchase patterns on Etsy or other crafting sites.) I sort of mixed and matched the patterns to suit my needs. I used the basic gnome pattern from one, used the hat pattern from the other, and used the feet and legs from one pattern to add to the basic gnome I made from the first pattern.
Also the patterns I used are either for a St. Patrick’s Day gnome or for Christmas Gnomes, but since I was using them patterns to create Valentine’s Day gnomes I simply changed the colors to fit my theme and added a heart to the hat or body.
I followed the instructions on one of the patterns to make the beard. The one where you unravel each strand to make the beard fluffy. That took me longer to do than to crochet the entire gnome!. But you can use the beard on the second pattern, it’s not fluffy, but faster to do.
For the hats I varied the lengths by simply making less rounds.
To make the girl gnome I made braids instead of a beard. There are no instructions for braids on these patterns, but it’s simple enough.
Cut about 24 yarn strands for each side. The strands should be about 24″ long, you can adjust the length to what you want.
Then fold strands in half and attach the same way as you would the beard. Then braid each section and secure.
Here are the links to the patterns I used.
And lastly here’s a link to the heart pattern I stitched on to my gnomes!
