Lillian's Christmas Stocking

This my sixth time making this stocking. The first time was for a son-in-law, the second time for a daughter-in-law, and now, this is the sixth time for a fourth grandchild. With dedicated knitting for several hours each day this stocking can be made in one week. Yes, if I knitted more hours of the day it could be completed sooner but my powers of concentration dwindle more quickly than do the hours in the day.

Monday:
This is the most fun part, inserting the name at the top band.

Tuesday:
I complete the top portion of the four children holding hands,

Wednesday:
I complete the children and start the two Santas. The Santas are the hardest.

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day:
No cooking for me this  year - we ate out! I could devote more time to knitting. I finished the Santa bottoms in the morning while I was fresh. Those three Christmas trees are the easiest and I whizzed though them later in the day.

Black Friday:

Although I vowed not to fight the shopping crowds on this day. I needed to venture out to buy more red yarn. My knitting momentum was stalled a bit while I drove to my local yarn store to purchase it. I was fortunate to get a match to the red yarn. More red yarn would not be shipped until January. Then I came home to sew in the loose yarn ends and block the leg portion of the stocking. 

Here is is nice and flat  viewed from the right side after it cooled and I unpinned it from the towel I'd used as my steaming pad.

Saturday:
This was my day of knitting rest but I made up for it on Sunday

Sunday:
At the base of the red Christmas tree band, I made the transition from straight needles to double pointed needles to begin the heel, which will be in white.

Here I have just completed the white heel gusset and am switching to green for the instep band.

The upper foot and arch area have been completed in green the lower band of the foot is in red.

Finally I shape toes in white and finish off. All that remains is sewing closed the toes and stitching up the central rear seam.

Monday:
I opted for another day of diversion from Lillian's stocking in order to devote my attention to other Christmas projects.

Tuesday:
Voila! The back seam is joined and the hanging loop has been added. Lillian's stocking is complete! The next photo shows both sides of Lillian's stocking, one with her name and the other with her year of birth.

The dates below are clickable links to posts about stockings knitted for other  family members. Autumn and Isaiah are sister and brother. Vivian and Lillian are sisters. The post for Vivian's stocking has the most knitting tips. I'd learned a lot by then, having made three other stockings previously.

December 31, 2011 Jeremy and Carrie
December 10, 2014 Autumn (born in 2012 - I was late completing hers)
December 17, 2014 Vivian
December 28, 2015 Isaiah
November 29, 2016 Lillian (this post)

The original 1945 pattern can be downloaded for free from http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/christmas/1945-stocking.htm. I changed the background color of the bands a bit to match the sequence knitted by my husband's aunt for him when he was a young child.

I will now visit Let's Bee Social #153 to share my completion. I have time to do so since I finished Lillian's stocking with 8 days left before her arrival for a holiday visit. My timing and planning has improved. Last year I was down to the wire, just barely completing her cousin Isaiah's stocking, seconds before the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve.