All the stockings are done and delivered.....NEXT!

Last weekend, the last of the stocking were delivered.   Not a moment too soon was the last stocking finished and all three sent through the washer and dryer.

Stockings for Mike, Owen, and Allison

Mike's stocking, with the bear, was a bit of a challenge.   After FINALLY getting through the chart in the original design, I held the stocking up and looked at it carefully.   I looked again.  The "bear" looked like a giant tail-less rat.  That would not do.  Not at all.

Annie's Woolens has a stocking with a great bear chart.  Using the Knitbird software, I adapted the chart to the pattern for this stocking.  The results were pleasing.   I am happy to say Mike's mother liked it too.

Now I have moved on to other things for Christmas....as the wedding throw is too large and too warm to knit right now.   Four of the grands will get knitting offerings this year.   In consultation with Grandma, the projects will be three hats and a pair of legwarmers.  

My original plan for Elle's hat got kicked to the curb when I saw the Love-ly Cap knitting pattern.  What a cute hat!  Even better, the yarn could come out of the stash...the edges of the stash...and was easy to find.    While is is not my best work...I still like it.

Elle's Love-ly Cap

The yarn for the stockings and for Elle's hat is the ever useful Willow Burrow worsted.   Their colors are lovely.   Burrow has the same fiber content as Plymouth Encore.  Both launder like a dream and are pleasant to knit.   These are my workhorse yarn for kid projects and toys.

One morning in Ravelry, I spotted the combat booties.   What a hoot!  When I showed the pattern to my sister as a prospective project for Owen, she asked for a pair for the new baby a friend just had.  The friend is a marine and she knew he would love the booties for his son.  As I wanted these to be worn a bit, I used the biggest size.  The project was fun to do and is already passed off.

All of this yarn came from leftovers from other projects.   It was a fun way to use the bits and pieces that were in the stash.  No new yarn was purchased for this project.

As I was looking through the stash for yarn for Mallorie's hat, I realized that I have not knit for me in a long time.   Someday.

Mallorie's hat features horses which she is still mad about.   Swatching is our friend.  I do feel like the Goldilocks of swatching as the first two yarns swatched too big.  There was no way I could get gauge without the hat being stiff as a board.  The third yarn was too small.  I went deep into the stash and will swatch a fourth yarn.  I hope that will be just right.

Moooooooooooooore Stockings.....

Willa's Stocking

During the past couple months, I have been a Christmas stocking machine.

Willa's stocking  - also known as #6 of 9 - is done and shipped.   I am happy with the way that the backwards knitting I used to do the black boots blocked out.  There are upcoming projects I can use that technique to accomplish. 

The exciting part of these projects is having a chance to practice color knitting.  The color knitting is something I like to do...and wish I was better at doing.    By the end of the run of nine stockings, I will have A LOT more practice.

Short rows, as the ones used to make the elf foot on Beaumont's stocking, make a lot of different types of shaping possible.   Having done the short rows on a couple of projects lately, I can say I have gotten better.  I really would like to do that well also.  Thank heaven's for the tutorials on Craftsy and You Tube.

Allison and Mike moved into their new house a couple of months ago.  When they married last fall, I

Allison's Stocking

was planning on making them stockings for their life together.  Now they are expecting Owen.   I wanted to try some different patterns.  Santa's Sock Central out of Dublin, Ireland has some patterns that are different......and very nice.  I will admit that I had to do some modifications to get the shaping to work.  And that between Allison's stocking and Owen's, I forgot what they were.  Sadly, that was only a week apart!  Hope I remember them for Mike's!

The yarn in the Annie's Woolen kits is wool and a bit rough until it softens up in the washing.   That yarn is fine but not great for a household that may be wool sensitive.   For the Schaal stockings I used Willow Burrow worsted.   This is a really nice yarn for knitting.   The content is the same as another favorite, Plymouth Encore   The colors available are really lovely.  Willow Burrow did not have a Christmas green so I chose something a little different.  I am very happy with the way the colors look together.

Owen's Stocking

Owen's stocking  needed a four color for the gingerbread men.  I had a brown but was just not happy with it.  That brown was too rusty orange and fought with the other colors.   What to do?

Somewhere in my stash, I had a skein of Encore in a dark brown with a little red to it.   As I did not want to go into the stash..the though of it made me shudder...I went over to Depth of Field.   There were several good choices there but I went out with the color I went in for in the first place.  I really like how this brown blends with the other colors.

