23 November 2011

miss autumn's stocking...the foot

the foot...
The knitting is done!  As you can imagine, once you've gotten to the foot, it is just a hop, skip and jump to the toe.  On Monday I explained how I knit the heel of miss autumn's stocking...today I'll guide you through to the finish!
As of Monday, I had 24 stitches in white (my instep stitches) and 8 stitches in red (my heel stitches) on my circular needle.  I picked up the red yarn (the next stripe color) and knit my 8 heel stitches, placing a marker after the fourth stitch to indicate the center of the heel.  Then I knit up 10 stitches on the side of the heel (those 10 slipped stitches), placed a marker, knit across the 24 white instep stitches, placed a marker, knit up the 10 slipped edge stitches on the other side of the heel, and, finally, 4 more heel stitches, bringing me back to the marker.  This I considered the beginning of the round.
I had 52 stitches at this point.  I knit one more round.   On the third red round, I knit from the center marker to 3 stitches before the second marker, knit 2 together, knit one, slipped marker, knit 24, slipped marker, knit one, slip-slip-knit (ssk), knit 11--50 stitches.  Knit one more round, then decreased once more, as above, to bring me back to my original 48 stitches.  I worked these 48 stitches, in pattern, until I had 4 more stripes (the last stripe was white).  
For the toe, I knit 2 rounds in red, then decreased six times evenly every other round until I had 18 stitches left, then every other round until 6 stitches were left (I changed to double-pointed needles when I had 42  stitches, of course!).  Broke the yarn, and pulled it through those stitches (just like finishing the top of a beanie!).  Now to weave in the ends... 

21 November 2011

miss autumn's stocking...the heel


the heel...

Miss Autumn's new Christmas stocking now measures approximately 20".  It has 14 stripes of 10 rounds each.  I have ended the body of the stocking with a white stripe and have just turned the heel...

The heel was worked on half of the body stitches...in this case, 24 stitches.  These stitches were knit back and forth on the circular needle.  I placed the final 12 stitches from the last round of white back onto the left needle and picked up the red.  Then I knit the next 24 stitches, back and forth, in stockinette stitch, slipping the first stitch of each knit row knit-wise, with yarn in back, and each purl row purl-wise, with yarn in front. I knit 20 rows, ending on a purl side.  

Shaping (turning) the heel is easy...I wanted 8 heel stitches, so I knit to the middle of my 24 stitches, then three stitches beyond (15 stitches), and I decreased one stitch by slip, slip, knit or ssk  (in other words, k15, ssk)  The work was then turned and I slipped one stitch, purl-wise, purled 6 stitches, purled two together (p2tog), and turned my work again.  I continued in this way, always slipping the first stitch, then working 6 stitches, then decreasing with a ssk on the knit side, or p2tog on the purl side, until 8 red heel stitches were left on my needle (as pictured above).

Now I am off to finish the foot of the stocking...more tomorrow!

19 November 2011

miss autumn's stocking...stripes, stripes, stripes

stripes...

the stripes are each 10 rounds in length
(except for the first stripe, which I worked for 17 rounds,
to allow for a nice roll at the top...)
seven so far...the stocking now measures 11"

tomorrow...the heel

18 November 2011

miss autumn's stocking...the beginning

today I will start knitting miss autumn's stocking...


It will be long and skinny--about 4.5" wide (9" diameter) and 28-30" long--and will have a simple rolled edge at the top...

I will knit it in Berroco's Ultra Alpaca, a 50/50 blend of wool and alpaca that is well-priced and lovely to work with...two skeins--one in winter white, one in red--will be more than enough...

I know from experience that this yarn, knit on US size 6 circulars, will yield a gauge of five stitches and seven rows per inch.  I've decided, therefore, to cast on 48 (5 x 9"= 45, plus 3 to bring my total stitches to a number that is easily divisible by 2 and 4, which will come in handy when doing the heel). 


So...beginning with red, I will cast 48 stitches on to my 16", 4mm (US6) Addi turbo circular and knit...

next:  stripes
 

16 November 2011

miss autumn's stocking...

my friend, donna, owner of monkey moo moo, wants a christmas stocking for her adorable daughter miss autumn...


so...over the next few days, i will be knitting 
this simple striped stocking

in yummy berroco ultra alpaca
(which i bought, of course, from my local yarn shop)

why don't you join me?
grab a couple skeins of lovely wool in two or three (or four or five or...) colors,
a size 16" circular

and 

follow me as I knit a
stocking for autumn 

you'll be glad you did 




LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...