Saturday, November 8, 2008

Phone Gnome pattern

Phone Gnome

A Knitting pattern by Eve Self

Inspired by the iGnome, which can be found for purchase here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_1&listing_id=16964612


Materials needed:

· Worsted weight yarn in red, blue, pink, brown, black, flesh tone and white. Not much of any color is required.

· Knitting needles, size 6 straights and DPNs. I used size 6 for a firmer fabric.

· 2 beads for eyes, thread and needle to sew them on.

· Snap fastener tool and 4 sets of snap fasteners (only the ‘male’ portion of two of the sets will be used)

· 2 1” X1/4” pieces of wood or metal (to keep the bottoms of the boots flat)

· Tiny scraps of backing fabric for snaps

· Fabric glue (optional)

I got a cheap cellphone and, of course, my first thought was “What can I knit for it?” I remembered seeing a gnomish cellphone cozy on Ravelry, but when I looked again I saw that it was crocheted. I don’t know how to crochet, so I improvised. My first prototype was a nightmare attempt at making the phone gnome in the round. Bad idea. This piece is worked flat and seamed up the side because the color changes don’t work well in the round. The “legs”, however are done on DPNs. You could knit them flat if you prefer, but I hate seaming and avoid it whenever possible.

This Phone Gnome is made to fit a Kyocera Marbl phone. I’m sure making adjustments to fit a phone of another size wouldn’t be too hard and you are certainly welcome to do so.


Okay, I’m not sure how well this will translate into a pattern since I was making it up as I went along, but here are the basics to what I did to make this cute little guy:

Main Body:

With blue yarn, cast on 32 stitches onto straight needles.

Work 5 rows in stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row).

Switch to black yarn for 2 more rows of stockinette.

Break black yarn and work again with blue. 1st row after belt, reduce by 6 stitches evenly across row. (26 sts remaining.)

Work 4 more rows of blue stockinette.

Now we’ll be starting the beard and hair. With blue, knit 6 stitches, join white and knit 2, K10 blue, K2 white, K6 blue.

Next row (I think this is 14): P5 blue, P4 white, P8 blue, P4 white, P6 blue

Row 15: K4 blue, K6 white, K6 blue, K6 white, K4 blue

Row 16: P3 blue, P8 white, P4 blue, P8 white, P3 blue

Row 17: K2 blue, K4 white, K2 pink, K4 white, K2 blue, K3white, K4 red, K3 white, K2 blue

Break blue yarn,

Row 18: P4 white, P6 red, P7 white, P4 pink (break pink), P5 white

Row 19: K15 white, K8 red, K3 white

Row 20: P2 white, P10 red, P4 white, P6 flesh, P4 white

Row 21: K3 white, K8 flesh, K2 white, K13 red

Row 22: P14 red, P1 white, P8 flesh, P1 white (break white), P2 red

Row 23: K5 red, K4 flesh(break flesh), K red to end

Row 24: P red

Row 25: K1, *K4, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(20sts)

Row 26: P

Row 27: K1, *K3, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(16 sts)

Row 28: P

Row 29: K1, *K2, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(12 sts)

Row 30: P

Row 31: K1, *K1, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(8 sts)

Row 32: P

Row 33: K1, * K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(4 sts)

Row 34: P

Row 35: K1, * K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(2 sts)

Break yarn. Draw tail through remaining stitches and secure. Turn inside out and sew edges together. Weave in all ends.

Attach two beads to flesh colored portion to make eyes.

Arms (make 2):

With blue, cast on 4 sts. Work in stockinette for 13 rows

Row 14: knit

Row 15 : bind off

Using flesh colored yarn, pick up 4 stitches from back of row 14. Work in stockinette for ½”

K2 tog twice, break yarn and draw through remaining stitches. Secure then pull tail up to top of hand and tie off then cut very short. I used a drop of fabric glue here.

Take tail from BO end of arm and tack it to the other edge (so that the bottom of the sleeve is more or less round). Sew the cast on edge to the main body so that the cuff is at roughly the same level as the bottom of the body. Weave in any straggling ends.

Put a snap in the middle front and back of the belt, using the scrap fabric on the inside of the body.


Legs:

With black yarn and DPNs, cast on 24 stitches.

Work 1X1 ribbing in the round for 2”. Break black yarn and join brown

I can’t tell exactly what I did with the feet, but basically it was working back and forth with the brown yarn, doing each foot separately. I bound off 2 stitches per foot in front and one in back. Working back and forth, there are 3 rows then 3 stitches cast onto the front of each foot. 3 more rows in stockinette, then 4 rows in reverse stockinette, 3 more in stockinette, bind off the 3 stitches that had been cast on, 3 rows more in stockinette, then bind off.

I used fabric glue and tiny bits of wood inside the bottoms of the boots hoping that it would make the Phone Gnome able to stand up. It seems to have worked, but if you can devise a better method feel free to use it. Weave in all ends.

Apply the snap fasteners so that they correspond to those on the main body.

If everything went according to plan, you will be able to run the charging cord up between your Phone Gnome’s feet and legs and use him when charging your phone.


I frequently carry a very small purse, though, and the legs add too much bulk at times. So I also made an optional strap to keep the phone in the gnome while in transit when the legs are too much. Basically, just knit a black 12 stitch stockinette strip that is 4” long and put another male snap fastener 1” from either end.

So there you have it. And I hope you enjoy it. :)



© November 8, 2008 Cheryl Eve Self
All rights reserved. Please do not sell items made using this pattern without the permission of the designer. Thank you.


Available as .pdf here.