Thursday, February 7, 2008

Gnome Home

Several people on Ravelry have asked me to concoct a pattern for the Gnome Home I made for our niece Jess for Christmas. I totally improvised it at the time, so I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I have devised a set of sketchy instructions so you can make one of your own. Be advised that by sketchy I mean sketchy. Best of luck.
For the base, use a bulky green yarn held together with a strand of matching green eyelash yarn (grass) or several strands of eyelash yarn held together. For walls use a bulky brown yarn, and for the roof use a bulky yarn in a different shade of brown. You will need to use a hook that is just barely large enough to grab the yarn. A very tight fabric is required to make the house stand up. Gauge is not important in this pattern.


Base:
ch 2. In 2nd ch from hook sc 6. Place marker or scrap of yarn between 1st and last sts of foundation round.
round 1: 2 sc in every st around (12 sts)
round 2: [1 sc. 2 sc in next st. (increase made)] repeat around (18 sts)
round 3: [2 sc. 2 sc in next st. (increase made)] repeat around (24 sts)
continue in this fashion, adding one single crochet between each increase, until you have a disc approx. 6" in diameter.

Walls:
round 1: sc around. Switch to brown yarn.
row 2: sc around to last 5 sts. ch 1. turn
repeat row 1 working back and forth, leaving a doorway 5 sts wide, until doorway is about 3" tall.
row 3: sc around to last st of row. 2 sc in last st. ch 1 and turn.
row 4: repeat row 2.
round 5: sc to doorway. ch 1. going across doorway, sc the rest of the round.
round 6: sc around
repeat round 6 for 1" above top of doorway.

Roof:
Switch to roof color.
round 1: sc around
round 2: [5 sc, sc 2 tog] repeat around
round 3: sc around
repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have about 5 or 6 sts left. Cut yarn and weave end through sts and pull closed.

Soffit:
Your number of stitches should be divisible by 6, so you will be working each scallop over 6 sts. Be sure your slip stitches are in stitches 1 and 6 of each scallop.
ss yarn to first row of roof color. [sk 2 sts. 6 dc in 2nd st. sk 2. ss in next st.] repeat around. break yarn and weave in ends.

I crocheted the flowers in a sport weight microfiber acrylic, but you can use any sport or fingering weight yarn. I don't have a pattern for the flowers. I found various free flower patterns online such as this one, and then sewed them on. I embroidered the stems in green yarn.