Before we get too much further in January I thought I should post the two presents I knitted this Christmas. Both projects were a bit stressful to work on but for completely different reasons. They were also both, technically, socks.

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Christmas Project Number 1: Hannah's Stocking

Pattern: An old family pattern - no idea where it originally came from
Yarn: Quince and Co. Chickadee in Peaks Ferry (red). cypress (green), Egret (white), Dogwood (pink), Delft (blue) and Carrie's Yellow (er, yellow)
Size: About what it should be
Yardage: a little over 1 skein of the red but less than a quarter of a skein of any of the others.
Needles: 3.25 mm bamboo

This was a very important project. Everyone in our family has a knitted stocking like this - most of them made by my grandmother - and this year was my niece's very first Christmas and I knew her mum really wanted the stocking to be ready on time. I nearly didn't make the deadline. When I ordered the yarn to make Hannah's stocking the blue I wanted was out of stock. I ordered everything else and just knitted along until the spot where I needed the blue and then stalked the website. And waited, and waited, and finally in mid November decided I would use a different blue instead. It arrived on the 19th of December. It turned out the stocking was due on the 22nd instead of the 24th. Some frantic late night and early morning knitting followed.

The end result looks lovely. Even my seam in nice and tidy. Best of all, the stocking turned out the right size. I've made a stocking from this pattern once before and it turned out huge. Fortunately it was for an adult who understands that his stocking doesn't need to be bursting with toys for Christmas to be satisfactory but when I saw my grandmother this summer I took the opportunity to quiz her a bit more about the pattern and what weight of yarn she had used when she made ours. Worsted weight was too big; sport weight is better.

I hope Hannah will enjoy her stocking for many Christmases to come.

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Christmas Project Number 2: Rob's Socks

Pattern: Business Casual Socks by Tanis Lavellée
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering in Olive
Size: Small
Yardage: about 90% of the skein
Needles: 2.00 mm

I like to include something hand made in Rob's Christmas present every year and it's usually something knitted. I've done hats and neck warmers and the occasional pair of socks and this year felt like another sock year. In a fit of optimism I'd signed up to knit these socks as part of the TFA Holiday Knit-a-long for the month of November. I'm still not totally sure what I was thinking: I'd signed up to knit an entire pair of men's socks, inside a month, in secret, while living with the person they were to be kept secret from. I had a few periods of guaranteed secret knitting time each week in the form of knit night and Saturday mornings (I'm the morning person half of our relationship) but any sane person would have seen that wasn't going to be enough. The socks were finished just a few days before Christmas.

The whole time I was knitting these socks I was worried I was making the wrong size. I usually knit Rob's socks 68 stitches around for a perfect fit but the pattern only had options of 64 stitches or 72 stitches. Slightly to tight or slightly too loose. I decided to go with slightly too tight because I hate socks that puddle around your ankles and most of my handknit socks seem to grow a little bit with wear (provided I don't accidentally put them through the dryer). The finished socks look really smart and fit nicely on Rob's feet … once he has managed to pull them over his heel. 72 stitches would probably be better. I'll keep it in mind for the next time I make up this pattern.