Meet Gnorm the Gnome! The latest in my Tales of the Tonttu series of patterns, Gnorm lives in the forests of North America. Like many on the continent he is very proud of his Scandinavian heritage and, in particular, of his ancestor Thorfinn Tonttu who crossed the ocean long ago.

Method:

Featuring a Latvian braid, cute tonttu and autumnal motifs of sunflowers, pumpkins, and leaves this stranded colorwork hat is knit in the round from the brim up. It can be worked in two or more contrasting colors (hat shown uses four) and topped off with an optional fluffy pompom. The colorwork is charted to minimize pattern jog, and a separate tutorial pdf for the Latvian Braid is included with this pattern.

This hat can be knitted on dpns, by magic loop, or on a short circular (in which case you will still need dpns for the crown decreases).

Please note the colorwork design in this pattern is charted not written out. You need to be prepared to read and work from charts in order to enjoy knitting this design.

Sizes:

This pattern is written in 5 sizes. All instructions that differ depending on the size you are knitting are indicated with parentheses and color coded like this: 1 (2, 3, 4, 5).

Sizing has 1.5” – 2.5” (3.75 - 6 cm) of negative ease built in, so choose a size 1.5” – 2.5” (3.75 - 6 cm) smaller than the head circumference of the intended wearer.

Size Finished Hat Circumference Finished Hat Depth* Suggested Age

1 17¼” 44 cm 6¾” 17 cm Child

2 18½” 47 cm 7” 18 cm Teen/ Women’s S

3 19⅝” 50 cm 7½” 19 cm Women’s M/ Men’s S

4 21” 53cm 8¼” 21 cm Women’s L/ Men’s M

5 22¾” 58cm 8⅞” 22.5 cm Men’s L

Finished Hat Depth* is measured from the bottom of the ribbing to the end of Part Three. If you want a longer/ deeper hat than this knit extra plain rounds between motifs or repeat pattern bands as desired; if you want a shorter/ shallower hat than this omit pattern bands as desired.

 Yarn:

This pattern works well with two or more contrasting solid colors of DK yarn (hat shown uses four). You can use any DK yarn that you like and with which you can get tension/ gauge.

I have chosen to use a 100% wool yarn because the resulting fabric "breathes" better than an acrylic yarn would - this helps your head not overheat as you warm up when you're out and about.

Please note I do not recommend using yarns with a high cotton content as cotton doesn’t stretch as much as other fibers and this will affect the fit of your hat. 

The amounts of each color required will depend on how many colors you pick, where you choose to use them, and which size you knit. As a guide for size M in four colors (hat pictured) I used the following quantities of Yarnsmiths Merino DK:

MC –3080 Chocolate Brown approx. 50 metres (55 yards)

CC1 –3124 Ginger approx. 45 metres (49 yards)

CC2 –3066 Sand approx. 27 metres (30 yards)

CC3 –3140 Mustard Yellow approx. 29 metres (32 yards)

Gauge:

26 stitches and 28 rows = 4” (10 cm) over colorwork pattern. Please note row gauge differences will affect the depth of your hat.

Needles:

3.75mm dpns, long circular for magic loop, or short circular (in which case you will still need dpns to work the crown decreases) or size needed for gauge.

3.25mm dpns, long circular for magic loop, or short circular for knitting brim.

Other Materials Required:

Stitch Markers

Pompom

Small button (if attaching pompom with elastic loop)

Tape Measure

Scissors

Darning needle for sewing in ends