The Great Stocking Saga

I was fully intending to do no gift knitting this year. I was even going to take part in The Knitmore Girls annual Grinchalong and only work on things I wanted to work on. No deadlines, no frantic clicking away to hit them.

And then I saw Sandra Paul's Candy Striped Stocking Pattern.

Let me give you some context - two years ago I decided to knit Rich a Christmas stocking. I cast on on the train to Cornwall and knit away like a demon to finish it. It was nothing fancy, just a plain stocking in green with a red cuff, heel and toe. It ended up shorter than I intended, with a little bit of a club foot as I hadn't had time to decrease the toe properly.

It, along with our little box of decorations, was lost the following summer when we moved. I hadn't really thought seriously about replacing it.

Then I saw this pattern. Crocheted rather than knitted, I thought it would make up quickly, so I ordered the yarn (plain and simple Stylecraft DK - there's a place for acrylic yarns!) and decided that I would make myself one too, should I find I had the time.

But how would we tell the difference between our stockings? Yes, they'd be different colours and stripe patterns, but surely I should also personalise them?

And, that my friends, is how the mantle of Christmas madness descended upon me. I decided to crochet two lovely stockings and decorate them with pom poms and cross stitched initials. I had first fallen in love with the pattern in Portsmouth, so I spent the train journey back designing an R and an N that I started stitching as soon as I got home.

The initials are both, to my astonishment, finished and ready to be tied to their respective stockings. So far I have one foot. But I was right and they do crochet up relatively quickly. So, it's entirely possible that I will get these finished in time for Christmas Eve. However, I am also working a 60 hour week this week before my Christmas holiday starts, so.... On the other hand, Yesterday are showing loads of history documentaries at the moment, just starting when I get home from work and everyone deserves a little bit of the evening to themselves right?

I am beginning to feel that little spark of oh my goodness, I might actually pull this off so I'm going to keep going. After all, if they don't get finished in time for this year, there's always next year and it's nice to be working on something festive at this time of year. So I'm not going to let the deadline get to me.

You can follow the stocking progress on my Ravelry page here.