Christmas Stocking - In Progress

So I've gotten really far on the Christmas Stocking. This is how it looks right now: (Sorry the photo quality is kinda bad; I'll get a better photo when it is done, tho; it's kinda angled, too, so the top looks smaller than it should.)



I had some trouble figuring out how to do the name. First I just crocheted it in, but it wasn't very legible. So then I decided to try to crochet over the top of that to make it more legible, and this is what I ended up with:



Ugly, huh? I thought so, lol. So then I decided to try to do just that part of the stocking with Afghan Stitch. The name was perfectly legible, but I stitched it WAY too tight (wish I could show you; I frogged it to save yarn; I can't believe I didn't notice it until I had finished the name...). I didn't have a proper hook for that, which is probably why it got so tight. So then I decided just to crochet the part white and cross-stitch the name over it. This is how the pattern had you originally doing the heart design that was meant to be on the white band. So I'm thoroughly chastised for not trusting and following the pattern, lol... Anyways, here is how it looks now:



Much better, eh? LOL... Teach me to not trust a pattern...

I still have the Christmas Tree to crochet and sew onto the big white part, and the little Christmas Tree that will hang from a string off the top, and the top has a little bit more that the pattern has you add at the end (another row of red, then two rows of white). I've actually been thinking maybe I should do another checked motif above the name, but I've gotta get my Aunt Sue's okay on that first. Then I have to sew the side up and weave in all the ends!