It’s early, as I write this from the past (ooohh!), but it’s never too early to be thinking about Christmas. Especially if you’ve got plans to knit for Christmas. And boy, howdy, do I have plans.
Well, plan.
Just one. I’ve given up knitting Christmas gifts, because… well… it’s a lot of work, it’s stressful, and I just don’t wanna. Sure, I might make a pair of Christmas socks or a particularly special Christmas sweater from time to time, but I’m not doing the whole “everyone on my list gets a pair of mittens” thing this year. (And not just because we have a new member of the family this year.)
But I love a tradition, and one tradition we have is hanging stockings by the fireplace. We haven’t really filled them ever, but I love how they look, just as decorations, and I kind of love making them.
Plus, since our older kid and our dog both have stockings, it would probably be unfair if the baby was stocking-less.
So, I’ve dug the stockings out of storage, and re-ordered more Cascade 220 (thank goodness I actually kept the yarn tags from the last time I made a stocking, or I wouldn’t have had any idea about what shades of green and red to buy), and set to work knitting up a stocking for the little one.
Of course, I never took decent notes or wrote up an actual pattern, so I’m kind of guessing/using an old stocking as a general template. It’s simple enough for the leg of the stocking, but we’ll just have to see how it turns out… I really don’t remember how I did the heel…
And, while you read this, the baby will probably be born already (if there’s any justice in the world, anyway… I’m still a month+ out from my due date as I type this, and let’s just say, I’m ready to move on to the next phase of this thing), and should have a name. But, for now, I’m leaving the name blank, and will go in later with a little red yarn and duplicate-stitch in the letters.
It’s going to be so weird having 5 stockings hung up this year! (Assuming I can figure out the heel turn on this thing…)
Have you ever tried to re-create a project years after you made the first version? How did it go?
It’s named after the Olympic Peninsula, the gorgeous part of Washington between the Puget sound and the Pacific Ocean. It’s full of lush forests, misty coastline and snowy peaks. (And it’s where Twilight was based, if that gives you an idea. Though I imagine that people that live over there don’t love that reference.) It’s the perfect place to traipse around in a woolly cabled pullover.
This sweater is beyond simple- dropped shoulders mean almost no shaping, and everything’s worked in pieces and sewn up, so it would make nice travel knitting. Plus, the cables look super-complicated, but once you get them established, they’re pretty simple. 
It’s a long-sleeved yoked pullover, made with 
I will say one thing though- the neck on the sample in these pictures ended up kind of funny, so if you want to make a Piper’s Creek Pullover (which I highly recommend), here’s what I would do to avoid the weird neck. First, make sure that you’re only doing the number of short rows called for in the pattern, or maybe even reduce the number by one or two, just in case. Second, make sure to work the colorwork nice and loosely (tight shoulders will make the neck funnel up, like it is in the pictures). And third, make sure to block the sweater so the neck goes nice and smoothly into the shoulders. Worst case scenario, if the neck ends up terrible even with all those precautions, you can always rip it out from the top down (or cut it out), 
And I think I’m liking how these colors are playing together for the most part. There’s still a part of me that’s a little skeptical of the pink-yellow variegated, but I think that’s because it’s just so far outside of the colors I usually pick. And, I am a little concerned about the contrast between the pink and the gray in the big “arrow” section of the yoke. (Though, honestly this picture makes it look pretty nice. It’s a little less clear in real life.)
I’m almost to the end of the yoke, which is both exciting (yay! I’m that much closer to finishing), and a little sad (boo! I’m that much closer to finishing). It’s a fun little project, and with no sleeves and not much body to knit, it’ll be done before I know it.
On the Needles 