Robert's Reindeer Christmas Stocking

 Well, I didn't quite finish Robert's reindeer stocking by Christmas.
Here it is without antlers.  You can see that it was entirely functional anyway.  Santa filled it to overflowing!

Today I finally finished it.  It's not exactly like the one my sister made for Katherine many years ago, but it is sweet enough. 

Crocheted Reindeer Christmas Stocking

Years ago when my sister's children were born, she found a pattern for this adorable crocheted reindeer Christmas stocking in a magazine called "Ladies Home Journal."  It was in a November or December issue sometime between 1980 - 1983.  Over the next few years, she made reindeer stockings for all the members of her family.  She made this one in the photo for my daughter, Katherine, for one of her first Christmases.

This year, Katherine and her partner, Robert, are coming to California for Christmas and Robert doesn't have a Christmas stocking.  So I am making one for him.  I do much more knitting than crocheting, so I had to get help to get started.  Now I have the hang of it and am having fun!

After I took the photograph pictured above, I noticed a glaring error in the middle of the stocking.  You can probably see the error if you click on the photo to see it up close. It was impossible to ignore, so I ripped out to that point and corrected my error.  It's actually a lot easier to rip out crocheting than knitting! The yarn is a microfiber with rich chocolate color and nice stitch definition.  The stocking design has interesting texture patterns.

My Russian Orenburg Shawl

Welcome, my Russian friends! In honor of visitors to my blog from Russia, I am posting photos of my exquisite handknitted lace shawl from Russia.  It was given to me as a gift when I lived in Moscow in 1976. The person who gave it to me alluded to its uniqueness and value and said the women who knit these lace shawls do their knitting using bicycle spokes for knitting needles.

From Three Orenburg Shawls to Knit: The Gossamer Webs Design Collection by Galina Khmeleva: "For over three hundred years, knitters from the Orenburg region of Russia have been creating Gossamer-style lace shawls and scarves from a series of basic elements and patterns handed down from generation to generation."  The author also says that the shawls are knit with the "special Orenburg-down fiber," but she doesn't elaborate on what the fiber is, exactly.  According to the Wikipedia page on Orenburg shawls  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orenburg_shawl), the fiber is a two ply blend of silk and the down of indigenous Orenburg goats (finer even than Angora goat down).

I don't know if my shawl is an authentic Orenburg shawl, or an Orenburg-style shawl made by a Russian knitter outside of the Orenburg region.  If any of my blog readers know how to identify authentic Orenburg knitting, I invite you to leave a comment on my blog.  I would also be grateful for any instructions on how to safely wash my shawl.  Through the years it has become slightly yellow colored and I have been afraid to wash it, it is so delicate.

Here are a few more photographs.  I encourage you to click on each photograph so you can see the fine detail of the knitting up close.