I started with Lisa Cruse’s Wee Cottage pattern -- then veered wildly off… This is sort of the knit version of The Crooked Little House in my Ravatar. And since I had already figured out the crooked angles in the building of that cottage, some of the calculating for this was already done.

Modifications…. well, just about everything!

There are increases in the front and back wall to tilt them out. I knit the walls up to make peaked gable ends - and none of the walls are symmetrical, of course! I crocheted a chain up the corners to emphasize them.

Since the building doesn’t hug the tissue box all the way up the walls, some structural engineering was needed. I consulted the building manual for elf dwellings, and found that some beams and trusses (in the form of floral wire in the corners) would meet building code.

The roof was knit to the shape needed to cover the cottage. (Piece of paper was laid over the top and trimmed away to make a pattern.) The chimney was crookedized.

I’m not too fond of embroidering, and this didn’t seem like it wanted to be a very flowery cottage, so the token flower is a chipped vintage button of my mother’s. I unraveled some worsted yarn to knit the flowerpot with one ply on size 0 needles. Paper clip stem. The bench was floral wire wrapped in yarn, bent to shape and with a rib knit seat.

The laundry line was installed under the eaves because this poor elf has trouble in the damp woodsy climate getting his sweater and pants dry. He is not visible - he is hiding because his only clothes are drying on the line. If you will leave now, he can come out and sit on his bench in the sun.