Christmas Stocking - Finally!

All the siblings in my family have handknit stockings, made for us by Nanny, my Dad's mom.  They are awesome, and now that all the siblings are all grown up, we each have them at our homes.  I have always loved my stocking, so when I had Evy, I naturally wanted her to have a handknit stocking as well.  My stocking was always the biggest of the five, (benefit of being the youngest I think), and so I made Evy a ginormous stocking too.  Her's is definitely bigger and shares the same mottled color look, but is unique enough to stand on its own.  You can check it out here and here if you are so inclined.

Well after I had completed Evy's stocking, I realized that Kev needed one too.  He is always asking for cabled knits, so I decided the Aran Stocking from Handknit Holidays was perfect.  So here it is, Kev's Christmas Stocking.

I started this a little before last Christmas, and then promptly realized it would never be finished in time.  So it sat in a box for a year.  But as the holiday season drew near this year, I was determined to finish it!

I think it's fabulous.

I used Debbie Stoller's Full O' Sheep, which I can't seem to find in the stores anymore.  Good thing I bought a gazillion balls of it when I made Evy's stocking.  For the trim, I held one strand of Full O' Sheep, and one strand of Enchantress together.  It's the perfect amount of contrast, and matches Evy's stocking nicely.

This was a real step up in my cable knitting abilities   I feel like I might actually be able to knit that Aran sweater Kev has been requesting since I started knitting garter stitch scarves.

I've come to realize that my gift knits will never be ready in time for Christmas.  But as they are for my parents, I'm pretty sure it will be ok!

A Wee Hat

Just wanted to take a moment to share the details for the Striped Hat.  I made this recently for some friends, and I thought I would share before the deluge of Christmas knitting.

The original Baby's Striped Hat called for worsted yarn, but I really wanted to use some lovely bulky yarn I had on hand.  So I modified the pattern.  Details on ravelry.

This pattern was super simple (it's from Knit Simple, so that does make sense), and knit up quickly.  This was my first time modifying a pattern so I could use a completely different weight of yarn.  I was pretty proud of myself that it came out the right size!  Especially because there was, you know, math involved.

I used some Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush that I had in my stash from previous baby sweater projects.  I love this yarn for babies.  It's super soft, and comes in lovely colors that are perfect for children.

In other news, I finally finished Kev's Christmas stocking.  Details coming soon!