One of my knitting goals for this year is to knit a little mini stocking advent calendar in time for December 1st. I figured the best way to do that was to commit to knitting at least two mini stockings each month, so that I won’t get to November and be trying to knit 24 stockings like a madwoman. I’m the sort of person who thrives on mini deadlines to keep a project going, so here are my stockings so far:

Colourways from left to right: Seabreeze, Peacock, Midnight, Grape

I’m knitting these from the mini sock yarn skeins from Tanis Fiber Arts in the rainbow colour pack (the mini skeins packs change all the time, so if you see one you like it’s worth snapping it up quickly before they sell out!), with a skein of Knitpicks Stroll in white for the contrast. I held off winding them into balls as long as I could, because it was really such a joy to have all these pretty little skeins together:

Is there anything more fun than a yarn rainbow?  I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to knit two of each colour (minus the grey), or have some mixed with a few different colours. There’s so many options!

The pattern is a little different, in that that stockings are knit flat and seamed, but I’ve seen some mods where people re-engineered the pattern to be knit in the round instead. I’m fine with knitting flat and seaming, so I’ve been sticking with the original pattern and happy to see how quickly they knit up.  One of the things I really like about the pattern is that it comes with 8 different chart options to chose for the socks, and of course you could substitute your own.

I’m loving how they look so far. I haven’t blocked them yet, but they are currently about 2.5 inches tall from the bottom of the heel to the top of the stocking. I’ll re-measure when they are all done and blocked, but I’m not anticipating much growth. I’ve worked with Tanis Fiber Arts sock yarn before, and one of the benefits of using yarn you’ve worked with in the past is that you know how it will behave both before and after blocking.

I have a fantasy about this advent calendar. I imagine hanging up the mini stockings every year, and Lila and James being giddy with excitement at each day discovering what’s in the stocking (candy? a little toy?). Even when Lila and James are teenagers and act like they are so over Christmas, I picture them still loving the advent calendar (favourite chocolates, maybe?). I imagine it being something cherished, a tradition so embedded in our family that even as adults, when they come back home to us for Christmas, they will see it and smile at the flood of childhood Christmas memories it brings.

Except knowing my kids, it will play out like that time we took Lila apple picking.

Let’s have another look at that yarn rainbow, shall we? This is my new laptop wallpaper, I just love it so much. I could look at this all day.