stocking stuffer

It may be obvious by now:

I didn't do any Christmas crafting this year. Not one single stitch.

I was so busy busy busy this fall, with the national sheep show, then various fiber events (knitting retreat, Brooklyn, Rhinebeck), then the 5K, that the time for starting came and went. In fact, the time for starting would have been right around when Sandy came to town. That definitely knocked Christmas projects right off the burner.

It turned out to be the right decision this year. I was able to use the time I normally would have devoted to frenetic crafting, to getting caught up in other areas of my life instead. Things like regularly cooking dinner for my family and getting a handle on the ironing and other non-exciting, but nevertheless unfortunately necessary, priorities.

It wasn't quite as fun or meaningful, pulling out my credit card instead of racing against the clock to produce warm woollens for my loved ones. But it was most definitely less stressful.

I did get one little project done that I wanted to share, however. I was hoping to get it up in time to help out another harried knitter, but even that failed this year. No matter! It will available for years to come, and quite honestly, if you have a quiet Christmas Eve scheduled then this could easily be pulled off before Christmas morning.

This pattern is a very small stocking, worked in the round, with the perfect dimensions to fit a gift card inside. Once you are done gifting, it works as an ornament. Or it can be the start of a holiday tradition: when I was growing up, we had a special hinged ornament ball on our tree, into which tiny gifts could be placed.

It is also a great way to use up yarn scraps. My version used some ancient handspun. The red color was Kool-Aid dyed for a 4-H project when Primo was in third grade (and he's a junior in high school now). The white is from very inconsistent singles spun out of goodness-knows-what, before I learned to label my yarn. I held it double to knit and it worked just fine.

You can find the pattern here. Merry Christmas!