This is about the sixth stocking I have knit and I think I am finally over my infatuation with them. I was knitting this one to a specific size, and had problems acheiving that size. After getting about 1/3 of the way through the first try, I knew it was just too large, and I started completely over with smaller needles. This one is just a smidge too large, and the next (she has another grandchild due in Jan) I made a note to use the a size smaller yet.
A second reason for starting over was that I had attempted to try a design with three colors instead of just two, and felt hopelessly tangled all the time and finally decided that was just too much stress knitting. So I went back to a basic two color stranding. Maybe another time, when I do not feel so much deadline pressure.
It feel very strange to knit a sock flat, yet, I tried starting this stocking in the round (the pattern recommends flat knitting) and gave up because I could see that the further I got down into the sock, the more difficult it would be to pull yarn for stranding and keep it moderately untangled. I gave up that idea, and knit it flat as suggested in the pattern. There's another reason I am glad I did that. This is knit in stockinette stitch and curls in on itself. There's no way the stocking would look good without a good pressing to stop the curl. Pressing this out before seaming had the same miraculousness to it as blocking lace, the stocking really became a nice piece of knitting, once the acrylic had been pressed.
Here's what I did this year with the two stockings I have knit for myself:
They are so large that they seem out of proportion just hanging from the mantle. This seemed like a fun solution.CW
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