Christmas Stocking

 I don’t promote my TracyKM Designs anymore, but once in awhile I’ll get a request for another Christmas stocking from a previous client. I just can’t say no!

I started in early summer, I think. It was an on again, off again relationship. I had wanted to be done for the first weekend in December, but I didn't really realize the first weekend came so early LOL. I also unexpectedly got a full time job (teaching). I finally cracked down and got to it. I always seem to make a mistake on the stockings for this lady, and when I held it out to take a look...I was duplicate stitching the back details upside down. Eek!

Picked that out, went to bed, and got back to it.

I am out of the teal that I used before, but everything else is the same--I think. I wasn't sure what I had done for the white. I know I had made stockings with 3 strands of Woollike for the white, but I couldn't tell from the photos if it was these ones. I also wasn't sure if I used this grey or a lighter one. This is just what happens when you try to make identical items over many years--yarns get discontinued, colours change, etc. I do the best I can. I do take a lot of pride in my work so I want it perfect though!

Yarn In: 940gr

Yarn Out: 100gr + 686gr = 786gr

Difference:  154gr more IN than out

Costs: $13.56 +$15.22 = $28.78/361 days = $0.08/day

More Stockings

The past couple years I've only done Christmas stockings for prior clients. So this one woman wanted some more stockings for extended family. As well, I totally messed up the names on the back of two of the stockings from last year, so I had to fix those. Ooops.

Not too much to say about these, made to match these...ummmm...why do I not have a blog post about the first batch? Searching...searching...I never took a photo?! Okay, imagine a picture looking just like this photo, but with different names on the back LOL.

The client sent me a picture! I actually did include the first two in the 2017 totals, but not the one for the baby I made in 2018. I've updated those totals now.

I just found some notes in a notebook. Apparently I get 6st/inch with Astra on 3.25mm, and I cast on 82st. The stocking might be 6 7/8" across (x2).


Yarn In:  2485.5gr
Yarn Out: 305gr + 1732gr=2037gr
Balance:  448.5gr IN
Costs: $90.24/344 days = $0.26/day

This Year's Christmas Stockings for a Previous Client

This year, I had orders for eight custom Christmas stockings for prior customers. And I needed to correct two stockings for one of those customers (and make three more). I already showed the first few, now for the rest (I've gotten behind on showing this year's projects, knitting and sewing).

This stocking is another one for the family from this post and this post. I got an email from Kiera, wanting one for her new baby. I didn't get back to her right away, and her husband, Patrick, contacted me through Facebook. She sent me pictures of her and Patrick's stockings. She was using the same last night as the original man that ordered, so I was thinking Patrick was a brother and she married into the family. But then why had I knit one for Patrick? I searched through all my photos and couldn't find one indicating I knit Kiera's stocking--which had a different shade of green for the words. I was getting totally baffled, so I emailed Kiera. Duh...she was the sister to the original client and her's was an original. Patrick married into the family. 

My notes are still not great for this pattern, made even worse by getting the actual pattern after having done the first batch. I pretty much don't use the bought pattern and just go with what I charted. I got the yarns out and got going. As I got into the green behind Santa's head, I got concerned. I didn't have a whole lot of this yarn left. What if I ran out? What if she had more kids?

I found a blanket I had knit for Crochet Blankets for Seniors, but hadn't woven in all the ends yet. There were some sections done in this green! 

I was really stressed that I wouldn't get this done. I had been working on all the other orders when this came in and some of the other ones were giving me a hard time. I set a goal of being done by Dec 1, and if I wasn't finished, I would finish but only charge for the materials. I had to ship it to Ottawa so I had to leave enough time before Christmas for that. In the end, I set the others aside and got this one cranked out pretty quickly! I forgot to weigh it but based on the other ones, I'm calling this in at 80gr. 

I just found some notes! Astra, 3.5mm, cast on 77 sts with backwards loop. Purl 1 row, Knit 1 row (double check this as it's knit flat).  Knit 1 row in white. Do banner. Then 6 rows red. There are two rows red after Santa before bell. 14sts on each edge for heel. 3 rows red after bell. White 1 row, do decreases, 12 rows to end with 8 sts.  Heel: 28st + 28sts, knit 2 rows. Dec like toe.

Yarn In:  2485.5gr
Yarn Out: 80gr + 1652gr=1732gr
Balance:  753.8gr IN
Costs: $90.24/342 days = $0.26/day

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We had snow on Thursday. A pretty good dumping, but it's melted. I delivered the first Christmas stockings of the season today!

These were for a repeat customer. There was the Grace stocking with the cat, and one for Elise with a cat. She wanted plain ones for when they're a bit older, as well as for her and her husband. She also wanted them bigger.

There are some issues when you go bigger. A bigger foot looks a little out of proportion. And a larger foot gets floppy when hung empty. Not much else to say about these. It's nice to be able to add to people's collections. These were a nice break from other, more detailed stockings I'm working on.

