Here it is in all it's glory.......albeit, with a bit of puckering here and there, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. My DH said, "geez, that's a big stocking which means it will hold an awful lot of presents". True, but we'll help out with that and I know Anna won't mind in the least, as she gets older and realizes that MORE has to go into her stocking just to fill it up. I used an old pattern that I had as a basic guide but tweaked things as I knit along, including not doing the decreases down the leg which were called for, and exchanging a different chart in the middle for the snowman. I did the colors in my own preference with size 6 straight needles down the leg, then switching to dpns for the heel and foot. For this stocking I opted for Red Heart acrylic for the white color and Germantown Brunswick (a sadly discontinued acrylic yarn) in the green and red colors.
Now that this is finished I can resume knitting my Regia Surf socks which are at the halfway point and I'm knitting them on 2 circulars so they should be done in about a month or so seeing as how these will not be the only project I'll be working on. I'm also into a pair of socks using Fortissima Colori and a cable pattern from Simply Sensational Socks which I 'm knitting using dpns (my favorite way to knit socks, by the way).
In addition the the socks mentioned above, I've begun a ripple blanket for my new grandson to be who is expected to come into the world sometime in February. I'm using Jaeger Baby Merino in a multi colored blend. I'm doubling the yarn on this one because it just feels better that way since using one strand initially didn't have enough body. Even though I'm using 2 strands it's still feeling light and lofty so it'll be nice and toasty.
Here is the progress so far on my granddaughter's stocking.....I'm liking this one much better than the previous one I began. If you scroll down a bit, you'll see that this isn't the same Christmas stocking I began last month because I wasn't happy with the original one so I figured, since I had the time, I'd go for a new one and try to get my stranding to pucker less and look better overall. I'm working on the Santa's now and once I finish them, it's onto the heel portion of the foot and clear sailing from then on.
I'm still plugging along the the Fortissima colori sock I started and I'm using a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks book. This is the first time I've tried any from Charlene's book because I've found it a bit hard to follow and what with 4, count 'em 4, pages of errata at last count, I haven't been all that confident that I won't rip my hair out at some point trying to figure out a certain direction only to find out that it's wrong...ACK! That being said, I decided to follow one wihout any errata and that is the cabled baby rib and so far so good.
We're quickly approaching that wonderful time of year.....Christmas time with all of our collective traditions. It continues to be a magical time of year even though we sometimes get caught up in all the commercialism. I have to stop and remind myself who is the real reason is for the season and it's the joy and the hope that Jesus brought to the world by His birth, death, and resurrection. I've been blessed so abundantly in my life with a wonderful husband, 5 fantastic kids who went and married 5 fantastic spouses, and to top it all off, I have 2 beautiful granddaughters and one grandson on the way! Surely, it doesn't get any better than this, so I'm taking time each day to thank the Lord for His many and continued blessings.
I also wish every one of you, dear readers, a wonderful, healthy, happy joyous season in whatever way you choose to celebrate! I know it's early but with my failure to update my blog as often as I should, I don't want to take any chances.
Here it is in all it's glory.......albeit, with a bit of puckering here and there, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. My DH said, "geez, that's a big stocking which means it will hold an awful lot of presents". True, but we'll help out with that and I know Anna won't mind in the least, as she gets older and realizes that MORE has to go into her stocking just to fill it up. I used an old pattern that I had as a basic guide but tweaked things as I knit along, including not doing the decreases down the leg which were called for, and exchanging a different chart in the middle for the snowman. I did the colors in my own preference with size 6 straight needles down the leg, then switching to dpns for the heel and foot. For this stocking I opted for Red Heart acrylic for the white color and Germantown Brunswick (a sadly discontinued acrylic yarn) in the green and red colors.
In addition the the socks mentioned above, I've begun a ripple blanket for my new grandson to be who is expected to come into the world sometime in February. I'm using Jaeger Baby Merino in a multi colored blend. I'm doubling the yarn on this one because it just feels better that way since using one strand initially didn't have enough body. Even though I'm using 2 strands it's still feeling light and lofty so it'll be nice and toasty.
