Woodland Gnome Ornaments

For the longest time, I couldn’t decide if this sweet face was the look of a Santa, an Elf or a Gnome.

Ultimately, I settled on a Gnome.

Throughout this post, I’ll share how easy it is to make this adorable woodland gnome ornament for your holiday tree.

You won’t be able to stop at making just one.

At the heart of this Woodland Gnome ornament is the cute little knit hat.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to know how to knit to make it.

Also, you’ll only need handful of supplies to create the hats and the gnome. 

Oh, this would also be a fun and easy weekend craft for kiddos.

You’ll need a few cardboard rolls (like the ones from the inside of paper towels or the cardboard tubes from inside a box of plastic wrap.

Cut the cardboard tubing into small rings about half an inch in width.

Grab a skein of yarn in your favorite or festive color as well as a skein of white yarn.

You’ll also need a handful of 1/2″ wood balls (found at most crafts stores) and a hot glue gun and a handful of cotton balls.

A long needle (typically for sculpted doll work) would also be useful.

Cut the colored yarn into 8-inch strands. About 20 strands should do it.

Fold a strand in half and loop the two cut ends into the loop and pull to secure it around the cardboard ring.

Keep adding strands all the way around the cardboard until the ring is completely covered.

Once the cardboard ring is covered it will look like the image above.

Gently tug on the strands to make sure all are tight and secure.

Turn all the loose ends inward and up through the center of the ring.

All the ends that were hanging down from the cutout, will now be stretched upward from the center. 

Stuff a cotton ball or two into the opening in the ring.

Perhaps you can already spot the makings of the knit hat.

It makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Take one of the string strands and tie it tightly around the top of the hat just about where the cotton ball ends.

The higher you tie the strand around the hat at this point, the taller the hat will be.

I tie it about midway, as you can see.

Trim the upper portion of the stands to create the look of a pom-pom on top.

Gently fluff the pom-pom a bit to separate the strands.

Continue to trim as needed to create your desired shape.

You could actually stop right here and create a collection of hat ornaments.

Use a long needlepoint needle to loop a strand of matching yarn up through the center of the hat to create a knit hat ornament.

Or you could attach several hats on a single strand and create a holiday garland made up of multiple knit hats.

How cute would that be?

But we’re here to make Woodland Gnomes so let’s move on to that next step.

Let’s create the beard for our Woodland Gnome.

Cut a piece of cardboard that measured about 6-1/4 inches by 4-inches.

My beards ultimately measured about 3-1/4 inch long (once they’re folded over). The full length of the string will be about 6-1/2, but once the yarn is tied at the center, the length of the beard will be about 3-1/4 inches.

Wrap the yarn about 25-30 times for a nice and thick beard.

You could also use a pom-pom maker for this step but the beard will be far more round that way.

This way, you get a more elongated beard.

Carefully, slide the wrapped yarn of thee cardboard and lay it flat on a surface.

Take a stand of the white yarn and tie it in the center yarn.

Pull it tight and tie it off in a knot.

Cut the loops on either side.

Shake and fluff the newly-created beard a bit.

This will help all the strands fall and blend together.

You may want to trim the sides to shape the beard to your liking.

Now, comes the fun part of assembling the pieces.

Grab your hot glue gun and attach the beard to the hat.

Glue a wood ball to the hat making sure that the ball is partially covered by the hat.

Add a loop through the center of the hat to create a way to hang your new Woodland Gnome ornament.

I think it’s absolutely darling on my Christmas tree which is already filled with many other woodland creatures including vintage elves, ceramic Santas and feathered friends.

This woodland gnome is a welcome addition.

These Woodland Gnomes were so much fun to make and I love how thy look all lined up together.

They look great on my tree which also includes other woodland figures like birds, vintage elves, wooden Santas and more.

Also, I’ve made other soft ornaments for my Christmas tree over the years which you can see HERE and HERE.

I hope you give these Woodland Gnome Ornaments a try.

Of course, you can give yours a red hat and call it a Woodland Santa or a green hat and call it a Woodland Elf.

Either way I hope you enjoy making them.

Happy Holidays.♥