Golden Bloom Gnome

• Continuous spiral. The main pieces are worked in a continuous spiral: no joining, no turning chains. Move your marker up each round. The flower's loop and petal rounds and the bow are the exceptions, and are written out in full.
• Stitch counts. The number at the end of each row is the stitch count after that round. (inc, 2 sc) × 7 means repeat the bracket seven times.
• Colour changes are written into the round where they happen.
• Tension. A different yarn or hook can change the size, the shape and how the pieces fit together, so test-fit the parts against each other before sewing. Go down a hook size if your stitches are loose — stuffing should never show through.
• Free loops. When the pattern says "the free loops left by Rnd 4", it means the front loops of the round below, exposed because Rnd 4 was worked in back loops only. In the flower those ridges are numbered Ring 1 to Ring 5, so there is never any doubt which one you are in.
• Colours. Shade numbers differ between brands and dye lots, so match the colours to the photos rather than to a code. Coral is the one to get right — it sets the mood of the whole piece.

Magic ring — Wrap the yarn twice around two fingers, draw a loop through, ch 1, then work the first round's stitches into the ring. Pull the tail to close it tight. Every piece except the bow starts this way.

Invisible decrease — Insert the hook under the front loop only of the next two stitches, yarn over and pull through both, yarn over and finish as a sc. It leaves far less of a bump than a standard sc2tog, which matters on the smooth coral body. Exception: in a round marked BLO (Body Rnd 24, Flower Rnd 7), work the decrease under the back loops of the two stitches instead, so that every front loop of the round below stays free for the ridge.

Changing colour — Work the last stitch of the old colour up to its final yarn-over, then pull the new colour through to finish it. Then secure both tails on the inside: thread each one onto the needle and weave it through several stitches of the wrong side before you stuff. Stuffing alone does not hold a tail in place.

3-dc cluster (the thumb) — In one stitch: yarn over, insert hook, pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through two loops — three times, all in the same stitch, keeping the last loop of each on the hook. Yarn over and pull through all four loops. The cluster bulges out on the right side of the arm.

Invisible finish — Used for the hat brim. Cut the yarn and pull it through the last loop. Thread it on the needle, skip the next stitch and pass the needle under both loops of the stitch after it, then back down into the centre of the stitch you came from. Tighten gently until it looks like one more stitch, and secure on the inside.

Back loop only — and the ridges it leaves — Look at the top of any stitch and you will see a "V". The strand nearer you is the front loop; the one behind is the back loop. When a round says BLO, insert the hook under the back loop only for every stitch of that round. The front loops you skipped stay on the outside as a tidy ridge — a line of little loops you can sew to or crochet into later. This pattern uses that trick three times: the bottom edge of the body, the ridge where the beard and arms are sewn, and all five decorative rings of the flower.

Closing a flat piece — The beard and the arms end as tubes that are squashed flat and closed with a row of sc worked through both layers at once. Line the stitches up in pairs first (20 stitches become 10 pairs, 8 become 4), then work one sc through each pair: 10 sc for the beard, 4 sc for the arm. If the fold leaves a corner stitch without a partner, take it in with its neighbour; that is why some patterns give these counts as 9–10 or 3–4.