2011 Christmas Stocking Round-up Part 1

Three of the five stockings I knit in 2011 were for my step-sister's family. I made stockings for her immediate family some time ago, but her mother and in-laws always spend Christmas with them and she asked me to make some stockings for them too. I had all year to do it, but of course I ended up knitting two of them in December. But I now know that I can make one of these stockings in a week. I'm not too sure how, but it all worked out.

The first one was all but done in August. These are all Mary Maxim stocking patterns. This one is a mash-up of the Gingerbread Girl and Gingerbread Boy patterns. I took the main image from the Girl stocking and used the coloring and candy cane border from the Boy pattern. These are in the "Christmas Stockings 2" booklet. I believe I have their full collection of Christmas stocking booklets plus a few single patterns.

Knit during December 1-6 is the Snowflake pattern, and then December 7-12 I made the co-ordinating Wreath pattern, both from "Christmas Stockings 3." This was my first time making all three of these patterns, and I quite liked them. I used stranded knitting for the Wreath and Snowflake patterns because that made so much more sense to me than strictly intarsia.

I use Red Heart or a similar yarn for all the Christmas stockings I make. I know a lot of people will cringe at that, but to me it seems like a good use for the yarn. As I see it, the main requirements of a stocking are that it be durable and colorful, which are really Red Heart's strong suits. I don't mind the knitting experience, and with the number of these stockings I've made over the years, affordability plays a sizable role, too.

I had thought I was going easy on the Christmas knitting this year, but as I look at it now, I did quite a bit. I intend to do the rest of the updates soon. Happy New Year!