Neat Finish for a Christmas Stocking and Knitting Q&A // Casual Friday 2-48

[@juliegogo2941]

Wonderful violet sweater. I do like the edging. Thanks

stunning stocking, your family is very lucky to have you make them for everyone. very educational . thank you

[@DiniAdd0807]

That stocking is beautiful! I can understand your hesitation to share the pattern. I would just like to know how you created the chart for each section. I love them. Then I could create my own sock pattern. Thanks for all the videos you do. I’ve learned so much!

[@tephralynn]

On the topic of putting cables in things that don't have them, I love Norah Gaughan's Knitted Cable Sourcebook. The idea is basically what you describe, you knit a stockinette swatch and then swatches for cables and work out the stockinette stitch equivalent (SSE) for each cable. Then you can just pop those cables into patterns by replacing the SSE with the stitches you need for the cable. Her book has a bunch of cables with SSEs and some patterns using those cables that also encourage you to swap in other cables. I plan to swatch some of my favorite cables and figure their SSEs to add to my library, as well as some of my favorite Japanese stitch patterns with all their traveling twisted stitches.

[@claudiacano4916]

Thank you for the tip about reducing pilling. I got some Sweater quantity of Malabrigo Lace yarn before I knew about yarn characteristics, and I wonder if holding two strains together with the needles called for in a pattern using fingering weight yarn would reduce the pilling.

[@peachesfireside178]

Thank you Roxanne and whom ever asked the pilling question❣ All my questions that I did not ask have now been answered.

[@Stretch1003]

Using a darning needle and cotton waste yarn, I simply use two lifelines thru the stitches that will form the top and bottom of my heel stitches to insert my heels, with one row between. Once my heel edge stitches are secured with my waste yarn, I clip the yarn in the middle of 'the between row' and 'unzip' the yarn ends to the corners of my heel. Now I have live stitches all the way around completely secured on my waste yarn. I just insert my needles thru those stitches and start knitting. (If you use a thin enough waste yarn, you can actually leave it on place while you knit the heel - if you run into any issues, you can easily tear the heel back out to the beginning - and those live edge stitches are still perfectly secure!) A fringe benefit of this technique: When you cut and unzip 'the between row', you will end up with a yarn end at each corner of your heel which can then be used to close those pesky gaps that often happen at the corner point. 😊

[@courag1]

I've done heels in any number of ways, but it could be for myself, that my tension is different with my stranded work so my floats do not show, but I do like the idea of the provisional cast on. Your pattern is very beautiful. My daughter in law is pregnant with twin boys and likes a 50's red truck with a freshly cut Christmas tree in the back of the truck which also has wooden stakes on the bed, profile of course. She does not knit and does not realize that means this section must be done intarsia and then seamed, so then the stitches above and below could be done in the round. I'm just trying to think how I'd modify the truck so I could make the pattern fair isle as much as possible as with twins I have two stockings to make and then the first stocking I'd made for by first grandson, was a snowman. So I'd have to make a third stocking for him so as to have family harmony. I think I can do fair isle on much of it and do duplicate stitch on some parts.

[@LourdesMann]

In love your stockings. Have you heard of the "Fish Kiss Lips Heel" by Sox Therapist? It's a short row heel knit as you work the socks with no interruption.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

All short row heels are knit as you work the socks. I used a peasant heel for the stockings, which is knit in the round. They produce the same shape, but are very different processes.

[@semprelegato10]

Looking for the "wooly" or "bulky" thread you recommended..can't find it..could you post brand and source? Tried a "forethought" heel on my last Christmas stocking after watching this and love it. I've never like the look of all those knit stitches on toes and heels and have worked my decreases pointing to the edge as you did. Looking forward to your first of the year video you promised! Love your stocking, keep it for your family and design another one for us! ♡

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It's Woolly Nylon (2 Os and 2 Ls) or Gutermann Bulky Nylon. Schoolhouse Press sells Woolly Nylon in a color range to use for sock heel reinforcement thread, but it's also available on Amazon. I bought the Bulky Nylon serger thread at JoAnn

[@semprelegato10]

@@RoxanneRichardson Thank you!

