Knit Once, Purl Forever

The Nutcracker Sweet

I'm so happy to have another finished stocking to share. I'm on a blog posting roll and didn't want to miss a post, but I just don't have all that much to say tonight. I think the sudden temperature freeze has frozen my brain. The little things are taking a great deal of mental effort to accomplish. Trust me on this one--you really don't want to hear about it.

I hope you do want to hear about another finished stocking.

Pattern: Rustic Lodge from the Knit Christmas Stockings book.

Yarn: Reynolds Lopi in yellow and black. This yarn hurts my hands for some reason. I thought it was a fluke the last time I knit a project with this yarn, but now I'm not so sure.

Needles: US 9

Time: 7 hours

On the wall...

Other: This one was knit for the Youngest Son. He's really into the Hawkeyes lately so, of course, he requested a black and gold stocking. He's also into nutcrackers for some reason. They had some at Target that he kept eyeing, as well as not so subtly suggesting that I needed one. It's funny how I always seem to need the things he wants. Funny that!

We didn't buy the nutcracker at Target, but I did find one little lone gold nutcracker in my little jar of Holiday Ingredients. It seemed fitting to add it to the Hawkeye stocking.

When the YS saw this he said, "Sweet!"

I say sweet Nutcracker sweet! The Nutcracker Suite would be good to hear about now too.

Holiday Baking

I better preface this with the admission that I don't actually bake. I can bake--I make a mean ginger snap cookie (mmmm, so soft and chewy)--I just don't bake very often. I don't enjoy baking. When I do bake, I make sure I use quality ingredients. Okay, so lately the only quality ingredients I have been using have all been knitting related.

I found these little holiday baubles at my local yarn store. These baubles are the key ingredients and what inspired my X-mas stocking knitting binge. They're so cute and fun that I couldn't wait to use them on something. I'm not the X-mas sweater kind of knitter, but these stockings are perfect for displaying a little holiday bling.

BTW -- Thanks for all your nice comments about the stockings. Theresa asked, "What patterns are you using? And how big are they?" I'm using all sorts of patterns, so the size may vary slightly from stocking to stocking. I flipped through all of my knitting books and I was really surprised to find that stockings were not all that common. Same goes for the last few years worth of knitting magazines I've managed to collect. However, I finally found a few stocking patterns in recent knitting magazines. And I purchased the Knit Christmas Stockings! book to round out my stocking pattern collection. I'm having so much fun selecting the right pattern to match the person for whom the stocking is intended.

I'm starting with my immediate family because my dad always told me that charity begins at home. And I know this isn't exactly charity, but our current X-mas stockings are pretty bad:

When the boys were small, I "made" the personal touch on those cheap stockings using Elmer's glue and gold glitter. This was before I knew people knit socks or stockings. It just never occurred to me.

I can't wait to toss these horrible things out!

Ho! Ho! HO!

What a nice surprise!

There I was: standing in line with a full grocery cart on a Monday no less. Then I saw it. I blinked a couple times to make sure that the Lasik was still working for me. Yes. I could indeed see. There was actually a knitting magazine right on the rack with all the Cosmo*, People, Enquirer, and Star mags. Someone (I think it was Ms. Calamknitty) once said that the grocery store should be rewarded for carrying knitting paraphernalia, and I wholeheartedly agree.

I snatched up that magazine without a glance. And was pleasantly surprised when I settled down after all the dinner chores were finished. The magazine in question is Knit It! by Better Homes and Gardens. I never gave this magazine a glance before, but this issue makes me think I've been missing out as there are several patterns can't wait to try.

Here's the one I will be knitting first:

The Old Fashioned Christmas Stocking.

I really dig this magazine. In fact, making this discovery was a little like Christmas morning to me. I love the layout: beauty shots of each pattern on the first pages and then more shots and detailed pattern instructions all together--sorta like IK, but not really. I'll be adding this one to my subscription list.

Oh, and I have another finished stocking to show!

Pattern: Rustic Lodge from the Knit Christmas Stockings book.

Yarn: Plymouth Galway in red and green

Needles: US 8

Time: 10 hours

Modifications: None. Just added the little Santas.

It's amazing how much better my knitting looks when the item is knit in the round. Just shows that I need to work on my tension when purling.

Here's the stocking decking the wall:

* The YS said the funniest thing the other day, "That Cosmopolitician is giving out tips about sex."  He said it a couple of times before I figured out that he was talking about the Cosmo magazine we just walked past in Target.

Of course, he's probably right about those Cosmopoliticians too.

Under the Tree

We (the boys and I) put up our tree on the day after Thanksgiving. I couldn't resist any longer, so we drug it all out of storage and put it up. And you know what? It's nice and festive--and good to have it over with. I really don't know why I usually put it off for so long. I could see waiting a little while if we had a real tree as they're a lot more work, but our tree lives in a cardboard box for the other 11 months of the year--we might as well break it out for the whole holiday season.

(For some reason, the tree is not very photogenic. It actually looks better in person. I swear.)

The hubby was at work when all the festivity took place. He was pretty surprised that we put it up so early as he said, "We always put it up on the 15th of December."

Always=One year.

We waited that long one year because nobody seemed to notice that the tree wasn't up. As it became closer to the holidays, I wondered if we would just not have a tree that year. After a point, it doesn't seem worth the effort to put it up for just a few days and then take it all down again.

Then he said, "There's nothing under the tree. It kind of looks funny without any presents or anything..." He's not entirely right about that either. There is something under the tree:

One of the best presents I've ever received: the King of Cats.

And I'm getting ready to hit the malls with by friend B. That should remedy the whole "no presents under the tree" situation. By now the man should know to be careful what he wishes.

Candy Cane Dreams

Meet the first finished holiday stocking:

Pattern: The Pastel Candy Cane Stocking from the November 06 issue of Creative Knitting with a couple modifications (of course). (not sure why this line is underlined. Typepad has a mind of its own today.)

Yarn: Plymouth Galway in pink, celery green, and creme.

Needles: US 8

Time: Less than a week.

Modifications: I knit this as written except for two things. I knit this in plain stockinette stitch as I didn't care for the wildflower stitch included in the written stitch pattern. It was just a little too fussy for me. Same goes for the snowflakes that were added to the original. I think the pattern is plenty fussy without these extras. I added the loop and the pink bells on the cuff.

Things I like: I love the finished stocking. LOVE it. I wasn't sure about the cuff at first, but that's my favorite part. Originally, I thought the cuff was crocheted, but it is knit separately and attached to the stocking. I love, love, LOVE it!

It looks great decking my wall:

(Sorry for the slightly fuzzy shot.)

Things I would change: Next time, I will try something different for the heel flap. I followed the instructions word for word, but I don't like the look of the heel. The heel and toe instructions were the same. I thought that was strange as the toe and heel instruction always differ for socks, but I sucked it up and followed it as written. Of course, mine draws in a little more than is apparent in the pattern photo--I wonder if they have something inside theirs (like cardboard) to make it round. Here's a close up picture of the stocking in the magazine so you can see what I mean about the heel:

(Typepad has nixed the adding of photos at this time. Will add it later. Update: Photo in, check!)

I would also change the peppermint stripes. They are crocheted chains that are attached with the crochet slip stitch, which I learned to do for this pattern so it could be a rookie mistake and all, but I just didn't like the way the stripes were attached to the stocking. Next time I will just crochet a chain and sew it to attach the stripe.

But there will definitely be a next time for this pattern in different colors.

Tis the Season

...for the holiday spirit. And I have it in abundance this year. I'm feeling a holy jolly Christmas coming on. I've been listening to x-mas music for weeks and I've been eying the holiday decor, but I've been resisting the urge to put the tree up early*. This is not the norm for me as I'm usually reluctant to embrace the holiday spirit.

I think I've been drawn to the good cheer because work has been so stressful lately. It's hard to feel stressed out with a full carload of Silent Night serenading me while I drive home. I may have taken the holiday spirit just a little too far.

I have hopes and aspiration of making handknit Christmas stockings for all of my family members. Of course, I hatched this plan before I calculated the number of stockings to be hung by the chimney with care. The number? I will need 15 stockings for the family that live here in the Midwest and 6 more for those in the Pacific Northwest. These stockings are in addition to the throw I've been knitting off and on all month.

The stockings are not meant as the main gift--just a little something extra. I'm planning to fill each stocking with candy and other trinkets specific to each recipient. I think it's a nice idea, but can the Holiday Knitting Elf deliver before X-mas?

That's the question of the season.

* Anytime before Thanksgiving is early in the Knit Once book.

Size Does Matter

Knitters know this, of course. After investing so much time and energy--not to mention quality yarn--in a project, it's very important that the resulting item fit its intended recipient.  We knit for the relaxation and because we need/want/have to knit, but we also end up with a new item to show for our time spent and the hard work put forth.

So, when the OS approached me with his hands behind his back and a concerned look on his face, I knew it probably wasn't going to be good.

"Mom, I just want you know that I didn't know they were in the washer when I put the stuff in the dryer. I didn't know."

I hadn't realized the Stargazer Lily Crew Socks were in the wash either. It was an accident. And I could tell that the boys (The Hubby was involved in the sock fiasco as well) felt bad. So, I sucked up my disappointment and found myself thinking about potential little feet to whom I could gift the socks.

That's when I stopped.

The socks in question were used socks--worn only once, but worn just the same. I would never gift a used anything. I would never even consider it, but here I was actually considering that very thing. Of course, I was only considering this because these are handknit socks we're talking about here. I'm sure the thought would never have crossed my mind had the socks in question came from the store.

Obviously, I'm more than a little crazy about handknit socks. Oh, and size does matter. These fuzzy socks no longer fit anyone.

Spirit of Socks

As seen over at Uhoava Gnu, I created a slide show for all my socks. I really haven't knit enough socks to make a very interesting slide show, but now I have the proper motivation!

Smacked Upside the Head By the Enemy

So, I'm browsing one of my shelves of knitting books in search of the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book when this book, Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement,  fell from one of the top shelves and hit me smack on the head. I'm not exactly sure why the book decided to make its leap from the shelf, but I have my theories. Serendipity. Fate. Divine intervention. Whatever the case, I'm taking it as a message from above (no pun intended).

Several years ago, I purchased the book to fulfill the so many books for free book-club membership deal. Back then the book called out to me because of the snappy title and the ransom note lettering on the book's cover, and I suspected that I had become a bit of an adult underachiever. I'm sure the fact that the book's author is a PH.D. is part of the reason I never read the entire book as most writings by PH.D.s put me to sleep before I can get to the "D" that goes with their PH.

That is not the case with this book. It is well written and entertaining. The book also includes real life examples and case studies. As I read this book and thought about my life and those areas I would like to improve, I found myself realizing that I will need to realign my priorities, which will likely cut into my knitting time.  I will still knit and blog as much as I can, of course, but my life can't be all about the knitting all of the time. It just can't.

It might take a smack upside the head to wake me up, but I'm awake now.

Not Enough Socks

I've worn hand knit socks every work day this week. I enjoyed my warm, coloful, handknit socks so much that it makes me wish that I've knit more socks than the nine pairs so far. So, meet pair number 10:

Star Gazer Lilly Crew Socks

Pattern: Basic sock patttern modified to be crew socks

Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Garden yarn in the Star Gazer Lily colorway. I love this colorway--so cheery and fun! I only had one skein, which was plenty for size 7 crew socks.

Needles: US 3s

Time: About 4 days. These socks landed in the finished projects gallery in no time--a total "score" in my book!

Of the 10 pairs I've now completed, eight of them are mine.  I also knit a pair for each of my boys. And since they don't wear their socks very often, I think I appreciate hand knit socks more than they do--Or so I tell myself as justification to knit more socks for me!

I've already cast on for the next pair:

These are basic socks in Opal Rainforest sock yarn in the Ladybug colorway. This yarn has been in my stash for over a year, so it's about time I knit these.

More. More. More. That's what I have to say about socks.