July – we’ve passed the halfway point in 2023, which means Christmas is right around the corner. Yes, that’s right, I’ve got Christmas on the brain already. When I think of Christmas these days, there is one story from 2021 that always comes to mind. A story that touched my heart. A story that I was so honored to be a part of.
A couple years ago, a friend came up to me after church with a proposal. Her husband’s mother had been making Christmas stockings for each of their four children. However, with her recent passing, she was unable to finish stocking number three. The question before me…would I be able to finish the project left behind?
I hesitated. Why? I’d never made a stocking, let alone a sock, before. The heel part seemed really intimidating to me. I had avoided anything sock like for as long as I could. Then I remembered one thing a friend had said, “It’s not hard, it’s new.” Was I really going to back down from a challenge? Was I really going to pass on completing a gift of love from one grandmother to her granddaughter? Was I really going to pass on the opportunity to bless a family who suffered loss? Of course not.
The following Sunday, I was handed Grandma’s project bag. I was armed with the pattern book, yarn and the Christmas stocking she started.
I stared at it for a bit, did a lot of counting to figure out where she left off and began to pray after feeling a little pressure to get it right. Thoughts and questions raced through my brain. What style of knitting did she do? (Yes, that’s right, there’s different styles of knitting.) Would I get the tension right? And…breathe.
After a little shaky start, I started to flow. In the process of working on the gingerbread girl, I learned a new-to-me technique: intarsia knitting. This technique is used when creating a pattern with multiple colors without the piece feeling thick in that area of the project.
As the gingerbread girl progressed, I’ll admit, I was getting excited. It was coming together. And yes, I did several happy dances.
Then it came time for the heel…the dreaded heel…
YouTube video after YouTube video. I was going to get this. I was determined to get this right.
And yes, when I got passed the heel, I breathed a sigh of relief, along with a little happy dance. Another knitting technique in the books.
It was smooth sailing on through to the toe and sewing the seam.
On to learning yet another new technique to include her name on the stocking…duplicate stitching. This method involves covering existing stitches with a different color yarn to create a picture, monogram or words.
This involved some math to make sure I had her sweet name centered. Incredibly grateful it worked.
The final touch, creating a loop so the young lady can hang her Christmas stocking next to her siblings.
At the completion of this project, yes, I acquired new skills in my knitting “tool belt.” New skills that will help me create other beautiful items. But the best part of completing this project, being able to finish a project for a woman who loved her family and seeing the joy in their faces to have a piece of their grandmother back.
Worth the challenge!