Red Christmas stockings finished

I have knitted another set of Christmas stockings, all in the same design: 

Here are some more in these colours:

These also look nice with green accents instead of blue:

Happy Knitting!

Etsy shop

My new hat for the winter

I have a new hat, finished it just in time for the colder weather. I wore it today for the first time this season, there's a cold wind. 

I like how it turned out, the different shades of red will go great with my black winter jacket. It's very thick, I used 8mm needles, the yarn is a mix of wool and acrylic, the pompom at the top is a bit thin, but I was running out of yarn. 

Here is me knitting again: 

Christmas Stockings rich, deep colours and contrasts

I have finished another set of Christmas stockings, these ones very classy looking in rich main colours. 

Etsy shop

How I learned sock knitting

I was 12 years old, it was winter, around Christmas time. That makes the year 1994.

A few weeks earlier, my mother picked up knitting again, trying to teach herself sock knitting with a magazine article. She almost had it figured out, just the tricky part of turning the heel didn't quite make sense to her. So she asked my grandmother, her mother, for advice and sure enough, her way of turning the heel worked very well.

 

So as it happens during the holidays, there's lots of downtime (at least if you're a kid) and I decided or maybe someone suggested to me, that I try a pair of socks. A little bit earlier I had learned how to knit in the round (which is how socks are knitted, around and around, no turning, no seams, just knit stitches). In school we knitted a decorative parrot, which taught me the in-the-round-technique.

 

My first attempt at sock knitting wasn't too bad, I think I managed the cast on, then knitted the leg part, then my mother had to do the heel part for me, then I knitted the foot part, then my mother got the toe part. The first pair was either grey or blue, a boring color compared to today's choice of self-patterning yarn. And it was huge! I used to knit very loosely, I must have been so relaxed back then.

 

My mother showed me how to decrease and finish the socks, that was really easy. After a while she got fed up turning the heel for me, showed me how to do that too and I was able to do it all by myself!

 

For whatever reason I decided to rip back the first pair of socks, I probably wanted to re-use the yarn, but it didn't work out (they were washed lots of times) and I ended up binning them. But I do have a few pairs of socks from that time. They still fit and look good.

 

I knitted lots of socks as a young girl, in the winters, and only for myself. Sometimes I went years without knitting anything, but if I needed something to do to relax, I always went back to knitting. Sock knitting is very versatile, there are so many patterns for socks, lace socks, fair isle socks, cable knit socks etc. The basic sock pattern is very easy, I never had it written down.

 

When I moved away from home, I stopped knitting for a few years, I only got back into it in 2009 or so, after briefly trying my hand at sewing and patchwork. But the sewing machine is just too cumbersome, there isn't space for it in my apartment and you can't watch tv while you're doing it. So I went back to knitting, always knitting, must knit now! 

My socks on Etsy

Knit and crochet spots and stripes blanket

I finished a new blanket, I'm pretty happy with it:

Knit and crochet blanket with spots and stripes

I love the look of it! Originally I wanted to do different size spots in 3 colours, but I didn't find three matching colours that I liked, and I really wanted to start the project. Both the crochet and the knit squares were easy to make and different from each other, so I didn't get bored with this project.

What I don't like about this is the size: it's not very big, some of the squares are attached a bit crooked to each other, because of the different lengths, but I'm hoping it will be less noticeable over time. I wish it was black and white, that would be so stylish! 

Well, I'll have to make another one some day. First though, I want to make one with different sized and coloured spots. 

Christmas stockings

4 more Christmas stockings were finished today:

I really appreciate these early shoppers!

Etsy shop

Recycled Tshirts into a Rag Rug

Did I have fun last weekend looking for, cutting up and knitting together a bunch of old t-shirts:

 It's just gardener stitch, all knit, and a row basically equals a tshirt. 








I used 15mm needles, knitting with them is quite heavy on the arms as well as on the fingers. One or two stripes are all I manage at a time. 






Still the project grows quickly and it's lots of fun. I can't wait to show the ladies in the library on Wednesday ;) 






The rug feels very soft and it's very thick. I'm looking forward to using it. Hopefully I have enough old tshirts.