About Christmas Stockings

Each year I vow to never take on another commission for hand-knit Christmas stockings, but I'm a sucker. I can't resist.

It starts in mid-November. Actually, the knitting has already been started. November is simply when reality strikes and I realize the knitting-left-to-be-done and time-left-to-do-it ratio is not in my favor.

Reasons to never do this again:

• Slave labor
• Out of print patterns
• Discontinued yarn
• Intarsia sucks
• Sequins
• Seed beads

This year I knit eight and used a stocking from the 1940s as a template. I had to match the yarn, replicate the pattern and pray for gauge. Swatching was grueling, but I finally found the right needle size. I knit like hell. I didn't do house work. I knit during my lunch hour at work. I knit every spare moment I had. I even considered taking the bus to and from work so I could knit during rush hour. By the time I sewed on the last sequin and snipped the last tail of yarn off the last sock, my house was a disaster and I had lost 6 weeks of my life. My carpet was covered in red, white and green yarn...and sequins. I spilled an entire pack of red sequins during my finishing frenzy. It would have really ticked me off but I'm a sparkle whore. As messy as it was, it was sparkly. I knew I was going to need extra vacuum cleaner bags.

So, why do I do this? Because of this:

The stockings are incredible! I love them and everything about them -- the look,the designs, the yarn - its heft and color, the details, the sequins, the bells -- they just announce Christmas in their sight and sound!

 

They took me back to my own childhood as I opened your bag.

 

They have such a timeless and old-fashioned feel about them. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

That's just part of the e-mail I got after delivering the finished socks. I know exactly how she felt when she opened that bag. Every year, I hang the Christmas stockings that my mom knit for me and my son. (Mine is considerably older than Zack's and it has been repaired a couple times.) They are the most valuable Christmas heirlooms that I own. There is no describing how good it made me feel to read her e-mail and know that I helped bring those memories back to her. That's not something you get to do every day.

Is it any wonder I'm a sucker? 

The pattern (such as it is) and charts are at the end of this post.

Basic pattern…if you can knit a sock, these directions will make sense. No copyright on this pattern as I duplicated an old stocking knit in the 1940-50s that was given to me as a template. Plymouth Encore works well, could also be knit in Galway or similar weight. I used a size 6 needle to get a tighter fabric than you would want for a garment.

• cast on 62 (use a stretchy cast on!) on straight needles with intarsia the leg of the sock needs to be knit flat
• 2x2 rib for an inch
• stockinette stitch for body
• decrease two times on both edges, first one about half way down, second one about 2 inches after that
• transfer to DPNs and join, knit in round for about 4 rounds
• knit heel flap on 28 stitches. S1 K1 for knit row, and S1 P to end on purl row. do this for 24 rows, or so you have 12 slip stitch rows
• turn heel starting with a purl row as follows:
• purl 15 sts, p2tog, p1, turn
• s1, k3, k2tog, k1, turn
• s1, purl to gap (between the two stitches purled together and the slip stitch) purl these two together, p1, turn
• continue as such until all stitches are used up, should end after a knit row
• pick up 13 stitches along heel flap, knit across instep, pick up 13 more stitches along other side of heel fap, continue knitting in the round AT THE SAME TIME, decrease on either side of gusset every other row until 28 stitches remain
• knit in round for desired length
• decrease for toe

The sock is a bit narrow for my taste, but I was matching existing socks. I would probably cast on a dozen more stitches or so, and maybe make the toe just a bit shorter.