Christmas Stocking #1

CHRISTMAS STOCKING #1

I whipped this up for my family this year, and have had a bit of interest in it on Ravelry, so here's the pattern. It's based on your basic 72 stitch flap heeled sock, so if my sock pattern writing isn't giving you the full picture, check out some of these resources:

http://www.knitting-socks.com/Dash.html

http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns2/socks/panda-menehune-sock.html

http://www.io.com/~cortese/crafts/koigu_sock_pattern.html

Materials

Cascade 220: Partial skeins of 2 shades of 3 colors.

(I don't know what colors, exactly, I used, because I'm using up my stash, but looking at the Cascade site , it looks like the colors might be yellows: 2415, 4147, blues: 2404, 7816, greens: 9461, 9447)

Size 7 12-16" circular needles (I did the whole stocking up to the toe on one set of 16" circulars)
Size 7 DPNs

Directions

Cast on 72 stitches in dark blue. Join to knit in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches.

Knit in the round for about 2 inches.
Purl 1 round.

Cuff

Work Chart A in dark and light blue and dark and light green.

Leg

Work Chart B in dark and light gold.

Knit one round in dark green and the next in k1 dark green, k1 light green.

Begin the heel at the beginning of the next round.

In dark blue,

Knit 18 stitches, turn work.

Row 1: Sl 1, purl 35 stitches.

Row 2: (sl1, k1) across 36 stitches

Repeat these rows until there are 36 rows.

Turn Heel

Row 1: sl1, p 21, p2tog, p1

Row 2: sl 1, k 8, ssk, k1

Row 3: sl 1, p 9, p2tog, p1

Continue like this until all of the stitches have been worked. You will end on a knit row.

Gusset

Pick up one stitch from each row along the side of the heel flap. Place marker.

Knit 36 stitches in K1 light green, K1 dark green, place marker.

Continue in pattern to next marker.

Knit 1 round in dark green.

Change to yellows, and work Chart C on the top of the foot (to next marker)

You will work Chart D (bottom of the foot) for 12 stitches, then place marker (which becomes the beginning of the round).

Working in the charts set above, and beginning with 12 stitches of Chart D, work the following rounds.

Round 1: Knit to last 3 stitches before marker, k2tog, k1. Knit 36 stitches (Chart C) across top of foot, k1, ssk, knit to end of round.

Round 2: Knit

Foot

Work the decreases until there are 72 stitches on the needles, then continue working in pattern until the foot measures about 4 inches from the blue heel.

Toe

At the beginning of the next round switch to dark green.

Round 1: Dark green

Round 2: K1 Dark green, K1, light green

Round 3: Dark green

Round 4 and all subsequent rows: Dark Blue.

On row 4, begin decreasing for toe

Round 1: knit to last 3 stitches before marker. k2tog, k 1, slip marker, k1, ssk. knit across top to last 3 stitches before marker, k2tog, k1, slip marker, k 1, ssk, knit to end of round.

Round 2: knit.

Continue these two rounds until 40 stitches remain on the needle. Then continue knitting round 1 (with no knit round between) until 20 stitches remain. (You'll probably have switched to DPNs at this point).

On the next row, knit to the next marker, so that there are 10 stitches from the top of the sock on one DPN and 10 stitches from the bottom of the sock on the other DPN.

Cut the yarn and graft the toe together using Kitchener stitch.

Turn the top cuff to the back at the purl row, and stitch in place.

My year in knitting

What a year it was. I can't believe how much I got done this year.

This is the first sweater I made for Ms. M. She got another little cardigan as well. I finished a pullover for myself, as well as a little shrug, too.

I started the year with a huge sock fest. I think I finished at least 10 pairs of socks through out the year. The pair pictured is one of my favorites, even if I didn't work it out so that the stripes would line up.

I dyed a whole lot of yarn this year. I'm guessing that I did at least 50 skeins, but it might be a significantly higher number. I sold a lot, but kept a bunch of the yarn for myself, because it's so fun to play with.

This fall I was on a definite hat kick. Looking over my photos, I can find pictures of at least 30 different hats. EEEEE. At some point I'll get the pictures all loaded up onto my flickr account. For that matter, I'll get my flickr account reasonably organized, too.

The latest kick has been stranded color work, especially in bags. I'm really happy with how my first bag pattern (Celtic wanna be) has been received. Heck, I'm REALLY happy with how the bag turned out.

I also rather like this little ipod/cell phone cozy. It started out as a wrist warmer (Yeah, I made a ton of those, too), but ended up as a little cozy.

And, last, but not least, a peak at where knitting is taking me in the new year. The beginnings of a few projects that are on the needles now. I hope that this coming year will be as productive and creative as last year was!

Socks

Socks, yummy socks. These are a couple of pairs I knit last winter/spring for myself. It's great to have the temps dropping enough that I can start wearing them again.

Ah. Socks.

The purple pair is from Koigu, while the striped socks are from Online SuperSocke.