[@sandygrogg1203]

What a great stocking! You are such a good knitter...And I love listening to you, because you always have something interesting to say. Although I knit very simple things, I enjoy learning about more advanced techniques and ideas. I’m curious...Do you ever buy regular commercial yarns...such as Lion Brand? My work is mostly for charity...and people who din’t have the time...or inclination ...to hand wash knitted items...so I rely heavily on the soft commercial yarns...especially for my baby things. And,..to be perfectly honest...I cannot afford the lovely yarns sold in my LYS.. except for very special occasions. Keep doing what you do! Merry Christmas Sandy from Cincinnati ☀️ I

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I occasionally go to a big box store to buy yarn, but usually, if I need to use something machine washable, I turn to Berroco Vintage or Plymouth Encore, which have some machine washable wool content combined with acrylic.

[@cindyrosser2471]

Re: instep stitches on waste yarn while working a peasant heel....make it even easier to pick up the instep stitches by putting them on a circular needle, then rather than pulling out the waste yarn and picking up those stitches, you can just knit them off the circular needle.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It's always a balance between one convenience vs another. Jangling, dangling circ vs unobtrusive waste yarn that has to be swapped out later. :-)

[@valeriengwt]

That's how I knit my afterthought-not-afterthought heel and I love it! I will never go back and knit the heel if i don't knit it as I go. And I did that too on my Christmas stocking! What a coincidence (again!) I am curious to see how you do it! ❤️ My Afterthought-not-afterthought heel (well, I haven't published the tutorial thought ~ life happens, but it will be out soon😅): instagram.com/p/BlfTBxJnkUH/

[@EgbertWilliams]

I just knit my first peasant heel, using the standard decrease pattern for a toe and it didn't come out nearly as rounded and integrated as yours, but rather is a bit more conical and thus folds over on itself when the sock it just held upright. This tends to happen with the heels I've knit with a gusset as well. Worn on the foot, they're okay, but hanging loose, the heel just doesn't seem nicely integrated into the flow of the rest of the sock. I'm wondering if some more dramatic decreases - skipping a few plain rounds - would help with this. I've only knit about six pairs so far, all heavier socks with Aran-weight wool, and I really like it. Socks rock.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I alternate a decrease round with a plain round for the first half of the decreases, then I stop doing plain rounds. That works for the aesthetics of a stocking, which doesn't have to fit a human. The foot of this stocking is much shorter proportionally than an actual sock. The peasant heels I knit for my own socks are very oddly shaped because I have such a high instep. It really doesn't matter if the sock looks weird when it's off the foot. What is important is that it fits correctly.

[@EgbertWilliams]

@@RoxanneRichardson Thanks, Roxanne. That helps. Weird I can do.

[@MrsMelrom]

I am still perfecting my stocking. for my loop, I leave a very, very long tail from the cast on, and wind it round some card, then use that for the icord. this is the way I figured it wouldn't ever come off. if I do another, I will probably use Kay Jones' method from her wash cloth www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whippy-wash-mitt www.ravelry.com/projects/mrsmelrom/christmas-stocking-for-romaric www.ravelry.com/projects/mrsmelrom/christmas-stockings www.ravelry.com/projects/mrsmelrom/christmasball-52 Lining them is a very good idea, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it, thank you.

[@semprelegato10]

I've been working my icord like you are on Christmas stockings. A friend just showed me her way, which is to work a small reinforced buttonhole in thd 3rd or 4th row from the bindoff, then making an icord which is slipped thru the hole before closing. Neat and tidy look and very strong. Gonna try it thought you might want to. I looked up the washcloth on Ravelry but would need to purchase the pattern which I'm not willing to do for a wadhcloth. I don't know if asking you to briefly describe her icord process infringes on copyright protection...if you know it does not, could you briefly describe? If it DOES of course ignore my request!

[@semprelegato10]

P.s. love your stockings!!!