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sometimesamuse) wrote2025-01-06 04:48 pm
sometimesamuse) wrote2025-01-06 04:48 pm
Year of Gnomes - For You!
Okay so the gal who designs most of the gnomes I knit is running a "Year of Gnomes" challenge, wherein you knit one of her gnome patterns a month for an entire year. I did this the last time she ran it and it was honestly a blast! I had a lot of fun with it. So I'm doing it again this time except with a twist: I'm going to be knitting and sending my gnome buddies out to my friends, because there's nothing better than sharing the love with each other.
Here's how it's going to work: I'll knit a gnome within a month. I'll photograph the gnome and post it on Ravelry and do all the fun stuff I need to do for it to count toward the knitting challenge. Then I'll pack up the gnome and mail it to you! If you'd like, you can send me back photos of the gnome in his or her new home and I'll include them on my Ravelry project pages. I will not post to Plurk until I know you've gotten your gnome, to not ruin the surprise. But if you know how to find me on Ravelry, know that it's a spoiler.
When will I get my gnome? Order of comments here: whoever comments first is January, second is February, etc. I have the entire month to knit so it's possible I could finish January on the 31st and not ship it until February. I will try my best to knit early in the month but, well, life.
What gnome will I get? I'm putting pictures below of what your possibilities are, and you can comment under the gnome you want. Note that this is just for the design; the actual colors will differ. I'll also have a "mystery gnome" option where you won't know what you get until you get it, if you want to be totally surprised. It may or may not match one of the pictures below. I can do as many "mystery" signups as months, if everyone wants a surprise.
Wait, you said colors! Yes I did. I'll have a little form below for you to fill out to tell me what colors you would like to see in your gnome and I will do my best to accommodate from my yarn stash. You can also choose to be totally surprised.
What are they made of? These guys are knit almost exclusively with wool. There may be a wool blend here and there but I primarily work with animal fibers. Stuffing is polyester fiber. Each gnome is weighted with polyester pellets as well; I sew these into a pouch so they're not loose inside the gnome/won't work their way through the stitches. Particularly tippy gnomes may also get a drapery weight inside for stability.
Are these toys? These are not suited for pets or young children. Yes, they're soft and fun, but they are made of yarn and enough abuse can see ends tearing loose and we all know what happens with loose yarn and curious mouths. If you intend to give this to a young child, please let me know ahead of time and I'll try to make you a simpler design with less likelihood of ends that could come free and cause a problem. I do not recommend anything made with yarn as cat or dog toys.
How did you come up with these gnome gnames? I didn't; these were all named by the designer. You can name your gnome whatever you would like.
Will you ship outside the US? Yes, I believe I can make this happen unless you're somewhere really weird. Gnomes are soft toys and this usually means I can shove them in a padded envelope and they'll arrive just fine. Know that you probably won't be slotted in until March/April at the earliest just to give me time to figure out the shipping thing. I will contact everyone individually to collect shipping information, do not put it in this post. I'm sure we all know that but it's Monday when I'm writing this and we're all allowed to have Monday Brain. Plus, this lets me contact you before I ship, in case you've moved or you want me to hold the shipping until you're back from vacay or something else.
What does this cost? Nothing. It's my goal to just spread a little cheer and share some gnome fun with everyone, and I don't want someone's level of disposable income to prevent them from getting a gnome, if they want one. That being said if shipping to your region is super expensive, I may need to figure something out but we can talk about it.
How many people can sign up? Twelve, because twelve months (last I checked anyway). But if I get 13 responses, I'll probably make it happen. If I get 30 responses though, oof, I don't know if I can do that much gnoming in a year unless I put all my other projects on hold.
Down in the comments I'm going to have the mentioned sign up along with some pics of each gnome. Any other questions/concerns/whatever? Let me know!