Yarn In:  2485.5gr
Yarn Out: 450gr + 1202gr=1652gr
Balance:  833.5gr IN
Costs: $90.24/313 days = $0.29/day

Fair Isle Stockings

When I first got the inquiry about Fair Isle Christmas stockings, I was thrilled. I knew this was something I could do on my knitting machine and I thought the SK155 would be perfect so I could use a more substantial yarn that would be easier to find. The client liked the idea of a washable wool for a more traditional look, and a plain cuff.  I did some yarn research and thought yarn from www.knitca.com would work. I knew about Cascade 220 Superwash, but assumed it was too expensive for this sort of item. I headed over to Wool on William and discovered that the "white" was very creamy, the yarn seemed kind of thinner than I wanted, and she didn't have enough of any of the colours I was considering. Rowan Superwash Worsted caught my eye as I was about to leave--in colours for the other stockings I  was going to make. I forgot to look for  a blue and a green for these two stockings!

I was able to find the "ivory" (I asked the client if that would be okay, instead of bright white because bright white is exceptionally hard to find in 100% wool) at Knit Kabin, and she did have some blue that was great, but I thought the green might be a bit light. And since I had to go back to Wool on William, I decided to wait on the blue and green (also, the client hadn't sent the money transfer for the deposit yet despite saying she would several times). I went back to WoW and forgot to look at blue and green! So I had to head back to the Knit Kabin and got the two colours there. I had hoped that by doing the two orders in the same yarn, I would prevent having to make trips to several different stores. Four trips! But it's okay because I discovered how great these two stores are!! I ended up with 129 (Apple) for the green and I think 143 (Electric) for the blue.

 

Once I had the ivory I started the design process. I started with Marg Coe's Christmas stocking  . I didn't know if I wanted the fold over cuff because I would be duplicate stitching the names on. The inside would be hidden, but it would be a little more fiddly doing the stitching. And it uses more yarn LOL. Once I got going with planning out the pattern sequence, I looked at the size and realized the original size discussed for the green and burgundy ones was kind of long and I should widen it to balance it out. However, the pattern was written for 60st, and I was using a 12st punchcard. If I added any stitches less than 12, the pattern would not meet at the seam. So I shortened the design a little and loosened the tension to T3. Depsite doing all this paper work and planning, the end result was quite a bit different, as once it was knitted some things just did not work well together.

 This was my first time punching a punch card. To make it more interesting, I was using a 24 st card for a 12st machine, which means you have to punch every other column. I highlighted the empty columns in yellow and marked my different designs in different colours. When using a punch card, the row that is showing in the device is not the row that is being knitted, so you have to be prepared ahead of time, which is why I used different colours, and then used them along the side to show the different patterns.   You can see how the blue section of numbers does not line up with the blue snowflake.  It didn't take me as long as I thought it would to punch the card, but the kids said it was too noisey. However, I assume a 24 st card would take twice as long!

 

The first go round, I knit it as I had punched the card. I was not happy. I casted on with ivory and then remembered I was going to do the ribbing in blue to set it apart from the name banner. So I switched to blue after the circular cast on. I did not like how it went from the banner to the snowflake with no separation. And I really did not like how bunched up the patterns were, especially the section between the snowflakes! I had left one ivory row between the snowflake and the next section and instantly realized that my blue yarn was then on the wrong side for the next row. More tails to weave in.
I decided after the heel to take it off and check it all out. I planned a few more plain rows and tried again, this time determined it was the finished item.  I'm not 100% happy still though. I used two plain rows between each of the elements, but I feel this (obviously) separates them equally, and I wanted the little pattern above and below the zig zag to appear more "attached" to the zig zags. Since I don't want it any shorter, I need to do three plain rows around the snowflakes. Which means the blue yarn is at the wrong edge. Which means keeping my thoughts clear so I can take the carriage off and reset the pattern, etc. It was hard enough to remember to lock the punch card, and turn the cam to stockinette, (and other the other ones, make sure ivory was in feeder 1).

 As much as I loved it, I realized a few things. I wasn't loving the blue cuff. There was an error in the punch card (you can see it in the section below the heel), and the foot was supposed to have decreases to taper it down. I decided to set this one aside and start on the other multicoloured ones, as she had been first with her deposit and should get hers first.

 I got more of the design kinks worked out in the other stockings, including changes to the cuff and name banner. I knit the green one first. The left side is what you see when working at the knitting machine. So it's hard to tell if there's mistakes in the pattern. When I took it off the machine, I instantly saw the error--way up at the top!  OMG.  When I had been knitting these, I kept forgetting to transfer all the stitches to the main bed after the ribbing and several times had kept going with ribbing. I was pleased I had remembered this time, but in my excitement, I forgot the two rows in ivory before the first snowflake.

