About this time last year (actually, a little earlier - I think August or something), a friend brought a pattern to my knitting group for a felted Christmas stocking. I was looking for a new project and was so excited to get my hands on the pattern. I had been meaning to sew Shaelyn her own Christmas stocking, but having never gotten around to it, I decided a knitted stocking would be best. So I picked out my yarns, got new needles, and set to work. The beginning of the pattern was very easy to follow, and I quickly got to about the half-way point of the stocking. Then trouble came. The pattern required something I had never done before. I put the stocking off for weeks, knowing it wouldn't be finished before Christmas, but deciding that Shaelyn wouldn't notice as a 1-year-old whether or not she had a stocking. Eventually, I came back to it and overcame the first roadblock. I was so proud of myself! And then the pattern asked for another technique, one I had never even heard of. I researched. My findings didn't help me understand what the pattern was asking me to do. I couldn't get my mind to visualize what the end result would be (a technique I use to help me do new things with my knitting - if I can visualize the end result, I can usually work backwards and figure out what the pattern is requiring). I asked the most advanced knitter in my knitting group (who is VERY good), and she had no idea either. So the stocking got put away in my closet for a year.
I took it out this October, determined to finish it. But I was so overwhelmed with this new technique that I started another knitting project instead. And then created my never-ending to-do list for all the things I wanted to do around the house before the baby was born. But I really wanted this stocking finished, mainly so Shaelyn would have one this year. So last week I buckled down and made myself work through the problem. And I discovered that the technique was so much easier than I had made it out to be in my head. Once I overcame that obstacle, I had the thing finished in 2 hours!
But then the next step - felting. For those that don't know, felting something is when you shrink the item until it no longer looks like it's been knitted. It looks like felt. And it's stiff. In order to felt something, you have to knit it with 100% untreated wool yarn, then wash it in super hot water to shrink it up. (So wool felt that you buy at your fabric store has been made this exact same way, just on a much larger scale...). Having never felted anything before, I was scared that I would ruin what had just taken me a year to knit! I was also concerned that the red was going to dye the cream yarn pink. I told Michael that in a worst-case scenario, Shaelyn's stocking would just look very Valentine's Day-ish.
I decided to document all stages of the process, so I could show the stocking transformation from knitted to felted. I stood at the washing machine for the entire 15 minutes it took to shrink it, willing it to turn out right. I'm very pleased with the results. It turned out longer and skinnier than I intended originally, but Michael and my stockings are long and skinny, so hers looks like it belongs.
Now ask me what I'm going to do for a stocking for Rachelle...
I still have a year, right?!?!
Here's the stocking once I was done knitting it and sewing it together to look like a stocking (you knit it flat, then have to piece it together). It looks very big, but you want it to so that it looks right once you've shrunk it.
I thought it looked like Santa's sock. It actually fit my foot pretty well. I debated leaving it in its knitted condition to avoid any felting disasters.
Here's the complicated part that intimidated me and set me back a year. Those of you who knit will be able to see the tricky change-of-direction required to shape the heel. But now I know how, so if you have a similar project and need help, just ask me!
Here it is in the washing machine. You have to wash it with other items so that it doesn't bunch up or throw your washing machine off balance. I washed it with old towels, afraid that the red was going to bleed all over everything. I got butterflies in my tummy when the hot water hit the stocking. I knew there was no turning back.
You have to take it out every five minutes to check on its shrinking progress. I put it back in for a little longer after I took this shot, but you can see how it already looks different than the first picture. And I was happy to see the colors weren't bleeding!
I thought the top looked like a wet cat every time I took it out to check on it.
Finally the size I desired. See how it looks like felt and not like something that's been knitted? You can still see a few stitches, but I was afraid to shrink it any further since it was already getting very skinny. You have to lay it flat to dry completely - this took all day.
I sewed a red ribbon in the top corner and stuffed the toe with batting so it looked a little more filled out, and hung it on the mantle. Like I said, I'm really happy with it. And hopefully it will last so that Shaelyn can show her kids the stocking her mommy knitted for her when she was a little girl!
The long red-and-green ones are me and Michael's. The one with a white ball on the toe is Maggie's. And now Shaelyn has her own gracing our mantle. I think hers is the prettiest.
