Knitting for Christmas in July Part Two

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I decided to do a continuation of yesterday's Christmas in July post because I knitted more of the Christmas stocking. It is looking more like a Christmas stocking now and I wanted to share my progress with you. I also want to continue this Christmas topic a little longer.

Some of you commented that you love Christmas too and that you celebrated Christmas in July already, which is so great to hear! I can't wait to celebrate with you once Christmas is here and I have something special planned for around that time and I am looking forward to it!

I knitted more of the stocking yesterday and today. I am following the pattern Jumbo Christmas Stockings in a Jiffy-Striped by Jennifer Jackson which I found on Ravelry. Today, I learned more about the traveling jog-less stripes that I was not aware of before. It is so much easier than cutting the yarn each time, then having to weave in the ends afterwards. I watched a few videos on the technique including the video "How to Knit Traveling Jogless Stripes in the Round" by the YouTube account New Stitch a Day: Knitting and Crochet Video Tutorials. It was so helpful to watch and follow along with the videos while learning how to do it. Using this technique for knitting stripes made it look so much tighter and cleaner than when I was cutting the yarn when I was finished with each color. It was loose because of having the strands sticking out and harder to tighten them. While I am knitting the stocking, I am thinking of all the Christmas goodies that will be filling the stocking and getting more excited about Christmas.

Stocking with the cuff rolled down which is how it will look when it is complete

I pulled out these two plush Christmas decorations that I love today to take photos of the stocking. This really made me feel like it was Christmas in July. All of the things I have collected over the years brings me such joy and I love pulling it out and decorating my home with them. Last year we had people over and they called my elf friend here, "Elf on the Shelf" as it was sitting on our windowsill. It does resemble Elf on the Shelf, but hopefully not as creepy.

I am happy with the stocking so far, and working on my jog-less stripes technique. It still looks a bit obvious where the change in color begins. I will be working on this technique as I knit along.

While thinking of Christmas this morning, I came up with a list of some of the things I would like to accomplish before the Christmas season begins. I usually begin my celebrating around the middle of November, so this gives me some time to think about what I would like to do and get these things done. I will go into depth closer to Christmas about these goals on my blog, but these are just a few things I would like to think about earlier on before the rush begins.

• Knit Christmas gifts for family, friends, and boyfriend
• Knit Christmas stockings
• Knit some decorations for the apartment
• Research new cookie/Christmas treat recipes
• Start Christmas shopping early
• Think of ideas for gifts 
• Create Christmas gifts budget 

Thank you for visiting my blog for the second post in Christmas in July, you can Click here for the first post I did yesterday for part one of Christmas in July! If you would like to follow me to keep updated on when I post blog posts, please follow me on Bloglovin' or Google Followers.

Have a great day!

Knitting for Christmas in July

Hello Friends,


I hope you are doing well.  I have been seeing Christmas in July everywhere lately, I have seen some vloggers and bloggers doing Christmas in July posts.  I did a Google search and read that people like to celebrate Christmas now because we don't have any holidays at this time of the year. I myself have started thinking more about Christmas lately, and thinking about our traditions and looking forward to it. I love the warm feeling of Christmas, being with loved ones, giving gifts to each other, and I really love knitting gifts for my family and friends to show how much I appreciate them. I was inspired by seeing Christmas in July everywhere, that I decided to also blog about it.

I remember that last Christmas, I was thinking it would be so nice to knit up some Christmas Stockings. But I realized with all the Christmas gifts I was knitting already, I wouldn't have enough time to get them done. So, I am going to start early this year and hopefully knit up a couple stockings for my boyfriend and I for Christmas. I found a pattern on Ravelry for Jumbo Christmas Stockings in a Jiffy-Striped by Jennifer Jackson and thought they looked really cute and it would be do-able in time for Christmas. I am excited to get started. I looked over the pattern and bought the yarn needed and I am ready to begin.