So yes, I re-knit it. Annoying, but that's the way it goes. I had all the usual troubles too, especially with the blue one, because I was re-using the yarn from the original test stocking and I had to cut the blue between sections. Again, I hand knit the toes. I think next time I will do the heels at T2 since they seem a bit saggy with out the structure of Fair Isle.

The yarn says to lay flat to dry, but I didn't. After their bath, although they felt so soft, I could tell that they would need heat to tighten the wool up again. It really grew when wet. There is no way I could have knit it tight enough on the SK155 to account for the growing. Drying in the dryer is a little nerve wracking. I had to check frequently and I was just so paranoid they would shrink too much. Once they were shrunk back to original size, they needed a lot of trimming of the resulting fuzz. I used my nails, and tiny scissors to trim the coloured fuzz so the designs stood out again. After washing, the Fair Isle gauge was 19 1/2st and 21 rows to 4" which is close to the label gauge of 20st/4".  I'm wondering if I can use this yarn on my standard gauge. It felt more like a DK, and I would love to have the versatility of 24 st designs--though I think the stocking should still be around 60st, so that would mean I would have to go up to 72st. Too much work. LOL.

These weighed 120gr each, which is right on track with what the Modern Vintage ones weighed. I have 64gr of green left, which means I used 36gr of contrast and 84gr of ivory. So, really, the Rowan Superwash Worsted is fairly cost effective--more so if making multiples of the same colours. Although I have 64gr of green left and that technically means I used 36gr, in actuality, the stocking probably has a bit less. Could I alter something to get it down to 33gr? LOL. I might as well just start building a stock of this yarn. It'll make nice mittens too. I have quite a bit of the ivory left and I thought it might be nice to dye, but there's more return on time by doing more of these stockings.

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:   240gr + 8489gr= 8729gr
Balance:  706gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /366 days = $0.96/day

Modern Vintage

I got a request for custom Christmas stockings this fall, the inspiration photo was a simple Fair Isle snowflakes with zigzags. We started working out the details (one blue, one green), and then I got another request for a similar, but more complex Fair Isle design with more colours--three bright greens and three burgundy shades, I think.

I told her I could do it with one green and one burgundy because it would take too long to find a yarn line with that many shades (and both women liked the idea of a superwash wool rather than acrylic). She got her deposit in first, so I started on those first.

My first thought for yarn was http://www.knitca.com/yarn/superwash but when I checked it out at a local store, Wool on William (forever known as WoW now), the colours weren't right, there wasn't enough, etc. I wanted to do both orders with the same yarn so I didn't have to re-work the design. There was some Rowan Superwash Worsted, in a bright green and burgundy that were perfect...but she didn't have any white, or the blue and green for the other order. And....Rowan had been bought by Sirdar and there was currently issues and nothing could be ordered! She suggested I contact Knit Kabin as she also sells Rowan.

I was a little disappointed. I started looking up options. Cascade 220 Superwash comes in an incredible range of colours, but where could I get it local? Both Rowan and Cascade got very mixed reviews on Ravelry. What to do?! I contacted Knit Kabin, and indeed she had the "white" which is a little closer to ivory. She also had some greens and blues (I had forgotten to look for them for the other order). I set up a time and headed out to the countryside at the edge of this megatropolis.

I got 3 balls of the ivory, but I still hadn't gotten the deposit for the blue and green stockings, so that was all.  I had to go back to WoW for the bright green and burgundy. Then, a day or so later, I got the deposit, so I had to go back to Knit Kabin for the blue and green. So much for being able to make fewer trips to the yarn store by making them both in the same yarn!

I started with Marg Coe's Christmas stocking pattern. I used T3 and 62stitches on the SK155.  After swatching, I did go with my own row counts. Originally, these were going to be 20" from cuff to bottom of heel, but that looked way too long on my sample. I mean, some people like long and skinny, but it just wasn't doing it for me. They ended up being about 16"-18". I forgot to measure after washing! I used one of the standard Fair Isle cards that comes with the SK155 (the first 11 rows), and I punched the snowflake, and the thin zig zag band.

I also decided to taper the foot a little, and do the toes hand knit, with decreases, rather than the short row toe, which just didn't seem to lay right. I was disappointed that even though the long floats were only 5 stitches, it  was rather loopy in places inside. I sewed these down. I had to reknit one foot, and tried hooking up the floats as I went, and I would definitely do that again.

When I went to duplicate stitch the names, I realized that Jackson was a smidge too long. I suggested to the client that I don't centre it, but start on the left so the ON would wrap on the right. She asked if the letters could be smaller. I didn't want to do that because really, when duplicate stitching, that's pretty difficult. Only a couple letters could be narrower. Then I started stitching. For some reason, the top/bottom spacing was wrong. I counted rows...I had done 14 rows of ivory on two of them (and planned the letters to be 8sts high) and only 12 rows on the third. I decided the shorter one would be for Jackson, and I did the letters 7sts high so they would have more white around them. By shrinking them a row, the narrower letters looked in proportion now. Whew.

