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  • Anne, a white woman, is smiling at the camera and wearing overalls.

    Welcome! I'm Anne. I hand-dye yarn, make kits for knitters, and write a really great newsletter.

  • This is my beagle, Molly. She likes to steal yarn.

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    Mystery colors | yarn sets for knitted gnomes

    Join me (and hundreds of other knitters) in making a knitted gnome in December to celebrate the approaching solstice.

    Gnome designer Sarah Schira (Imagined Landscapes) creates a mystery gnome experience each year for the long, dark days of December, starting December 1st and leading up to the longest night on the solstice. Each day, she sends us an email with part of the pattern or a recipe or a part of the story about the gnome we are knitting. I have done this for a few years now, and it is absolutely, positively, the most delightful part of my December.

    Altogether, it’s a relatively small amount of knitting—less than 80 grams of fingering-weight yarn, spread out a little bit, most days, for three weeks. If you have never knit a toy before, this is a do-able project. There’s tons of encouragement and help in Sarah’s Ravelry group.

    And, if you’d like 1:1 help from me, you can grab one of my paid newsletter memberships for the month and grab time during my office hours. I’ll be hosting office hours every Friday plus one Saturday from December 1 to 21.

    This listing is for a mystery set of yarn colors (but not the pattern) for Sarah’s 2025 Mystery Gnome-A-Long, Gnandad. Buy the pattern separately here.

    You will get:

    • 4 mini-skeins in a surprise set of colors
    • I’ve seen the finished gnome and can assure you that these colors will absolutely work for the finished product. They will have the appropriate contrast and one color will work for hair/beard.
    • These are mystery colors for you. Order this option only if you’re okay with a mystery set. You might get a neon or two! You might get subtle shades! 
    • Fingering weight yarn in a mix of my fingering weight bases
    • Each skein is 25-30g (or~100 yards), which is more than recommended and means that you won’t need to worry about running out of yarn if your gauge is slightly off
    • You may get a mix of superwash and non-superwash yarns

    Shipping timeframe: Yarn sets will ship in about 5 days, which gives me time to finish turning everything into mini-skeins. The gnome-a-long starts December 1, so you’ll have your yarn in plenty of time to cast on!