Mike's stocking (#9 of 9) will have bears where the gingerbread people are on this stocking.   This brown will be ideal for that!

With a little luck, I am hoping to finish Owen tonight and segue smoothly into Mike's.

More Stockings!!!!

Beaumont's stocking is done.   While I have made this before, for his brother, I had a lot of trouble with the foot.   I did some research and, on the fifth try, was happy with the way things turned out.  

Beaumont's Stocking

Dolly has figured out exactly when to jump on my hands to totally screw up the complicated parts of the knitting.  That is what cats do.

The Firstborn Elvish Christmas Stocking is a Lorna Pearman pattern.  Her patterns are colorful and quirky...and a lot of fun to knit.

Willa, Beaumont's cousin, was a surprise Christmas gift to her family last year.  She was due in the spring but chose to arrive on Christmas Eve instead.    Her sisters, Carys and Sylvie, have Annie's Woolens stockings.   As I wanted Willa to have the (relatively) same thing as her sisters, I went over to Annie's Woolens to see if there were any stockings that I had not done before.

The Santa Stocking is new this year.   None of her cousins have this one.   Last week, as soon as the knitting was done on Beaumont's stocking, I started this one.   This past weekend was very warm here so I sat in the air conditioning and worked on this project.

Once again, I tried the short row heel.   Four times.    It did not work out.   At all.   It is the afterthought heel again.   I tried.  I really did.   When I graft the toe, I want to be done!   Maybe next time.

Willa's Santa Stocking

Santa wears black boots.   As I worked down the stocking I kept thinking about how I wanted to do those boots.   I definitely did not want to carry the yarn for such a small motif.   Intarsia in the round is not (yet) in my skill set.  Duplicate stitch was sounding good until I read about knitting backwards on one of the knit lists.  You Tube, also known as the fount of all knowledge, had some really good videos.   I tried it.  It worked well enough.  I will know for certain after the stocking is washed and the stitches even out.   I am not 100% pleased but...then I usually am not as I work a project. 

With a little luck, this stocking will be done this week.   Then it is six done, three to go!

The Jacobs Series is Done

This morning, Emily will come to her office and find the stockings displayed on her table.  The stockings for her little girls are done.   Doing these is a labor of love.  Her girls are adorable!

Doing these stockings also taught me a bit about shaping.   Yes, these are things I should know.  On some level, I do.  In the actual practice of making the stocking I found I struggled a bit with the size of the foot versus the size of the leg.   Before I do the next "off the pattern" Christmas stocking, I will rethink what I did this time.   The stockings don't look bad...but could look better.

The three stockings together.  

Jacobs Stocking 3 is in process

The third and final stocking of the Jacobs series is in process.   My goal is to finish this and launder all three this weekend.  I will pass them to Emily as soon as this is done. 

Stocking 3

The girls play with their stockings so I am going out of my way to make the stockings sturdy.  When  I finish the knitting of each stocking, I check for potential weak spots and reinforce the potential trouble spot.   The hanging loops are knit onto the stocking and stitched down in addition.  These are made to be used and loved.

As I did not want to have to think about how I did this..or make anybody else reverse engineer what I did, I wrote out and posted the notes as a pattern.   My huge excitement was to see it in the "Your Pattern Highlights" on Ravelry for a few days.   WOW!

Jacobs Stocking 2 is Done!

My bus stop layover in the morning has been an extremely productive time for me.  Yes, I should be walking and getting some exercise BUT I have a lot of knitting on my list.

As I sat this morning, I finished the knitting on the second stocking for the Jacobs girls.   The charts came from the Nana Knits pattern that I liked so much.

Jacobs Stocking 2

This has a little more pattern than the second...and I do like the way this pattern turned out.

If things go as I plan, I will start Jacobs 3 tonight.  I know what charts I want to use.   Each of these stockings has to be different enough to be interesting, but similar enough so that they hang well together.

The shaping of the foot on these is not my favorite..but it will work for what it needs to do.

When this set of three is done..there are five more stockings to do.   Different patterns will keep it interesting.

Jacobs Stocking 1 is Done!

The first of a set of three stockings is done!   While I am not totally happy with how this turned out, it is fine.    I have set up a .pdf with the notes detailing how I did this.  Get it here. 

This is the first time I have used Knitpicks yarn Brava.   I chose it for three reasons:   colors, washability, and price.   Brava is okay.  While I was doing this I found it a bit "splitty" and had to be mindful of hidden stitches that were one ply and had to be picked back and redone.

Here is the finished version 1: