Merry Christmas!

When my cousin was small, I knit him a Christmas stocking. When he married, I knit a stocking for his wife. Last year, when their third child was born, I knit a Christmas stocking for my newest cousin. Since then my uncle (the grandfather) has been after me to knit stockings for the older children. He gave me very dramatic sob stories about these poor, sad, stocking-less children. Actually, the children were not stocking-less; they just did not have stockings from me. So, with a sigh, I set off on more stockings.

Both stockings are made from Cascade 220, in green (8894), red (9404), blue (7818), and white (8505). Kate’s stocking also has some sparkly pink yarn from somewhere. I used US4 needles for the plain rounds and US5 for the pattern rounds because I tend to knit more tightly with two colors (probably because I do not do it that often and cannot manage my tension as well as with plain knitting). I prefer that the gauge on stockings to be a little tighter than on other knitting.

The designs I chose are from a variety of sources: a free Cascade stocking pattern; Eli’s Christmas Stocking by Meg Swansen, Schoolhouse Press Pattern #10; and Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor.

And here are all five stockings.

Fortunately, I was not asked to knit a stocking for the dog.

For Bonnie

Earlier this year, in March, we went to Hood River and The Dalles in Oregon with our friends Bonnie and Richard for some wine research. We also paid a visit to Sporfarm to meet Patty’s Shetland sheep and shop in Patty’s studio. I told Bonnie and Richard I would knit a scarf or hat for each of them with their yarn selection. Richard chose a nice reddish yarn for a hat. Bonnie could not decide between two yarns so I told her to buy both.

After some consultation, Bonnie chose two of my favorite scarf patterns to highlight the beautiful colors in the yarns. One was a basic bow-tie scarf and the other the Landscape scarf.

We already are talking about another wine research trip in 2014. No doubt yarn will be involved as well.