So, I joined the ornament swap hosted by Christina Lowry and I floated that swap to my bloggy friend, Bonnie of Peaceable Liberal, and she geniusly suggested that she and I swap. I was trying to figure out what to make her when I ran across her blog post about these ornaments by Attic 24.

Bonnie doesn’t really crochet so this would be perfect! Here’s my first try. ew….I didn’t even finish one side.


Here’s my second go. eh. This one is fine, but not great.

Third time’s the charm!


THEN you know that magic that people make when they create ships in a bottle? Well, Bonnie conjured up Knitting in an Ornament and sent it to me! I love it! I found a spot on my tree where two white lights were together so I could spotlight it….and just so you know, the “needles” are made from toothpicks and little wooden beads. Genius.


She also sent me Hoosier Doot salad dressing and yummy apple butter from Indiana. The Hoosier sauce is so good that I continue to fight the urge to pour some in a shot glass and drink it. No, I’m not kidding.
Thanks, Bonnie, that was a ton of fun!!!
Ps. Here’s Bonnie’s blog about our swap if you want “the rest of the story”

Tags: Attic 24, Bauble Decoration, Christmas ornament, crochet, knit, ornament, Peaceable Liberal, yarn

Well, my gnome left for his new home. This particular gnome seems a bit rowdy in the way that only the very cutest gnomes can get away with.

Here he is playing in the yard.

….and swinging from the chandelier.


…and I like how his shadow looks like yoda. A wise gnome, he is too.

May you bring a lovely Christmas to all and to all a good night!

He’s raveled here
Ps. The swap hostess with the mostess is here.

Tags: gnome, ornament, pattern by Anna Hrachovec

Let me start this off by saying that I get unreasonably excited when people bring me things from far away. So, when I saw a Handmade Ornament Swap hostessed by a lovely blogger down under, I jumped in with both feet. I didn’t dive, mind you. That’s a good way to hit your head.

Our swap hostess is Christina Lowry and here is what I was inspired to knit.

I met Anna at Vogue Knitting last January and fell completely under the spell of her mini gnomes. This is technically my second gnome. The first one had a pretty serious mishap with his pants where his legs were joined together so, he was frogged in a hurry. And this one doesn’t look nearly as good as Anna’s on the cover of the book, but as Bones said to me, “um, that’s probably her 900th gnome”.

After making the second gnome, I asked Lisa for feedback and she said: “WHAT is he stuffed with?”
me: “um, white yarn. It’s what I had.”
her: “well, that’s my first bit of feedback.”
I bought some polyfill on my way home.


Gnome the Third does look a bit more tidy.
moral of the story: What’s on the inside is important, just as Mom always said.

Ps. Here’s a link if you’d like to see what other folks are making.

Tags: Anna Hrachovec, Christina Lowry, gnome, mini gnome, ornament