Crochet Gnome Border

Excuse me while I go rip out the border on my Corner-to-Corner Crochet Gnome Blanket and add this masterpiece to it instead! Fellow crocheter Trina has come up with the perfect border for the gnome blanket I made last year: It’s a GNOME BORDER! Just look at these adorable little gnomes all in a row. You could actually make an entire blanket just out rows of gnomes!

You can find Trina on Facebook on her page I Make Yarn Pretty, Instagram @yarnpretty and her Etsy Shop YarnPretty. Give her a follow if you can!

Trina posted her incredible gnome blanket and border design in my Repeat Crafter Me Crochet Facebook Group and it has gained a lot of attention. She private messaged me to say she didn’t have a pattern for the border but if I could make sense of her notes, she would be happy if I could post a pattern.

I worked through her notes (which I will also post below) and came up with a simplified version that would be easy for you to follow. My simplified pattern is worked in rows and the starting chain of 32 (16 in the video) is just to show you the technique as a sample project.

If you were using it as a border, you would continue the gnomes for as along as you could go on the edges of your blanket. Then make SC stitches in any extra space along the edge plus a SC + chain 1 + SC in the corners. The pattern below is written in rows so you can get a feel for the pattern. Again, if you were working this into a border you wold work in rounds and disregard the chain 1 + turn.

Materials:
– Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in Blue, Light Blue (Delft Blue), Cherry Red, Beige, White, Caffe Latte Brown, Spring Green, Dark Green (Paddy Green).
– Size H Crochet Hook

GET THE GNOME BORDER VIDEO TUTORIAL ON MY REPEAT CRAFTER ME YOUTUBE PAGE

Crochet Gnome Border

Gnomes in Rows:

Row 1 (dark sky): Starting with dark blue yarn, Chain 32 (for sample or triple this for larger blanket) SC in second chain from hook and remaining stitches in chain (31 SC) 

Row 2 (blue sky): Join in light blue yarn, Chain 2, turn, DC in each stitch (31 DC)

Row 3 (hats of gnome): Join in red yarn, Chain 1, turn, SC in first stitch, slip stitch in next, skip a stich, 5 DC in next, Skip 1 stitch, slip stitch into the next, repeat around, make a SC in last stitch.

Row 4 (gnome face/noses): Join in beige yarn, chain 1, turn, SC in first stitch, SC in next 2 stiches working in the DC stitches from row 2. Work a 3 stitch bobble into the 3rd DC of the hat round, then SC into the next 3 of the DC stitches from row 2. (your bobble nose anchors the DC cluster and makes the nose more visible). Repeat for the rest of the round, make a SC in last stitch.

Row 5 (gnome beard): Join the white yarn, chain 1, turn, SC in first stitch, chain 2, Dc5tog over the next 5 stitches to create the beard, chain 2, 5dctog, chain 2, and repeat around, make a SC in last stitch.

Row 6 (gnome shoes): Join in brown yarn, chain 1, turn, make a SC in first stitch, chain 2, 3 stitch bobble into the stitch before beard and another 3 stitch bobble in stitch created by the dc5tog, chain 2 and repeat making a SC in last stitch.

Row 7 (light green grass): Join in light green yarn, chain 1, turn, make a SC in first stitch, 2 SC over both chain 2’s from Row 5 and Row 6, SC in next 2 stitchs over the bobble shoes, 2 SC over next chain 2 space, repeat until end, make a SC in last stitch. (31 SC)

Row 8 (light green grass continued): continuing with light green yarn, chain 1, turn and make a SC in each stitch across, (31 SC)

Row 9 (dark green grass): Join in dark green yarn, SC in each stitch across. (31 SC)

Repeat starting at Row 1 to make rows of gnomes or use this as a border on a blanket.

These are the pattern notes that Trina sent in case you want to try to replicate what she did:

Starting on one corner I did one round of SC (1sc, ch 1, 1sc on each corner, straight sc on the sides). Joined a second color, and did a full round of DC in that color (1dc, ch1, 1dc in each corner as before). Joined the hat color, sc into any stitches before the corner, place (1 sc, ch 1, 1 sc) in the corner, then stitched into the a couple stitches after the corner to make it look symmetrical. The gnome itself is worked over 5 stitches. Ch1 (doesn’t count as a stitch, and only after each corner to give it a bit of height for the dc clusters coming up), sk 2 sts, 5dc into the next, sk 1 st, sl into the next, and repeat around. SC into any extra stitches at the corners if you have them. Switch to the ‘face’ color, SC into the previous round up to and including the corners, and any extra stitches you had after the corner and up to the first stitch of your first dc cluster, then begin working into the previous round of dc (not the hat round, the one before that). SC in next 2, work a 3 st bobble into the 3rd DC of the hat round, then dc into the next 2 of the previous round (your bobble nose anchors the dc cluster and makes the nose more visible). Continue this way for the rest of the round. Join the beard color, and sc up to the corner. 1sc, ch1, 1scinto the corne, and sc into any stitches up the the first dc in your hat cluster. Dc5tog  to create the beard. Not sure if things right, but to get the beard symmetrical, I completed the first part of 3 dc into each of the first 3 st, then on the 3rd, completed the next part of the stitch, leaving 3 Loops on my hook, and did the same for the next 2 stitches, each time leaving 3 Loops on my hook before moving to the next stitch, and then completed the last stitch entirely, and it left the peak of the beard centered. Any other way I tried it, the beard was off center. Chain 4, 5dctog in the next stitch, and repeat around. At each corner, I did a ch 2 instead of a ch 5, before sc into the remaining stitches up to the corner. Join grass color. Sc into any open stitches up to the corner, 1 sc, ch1, 1sc in the corner, and sc into any open stitches up to your gnome grouping, work 2 sc over the ch2 from the previous round, pulling up the shoe color as your last loop. 3 st bobble into the stitch created by the dc5tog, and again over the chain on the other side of the beard. Using the grass color, 3 sc over both the shoe color and the ch sts from the previous round, pulling up the shoe color on your last st. Repeat as before. Then after that, I just did another full round of SC in grass color, and one more in another color, before finishing off. 

Thank you Trina for allowing me to post your work and share it with our crochet community!

Looking for the Gnome Blanket Pattern? Find the free pattern HERE!