"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

12/18/07

Christmas Stockings

I thought I'd share pics of our Christmas stockings. I've made all of these.

This is Sweet Hubby's stocking. He loves to ski. I machine knit it on a Brother 970 machine using Millor's Trenzado yarn. It's a 100% acrylic with a crepe twist. A very nice yarn. I designed the stocking myself. I hadn't had the 970 very long so I messed up a bit. First of all, the red and white stripes were supposed to be diagonal, not horizontal. I accidentally programmed in the wrong stitch pattern. I didn't see the problem until the stocking was all knit. I was not going to redo it. Second of all, I made it with the toe pointing the wrong way. One of these days I'm gonna fix it. Doesn't matter to Sweet Hubby though. He loves it.


This is my stocking. Again, I made this on my 970 Brother knitting machine. I used Millor's Trenzado yarn, and some 3/15 weight gold metallic. The pattern is loosely based on a pattern that was in an old magazine, if I remember correctly. I painted the decorations on the tree. (I didn't bead back then.) I entered it in the 1997 North Idaho Fair and won the Grand Champion ribbon on it, so I'm pretty proud of it.


I hand knit this stocking to be a model for my shop. It's an Ann Norling pattern. I used Cascade 220 wool in Christmas Green, Red, Natural, and Black. I used a gold metallic yarn for the belt buckle, and real Angora for the Santa beard and suit trim. I don't remember the needle size, or gauge. This was a fun knit. Sunday night I embroidered Frank's name on it (in gold). He doesn't have a stocking at the moment, so I'm going to give him this one.


I love to make the felt appliqué kits. This is a craft that I got into when I had the shop. I carried the kits and learned how to do them to make models for display (and to help the customers of course). There's lots of little parts that have to be cut out, appliquéd by hand, and embellished with sequins, beads, cording, and embroidery. They really are a lot of fun to do.

I ended up making quite a few of them for my family too. Until last year, Ruth was using a store bought stocking. It took me awhile to find one I wanted to make her. This one has a music theme-perfect. All the pieces are stuffed so they look 3-D. I made it last year, it was the most challenging one I've done so far. More parts than you could shake a stick at, but it was worth it because Ruth absolutely LOVES it!


When Morgan joined our family, he had to have a stocking. I'd just started carrying a brand of felt kits that you don't usually see in stores. I'd worked pretty hard to get that account, and was very proud of it. They had this adorable stocking with Santa and a puppy. I just had to make it. Between Christmases I had it on display in the shop. It sold a lot of kits for me.


Of course, if Morgan has a stocking, then Tommy has to have one too! This one was just too cute.


I made one for my Dad and my daughter Sarah too, but I don't have pics of them--yet. Of all the stockings I've made, the one I did for Sarah is my favorite. I'm going to have to take my camera to her place and get some photos of it.

We have been whomped with snow. It's making it hard to get around. Sweet Hubby is tired of pushing snow around the front yard. Poor fellow. He looks so tired. Rumor has it that we will be getting snow all the rest of the week. Sounds like Mother Nature is going to make sure we really appreciate our cruise.

Have a good evening.

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