I will start this post with “Oh LUCKY LUCKY DAY!!” I went to Michael’s for yarn for Christmas stockings - needed 10 skeins. They had the yarn I needed AND the colors - woo hoo. The yarn was $5.00/skein. I searched my phone & found a coupon for 25% off, regular & sale price .... good deal, if the coupon worked. When the clerk rang up the yarn, I started seeing “minus” signs ... I had not realized the yarn was “buy one, get one half price” .... yay!! After she rang it all up, the price was $37.50 .... would the coupon work? YES IT DID!! So my yarn price was $28, plus tax, just over $29. That’s about $15/stocking .... a reasonable price.
No joke, I was so excited that when I was handing her my money, I was shaking - we both laughed about it.
So what stockings am I making?
For my little great-nephew (6 months old now), he is named after my dad. My dad’s favorite shirts were plaid & he had a lot of “buffalo plaid”. The stocking I found is a plaid one - I will change out the white for red, so it will be red, gray & black. I might exchange the red for the gray & then gray for the white ... just depends. It’s a really cute stocking.
Plaid Crochet Stocking
https://www.hookedonhomemadehappiness.com/plaid-crochet-stocking-pattern/
For my niece, she posted some pictures recently & she was wearing a really pretty, long dress that looked like it had bobbles on it ... quite a disctinctive, feminine look. So I found a pattern that had ‘bobbles’ .... with all males in the family, I think this more feminine but not ‘girly’ stocking will suit her well.
Bobble Crochet Stocking
https://www.hookedonhomemadehappiness.com/bobble-crochet-stocking-pattern/
I hope they turn out - I’ll post pics if they do.
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The stocking ‘story’ .... for my 1st great-nephew’s Christmas present 2 years ago, I made him a beautiful, giant crocheted stocking. His mom/dad were using their childhood stockings that were very small. Dad was jokingly ‘whining’ that his little son’s stocking was so much bigger than his .... boo hoo (it was funny). So last year, I made dad the same stocking, but in different colors - I added a few rows so his stocking was just slightly bigger than the first one ... so dad now had the largest stocking.
Mom still had a tiny stocking, plus my 2nd great-nephew came along in May. I told mom I would make her & the new baby Christmas stockings, too. With all that has been going on the past year, I totally forgot about it, until this week and then it was a YIKES!! moment. Today was the first day I could go shopping early in the morning to beat the crowds and with my great success finding yarn, I will now be crocheting my fingers off ... I would like to give my niece the stockings when they are in town for Thanksgiving.
In the meanwhile, I am working on prayer shawl #5. The original 3 were for recent widows, then a 4th was a ‘friendship’ shawl for a friend of my mom’s who had to move away. This friend is missing all her friends, including my mom, & her daughter said she was ‘withdrawing’ and somewhat depressed. I did the shawl for her so she knows we miss her too & every time she snuggles up in it, she should feel like she’s getting a hug from us. Then widow #4 happened - I had enough yarn for another shawl - I’m about 1/4th of the way to finishing, so a long way to go yet. The shawls are knitted, so it takes a while, but the responses I’ve gotten on the first 4 make every stitch worth it.
Off to crochet stockings!! :-)