I washed them in the sink with Soak.  After reading the reviews on Ravelry, I was almost in a panic fearing they would bleed. No bleeding!! I rolled them in towels, but it was obvious they would need some help in the dryer. The yarn grew a lot while wet and I knew it would not shrink back down just by air drying. They were very limp, but  much softer.  I put them in the dryer with a towel, on low/gentle, and checked frequently. They "felted". Or is it "fulled". They shrank back to their pre-wash size, approximately, but the yarn bloomed like crazy. They feel much more substantial!

However....the yarn fuzzed. Not pilled, but all the loose fibers netted together giving a slightly hazy look to the pattern. So I sat for an evening, with a sharp pair of little scissors, and trimmed the fuzz from the patterned areas. They're still not as pristine as before the wash, but I never want to hand off an order unwashed, and then have the client wash them and not know what to do when things like this growing and fuzzing happen. Why let them be the surprised ones?

I have plenty of the green and burgundy left--I bought two balls of each, and I have a ball and 27-34gr left of each, so basically, I can knit 4 from one ball of the contrast colours. That's pretty good value. I'm not sure how much white was used as I had the test stocking, then a test in the Fair Isle, and now have part balls. In total, the three weighed 361gr, which is 120.3gr each. That means  I used 22gr of green and 24gr of burgundy, so that means 74gr of white. It would be nice to make single colour ones exactly 100gr, instead of 120gr, but that's kind of boring LOL. I did lose some yarn when I had to re-do sections and didn't want to re-use small amounts of the yarn.

Now to finish the blue and green ones!

Yarn In:    8023gr

Yarn Out:   361gr +8128gr = 8489gr
Balance:  466gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $351.86 /348 days = $1.01/day

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!

Need to Catch Up

Last week kind of kicked my butt. Busy week, as usual, and the lack of sleep just really got to me. I'm getting back in the groove this week, but still feel about a week behind in life.

I checked out a new yarn "store" recently to pick up some Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted for some Christmas stockings. Less than 15 minutes from me, out in the country fringes of this megatropolis I live in. Nice drive, nice little shop. She is selling the property though and doesn't know what will happen.

When I went to drop those red scarves on, I was also searching for superwash wool for two different Christmas stocking orders--although one hadn't given me the deposit yet, so I didn't want to go ahead with getting the yarn for it, but I wanted the same yarn (different colours) for both. The store I was at didn't have the base colour (white), and recommended the Knit Kabin. She also told me that Rowan was bought by Sirdar and they can't order any yarn from either company until the merger is complete and re-organized. I was hoping I was going to find the perfect yarn for these stockings, since the design work takes a bit of time, but the machine knitting is fast, so it'd be a great item to add to my regular product line. So, I'm still not sure what I'll do.

I picked up three balls of Ivory, 100gr each. Now I have to go back to the first store for the two other colours, possibly three, and then back out to the Knit Kabin (who is doing appointment only) for more white and possibly a fourth colour.  Plus, a run to Michael's for another ball of dark purple for another mermaid blanket in pink and purple. So much running around and design work, and not enough actual knitting time!!

Yarn In:   300gr + 6823gr = 7123gr

Yarn Out:  5902gr
Balance:  1221gr more BROUGHT IN than used
Costs:    $29.25 +$227.54= $256.79 /315 days = $0.82/day

Here Comes Santa Claus!

It's been a busy year for Christmas stockings!  And I'm not done.  I was asked to make these two, which are Mary Maxim designs. However, the client specified, explicitly, that they were to be knit looser than the tension given in the pattern (which she had) so they would be bigger and very stretchy--to fit lots of goodies in!

I started the top of the first one....in the round. I even knit the first row or two of the picture in the round, then casted on one stitch on either side of what would become the seam, and started working flat. Then I decreased those two stitches once I finished the picture and went back to in the round knitting. This did change my gauge a bit, and I had to be conscious of knitting loosely in the area between the picture and the heel.

On BOTH stockings, I knit the heel and turned the short rows...and then realized I was supposed to change colours!

I wasn't sure about Ms Claus. The black eyes, sitting above the glasses.  But once done, washed and blocked, and hung to be admired at a distance, I saw that it works.  The stockings actually got two baths because they took too long to dry the first time.  This extra time through the wash/dryer got them really soft (Loops & Thread "Impeccable") and really fluffed up the pompom.  The pompom was made using the second largest rings of the plastic ring pompom maker.  No middle ring (one got lost long ago). It was perfect. The key with the plastic ring is to totally fill it.

The great thing was I needed to buy just a ball of white to make these.  Even the bright green was in my stash! So, the 209gr made--a bit--of difference to my totals LOL. I also weighed all the ends from various projects I've been working on, and that all came to 20gr.  Every little bit, right?

Yarn In:  6523gr

Yarn Out:  229gr + 4966gr = 5195gr
Balance:  1328gr more BROUGHT IN than used
Costs:   $220.79 /296 days = $0.75/day

Hello There!

