Gemma 
Welcome to the tenth post in my Year of Gnomes series, where I’m documenting my experience participating in the Year of Gnomes, a knitalong run by Imagined Landscapes (aka Sarah Schira)!
Just like my April gnome, my October gnome has the added fun of being a mystery gnome, which I made as part of a separate knitalong, also run by Schira. This knitalong has now finished: the mystery has been unveiled and the full pattern has been released (you can find it here), so you can make the gnome(s) at your leisure!
There were two options for this mystery gnome: Gnumpkin (a pumpkin-inspired gnome) or Gnettle (a witch-inspired gnome). I opted to make Gnumpkin, because I am not fond of spooky witches (I was traumatised by both the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz and the Hag from Snow White as a child), but I am a very big fan of pumpkins. In other words, it was a no-brainer.
Anyway, here is my October gnome… Gnumpkin!
Gnumpkin recently tried to enter himself into the local garden show, in the ‘Best Gourd’ category (obviously). He figured he was a shoo-in for ‘Best in Show’, considering he is both sentient and excellently formed. Alas, he was very miffed to be beaten out by a particularly obnoxious butternut squash. Worse still, he didn’t even place in the competition: his stalk was deemed ‘disproportionate to his body’ and his legs were labelled ‘disturbing’. Instead of coming away with the grand prize (a jar of Gnectar’s homemade blackberry jam), he came away with an unfortunate identity crisis. Poor Gnumpkin.
Table of Contents
The Yarn
Last time I participated in a MKAL (mystery knitalong), I went a little… rogue with my colour choices (which is why I ended up with a blue and red mushroom gnome and discovered that actions do, indeed, have consequences). Don’t get me wrong, I love my Professor Fungi gnome, but I figured I should go more by the book this time around!
Because of this, I opted to stick to a super pumpkin-y colour palette, just as suggested in the pattern. Luckily, I had some fingering weight yarn leftover from my Pumpkin Strange Brew Sweater, in the perfect, gourd-y colours! For my Gnumpkin then, I used the following yarn:
- Orange: Scheepjes Metropolis in the shade Liverpool 65.
- Brown: Yarnsmiths Merino Sock in the shade Rich Brown 2K079.
- Cream: King Cole Anti-Tickle Merino Blend 4ply in the shade Aran 46.
I was really happy with these colour choices (though I did see some AMAZING Gnumpkins made with tweed yarns on Ravelry too, which I’m very tempted to try!). The only problem I ran into was that I did have two instances of the Scheepjes yarn breaking while I was trying to tighten up the indents on the pumpkin body— pretty disastrous, but I managed to fudge my way through it! Nevertheless, I think a slightly stronger yarn would be a better fit for this project.
Thoughts on the Pattern
I’ve mentioned before that I tend to find the patterns from the book, The Gnomes of Grimblewood, significantly easier to follow than Schira’s individual patterns (particularly the ones that start out life as MKALs, i.e. mystery knitalongs). However, I actually found Gnumpkin really straightforward and easy to work up! He’s a deceptively simple design, with just a few specific techniques that work to give such a fun, effective finish. Admittedly, there’s quite a lot of knitting in Gnumpkin, but most of it is pretty plain, so it takes more time than effort, if that makes sense?
Actually, my Pumpkin Patch project from last year set me up really well for this project, because I was already familiar with the process of knitting the purl channels and using the yarn to create the indentations of Gnumpkin‘s pumpkin body.
The technique used in the hat to ‘scrunch’ it up and make it look kind of crumpled and organic was new to me, but Schira’s instructions were so clear and the whole thing worked out really well!
Things I Loved!
There is so much to love about Gnumpkin!
- His pumpkin body.
I mean, this is kind of Gnumpkin‘s whole thing, but his little pumpkin body is just so perfectly pumpkin-y. I love it!
- The fact that his hat is the pumpkin stalk.
I was baffled and bemused while I was knitting this hat: it really felt like a witch’s hat, so I could see how it would work for Gnettle, but not necessarily for Gnumpkin. Once I got a bit further through the clues, things started to make more sense and I was so impressed by Schira’s creativity!
- The ‘pinches’ in the hat.
The hat is intentionally crumpled up a little bit on one side, which gives it a nice curved shape AND makes it look more witchy and organic. The method used for this is so simple and easy to do, but so clever: I really enjoyed it.
- The legs.
The legs were the first pieces that I made (as per the order of the clues) and I realised pretty quickly what they were. I’ve never actually made a gnome with legs before Gnumpkin and I have to say, I was a little worried about it? Not because it was tricky— the legs were actually super straightforward to make— but because I just wasn’t sure how they would look. I have to say though, I absolutely love them: they’re so cute and stripe-y and fun! I think they give Gnumpkin a lot of personality.
Things I Didn’t Quite Love…
Of course, there were a few things I wasn’t quite so crazy on. As always, these observations are completely personal preference and nothing against the original design! I love Schira’s patterns, but I also love adapting things to make them fit my needs/preferences, which is what the musings in this section are all about!
- The size of Gnumpkin‘s nose.
I feel that Gnumpkin‘s nose is slightly disproportionate to the rest of him: it’s pretty big (especially compared to most of the other gnomes in my ever-growing collection) and I just don’t think it sits right on his little body? I’d like to try using the ‘large nose’ pattern from The Gnomes of Grimblewood and see how that looks!
- Gnumpkin’s beard.
I was SO excited when I saw that this was another beard featuring twisted rib, because that’s a feature of my all-time favourite beard pattern by Schira (the one from Here We Gnome Again). I do like the texture of this beard, but the shape is a bit off for me: it’s quite thin and pointy, which I don’t love paired with Gnumpkin‘s squat, bulbous body. I think I’d maybe prefer one of the wider (maybe even curlier?), beards here?
- The brim of Gnumpkin‘s hat.
This, I know, is very much a me problem, because all of the other Gnumpkins on Ravelry do NOT seem to have this problem, but the brim of my hat refused to lie flat to Gnumpkin‘s body? It was very intent on flipping up, which I thought might be part of the pattern, but, alas, it is not. I’m thinking this probably had something to do with my tension? Nonetheless, I had to stitch it down in a few places around to get it to sit right, so, in the future, I’d like to find a way to get it right first go!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really like Gnumpkin, and I enjoyed participating in this MKAL even more than the Professor Fungi one back in April (perhaps because Gnumpkin‘s a slightly more straightforward pattern? Or maybe because I’m happier with my colour choices? Who knows!). I really like the fact that he won me over when it came to his stripe-y legs, because I was so not on board with them at the start, but I think they really give him a little extra pizzazz.
I’m not entirely won over by the beard + nose combo: if I made Gnumpkin again I’d definitely be tempted to try something a little different in that department. I’d also be tempted to try giving Gnumpkin some arms as well as legs, just because I think that could be fun!
Despite my deep-rooted fear of witches, I have seen some super cute Gnettles on Ravelry, which has very nearly inspired me to make one of those too. Maybe next spooky season? I don’t think I can bring myself to make her nose and beard green though: that would be a step too far.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my October gnome! I really enjoyed making Gnumpkin: he was a perfect, spooky-season project.
If you're interested...
You can find the pattern for Gnumpkin and Gnettle on Ravelry here.
You can find my Ravelry project page for Gnumpkin here.
Gemma
xxx
