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| Retro artificial tree hat gnomes |
It's been a minute. Again. But that doesn't mean I haven't been making stuff. Of course. I shared my first tree hat gnome here. But they are so cute, and a friend of mine told me I needed to make a tinsel tree. OF COURSE I DID!! But, here's the thing. I couldn't find yarn locally that read "tinsel" to me. I did find something that was almost as good, a white yarn that would work for one of those white artificial trees. You know (I hope) like the ones from the 60's and 70's that were a thing about the time the tinsel trees were a thing. So yes, that tree hat gnome happened, too. First even.
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| White artificial tree hat gnome |
So, there were some changes I made to this pattern, of course. First the "fuzzy" yarn is the kind they sell to make kitchen scrubbies with. It has a lot of fibers to it, that are not really soft. I used it, combined with the cotton yarn, to make this gnome's beard, but when it came to the tree, I did an extra row of crochet on the crochet strip that goes around and around the hat to make the tree. I also crocheted some to the brim of the hat. I really like the effect that has. I also extended the length of the strip so that the tree "branches" would be fuller. I have had issues with that on some of the gnomes, making the tree strip cover the hat to my satisfaction. I also wrapped the hat and then kind of spaced it the way I wanted before I sewed it on. Why didn't I do that before?
I ended up finding some metallic yarn online, and ordered a variety to see which one I liked best, and would fit with the cotton yarn and the tree hat project. My plan was to make tan hands and nose, and a dark green shirt with the tinsel tree gnome... So, I better show you how he turned out...
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| Tinsel tree hat gnome |
Did you notice that his shirt isn't green? Me too. I got started on that tan yarn, and didn't realize that it was shirt, not skin until the gnome's body was finished. Darn it! As you can tell, I did not take it out and do it again. I did add a little metallic yarn detail on the ends of the sleeves, hoping that would make it more shirt-like. Sigh. I did not add the extra row of metallic thread crochet on this tree because the metallic thread was easier to crochet with. I actually used a metallic, and a white with a teeny metallic strip in it together, which - I think - brightened the overall effect.
I really like how these guys turned out, and I will probably enter them into the fair this year. I finally feel like the tree part is as full as I like it. I ALSO figured out with these that the pattern used a smaller stitch and fewer stitches on the part that goes on the top of the tree than near the bottom of the tree. OHHHHhhhhh. I see now... lol.