I had hoped to write a post before I went away, to schedule to post while I was away.  And I thought I might be able to find some downtime to write a post and then publish when we got to wifi.  Well, it wasn't that kind of vacation! We were either driving, doing an activity, or doing the things that make camping...camping (set up, cooking, organizing, etc).

Before I left I bought yarn for another Christmas stocking order.  I've started the fourth and last stocking, and I WAY over bought.  Good news is, I have another order that I can use it for, though I'll still have lots left probably.  I needed red and white.  The original stocking is not white-white though, more of a soft cream.  I found a comparable yarn but as I was checking out, I thought "I wonder if she did want it white-white though?".  When I got home I emailed her and sure enough, "white-white" was her preferred choice.  So back to the store! I ended up with 7 balls of "Impeccable".

I noticed yesterday that the yarn label doesn't have a suggest gauge!  It just says "Medium 4" and the free project needs 6mm needles.  This is a real disservice to knitters. There is too much variability with the "Medium" classification. And if you're trying to substitute for a yarn that you do know the gauge of, you can't just rely on the label! I know rarely do we knit to the suggested gauge, but it's a starting point to find out how the yarn wants to be worked for best results.

Anyway. Onwards, especially since I have to go buy more yarn.

Yarn In: 1586gr + 892gr =2478gr

Yarn Out:  4914gr
Balance:  2436gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $30.58 + $74.87= $105.45/258 days = $0.41/day

Five Months Until Christmas

Yesterday I had a sweet lady pick up another Christmas stocking, to match the other four I made last summer.  It's for her daughter-in-law, the last of the adults to get one.  Hopefully they will want more for the kids! 

 If the picture is too large for your screen, you can click on it and look via the Picture Viewer.

I got started on this earlier this spring once my wrist was healed and was making good time.  But something was nagging me.  I still had the charts, though there were a few spots where I wasn't sure (I had erased one colour and gone over with another and I couldn't tell which was the "real" colour), and I didn't have much info for between the charts, or the heel/toe.  So I emailed Jason, the original client, and asked if it was possible to get one of his so I could make sure I had all the info.  He was happy to drop it off and immediately I knew I was in trouble.

It was knit at a smaller gauge!  Melissa's looked sloppy and loose all of a sudden.  So...early July...I ripped it back to the top of the Merry Christmas banner!  Ugh.  I then focused all my attention on it and got it done in record time.

 Here is the new one side by side with one from last summer. 

 The beards are slightly different because I wasn't following the chart too closely, LOL, and anyway, I think a little bit of uniqueness for each one is good.

Hi Santa!  Several times I started knitting your nose in white, only to realize it was supposed to be red.   I need to update the chart and make that clearer!

Connor's used 76gr and Melissa's used 74gr.  I think Connor's had one more row in the red top edge.  I couldn't get any of them to match the original cast on exactly.

Yarn In: 1586gr

Yarn Out:  4519gr + 80gr = 4599gr
Balance:  3013gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/197 days = $0.36/day

Seven Months Till Christmas!

How about some knitting content for a change?  The overuse injury to my wrist in mid-March took much longer than I thought it would to fully resolve.  The discomfort with using it disappeared fairly quickly, but I was still finding that if I knit for the evening, the next day my wrist felt irritated.  It's feeling much better now, though there is still a lump, so I just try to vary what I'm doing.

I've been working on this stocking for awhile.  It started off well enough.  A bit of time with Google and Ravelry lead me to the pattern at Mary Maxim.  Yay!  I wouldn't have to chart it all out!  I waited for one of their weekly sales, and bought their four pack of stocking pattern books for $20Cdn.  This gives me a little over 50 Christmas stocking patterns!!  I had already gone yarn shopping and found great matches--especially the green.  The red is a bit off, but luckily, because they're done in "reverse", it's not a big issue.  I got started, knitting happily away with the chart.

Once I got to the kitty's eyes, I wanted to check something, so I looked at the original stocking.  Wait a minute!  It didn't match what I was knitting!  I looked at the chart and what I knitted--they matched.  I looked at the tiny picture on the back cover of the book, and it matched the original stocking, but not the chart!  WTF?!  There was a chunk of white missing on the right side of the hat!!

I emailed Mary Maxim and explained the issue.  My thinking was that the chart had been re-done when they entered the digital age but the pictures hadn't been updated.  But why would they use a different chart?  The answer came back--she didn't see any difference between the chart and the picture, and perhaps I was doing the knit rows from left to right instead of right to left.

I exhaled.  This customer service rep doesn't know me from Adam.  That is the number one issue new knitters make with charts.  However, that wouldn't result in a totally different picture, it would just be a mirror image.

I wrote back explaining that I had over 20 years experience knitting from charts, and also charting my own designs.  This was not a mirror image problem, but a totally different chart.  She wrote back saying she still didn't see a problem.

