Magic Gnomes
These mischievous little gnomes can be customized however you like. The originals were named 'Tax' and 'Spend' and were inspired by the 2008 presidential debates.You could embroider letters on each and spell out words, embroider simple pictures or logos or add longer beards and make them santas. The possibilities are endless! Everyone needs a magic gnome or two in
··MATERIALS
Use any yarn you like! This is a great project for using up left-overs. The directions are given using 3 colors. Needles a size or two smaller than you would normally use with the yarn (you want a dense fabric that won't stretch too much when you stuff the gnomes).I did mine using magic loop on one long circular needle, but you can use your favorite knitting in the round technique (DPNs, 2 circulars, whatever you like...). Beans (or something similar) to add weight to the bottom so that they stand up and'weeble? Polyfll or other stuffing. ··GAUGE Not important! Just be sure that you are knitting a nice dense fabric. The original gnomes were worsted weight and I used US6 needles.They're about 8 inches tall. Bulky yarn will give you bigger gnomes and lighter weight yarn will give you smaller gnomes. Go ahead and make a tiny gnome army out of left-over sock yarn! ··ABBREVIATIONS m1 - Increase one stitch - use your favorite technique. All of the increases are on the base and won't show when the gnome is standing up. ·· DIRECTIONS
BASE
Using Color 1,cast on 6 stitches and join for working in the round. Row 1·knit
Row 2· [k1, m1] 6 times (12 stitches) Row 3·knit Row 4· [k1, m1, k1] 6 times (18 stitches) Row 5·knit Row 6 · [k1, m1, k1] 9 times (27 stitches) Row 7·knit Row 8 · [k1,m1, k1] 13 times, k1 (40 stitches) Row 9·knit Row 10 · [k1, m1,k1] 20 times (60 stitches) Row 11 $\bullet$ knit Row 12· purl
BODY
continue on 60 stitches.. Rows 1-6·knit Row 7 · [k8,k2tog] 6 times (54 stitches) Rows 8-12 $\bullet$ knit Row 13· [k7, k2tog] 6 times (48 stitches) Rows 14-18·knit Row 19 · [k6, k2tog] 6 times (42 stitches) Rows 20-23·knit Row 24 $\bullet$ (switch to Color 2) knit
Magic Gnomes
Row 25 · [k5,k2tog] 6 times (36 stitches) Rows 26-30 $\bullet$ knit Row 31 $\bullet$ [k4, k2tog] 6 times (30 stitches) Row 32 $\bullet$ knit Rows 33-36 $\bullet$ (change to color 3) knit Row 37 $\bullet$ [k3, k2tog] 6 times (24 stitches) Rows 38-42 $\bullet$ knit Row 43 ·[k2, k2tog] 6 times (18 stitches) Rows 44-48 $\bullet$ knit Pour a generous handfull of beans or similar through the opening to weight the bottom. Stuff with polyfill up to where you are knitting. Row 49 $\bullet$ [k1,k2tog] 6 times (12 stitches) Rows 50-54·knit Row 55 ·k2tog 6 times (6 stitches) Stuff in more polyfill to fll up the point. Cut the yarn, leaving a generous tail, and run through remaining 6 stitches. Remove needles and cinch opening shut.
··EMBELLISH
Add eyes using french knots, sewing on beads, glueing on googly eyes, using puff paint, whatever you like...
BEARD
Cut short pieces of yarn and use a crochet hook to tie them on across 10- 12 stitches on two rows at the bottom of the area done with color two. Tie them as you would fringe on a scarf. Trim into a pleasing beard shape. Or don't embellish and pretend it's a colorblind candy corn. Unless you did it in candy corn colors on purpose. Do them in solid colors and use them as indoor bowling pins.
