Everyone in our family has a stocking made from these patterns.  Everyone ... aunts, uncles,  cousins and spouses. Most of them were made by my grandmother. My sister got married last fall and wanted one for her husband but Darney isn't able to knit anymore. Jane asked me if I thought I'd be up to it. I got out my stocking and looked at how it is made: knit flat and seamed up with some stranded colour work and some picture knitting. The only new skill would be the picture knitting and I thought I could handle that so I told Jane "yes, I could" and we called Darney for the instructions.

Darney sent me a package with copies of all the patterns (there are five different designs), her hand-written instructions and a bunch of yarn bobbins to help me deal with all the different colours. Each design has the names of everyone Darney knit it for written across the top and, frequently, drafted out onto the graph paper to be knit into the top of the stocking.

I choose Cascade 220 for my yarn. I like working with a pure wool and this one is sturdy and comes in lots of colours.

It's been a lot of fun knitting this so far (a little confusing at times but still very fun). The back side is not as neat as the stockings Darney made because I'm still learning how to deal with all the floats and ends but it makes me smile every time I see the front and realize that I really am knitting a stocking just like she did so many times. I feel so honoured that I'm able to carry on a family tradition.

This was our breakfast this morning. Apple ginger muffins and home made ricotta cheese. Yum.

The muffins have chopped up candied ginger in them so every once in a while you get a little zing of ginger next to the sweetness of the apple. I got twelve large muffins from the recipe but you could probably squeeze out fifteen smaller ones.

My sister and I made this cheese yesterday as an experiment. It's quite creamy tasting and a bit tangy. Jane thought it would be good with a bit of salt but I wasn't sure how that would go with my muffin so I left it plain. The recipe made quite a lot of cheese (roughly two cups tightly packed) which we divided in half. We also made a paneer but were a little unsure about the flavour (ie. none). Neither of us have ever had paneer so we weren't really sure what it should taste like or how it's supposed to be eaten. It seems like the sort of thing that might absorb flavours if it's cooked in something strong like a curry.

A year ago today we got together with our friends and family and wore our very best clothes and exchanged words and rings and ate cake and danced and drank slushies and smiled and laughed and hugged everyone and became Mr & Mrs.

Happy Anniversary Rob.