christmas knitting | PDXKnitterati

Thanks for sharing your Christmas stocking traditions with me! It sounds like many people use the Christmas stocking to hold off the main event gift opening until after coffee and mimosas civilize us. Very wise.

This is Anne‘s Christmas stocking that she knit for her granddaughter Sophie. Gorgeous! This is Sophie of Sophie’s Rose, the shawl Anne commissioned me to design in her honor. Thanks for sharing your picture, Anne!

I forgot about my other set of Christmas stockings. I wrote this pattern for a class I taught at church. It’s a perfect tiny stocking, complete with heel turn. If you want to learn to knit a sock on dpns, this is a good learning tool. And you only have to make one.

But they’re like potato chips, you just want more. The pattern is free, here: Christmas mini-stockings

Speaking of cute and free, I’ve been making more of these.

I gave away last year’s batch, and felt that I needed some more. Free pattern here, Korknisse by Manne. A nice little diversion from some gift knitting…

Are you ready for Christmas, those of you who celebrate? We’re also gearing up for our annual Hanukkah dinner party, which will be on Tuesday. We’ll be lighting ALL the candles. Happy merry GO!

Ahhh, symmetry. Love that.

Christmas was grand. Christmas eve found the boys still scrambling to find a gift for me. They had lots of ideas, but nothing was panning out. They drove all over town for days. At 3:45 p.m. on Christmas eve (with us due at a friend’s for dinner at 4), DH bailed them out by suggesting that they sign me up for next year’s Single Skein Club at Twisted. Everybody wins! I’m looking forward to it.

Gift knit update

Let’s see. I gave the broken garter stitch cowl to my friend Carole; I chose the color with her in mind. I designed the cowl for next month’s knit party at Twisted. She’ll be helping with the party. The cowl comes full circle!

I gave the red cashmerino cowl to my pastor. I hope she likes it. Christmas eve is a busy night, with two services; I’ll catch up with her next week. (The Day Old Pastries sang at the family pageant service and led the congregational music. Fun! Then I went to the late service, too, to just…be.)

I gave the blue Quincy hat to my niece; I thought it would be cute on her. My sister says that it frames her face perfectly, and now she wants one, too. For her birthday. In red. To match these fingerless mitts that I made for her.

As soon as I saw this yarn I knew that it had to be fingerless mitts for her. It’s Mirasol Tupa, 50% merino, 50% silk. The color just glows. These pictures don’t quite capture the depth of color, though.

At first I thought I’d do a heart design, because she loves hearts. But then I decided to go with an OXO cable for a hugs and kisses theme, because it suited the yarn better. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. And she loves them. I’ll be writing up the pattern soon.

During the design process (and fine tuning), I also made a pair in white, and I gave them to my mom for Christmas. I wanted her to have some new mitts to replace the Fetchings that have gone AWOL. I can nearly make these in my sleep now! And I’ve become a master at cabling without a cable needle. I have a photo tutorial in my tutorials section on the sidebar, and if I get to it, I’ll make a video one, too.

So now my needles are pretty empty! I’m looking for the perfect red yarn for my sister’s Quincy, but haven’t found it yet. And I want to cast on something for me, but I can’t quite commit to the Heather Hoodie yet. Don’t know why not. I went to the yarn store to order the yarn, and didn’t. Hmmmm.

Oh, there is one little thing on my needles. I’ll tell you about it next time…