Stockings

Last winter, Leigh posted a picture of a Martha Stewart Living issue with a stocking pattern. Michelle and I decided that this year, we'd like to knit stockings for each other. I found a copy of the MSL mag on eBay. Imagine my dismay when I opened the mag to find that the pattern was for a giant sock and directed you to the website to find the charts for duplicate stitching the designs onto the stocking. Duh! Of course, the charts are not available a year later.

Michelle finished knitting my stocking last week and duplicated stitched the tree this weekend:

I love it. Michelle used leftover yarn from meaningful projects in the duplicate stitching (she didn't even chart out the stitches, she just did it). There is yarn from gifts I've made for each of the kids: Joshua, Eve and Abby. There is sock yarn from Canada and the first acrylic yarn I used to learn to knit. Isn't it a sweet gift?

I finished the knitting of Michelle's stocking last night:

I'm now looking for a white yarn with a bit of haze to it for the snowflakes that I'll be adding. Won't that be cute?

The yarn for the main knitting is Cascade 220. Michelle used US 7 Clover bamboo dpn and I used a US 8 bamboo Clover circ (12 or 16 inch) for everything except the toe decreases. My sock is slightly wider and about 2 inches shorter than Michelle's (in real life, I'm slightly wider and 8 inches shorter than Michelle...heehee).

Jaywalker update:

Sock #1 is finished:

The cuff is snug but it does feel good and stay up when I put it on. When I got past the heel turn, I didn't decrease as far as the pattern directs. I kept the original number of stitches (same as the cuff) because I didn't want the foot to squeeze. When flat, this causes the sock to look a bit rumply but rest assured, it feels great on the foot.

Here's a close-up of the subtle striping:

I love no-pooling!

Comments

[michelle]

You are nuts, you may be shorter but you certainly are not wider than me. I am so glad you like your stocking! Can't wait to fill it, er, I mean for Santa to fill it!

[Chrissie]

How sweet! I did the stocking thing this year, too. Did you get to pick your stockings out, or were they a surprise?

I love that she used yarn from projects close to your heart.

[Chrissie]

How sweet! I did the stocking thing this year, too. Did you get to pick your stockings out, or were they a surprise?

I love that she used yarn from projects close to your heart.

[Lolly]

The stockings are great! I want to do this sometime - maybe next Christmas.

Your Jaywalker is just brilliant! Is that Tess yarn? it is so pretty!

[Teresa C]

The stockings are such a great idea, and so lovely. They will wonderful heirlooms for you.

Love your Jaywalker!