The Solved Mystery of the Gnomes and the Finished Hat

I have to say that I really hate the way Blogger just keeps changing things with no rhyme or reason and no explanation.  I wish they'd either quit changing things or explain how to use the changes they make.

Here are the earliest photos of the mystery project.  No, it wasn't a purse, or a butterfly, or a knitted worthers, or an olive, or mittens, or pigs with wigs, or spiders, or a colorful sweater or easter eggs.  It, well actually they, were these darling little No Home Gnomes by Phoeny.  They are meant to keep a girl company in that great wide world where she is far from home and family. They are adorable and pretty easy to make.  I think the girl far from home liked them,  see her post below to see them in their new home with her!

And here is the hat for the girl far from home.  I think that the hardest part of making this hat was her deciding which hat and colors she wanted.  The hat itself was not difficult to knit and didn't take long.  I cast on Thursday and finished the knitting Saturday night - wove in the ends this morning and now it's done.  I love it - it feels great on your head and it's an unusual style and shape.  I actually followed just one chart on this hat although I did flip the S's in the colorwork - they were backwards in the original pattern and since this is for Miss S, it only seemed right that they be forwards.

The hat is Cone #1 from 45 Fine & Fanciful Hats by Anna Zilboorg (whose work I adore!).  The yarn is 4 different colors of Galway Worsted.

These last two pictures were taken indoors under artificial lighting and the colors are not accurate.  But you can see how nice the hat is going to look and the girl far from home's head.  And it's a very warm hat because of the stranding - two pieces of yarn for each row makes a thicker hat.  

Now, on to the mittens, also using Anna Zilboorg's patterns from Magnificent Mittens and Socks.