Garden Gnome Hat

Cozy woolen ski hat, featuring traditional Scandinavian motifs blended with some very
nontraditional, painfully cute and (maybe!) mildly diabolical garden gnomes. Knit in the round,
ribbed edge, serious pompom. Extra long length- suitable for flipping off to one side a bit, as you
tromp though the mountains to the chalet. Four gnomes, altogether.. separated by bits of
foliage.. cause that's how they like it.

Tools: one 16 inch size 1 (2.25mm) circular needle, set of 4 size 1 (2.25mm) double pointed
needles, optional stitch markers ( 8) needle to weave in ends (note: you could work the entire
hat on DPNs according to your preference). Some scrap cardboard and scissors (to make
pompom), or a commercially available pompom maker.

Materials: 2 balls of Knit Picks Palette, or other fingering weight yarn. I used: one ball of
Serrano (color A) and one ball of Cream (color B). Each ball is 230 yards and 50 g. The entire
weight of the finished hat is 78g. You may need extra of color A, depending on the.. intensity of
your pompom.

Gauge: 39 st and 40 rows = 4 inches in Knit Picks Palette.

Finished Measurements: Hat body is about 9.5 inches wide, hat is about 11 inches tall from
ribbed edge to the top of the hat (excluding pompom). Pompom is about 2.5 inches in diameter.

Pattern technique:

Wrapping: In traditional fair isle knitting, one only carries the unused yarn color behind the
knitted work for a few stitches. There are parts of this pattern that require you to carry the
unused color behind the knitted work for longer stretches. This can create long “floats” of
unused yarn behind your work. Long floats, when incorrectly handled, can screw up your
tension causing the fabric to buckle, and can get caught on things. We will avoid having
dangling floats by using a wrapping method.

When to use the wrapping method: whenever a float is going to be more than about 4-6
stitches long. (this is more often than I would suggest for other items, because this is a hat.. but
do what feels comfortable to you.) When done carefully, there is no show-through of the unused
color. This technique works best if you stagger the wraps so that they don’t occur in the same
spot.

How to create the wrap: put your right-hand needle into the next stitch as if to knit. Wrap the
unused color once over the used color, then knit the stitch color as normal. Tug the unused
“wrapped” yarn gently up toward the top and right-hand side of the work.

What direction do I wrap the yarn? The wrap works best if you bring the yarn over the top of
the used color. However, if you wrap only in one direction, the yarn can become tangled- so
sometimes bring the yarn up from underneath.

Increase: in this pattern, increases are made by knitting one stitch through the front and back
loop. To do it: knit into the front loop as normal, but do not slip the stitch from the left needle.
Working into the back loop of the same stitch, insert the right-hand needle from front to back
through the back loop of the stitch on the left-hand needle. Knit through the stitch and then slip
the stitches (you now have 2) onto the right hand needle.

Abbreviations:

CO Cast on
DEC decrease
INC increase
K Knit
K2, P2- knit 2, purl 2
K2TOG knit 2 together
P purl
PM place mark
Sl slip
SSK slip, slip, knit
St Stitch
PM place mark

Directions for Hat:

Using size 1 circular needle and color A, CO 152 stitches. Join, being careful not to twist. PM
for beginning/end of round. Work 1.25 inches in K2P2 ribbing.

K one row. As you go, increase 20 sts evenly around (about once every 7 sts).172 sts total.
Join Color B. K one row. K one row in color A.

Work 2 repeats of Gnome Chart( including decreases as marked- use the color coded key and
detailed instructions below). The stitch in-between the two pink decrease stitches is the seam
stitch. The directions below assume that you have placed a marker to the left of this stitch.
Detailed Decrease Instructions:
Decrease Rows: begin at row 83 of gnome chart

Row 1:* ssk, k to within 3 sts of marker, k2tog, k1, sl

marker.* repeat from * to * 7 more times (16 sts dec).

Row 2: k all sts.

Row 3: k all sts.

Repeat these three rows until there are a total of 23 sts (you will continue your decreases
beyond what is shown in the chart). Switch from circular needle to DPNS when required.

Next row: k 1. k1, k2tog around (16 sts).

K 2 rows.
Repeat these two rows again.

Break the yarn, leaving tail about 10 inches or so.

Thread the tail onto a needle and draw it through the remaining stitches. Pull the stitches tight.

Weave in any ends.

To make pompoms : Get a couple of pieces of cardboard. Cut 2 circles, each a little smaller
than 3 inches in diameter (these do not have to be perfect or neat at all). Next, cut a smaller
circle in the middle of each larger circle. Two cardboard donuts.

Stack the donuts on top of each other, so you have one double-decker donut.

Get a big yarn needle, and thread it up with color A. To make this more efficient, the best way
to do this is to thread the needle doubled up- take a long piece of yarn, fold it in half, then thread
the whole thing through the eye of the needle- that way you are using 4 strands at once. Wrap
your yarn all around your little cardboard donut, till it is completely covered, with multiple layers
of yarn. There should be enough yarn wrapped around the donut that it is hard to push the
needle through the center of the donut.

Take some scissors, and insert them between the donuts- cut all the yarn around the outside
edge, as pictured.

Next, secure the pompom in the middle like this: take a piece of yarn, and tie it tightly between
the donuts- making a little bundle. Leave a tail- you can use this to attach the pompom to the
hat.

Carefully pull the cardboard off the yarn. Fluff it out and trim it so it looks neat. Use the tail to
securely attach the pompom to the center/top of the hat.

This Pattern is provided for personal or charity use only. Neither it, nor items produced using it are for resale.
Visit good egg online at www.elf518.etsy.com
Chart:

This Pattern is provided for personal or charity use only. Neither it, nor items produced using it are for resale.
Visit good egg online at www.elf518.etsy.com