Gnome Chart Pattern

There are times when you really don't know what to make someone for a baby shower present. Other times, you know the perfect thing to make. This is one of those times.

A high school friend of mine and his wife are pregnant, and he happens to love garden gnomes. People have given him many statuettes of gnomes, and I have crocheted two gnome toys for him previously (2009 and 2012). I decided to make him a baby blanket on a gnome theme, basing the motif from the 2009 gnome pattern.   

As you can see, the pattern (allowing for two blank spaces on all sides of the gnome) is 28 x 32 stitches (single crochet or knit). I really tried to make it perfectly square, but he started looking all funny.

I'm going to post the final blanket later, but here's how some of the motif squares have been going. I'm using the intarsia method of changing colors, and I'm crocheting instead of knitting, but you could knit also.

I'm shooting to make every gnome square different, but keep to the same color basics. Don't want to get too elaborate, or you miss the sort of elemental forest feel for the gnomes. My colors are brown, red, blue, light green, yellow, and white.

The other thing is that you can do this blanket in two ways - (1) crocheting each square individually, then sewing later, or (2) by crocheting the whole thing at once. Both methods have positives and negatives.

I opted to crochet the whole thing at once because I hate sewing and wanted it to be as smooth as possible with no seams. I am doing four squares by four squares, adding a four-stitch and four-row border around each square. (Full written pattern for blanket to be published later, which I will link to here.)

Also, only every other square has a gnome. The other squares are blank for sanity's sake (and not to be too busy). If you do this, you have to plan fairly well so that you don't end up in a bind with your colors. 

I finished my first row repeat yesterday, and you can see what a glorious mess it is. I crocheted this in a group, and they all made fun of me for how complicated it became (and for taking up half of the table). But I'd still rather do this than sew.

I'll post progress photos and a finished version later! I'm really excited so far, though.

Other ideas for using this chart:

• Pillow cases
• Sweater front
• Back of glove
• Hat
• Potholders
• Bibs