Carrying on the tradition

Growing up, my family all had matching Christmas stockings. My Auntie Elaine made them for us. Pretty much anyone who knew Auntie Elaine had Christmas stockings made by her. She was one of the most caring, giving people I’ve ever met. She loved to laugh and took great joy in her friends and family. I remember her always knitting away in her car, in the living room, pretty much anywhere. But, when I was little, I didn’t think too much about that. It was just part of who she was. She made everyone Christmas stockings. That's just what she did.

Fast forward about 15 years or so… Auntie Elaine had diabetes her whole life. She was insulin dependent. Eventually, her body started to break down and she had to have her legs amputated. Not long after that, she passed away. The world lost a wonderful woman that day.

As the years passed, our family grew. My siblings got married and started families of their own. When we would gather at my mom’s house, we would have all our Christmas stockings out that Auntie Elaine made us. Alongside of these wonderful treasures, we had some pretty pathetic little felt stockings for the new members of the family.

This is what prompted me to learn how to knit. I wasn’t one of those people that started knitting with a scarf. I decided to knit Christmas stockings. With intarsia. Yeah, I tend to jump into something with both feet.

Here’s one of the stockings that my aunt made:

It's a Mary Maxim pattern from the '70s, I think. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/mary-maxim-9042-christmas-stockings

I’ve made several stockings since then. One for each of the members of my family that didn’t have one (I think it was around 5 or 6). Three for a friend of the family. This is one of mine:

And now, another friend of the family has asked me to make a stocking for her daughter’s fiancé (the same snowman as above) and to alter the name on the one that my aunt made. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I feel pretty confident that I’ll get them finished before Christmas being that it’s only April!!!

Here’s where I’m at now:

Every time I make one of these stockings, I feel close to Auntie Elaine. I realize how much love went into each stitch. I’m glad to be able to continue the tradition.