And there are beautiful pictures up on her site. We’re SO happy for her!

I apologize for this entry being so late in the day. I did not make efficient use of a bit of free time this morning, and I’ve been gone ever since.

Danielle M says, “I have 1 of my stockings done, but I’m not to happy with the way the toe turned out…I was running out of yarn, so I had to end it just a little short. As such, it badly, badly needs to be blocked, too. I’ll try to email a picture of it for Friday’s KAL.”

Darra says, “My update: Turned the heel last night on the second stocking and will close the toe tonight. They will probably be lined on Sunday, since tomorrow is hubby’s first day off in a week :)”

Brandy had a question this week about knitter’s graph paper. I had Nate make some up for me once, so my Superman would be proportionate once I knit it. (If you’re lost and don’t know what I’m talking about… when you map out a design to knit on regular graph paper, the squares on the graph paper are perfectly square. Knitting isn’t perfectly square, so the design usually looks wider and shorter than you want it to).

A kindly reader pointed me in the direction of this site which will map out paper to your gauge, and give it to you in .pdf so you can print it. And it’s free. Very kind of them, I do say. I think I’d pay money for that.

Jenifer wanted to know more about the heel stitch I mentioned in an earlier post, and I posted a response in the comments. And now I’m wondering why I put it in that post. Her question was the next day.

Poor Amy Lu received her kit (that’s NOT cheating, BTW), and realized she didn’t have the right needles, so she’s waiting for yet another internet order to arrive. My heart’s with you, sister. That sucks.

And Carrie has frogged the smurf! (You are welcome to copy anything you like, dear. I don’t care. I’m going to post my pattern here at some point).

Anyone else have anything?

I’ve started Abby’s stocking.

This weekend is our Church’s General Conference. That page isn’t particularly informative, sorry, but basically, it’s a satellite broadcast in which the Prophet and Apostles and other Elders of the church, as well as the presidencies of the women’s organizations (who are women) give inspirational and instructional talks discussing scripture and doctrine and how to better apply it in our lives. It’s a total of 5, 2 hours sessions over Saturday and Sunday, and it happens twice a year. To the non-religious, it probably sounds grueling, but I really enjoy it. Plus, it translates to lots and lots of knitting hours. I’m quite excited. Provided Clark cooperates somewhat.

Sweeeeeeet! All that’s left of this one is to knit the i-cord to thread through the cuff casing to hang it by, and to block it. Which needs to be done. It’s kind of rough, I’m guessing because it’s worsted weight yarn knit on size 6 needles.

Abigail’s snowflake stocking is started. I’m about 3 or 4 rows into the cuff right now. She picked out the snowflake pattern she wants at a yarn store awhile ago. I’m just using the snowflake.

As for today, if all goes well, I’ll be painting my bathroom. But first, I need to get dressed and go and get paint. I’ve also been thinking about picking up some fake turf or something to make a bunch of putting greens with. We want to set up a portable mini-golf type thing in the house for grins and such. Anyone have any experience/tips for me? I have no idea what I’m doing.

More stocking to show.

I finished the knitting part of Veronica’s stocking, and now I’m stitching the Christmas tree, evergreen tree, whatever kind of tree it is over the top. Here’s my chart-

I had originally planned to do a large tree, and one or two little ones, but I think it’s going to end up being just one tree, mainly because I’m running out of space. But I’m pretty happy with how it looks. I haven’t had much luck with duplicate stitch in the past. A couple things I’ve learned? Work from the top-down. Make the stitches a little loose. Work in sections, and plan your path before you start. Lastly, at least in my experience, the base knitting needs to be rather tight and firm.

Nate fixed it so I can upload pictures this morning, but I still can’t update my sidebar. I’m anxious to show a few things.

This is Veronica’s stocking, as of Friday. I decided to do use heel stitch on the heel, even though it isn’t necessary since it isn’t going to be worn. I’ve always liked the look and feel of heel stitch, and I think it looks great on the stocking, which I want to look like a sock anyway.

The floor in the background is our new bathroom floor as of Friday as well. It was finally grouted on Thursday, and when this picture was taken, the grout was still damp. So it is much lighter now.

They still need to seal the stone, and I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. The fixtures will go on after it’s sealed. Our shower door and mirror get delivered and installed on Friday. We need to paint… so it’s going to be at least a week before we can start using our bathroom.

I was finally able to pick up another set of circular needles for Olivia. She’s been impatient to start her own stocking, and now is very happy.

I’m letting her pick her striping colors. I think hers is going to be wild and colorful. Just like she is.

Good morning. It’s lovely out, and I’ve gotten the older two off to school. Veronica is eating breakfast. I’ve eaten a shake…. I think I’m going to go for a walk.

