My father’s side of the family is from Germany. In Germany there is a tale about Heinzelmännchen—house gnomes—that came to help people living in the city of Cologne but ended up insulted by a tailor’s wife and left. While I don’t believe that anyone in my family ever lived in Cologne, a running joke with my parents is that we must have Heinzelmännchen of our own. Mine is particularly mischievous and likes to take things, only to (eventually) give them back but in the oddest and most unexpected places—places you’d never think said items would ever have been placed by a human. Occasionally he breaks things too. Not quite a poltergeist…just sometimes cranky. Between my household and my folks’ we have some pretty odd stories!

In any case, Mom asked me to make her a blue gnome to watch over her house, so here he is! She has decided to call him Gandalf the Blue. We’ll see if her Heinzelmännchen has any feelings about that!

I had a bit of trouble with the hat being a tight fit over the body and nose the way the instructions said to position it but managed to get it on with some extra squishing.

If I did this pattern again I would probably put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the body (cut to size) to help keep the bottom flat so the gnome will stand more easily on its own after stuffing.