Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I've spent a lot of time on trains. Apart from reading, naturally I have also been knitting. These little Christmas stockings are from my own pattern. I've been knitting them for a couple of years, and I seem to change the pattern each time I make them. The pattern below requires stocking stitch and short rows, using two straight needles. I have been working on one version in the round, but it still needs a bit of tweaking.
The knitted "paper" chain is a nice, easy thing to knit in front of the TV. My amazing friend Astrid showed me how to make them when I last visited her (in between feeding me lots and lots of food, introducing me to lovely people and beating me at Lego Rock Band). Essentially you cast on 30 stitches, knit four (or six, if you fancy) rows in garter stitch, bind off, and sew the ends together.
Apart from knitting, I've been reading In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, which I have reviewed briefly here, writing some cool programs, making aubergine involtini (thanks, Nigella!), getting into Oxford for a PhD in Systems Biology next year, and doodling polar bears. I know, right? Polar bears are awesome. Now I will leave you only with my extremely classy electronic Christmas card.
If for some reason you need a higher resolution picture of a blood-soaked polar bear, here is one. I won't judge you.
Tiny Stockings
I used Double Knitting weight yarn and 2.5mm needles.
Abbreviations:
CC: contrasting colour
MC: main colour
sl p-wise: slip stitches across the needles as if to purl
wrap and turn: wrap the yarn around one stitch and turn the work. There's a great video tutorial on Knitting Help.
Pattern:
Cast on 16 stitches in CC
Row 1 - 11: stocking stitch in MC
Row 12: K4 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 13: P in CC to end
Row 14: K3 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 15: P in CC to end
Row 16: K2 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 17: P in CC to end
Row 18: K4 in CC, K8 in MC, sl4 p-wise
Row 19: P4 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 20: K in CC to end
Row 21: P3 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 22: K in CC to end
Row 23: P2 in CC, wrap and turn
Row 24: K in CC to end
Row 25-30: stocking stitch in MC
Row 31: P all stitches in CC
Row 32: K2tog to end in CC (8 stitches remain)
Row 33: P all stitches in CC
Row 34: K2tog to end in CC (4 stitches remain)
Row 35: P2tog to end in CC (2 stitches remain)
Row 36: K2tog in CC, bind off.
Seam up the back of the stocking using waste yarn.