No exercise last week, but I got a lot done in my house. It looks pretty nice, and has been reduced to the status of “cluttered”, as opposed to the “site of mass destruction” that it has resembled since our floors were redone. So I’m happy with that. I ate well last week, until last night. I’m happy with that too. I’m back on track this morning. I feel good, mostly, but I’m not going to get into that.

How did you do?

And we’ve got some stuff to talk about!!!

Amy Lu has joined the ranks. Welcome!

You’ve got to go and check out Carrie’s entry. Because it is quite hilarious. And we can all relate in some way. Give her love. She’s a newbie.

Also, if you enjoy the sentimental, or if Christmas stockings are one of the highlights of the season for you, as they are for me, you should check out Brandy’s post on the topic. She’s camera challenged at the moment, but does have a picture of the pattern she’s using, as well as some previously knit stockings to show.

Michelle has started. Yay!

Darra has finished her first! There should be an award. But I can’t think of one. So gloating rights are yours, baby. Well, hold on. There’s no pictures yet, and we’re greedy. If you get some pictures up, you’re the stocking queen!

Jenifer has a picture, and it sounds like she’s up there with me in terms of project re-thinking and renovation. She also sounds like she could use some pointers on colorwork technique, if any of you feel so inclined.

Harriet gives us a sneak peek of something green.

Ok, I think I got everybody. If not, forgive and remind, please. I’ve forgotten how long it takes to do a knitalong post. Mercy.

As for me….

Well that sucks. I have some fantastic pictures to show, but I can’t upload them. Don’t know why. But, it’s getting late, so I’m going to post this as-is and try to figure out what’s up with my site.

Oh, I just found out I can’t update the sidebar, either. Sorry Amy Lu.

Where’s LJ?

You didn’t leave an email address for me to respond to your questions. Secondly, I accidentally deleted your comment when poking around (even though I know better) to see if I could find an email address anyway. So, I’m lame. But to answer your questions…

When I knit my first stocking, I was very much a beginner knitter. In fact, it was my first “branch out” project. I had been knitting for 1 1/2 months and I knew how to knit, purl, decrease by knitting two together, and I had worked in the round with double pointed needles. The stocking was my first pattern.

So to answer your question, I absolutely think a new knitter can knit a Christmas stocking. I did not find it difficult, but I did go back to the yarn store several times to find out what some of the pattern lingo meant. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what K2tog was. It was the “tog” part mostly, as I thought it was a word that rhymed with frog, and not an abbreviation.

As far as patterns to suggest, I’d suggest going to a yarn store and having someone there show you a good, simple pattern. I’d choose one that mimics knitting a sock (I think most of them do), so that when you’re done, you’ll also know how to knit socks!

My first pattern was Michele Wyman’s Hugs & Kisses Holiday Stocking and Year Round Socks pattern. I didn’t do the color work in the pattern as the hugs and kisses didn’t appeal to me. My first one was light green, dark green, and a nice red. I used a 16 inch circular needle until I got to the heel and instep parts. Then I used the double pointed needles so I could follow the directions exactly and learn how to do it.

Here is a picture of the stockings I’ve made using that pattern

This one’s my favorite, and it was knit years later, when I was no longer a newbie knitter.

You can see the pattern is quite versatile. But there are a lot out there if this one doesn’t tickle your fancy.

Best wishes, and let me know if I can help.

In other news, WE’RE ON A NEW SERVER!!!! We love LJ. LJ is our hero. LJ is a stud. LJ rocks. If LJ reads this… thank you thank you thank you thank you. Seriously. You’re awesome.

This means I shouldn’t have any more bandwidth trouble. I think he and Nate are looking into getting me off of PMachine also, to help with the nasty and prolific comment spam I’m getting. When that occurs, we will once again All Hail LJ. And there may be some weird transitioning stuff again. But I don’t know when that’s going to happen.

I started my Health Group post on Saturday, but it never got finished and I scrapped it.

I’m tired. I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m really tired. Last week, I only ended up with one walk and one day of weights and physical therapy. And I didn’t eat as well as I’d hoped. This kind of surprises me, as I was so pumped up at the beginning of last week. For me, I think exercise is the key. I am much more disciplined in my eating, both quality and quantity, when I’m exercising. In a way, I don’t want to waste the effort I spent exercising by horfing. But when I don’t exercise, and I see something I want, well…. that’s that.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather. Just a smidge, but it’s contributing to my lack of energy. Today I hope to plan a bit. Plan out my food for the week. Re-talk myself up for exercising. Since I am tired today, I think I’ll do weights and PT instead of hitting the treadmill.

Anyone have anything to share?