Traditions

We have a tradition on my mom's side of the family that has been floundering since my great grandma (Gram) passed away.

Christmas Stockings.

Gram knitted stockings for everyone in the family.  Every child born had a stocking.  Gram would start making the stocking when she found out someone was pregnant, and then finish it once she found out the baby's name. 

Gram passed away quite a while ago, but no one really thought much of the stockings because we were in a lull.  The great grandkids were all too young to be having kids, and all of the grandchildren were already married with children.

My mom and I talked last year about the stockings.  My mom ended up with the pattern, so we could make them if we knew how.  A number of my cousins have had children and I've brought one in through marriage.  None of the husbands/wives that married into the family in my generation have gotten a stocking either.  So, there's a backlog of at least 9 stockings.

I remember being excited every single year to get out Gram's stockings to put up for Christmas.  They are still one of my most favorite things in the world.  When I moved out of the house, my mom gave me mine and I remember being so proud to put it up on my mantle for the first time.  Last year, I decided that I was going to take over the stocking making to revive the tradition.  Sure, I have my work cut out for me with a backlog of 9 stockings, but how hard could it be?  Right?  WRONG!  Knitting is either ridiculously hard, or I'm stupid.  I ended up buying a bunch of books and supplies and attempting to teach myself to knit.  I've tried multiple times over the last year and failed miserably every single time.  It's pretty bad when I can't even figure out how to do a regular knit stitch.  Every time I try, I end up with a pearl stitch.  Clearly, I'm doing something VERY wrong.

I'm still determined that I'm going to do this.  But, I've realized that I need help, and a lot of it.  The pattern is complicated, and requires quite a bit of knitting skill.  So, I've signed myself up for a beginning knitting class through our school system.  I also convinced my sister to join me in taking the class.  I'm pretty excited to be taking the class, especially with my baby sister.  It should be fun.  And hopefully, I'll get enough information from this 10 week class that I can really start to practice knitting and start trying out some of the more complicated things in the pattern.  This is my goal:

Just substitute "Kevin" with names like "Alyssa," "Katrina," "Christian," "Mark Jr.," "Noah," etc.  Wish me luck all.  My class starts at the end of September.  I'm sure you'll all be amused at pictures of my kitting debacles -- I might even throw in some from Ashley for fun :)