Christmas Dwarves A couple of Christmases ago, the kids were taking a knitting class. During the class, I decided to knit some new Christmas ornaments to replace some old moth-eaten ones that I had knit many years before. My dozen little Christmas stockings had been reduced to three bedraggled ones. The poor little Santa Clauses had unraveled one by one, and would not make it through another Christmas. The children had loved the little Santas and played with them, so I started in at once to replace them. After I'd knit a few, I started thinking that they looked like little dwarves. We were reading Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, and so I set out to see whether I could create little knit dwarves in chainmail. I found that I could, and soon had knit a dwarf for every member of the family. Oh, and you might wonder about the dwarf in purple chainmail with pink leggings and lipstick. That's Cheery Littlebottom, a character from the Watch in Pratchett's Discworld fantasy series. Here's a pattern for the dwarf, which I adapted from a generic knitted Santa: Christmas Dwarves Cast on 18 stitches in a bulky gray yarn. Either join into a round and knit on sock needles or knit flat and seam later. Knit 2 or 3 three rows in stockinette. Switch to colored yarn for the pants. Knit 6 rows for the pants in stockinette. Switch back to gray for the chainmail. Knit 10 rows in garter stitch. Switch to a face color. Knit 7 rows for the face in stockinette. Switch to pants color. Knit 2 rows for hat, then begin decreases: Row 1: *Knit 4, k2tog* across (15 sts) Row 2: *Knit 3, k2tog* across (12 sts) Row 3: *Knit 2, k2tog* across (9 sts) Row 4: *Knit 1, k2tog* across (6 sts) Row 5 *K2tog* across (3 sts) Snip end, thread yarn needle through, draw remaining stitches up. Add a nose and mouth with yarn or embroidery thread. Us a crochet hook and add hair and a beard, like you would a shawl fringe. After I add the hair and beard, I brush it with a wire brush to untwist the yarn and make the dwarf look wild. Stuff the head, then use a yarn needle to gather the neck. Finish stuffing, then sew the bottom seam and sew up the middle of the legs. For a Santa, use red for the pants and hat, make each section about 2 rows longer, and add a white stripe for the bottom of the coat and a gray or black stripe for a belt. I also made some other ornaments during that knitting class. How fun to make little things that can be finished in an hour or two.

Copyright © 2004 by Heather Madrone. All rights reserved.