Ummm.  Okay.  I took a iPad photo of the chart, and used a colouring app to colour it in the correct colours.  Then I took a picture of the picture of the stocking on the back of the book, and I put the two in an email for customer service.  I heard back from someone different, who did confirm that the chart was changed after the first printing and I must have the newer printing.  Well, fat lot of good that does me, paying $20+ for something that isn't as advertised.  How many other charts don't match the pictures?  There was never any mention of say, a gift certificate or a refund for my troubles.  Not even a free box of mystery sock yarn.  I would have gladly taken a free box of mystery sock yarn, though that would through my "Yarn In" totals quite high.

See that white band above the right ear?  Missing from the chart!

I had to rip it back to the bottom of the off-white band, and knit from the original stocking.  It wasn't the greatest knitting, with twisted stitches and some wonky tension making it hard to count rows and stitches were the intarsia was.  I got past what I thought was the issue area and moved back to the charts.  Once done, I did see a couple of wayward stitches that I duplicate stitched over.

At some point in all of this, I took a break and mended all my handknit socks, and ended up with the wrist injury and had to stop knitting for a bit, then gradually work my way back up to long stretches.  I wanted to make sure this injury healed properly, not like my toes after I dropped the weight on them and then ignored the pain and swelling for several weeks.

Can you spot the couple stitches (on the right kitty) that I duplicate stitched over?

I finally got the stocking finished, and had to hunt for a pom pom.   I couldn't find any the right size so I went bigger, and replaced the original too, trimming them both down quite a bit.  I gave it some steam to smooth it out, arranged a pick up time for the next evening, and brought the two together to take a look.

And whoa. The new one was quite a bit shorter!!  I had had some tensions issues and had been alternating needle sizes to try to match, and sometimes it's hard to tell the final size before seaming, washing and blocking, but there was no denying.  They did not match.  Panic.  Exhale.  I am Tracy, and this is just the way these things are.  It's the True Tracy Way.  I would have to do surgery, as I didn't think I had time to reknit the lower leg, ankle, and entire foot.

I did not take any photos.  I know many knitters find images of cut apart knitting to be too graphic.  I undid the back seam above the ankle, snipped a stitch at the edge, and proceeded to try to pick out a row.  Apparently, I had been knitting from two ends since after finishing the picture, I wanted to use up the small amounts of the red that I had been already using for the background.  It was kind of messy, trying to get it ripped back to one row, and get the ankle side cleaned up to one row to be ready to be grafted back.

I had already put the needles away, thought I had the right size, knit for a while when my daughter was doing her skating tests, ripped it all out, picked out bigger needles, knit for a bit, then knit a few more rows, then grafted it to the original piece.  The new section was obviously bigger and looser, along the seamed edge.  I ended up tightening up stitches one by one, getting some slack, bringing it to the back, and knotting it tight.

I also cut open the toe, ripped back the toe and added some more rows.  It took me several tries to get the toe decreases right and the grafting.  I was grafting starting in the middle of the row like with real socks, but it was wrong, I needed to graft from the end....hard to explain, it's only been a week but I don't really remember exactly.

In the end, it was much improved.  I got a few photos, the customer came and was thrilled.  She doesn't need to know about all the issues.  She did give me a nice tip though, which was much appreciated since the original quote was on the lower end even if there hadn't been any issues.

This is something that is nice about doing custom work.  Every project has a story.  Not just who ordered it, and why, but rarely do the orders go entirely smoothly.  Usually I'm trying to copy something, or "wing it" or working with limited supplies or questionable measurements.  It keeps it interesting.  I don't know that I could crochet 20 owl hats for a craft show.  It might be less stress, but then what if they don't sell.  What if someone wanted blue eyes instead of pink?  What if...

Yarn In: 1586gr
Yarn Out:  3850gr + 107gr = 3957gr
Balance:  2371gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $74.87/102days = $0.73/day

Christmas!

Last year, I got an email from a man named Jason looking for three Christmas stockings to match his childhood stocking.  Looking for that email now, I see he actually sent it on Christmas Day!  I hadn't noticed that before!

I've written before about how I like copying pre-existing items or pictures, but usually it's not supposed to be an identical replication.  Often it's the shape, or the colour, or the texture, or a combination.  Rarely do I do something that is an identical copy.

Or, as identical as can be, given the difference in time between the original and the inquiry!

There's been very few inquiries since I've started my business, that I've turned down.  I'm up for almost anything.  He included a picture of his stocking, and I knew I would have no problem copying the pattern and knitting it.  However, he lived about an hour away and I also worried about how closely these had to match.  I explained that yarns change over time, that colours come and go, that while I could do my best to hunt down yarns, I might not be able to match exactly.  Well, I basically knew I could not match exactly, LOL, but how close was "close enough"?  He wanted them high quality, lasting, and functional.

