Sentiment and Pompoms

I got an email inquiry in the summer from a lovely lady who wanted new stockings for men marrying her daughters, made to match her family's existing stockings. Not the most complex pattern I've done, but still, there were challenges LOL.  The first thing I did was change the pattern to be knit in the round. The original had a very obvious seam, so for these, I did a "faux seam".

 She had written up the original pattern, but my yarn was slightly thicker, so I had to change some of the instructions to make it match. The bows/hangers were interesting to sew on. I figured out the best way on #2, but then, for some reason, it didn't work on the next one. LOL. If I weren't trying to match old stockings, I would have formed the bow and wrapped the middle with yarn, instead of trying to stitch it all down. I was worried the pompoms wouldn't look right since my yarn was thicker and different. I ended up washing the stockings twice because they took too long to dry the first time. The pompoms fluffed up really nicely in the dryer.

My big challenge was trying to make the pompoms the same size as the original. I got out my plastic ring pompom maker and googled for some instructions and tips. I know how to use it, but I always wonder what happens if you use only the biggest ring and fill it entirely full, vs, keeping all the rings together.  I found one blog that showed this type of pompom maker--most of Google was for newer gadgets. I know the instructions are not all that good on the package, but well...don't follow her's either. You MUST fill up the rings.

 It looks pretty ratty and ragged at first!  Trimming fixes all of that.

 Or, just use the smallest rings. One really important tip I have learned over time, is to use a finer yarn as the tie yarn. Something strong. Some people use cotton soaked in hot water, saying it will shrink when it dries. Maybe. By using a finer yarn, you don't get that gap around the equator.  I also like to steam my pompoms. This brings the yarn to life and fills it in really well. This time, I forgot to do that, but the washing machine and dryer did a good job.

Not shown here, but you can see it on my Instagram page, I believe---I am paranoid about spelling names right or phrases, etc. I somehow added an extra R to Merry on one stocking. Thankfully I noticed as I was working on the Y!

Yarn In:    7123gr

Yarn Out:  100gr x4= 400gr + 5902gr =6302gr
Balance:  821gr more BROUGHT IN than used
Costs:   $256.79 /322 days = $0.80/day

I can't find where I wrote down the weight of the stockings. This is an estimate based on other stockings. I think it's a smidge high, but the pompoms and bows do add up!