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The Story:
Counting down the days to Christmas is a tradition dating from the early 19th century. Beginning on December 1st, people marked a chalk line on their doors or lit a new candle for each day until the 25th.
The first printed advent calendar appeared in the early 19th century. Whether it came from Hamburg or Munich is in dispute, but Gerald Lang of Munich is credited for making popular the printed advent calendar. His first version included pictures meant to attach to a cardboard piece one day at a time.
At the same time that Lang was printing his picture calendars, the Sankt Johannis Printing Company was printing a version with little doors that opened each day to reveal a Bible verse.
Advent calendars were made regularly until World War II, when printing was suspended due to a shortage of paper. After the war, Richard Sellmer in Germany brought back and made very popular the sale of printed advent calendars. His company, Richard Sellmer Verlag, is still makes a large portion of the traditional advent calendars available today.
Of course, advent calendars aren’t necessarily limited to paper. Modern ‘calendars’ might include a chocolate a day or little gifts (mini-socks?) for each of the days leading up to Christmas.
The Yarn:
Alpaca Sox — 60% alpaca, 20% merino wool, 20% nylon
Alpaca Sox, CEY’s signature sock yarn, is spun from a blend of fibers designed to make a comfortable, warm sock. Alpaca provides warmth and softness, wool adds elasticity and cushion, and a little nylon lends strength and durability. The construction of Alpaca Sox is unique too. Most sock yarns are plied and tightly twisted to make them dense, smooth, and long-lasting. Alpaca Sox is a 2-ply yarn twisted just enough to be durable, but relaxed enough that the soft alpaca fibers can expand a little and show their halo. The yarn feels lofty and light and is as lovely in shawls, scarves and baby sweaters as it is in socks.
Alpaca Sox is available in solid colors, hand-dyed multi-colors, and kettle dyes. The solids are great when you want to show off stitch patterns. The hand-dyes make effortless colorful socks when you want the yarn to do the work. And our new, softly shaded kettle dyes are the perfect middle ground; they provide color interest with a slight, easy shifting of color value that doesn’t hide or compete with stitch patterns.
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more photos
The Pattern:
Here is the free downloadable Alpaca Sox Mini-Socks pattern.
The Stitches:
Short rows are used to turn the heel in this mini- sock. The short rows used here, however, are different from short rows that use wrapped stitches to prevent holes. Short rows that shape a sock's heel generally use decreases to hide the gaps made by turning mid-row. On RS rows a left slanting decrease (ssk) is worked at the end of the short row, and on WS rows a right slanting decrease (p2tog) is worked at the end of the short row. You could try something a little different and work a right slanting decrease (k2tog) on RS rows and left slanting decrease (ssp) on WS rows. These socks are mini and work up super-fast—why not give it a try to see the difference?
Here is more about left and right slanting decreases.
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