I started off by saying I'd contact a knitter in his town--a former blogger who's skill and attention to detail I felt would match mine.  I asked her if she knew of anyone--I knew she wouldn't want to do it, but she was involved in a knitting group.  She had no leads.

Jason offered to bring the stocking to me as he frequents a large motorcycle shop in town.  Cool! We arranged a day and time.  And then I realized  I was going on a field trip with my youngest.  He left it in my mailbox for me.

I'm a sentimental lady.  I feel very honoured when someone chooses me to make something for them, especially something significant.  Being trusted--on nothing more than my  website being found on the internet--with this stocking felt scary and incredible.  What if I lost it?  I don't lose things.  What if the dog ate it?  He hasn't eaten anything in a few years.  What if I can't meet the deadline?  Happened only once.  What if I just can't do it?  Hasn't happened yet!

I spent some time Googling and discovered that this was a 1952 Knit-O-Graph pattern.  Oh, look at that...there's one available at etsy.com now!  When I was looking in April, there was a modern reproduction of the pattern that one knitter figured out and was selling.  Well, if she could figure it out, so could I :)  And then he asked for a fourth stocking!  Well, for something like this, you can't just multiple the yarn cost for one by 4...some of the yarns I used very little of for all four, so as you do more, each one is actually a bit cheaper in the materials department.

The yarn search....the stocking had a gauge of 6st and ...I forget the rows now per inch.  This meant a likely a sportweight yarn, though not very common, so my guess was that it was most likely knit in Patons "Astra" or perhaps a Mary Maxim yarn (as a kit).  "Astra" has been around forever.  It still is around!  So that's what I checked first.  Red, blue, yellow and pink were no problem.  The white and the green though...All I could find in Astra for white was a bright white, and an "Aran" white which was very creamy.  I needed a softer white.  The stocking may have originally been bright white, but while in great shape, was not bright white now.  I settled on using two strands of Loops & Threads "Woolike" in Ivory.  The texture was a bit different, but it was the best choice.

Green.  Wow.  Who would have thought.  I Googled.  I visited yarn stores.  I bought yarn and returned yarn.  I checked yarn out inside the house, and outside in the daylight.

 Finally, I had had enough and needed to get started--green was in the first inch, so I couldn't delay any longer.  I found Red Heart "Soft" in Dark Leaf, which is an Aran weight.  It was a little shiny, and I had passed up other yarns that were close because they were too thick, but I decided to bite the bullet and commit to pulling out one strand of the yarn!  Crazy!  I would gently pull out one strand while re-winding into a ball.  If it got tangled or broke, or I got bored, LOL, I end the ball and do another.  I needed small balls anyway for the intarsia work.

I got started.  I had a hard time figuring out the cast on.  I searched my books, and tried a few things.  Felt I had found the right technique....then forgot exactly what I did!  So, the tops are not all identical!

Charting...I thought that would be pretty easy.  Count the stitches.  Count across, count down.  But sometimes it wouldn't line up.  A stitch would be six rows down, but the stitch next to it seemed to be 5 rows down, but when I worked across to draw the row, they lined up.  I don't know!  It was probably from the carrying of the yarn on the backside, made the stitches not always line up.

Some of the names are longer than "Jason" so I had to decide what to do.  Keep the same number of rows in the white banner?  Then the words had to be squished a little.  Keep the spacing but have a bigger white section?  That was voted out.  So I adjusted the spacing between the words, trying to make it all even so it gave the same visual look.  While I hadn't intended the above sample to be a swatch, it was probably a good thing.  It ended up a bit small and there were a few things I was unhappy with.

 Due to the size of my chart paper, I worked each, one at a time, till the banners were done.  I was paranoid I would spell something wrong.  It's easy to just glaze over when you look at something so often.  I did find an error in one that involved ripping back a few rows, and for some reason, Blake's gave me a hard time.  It was the last one I worked on and you would have thought I had it memorized by then.  No!

Then I worked on each until the top of Santa's head.  I wasn't happy with the original pink colour, so I paused until I found a better one.  Again, I ended up pulling out a strand of the 4ply worsted to make a DK yarn.

Then I charted the next section, and worked on it.  And so on.  I found as I got further along, that the green balls that had been re-wound with my ball winder a few times seemed to be a bit tighter and a closer match than the original balls I used in the name banners.  Wish I had thought to wind those a few times!

I decided to block them before starting the heels, because I wanted to seam them before the heels and I felt the blocking would be easier while they were able to be pinned out in one layer.  I started with Blake, using pins and blocking wires to get the horizontal lines nice and straight.  Then, I went to town with my steam iron and a pressing cloth.

Ummmm.  Yeah.  WTF.  That curve exactly matches the curve of my iron!  And, when I unpinned it, there were indents from the blocking wire!  OMG.  It was late at night and I nearly cried.  Instead, I soaked it with some water and went to bed.

