We live in a cold climate, and chapped lips are a frequent battle, so I figured that giving her a way to keep lipgloss close at hand was a worthwhile effort, so I whipped up one of my own to tuck in her stocking for St. Nick's. And when you make one, you always have to make another. At least that's true in my house! Whatever one has, the other wants.
(For those who are not in my exact part of the state, Saint Nicholas Day is an oddly SUPER regionally celebrated thing - my husband is from just 4 hours away and never celebrated it growing up....and I'm not even sure my parents did just 90 minutes away! It has something to do with having a high concentration of German immigrants. It's funny, because I'm not totally sure of the difference between Santa and St. Nick, even though I read a brief description of the holiday on Wikipedia, or why we somehow get visited twice in the month of December. I do know that I like to give Christmas jammies for this "holiday," because then they can be appropriately and festively worn all month.)
Regardless of the whys or wherefores, I thought this was a tiny enough project that I could have it done in a night or two. After a little trial and error I figured it out and thought I'd just jot it down here in case anyone does THEIR stocking stuffing for Christmas day or Hanukkah or something! I used size 1 needles and leftover sock yarn - in this case it was Trekking. I cast on 20 stitches and did 1x1 ribbing in the round for about 5 rounds. Then I switched to stockinette (or at least I did when I was paying attention - I had to tink back one row when I realized I was ribbing again while I was knitting watching tv), and knit until the tube was just shy of 2". Then I k2tog for the next 2 rounds, and then threaded the tail through the remaining 5 stitches and cinched it tight and wove in the end. (It will not be fun to turn that little tube inside out, and this is why I don't knit gloves.) Then I took a small crochet hook and did a chain of about 24", but just adjust the length based on how long you want the necklace to be. I was too lazy to get up and check, but I wanted mine to be approximately the length of those mardi gras beads, so I just eyeballed it. Then I took the tails and tied them on to the ribbing, and wove the ends in so hopefully it will be secure. If not.....well I guess I'll have to whip up another one. My second one only took about an hour.
I filled them with Bonne Bell Lipsmacker, because despite all the fancy, environmentally better brands I've tried.....I still love that stuff. I used it allllll through high school and college, and it might just be time to quit fooling myself and go back to it. I'm a fruit flavored gal myself, I never cared for the sugary scents. I bought an 8 pack and held some back for myself, and to replace these when they inevitably get lost. Or possibly eaten, you never know!
I wasn't actually sure if these would be just weird or awesome. The reception this morning was quite good! I, of course, got no credit. Apparently St. Nick is ALSO a knitter. :) I'm interested to see how they fare after a day of school!
**UPDATE** I definitely needed a more secure way to attach the cord. I ended up doing slip stitch crochet all through the ribbing on one side (about 4 or 5 stitches), crocheting a new chain, and then slip stitch crochet into the ribbing on the other side.
