Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Welcome Baby Richter!

With a new baby born in the beginning of December, I knew that I wanted to complete a Richter Christmas Stocking by Christmas for the grandparents.  The problems?  I have a newborn of my own and I didn't know the name (or gender) of Baby Richter until birth.

This project required that I create two new knitting charts, Bean Richter's first name and her birth year (2013). 

Hurrah for 2013 babies!

I ended up printing out the above charts and giving it to baby Grace's grandparents for Christmas.  I'm so happy to help them keep this tradition alive.  In early 2014, I was finally able to cast on and start making Gracie's stocking.  It has been so long since I've used straight needles, that this was a bit of a hoot for me. 


I messed up with the placement of the Santa eye,placing it over the backpack.  I didn't want to erase 4 rows of knitting, so I duplicate stitched over the mistake eye and created a new one.  I don't think you'd be able to tell if I hadn't told you. 


I should have cropped the yr  13 chart more when I included it with the big chart. My instructions are written for the close cropped version.  Thankfully I caught this in the first round I was knitting the year number! 


I used a mattress stitch to close the stocking starting at the cuff and working down to the heel.  I first did this technique on Keith's sweater and then on my patriots hat and it works really nicely.  I'm glad to see my skills have improved since I made Gracie's mom's stocking. 


Before stitching the stocking closed
After the mattress stitch
The WS of the fabric - look at that sturdy stitching! 

Once I was done the stocking still required some blocking.  I soaked the stocking for 20 min before laying it flat on my blocking mats.  I didn't even need any pins! 


Like Jenn's Stocking, this stocking was knit in KnitPicks Wool of the Andes.  In the end, this project used 36 g/ 80 yards red, 9 g/ 20 yards white and 34 g/75 g green.  I'm within a gram of each yarn from what I used in my original stocking.  Talk about consistency!  I used size 3 (3.25 mm) knitting needles. 
 

I am so thrilled to help keep this tradition alive. I'm ready and willing to make more as the family grows! (Although I am sticking with new spouses/children... I couldn't keep this up for the rest of the clan, there are a gazillion cousins!)