In the morning, it was dry, but the mark was still there.  Ever wonder why some yarns say not to iron?  I wasn't ironing it, but must of lost focus.  In real life, it didn't show up as well as in the picture, but I knew the stockings would get a lot of up close attention and this was just not acceptable to me!  I knew I would have to do surgery!

The stockings are knit flat, due to the intarsia.  I didn't like the seam on the original stocking, and I really (as a knitter) didn't like how the seam continued through the heel.  I concluded the heels were done as after-thought heels, and at the proper place, put the stitches onto waste yarn.  Well...when I came back to knit the heels while seaming up the legs, I found that because I hadn't broken the red yarn and started a new yarn...I had a strand of red yarn going from one side of the heel across to the other side (inside).  hard to explain, but essentially, from front to back so that the two sides of the stocking could not be pulled apart.  Fine if these were to be decorative, but not fine for stuffing with presents!  But I am a knitting McGuyver and came up with a decent solution...by the last stocking LOL.   THe first three involved knots.  I knit the heels and toes in the round.

It took a couple attempts to get the heel to look right, and I'm so glad I didn't say "Good Enough" after the third attempt!  I wasn't happy with them once done... the toes were cupping, and the heels were a little small and not laying right.  So, I ripped the first one out and tried larger needles.  Bingo.  So I ripped the other ones out and re-did them.  I also got to fix the problem from the above paragraph a bit better, though of course it meant more work.

It's amazing how long it actually takes to knit a heel and a toe.  Times four.  LOL.

In  an early email, Jason mentioned that he wanted to make sure the insides were well done, so fingers didn't get caught.  This is a sign of a good knitter, not leaving long "floats".   I think I did a great job!

But...Blake's stocking!  Time for the fix.  I did not take pictures, because it was pretty darn scary.  I CUT the stocking through the first row of red beneath the white banner and placed the stitches on my needle.  I was hoping I could just reknit the red portion and that would get rid of enough of the damage that it looked okay.  No, that wasn't enough, so I went into the green section.  I hoped I could just stick with the top green part--I couldn't find the chart so I was just trying to work from one of the other stockings and things weren't lining up right!  And it still hadn't gone far enough.  So, I started on the part with the red hat, saying I would only go so far as the white pom pom--I was not getting into another colour.  Then I realized the grafting row (the row created by sewing the top I was now knitting with the existing stocking) would create a row of stitches too.  And things weren't lining up!  I ripped back rows, and ripped the stocking out further, to the top of the pom pom.  Finally, I tried to graft the two pieces.

It was not going smoothly.  Started from the side with the green, but then things didn't line up by the time I got to the hat.  Tried from the other side, which was all red being sewn to red, and it was off by a stitch where they join, which is fine.  It just wasn't working through the front section.  Finally, I had to say "Good Enough".  A good knitter knows when "Good Enough" really is good enough, and when it's being used as an excuse to not try harder.  I consider myself a good knitter :) I don't seem to have a picture of the repaired area.  Oops.

I couldn't figure out how I wanted to photograph them.  We have a fireplace with a nice mantle, but the thought of clearing the mantel off depressed me.  And there are no hooks (not even for our own stockings!) so I would have to get some 3M Command hooks.  I asked in a photo group that I belong to on FB if anyone had a fireplace set up in their studio (most were doing Christmas photo sessions), that I could hang the stockings on and get a picture.  One person posted a picture of how she used her staircase--which I had forgotten was what I did last year.  But, again, I didn't want to get all the Christmas stuff out to really set up the photo.

 I realized though that our outside towel rack (for our hot tub towels) had five hooks!  And would be quick to clean off the shelf (though I managed to just cut it out of the photos).

 But the weather!!!  It was going from bright sun, to rain, to very overcast.  All within minutes.  I didnt' have much time left and couldn't put it off any longer, so I braved the wind and got clicking.

 I felt the pictures were a bit too stark, and wanted to add some snow to soften it up and invoke a more Christmasy feeling.  My daughter said it was odd because it now looked like you were looking in through the window, and the snow shouldn't be inside the house!  But the snow is between you and the window :)  I don't usually over-edit my photos, but thought this was fun, and a learning experience too!

Once done, I experienced "post project letdown".  You spend so long working on a project.  You have highs and lows, times you think it'll never end.  And then poof! Suddenly, they are done, photographed, and out the door!  Gone!  They were like my babies!  My family knew them all!  LOL.  Jason came to pick them up and even though I know I had done a great job, it was still a little nerve-wracking! But he seemed really pleased!  Even my husband said they looked good!

The stockings weighed in at 306gr.  As I was weaving in all the ends on these, and a couple other projects, I saved the snipped ends in a big pile, just to see how much yarn gets wasted.  By the time I weighed the pile (including some long pieces from the small balls), it was 126gr!  I wish I had been doing that all year!

Yarn In: 3975gr
Yarn Out: 306gr + 126gr + 6152gr = 6584gr
Balance:  2609gr more used UP than brought in
Costs:  $ 204.82 /330 days = $0.62/day