Gnome from Gnome

.

I've come across this little fellow a few times lately in Blogland, and couldn't resist having a go. I like knitting, but hate sewing up, so I adapted the pattern for knitting in the round on a circular needle. The pattern for the head/body starts at the top and works down, so before I did the last row and the "break the yarn and thread through the remaining stitches" bit, I made the bean bag bum and pushed it through the opening before I fastened off. This meant I had to stuff the rest of the body and the head through the small hole on top of the head, but this wasn't difficult. I started the legs at the toe and knitted them like a toe up sock, and did the arms the same way, leaving a bit of waste yarn for the mitten thumb and picking up the stitches later. When it came to stuffing the hands, I decided not to! I liked the way the hands became quite expressive when left floppy. I am not 100% happy with the brim of the hat. Maybe I used the wrong Cast On technique, but it didn't want to lie flat, and where I have stitched it down it has gone a bit blobby. The colour isn't true to life. He looks all washed out and a bit orange here, but he is a proper Christmassy red. I might do another one in more Autumnal woodland colours as I have some whiskery yarn that would be good to use.

Edit; I've had time this afternoon to correct the colour on the original photo