I love knitting with these new bamboo US 15 needles with the chunky, soft yarn. It has been awhile since I knitted with super bulky yarn and thick needles, and today I really enjoyed knitting with them again. I also love how quick you can knit something up with bulky yarn. Sometimes I am knitting with the fine yarn and it feels like I am not getting very far because it takes more time to knit up. The pattern I am using for the stockings, is Jumbo Christmas Stocking in a Jiffy- Striped by Jennifer L. Jackson, and I found the pattern on Ravelry.

Photo by Jennifer L. Jackson from her Ravelry pattern page (click for photo source)

So Christmas is only 5 months away which is crazy and I am so excited for it to be the holiday season. Is anyone else like that? I love the music, the decorations, the food, the family gatherings, the shopping, and just the happiness it brings. I even catch myself listening to Christmas music and it is summer, it feels wrong but I love it. I am looking forward to spending my second Christmas living with my boyfriend. He is now more aware of how obsessed I get with Christmas and he thinks my Christmas in July post is kind of crazy, but I think he secretly loves it. That is what I am telling myself anyways. I usually start celebrating right after Halloween, like maybe a week after. I used to decorate the family Christmas tree in mid-November and I still go over to my parent's house for our Christmas tree decorating and we have dinner, decorate the tree, and eat too many chocolates and cookies, and have my favorite festive drink, eggnog! So the countdown begins...

I have still been reading Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding, and Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. This does not reflect on how good they are, I just haven't been reading a lot these past few weeks and should make reading more of a priority.

In other knitting updates, I blocked my first sweater piece and will be working on blocking the others this week which I will share with you soon.  I have been working on knitting up the kerchief and almost done, and knitting the chevron lace scarf and will be starting to knit my summer sock project soon.  It has been really busy with my certificate courses wrapping up for the Summer but I will find the time to knit as well

Joining along with Frontier Dreams with Crafting On, The Little Room of Rachell with Yarning Along, AsKatKnits with Unraveled Wednesday, and Julie's Creative Lifestyle with Cooking and Crafting with J&J.

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My First Time Blocking a Knitted Piece for the Sweater

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well.  Today I went to Michael's craft store and bought some yarn and needles for a project I will share with you soon, and then to Walmart to buy some more pins for blocking. They did not carry them at this location, so I bought some dress pins and they worked well along with the fork pins I had purchased already. I will definitely be buying more blocking pins in the future. I blocked my first knitted piece and it took quite awhile because I was just getting used to placing the pins and making sure they stayed in place and made sure the tension was good and even throughout the piece. It required cold blocking by spraying the piece once it was pinned down to the desired measurements. I pinned it all down, then used a spray bottle and sprayed cold water on the piece. I was not sure how much to spray so I kept going until it was all damp.  Now it is sitting in my living room drying on the foam mats.

After pinning the sweater and spraying the piece

 First, I pinned the bottom of the piece to be 24 inches across, I had to stretch it quite a bit. I did not have to stretch it up as much it was already pretty close to the measurement because I knit a little extra so it would be longer.

It is hard to see, but the photo is of the pins up the side of the piece

Before blocking the piece

After the piece is pinned and sprayed 

I will be sharing how all the pieces turned out in an upcoming post. I will post some before and after shots to show the difference blocking makes.

I went to Michael's today and they had a clearance sale on these Loops & Threads skeins and I scooped them up for $4 each. I was looking for white and red super bulky yarn for a project so I was very happy. I bought the US 15 bamboo needles for the project and the Patons Kroy socks yarn for the next pair of socks I will start knitting soon.

Michael's haul 

I enjoyed my first time blocking a knitted piece. It took a lot of focus and attention to detail. It is very important to have a lot of time to work on blocking a piece, because it took me longer than I expected it to. I am looking forward to seeing how all the pieces turn out after they are blocked, and how it looks once I seam all the pieces together and have a sweater.

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Hope you have a great day!