A crocheted gingerbread man, small enough to hang on a tree and sturdy enough to be handed to a child. The pattern is well written, with detailed instructions and a photograph at each step – which is why it comes recommended over the many other gingerbread man patterns available.
Yarn and colour
A warm mid-brown worsted weight yarn. The colour choice does more work here than usual: too pale and the figure reads as a plain doll, too dark and the white icing details lose their contrast. A yarn with a slight variation or heather in it looks more like a baked cookie than a flat solid brown.
White for the icing details, and small amounts of red and green if you want a bow or buttons.
The icing
The icing lines are what make it a gingerbread man rather than a brown figure. Work them in surface crochet or chain stitch embroidery over the finished body, following the classic scalloped line across the wrists and ankles.
Draw the line lightly with a water-soluble marker before you stitch, or pin a length of yarn in place and look at it first. Freehand scallops rarely come out even, and this is the detail people look at.
Firmness
Stuff it lightly. A gingerbread man should be flat, like a cookie – over-stuffing turns it into a bear. Just enough filling to stop the front and back sticking together is right.
Hanging
Work a loop into the top of the head as you finish rather than sewing one on. An ornament that comes out of a box every December for twenty years will test any sewn-on attachment eventually.
As a gift
These work well as a set. Made in a batch of half a dozen, the repetition goes quickly, and a small group of them on a tree looks better than a single one.
