Thursday, December 01, 2011

Day 1: Knitting a Stocking

We have an exchange student from Germany living with us this year. She has really integrated into our family and is a joy to have here with us. Many years ago I knit my own babies Christmas stockings and 2 years ago, knit some for my sister's kids. It would be weird for everyone to have a hand knitted stocking except for Hens. During my Thanksgiving break, I started.

She loves greens. When she got here, she and Sassy painted Little Big Man's room for her and it's a lovely green between Kiwi and pear - bright and airy. Every sweater she owns is green and she's bought 2 scarves since she's been here (both green). When I was dyeing in September I did a special colorway just for her and she's since learned to spin and is currently knitting another scarf of her very own handspun. It's lovely. (I'll post pictures when I can get the needles out of her hands.)

H stocking, version the first
It wasn't a stretch choosing a color. The problem was which greens to choose (green is one of my favorites as well). I got the yarn out, balled it up, and started knitting. One of my continual issues is the denial of how big knitted goods get away from the needle. I look at my cast on stitches and think, "Oh that needs to be a couple of inches bigger." It almost never does and I end up with this  -->.

Perhaps the ruler is obscured there, but the thing is ginormous - 9.5 inches (almost 24 cm). It's the scale that's the problem. If I keep knitting on this many stitches the stocking would be large enough for Jack's giant. Perhaps I should add sleeves and call it a toddler sweater! I know I must rip it out and start again, but I do hate losing all the work already done. {sad trombone}

Giving props to Kristen Nicholas here. The stocking is based on her No 3 - Yikes Stripes Stocking from her ebook Kristin's Creative Christmas Stockings. It's a fabulous collection of 6 stocking patterns that you can knit as is. But she's Kristen Nicholas, so there are tons of variations for you to experiment with. She has extra fair isle charts, a tutorial on duplicate stitch, embroidery stitches, and gorgeous full color pictures of the stockings - all for $10. You don't even need to leave your home - buy the ebook and it will download right to your computer or tablet. (I'm not affiliated with Kristen in any way except to say that she's a fabulous indie designer and I believe in supporting fabulous indie designers every chance I get.)

5 comments:

Carolina said...

I've been meaning to knit or quilt my girls Christmas stockings. Something always gets in the way!

Erica said...

The huger the stocking the huger the take!!

Gwen said...

I fancy some handmade socks, knitted by me, but turning the heel is too much like a trial. So I thought I'd make some tubes, legwarmers and sew up the ends. Do you think it would work?
xx

Carla said...

Erica - the problem is I'm the one who has to provide the take!!

Gwen - I think that would work for lounging, not for putting into shoes. Turning the heel is my favorite part of knitting socks! It's magic!

rugs cleaning los angeles said...

It's okay, you can use circulars! Even if your cast-on is a little tight to stretch around the circulars now, knit a couple of rows using the DPNs and you should be okay to switch to the circs. Things always loosen up after a few rows. I feel your pain - I much prefer flying on circulars than fiddling with DPNs.