What makes a gnome, a gnome?

When I first drew up this square my husband critiqued it gently saying the witchy hat made it just look like a witchy square. He didn’t see anything that really said “gnome”. I pointed out that the eyes were covered by the hat and the big nose was the only facial feature. There’s some wild hair that could be more beard-like but is a beard what defines a gnome? Maybe there’s too many “extras” in the image?

I got back to the drawing board and changed some things. Then I got my husband to look again. He said it was better… but still not quite “gnomey”. And he walked away. Because he can do that. It’s not HIS eBook that needs another square. It’s not HIS customers that are eagerly awaiting the next design. No pressure! Hahaha!

After editing it a bit more I asked for his helpful advice once again. He repeated his first piece of advice: the witch hat doesn’t look like a gnome hat.

So, I changed the hat and BAM we have a gnome! In case you were wondering, that’s how I define a gnome: hat, no eyes, only a nose, hair/beard.

Mosaic Crochet, by CarolinevdB

I sure hope all of these squares in this series are looking gnome-like to you all. There’s only a few more left – and I’m trying to come up with a December square that isn’t just Santa. Any suggestions?

I posted this teaser work-in-progress image on Instagram and in my Facebook group and asked people to guess the title of what I was making. It is, of course, this witchy October Gnome square. Two people have won a free pattern of their choice!

In case you’re new to this “A Year of Gnomes” series: there’s a new gnome each month on a chart size of 81 x 81. That means you start with 40 windows when you use the interlocking crochet technique (or, chain 83 foundation single crochet when you use the mosaic method). They finish to 20″ square when you meet my gauge but gauge isn’t critical as long as you make them all the same so that you can join them together. I also have other squares of this same size if you’d prefer to mix and match: ashleeslint.com/patterns#large

At the end of the year (which is getting really close!) I will also be adding an all-in-one blanket pattern of all 12 gnomes to the eBooks on Ravelry and Etsy. The all-in-one pattern will save you from joining squares together but doesn’t allow as much creative freedom.

Speaking of the eBook – it is a great value; it is more than a 50% discount compared to buying each square individually (plus it’s the only way you’ll get that all-in-one blanket)! Ravelry has a great system for updating patterns; Etsy requires that I email you each month with the updated pattern. I offer both options for most of my patterns.

“October Gnome” on Ravelry
“A Year of Gnomes” on Ravelry
“October Gnome” on Etsy
“A Year of Gnomes” on Etsy

And, of course, our master list of gnomes that keeps getting updated:

Oh, and I know some people really like seeing the backs of these designs. When you use the overlay mosaic technique it just creates stripes but interlocking crochet creates something new. It isn’t exactly an inverse of the front design.

The front and back of my interlocking crochet sample of “October Gnome“

Thank you for all your support!