You'll fill out this form to claim a gnome:
Name/Handle: just what I can call you here, does not have to match the name I'll use on your shipping label
Preferred color(s): colors you'd like to see in your gnome! I'll do my best to accommodate. You can also choose for me to surprise you
Gnome hair: your choices here are beard ("stereotypical boy"), braids ("stereotypical girl"), neither (your gnome will have a nose but no beard or braids), or surprise (my choice of hair feature)
Other notes: anything you want me to know! I.e., if you really want a gnome that evokes Santa Claus, let me know here and I'll let you know if I can accommodate. Or if you really like the cottagecore aesthetic, let me know and I'll try to make something to evoke that look. If you want to leave me a pic as inspiration, you can do that too
Sign up Status:
January: Churby
February: Aya
March: Cerie
April: Devon
May: Artemis
June: Mimi
July: Alex
August:
September:
October:
November:
December: reserved for me (holidays get crazy at work)
Here's how it's going to work: I'll knit a gnome within a month. I'll photograph the gnome and post it on Ravelry and do all the fun stuff I need to do for it to count toward the knitting challenge. Then I'll pack up the gnome and mail it to you! If you'd like, you can send me back photos of the gnome in his or her new home and I'll include them on my Ravelry project pages. I will not post to Plurk until I know you've gotten your gnome, to not ruin the surprise. But if you know how to find me on Ravelry, know that it's a spoiler.
When will I get my gnome? Order of comments here: whoever comments first is January, second is February, etc. I have the entire month to knit so it's possible I could finish January on the 31st and not ship it until February. I will try my best to knit early in the month but, well, life.
What gnome will I get? I'm putting pictures below of what your possibilities are, and you can comment under the gnome you want. Note that this is just for the design; the actual colors will differ. I'll also have a "mystery gnome" option where you won't know what you get until you get it, if you want to be totally surprised. It may or may not match one of the pictures below. I can do as many "mystery" signups as months, if everyone wants a surprise.
Wait, you said colors! Yes I did. I'll have a little form below for you to fill out to tell me what colors you would like to see in your gnome and I will do my best to accommodate from my yarn stash. You can also choose to be totally surprised.
What are they made of? These guys are knit almost exclusively with wool. There may be a wool blend here and there but I primarily work with animal fibers. Stuffing is polyester fiber. Each gnome is weighted with polyester pellets as well; I sew these into a pouch so they're not loose inside the gnome/won't work their way through the stitches. Particularly tippy gnomes may also get a drapery weight inside for stability.
Are these toys? These are not suited for pets or young children. Yes, they're soft and fun, but they are made of yarn and enough abuse can see ends tearing loose and we all know what happens with loose yarn and curious mouths. If you intend to give this to a young child, please let me know ahead of time and I'll try to make you a simpler design with less likelihood of ends that could come free and cause a problem. I do not recommend anything made with yarn as cat or dog toys.
How did you come up with these gnome gnames? I didn't; these were all named by the designer. You can name your gnome whatever you would like.
Will you ship outside the US? Yes, I believe I can make this happen unless you're somewhere really weird. Gnomes are soft toys and this usually means I can shove them in a padded envelope and they'll arrive just fine. Know that you probably won't be slotted in until March/April at the earliest just to give me time to figure out the shipping thing. I will contact everyone individually to collect shipping information, do not put it in this post. I'm sure we all know that but it's Monday when I'm writing this and we're all allowed to have Monday Brain. Plus, this lets me contact you before I ship, in case you've moved or you want me to hold the shipping until you're back from vacay or something else.
What does this cost? Nothing. It's my goal to just spread a little cheer and share some gnome fun with everyone, and I don't want someone's level of disposable income to prevent them from getting a gnome, if they want one. That being said if shipping to your region is super expensive, I may need to figure something out but we can talk about it.
How many people can sign up? Twelve, because twelve months (last I checked anyway). But if I get 13 responses, I'll probably make it happen. If I get 30 responses though, oof, I don't know if I can do that much gnoming in a year unless I put all my other projects on hold.
Down in the comments I'm going to have the mentioned sign up along with some pics of each gnome. Any other questions/concerns/whatever? Let me know!
You'll fill out this form to claim a gnome:
Name/Handle: just what I can call you here, does not have to match the name I'll use on your shipping label
Preferred color(s): colors you'd like to see in your gnome! I'll do my best to accommodate. You can also choose for me to surprise you
Gnome hair: your choices here are beard ("stereotypical boy"), braids ("stereotypical girl"), neither (your gnome will have a nose but no beard or braids), or surprise (my choice of hair feature)
Other notes: anything you want me to know! I.e., if you really want a gnome that evokes Santa Claus, let me know here and I'll let you know if I can accommodate. Or if you really like the cottagecore aesthetic, let me know and I'll try to make something to evoke that look. If you want to leave me a pic as inspiration, you can do that too
Sign up Status:
January: Churby
February: Aya
March: Cerie
April: Devon
May: Artemis
June: Mimi
July: Alex
August:
September:
October:
November:
December: reserved for me (holidays get crazy at work)