Santa Baby!

I have finished making Santa Stockings for a customer. Plus, I made a stocking for myself. Really, it's so I can write a pattern for it. I think it's the cutest...don't you?

The stocking is basically a big ol' sock with an intarsia Santa face knit into it.


There is Santa without his jolly face. To make the beard you need to make fringe. I did it by cutting a 4" strip along the long side of a page of card stock. Then, folded the paper in half and gently wrapped the yarn around it a whole bunch of times. I slipped my sharp Fiscars in between the folded paper and cut the along the two edges to make a boat load of fringe. Making fringe takes me back to my childhood. I've been doing it since I was...maybe...8.



Here's how I apply the fringe. So simple, just use a crochet hook to pull a 4" piece if yarn (folded in half) under a stitch and thread the cut end through the loop.

On to writing the pattern!

Intarsia in full bloom

Here is my little Intarsia flower. An advertising visual for my class. A couple of things to note:

• Most charts have squares yet a knit stitch is really wider than it is tall. Can you see the difference?
  
• This swatch is still a hot mess. It will look better once I weave in the tails which will take away those holes you see.

Yep, hot mess

A little drench in water and look at how fabulous it is! Getting knitting wet is a way of making the stitches sing Kumbaya, getting together to make your project look crisp and beautiful!

The only thing more fabulous than this spring flower is...

the back! I have found a needle that is perfect for weaving in tails. It is called a chenille needle. It's big enough to use with yarn with a very sharp point that allows you to split the ply and bury your tails for a perfect finish!