Getting Ready for a Knit Along

Arne and Carlos have created an Advent knitalong. This time it's a Christmas stocking. We got the yarn requirements and instructions for the toe in anticipation of starting the first 6 rounds of colourwork on December 1.

I wasn't interested in using the required Rowan yarn. It wasn't easily available for me and I wanted to try to knit from my stash, but I didn't have red, green, and white yarn in the same weight. So I ventured to Michaels to see if I could find a smallish quantity of the appropriate yarn.

I tried several different yarns - Astra, Wool Ease, Classic Wool, etc. and couldn't find all three colours in one brand and I didn't want to buy the 7oz skeins. I usually agonize over colour selection but this time it was finding all three colours in one weight that was my challenge. Finally I found all three colours in Patons Canadiana.

I started the toe in the red and will finish it tonight. 

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, here is the link to their blog post. Therein is the link to the .pdf for the list of materials and instructions.

We will do 6 rounds for each of 7 days. then the heel on days 8 and 9, then the leg of the stocking to Day 23 and the cuff is Day 24.

I used Judy Becker's Magic Cast On for the beginning of the toe. I haven't knit a lot of socks toe up so I followed Arne's instructions adapting his technique for 4dpns to my preferred Magic Loop. My usual way of doing a toe is to increase on each side of the toe but this pattern had the total stitches in 4 sections and increasing in each section.

On December 1 the Jingle Ball starts, too! Only $10 US for a weekend of fun. There are classes with the 12 designers, and exclusive patterns. Those of us outside of the US have .pdfs available to us. 

I have a class with Liz Mathews on Saturday in the middle of my stitch day with the guild. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a Wifi signal there so I don't have to use my iPhone as a hotspot and use a lot of data. Otherwise, I'll just go home for the 1:30 class. I have another class with her the next day at 1.

I have one ornament FFOd and ready to send out. I have 3 more to finish and one more to stitch and finish for our guild's ornament exchange. 

Christmas is a month from today. Yikes! I will do as much as I can and not worry about the rest.