Monday, December 18, 2017

The Tale of Knitting a Christmas Stocking

A very good customer of ours asked us in December of 2016 if we could knit a Christmas stocking for her for next year. This stocking was for her daugher-in-law. Apparently all of her children have this same stocking.

In January she brought the stocking to us. Of course life gets in the way (in a big way this year) and we don't get to the stocking until November. We all know when she needs it!

Keep in mind we have never done a Christmas stocking before. This pattern is called an Old Fashion Christmas Stocking and old fashion it was - right down to the yarn - very old wool yarn that I kept getting splinters from. Who knew you could get splinters from yarn?

So with that build up,  here's the tale of Knitting a Christmas Stocking Step By Step.


The ribbing was the easiest part of this whole project. It was knit one, purl one for an inch and a half.


The next step was knitting her name into the stocking. You guessed it we have never done that before. The way the pattern wanted me to knit the name in wouldn't work since "Chelsea" was too long. So out came the graph paper to figure out how this was going to go. Donna and I worked on the name for two days trying to get it to work in 52 stitches.


So then the pattern called for us to knit the tree in the stocking. Well we did and it was the most anemic tree ever. So I tore out the whole block and then just knitted with the red and made my own version of the tree and sewed it on. It looked so much better. 


The next block was the Santa block. We did have to knit him in as we didn't have any idea of how to make a Santa and sew him on. 


The next part was turning the heel - never did that before. Thank heavens Donna made a pair of socks once and sort of remembered how to do that.
My only regret in this project was following the pattern for knitting in the year. 
I wish I would have made it smaller like her name. 
Oh well, live and learn. 



Here it is - the stocking is all finished. 
I have to say it is the longest stocking I have ever seen.
The customer was very happy with it and she said the stockings that have been used for years are very long at this point. I guess Chelsea will have to work on being a good girl so hers will get longer from all the gifts as well. 

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!