Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Vintage Christmas Stocking

My friend Becky asked me, upon learning of my knitting skills, if I would be so kind as to knit up Christmas stockings for her two newest grandkids and her newest son in law. I agreed and she brought me the pattern and the yarn and I set about working on them.

Unfortunately, I was only able to take shitty camera phone pictures of the stockings because I was stranded in Manville at the time I finished these, so you'll have to forgive that.

And I figured that, since it was such an old looking pattern and I couldn't find any copyright info on the pamphlet, I would post it online for others to use. Well it turns out that it was probably one of my better ideas as I got a lot of messages on Ravelry from people. Some who had a relative knit these stockings, others who were looking for the pattern to continue a similar tradition to what my friend Becky has (all of her family members have one of these), and another who was a little upset because she found my online pattern after she knitted one using an existing stocking as a guide.

So anyways, I figured I would transfer the pattern from my livejournal to here since, well, this is my knitting blog after all. So here ya go:

Supplies Needed:

+1 Skein Each of the Following Yarn:
Red Heart Super Saver Hot Red
Red Heart Super Saver Soft White
Red Heart Super Saver Paddy Green
Red Heart Super Saver Spruce
Red Heart Super Saver Black
Red Heart Super Saver Petal Pink
White mohair yarn

+Size US 9 needles
+Bobbins
+Yarn Needle


Wind Approximately:
5 yards of soft white onto each of 3 bobbins
7 yards of paddy green onto each of 2 bobbins
8 yards of hot red onto each of 3 bobbins
About 2 or 3 yards of black onto two bobbins
About 2 yards of pink onto one bobbin
About 4 yards of spruce onto one bobbin
About 2 yards of soft white and white mohair on one bobbin held together (for beard)

Work remaining soft white, paddy green and hot red from skeins.

Note: Stocking is worked back and forth on needles with the seam at the center back.

Cuff
With skein of white, cast on 60 stitches and work K2 P2 rib for 8 rows. Increase one stitch at the end of row 8 by purling into the front and back of the stitch. You'll have 61 stitches. Break the white and leave a 10 inch end for seaming.

Attach the red and work stockinette stitch for 9 rows. Break the red and leave a 10 inch end for seaming.
Join skein of paddy green and P 39. Drop green, attach bobbin of white and P 1. drop white, take up paddy green and P 9. Drop dark green, join another white bobbin and P 1. Drop white, pick up paddy green and P 11.

Continue to follow the chart (found below) with care not to carry yarn over more than 3 sts. If you need to carry yarn over a large expanse of stitches, twist the yarn you're carrying around the working yarn at each stitch. Use extra bobbins of yarn for each color change and bring the new color under the last color used to prevent a hole.

Decrease 1 stitch on each side at rows 39, 49, 59 and 69 so you have 53 sts at the end of the chart. Work to the end of the chart (85 sts above ribbing) and end with a P row. Break the paddy green and the white yarn and leave a 16 inch tail of the paddy green for seaming.

With right side facing you, slip first 13 sts to a thread for the right half of the heel (from the ornament side), slip the next 27 sts to a thread for the instep, and slip the last 13 sts to the free needle for the left half of the heel (santa side)

Left Half of Heel
Beg. on wrong side, join white.
Row 1 Purl
Row 2 Slip 1, K 12.
Repeat these two rows 8 more times so you have 18 rows on the heel.

Turn Heel as Follows
P2, P2tog, P1, turn
Slip 1, K3, Turn
P3, P2tog, P1, turn
Slip 1, K4, Turn
P4, P2Tog, P1, turn
Slip 1, K5, Turn
P5, P2Tog, P1, Turn
Slip 1, K6, Turn
P6, P2tog, P1; 8 Sts.
Break yarn and place sts on a thread

Right Half of Heel
Beg. at inner edge, take up 13 sts of right half of heel (right side will be facing you). Join white.
Row 1 Knit
Row 1 Slip 1, P 12.
Repeat these rows 8 more times so you have 18 rows on the heel.

Turn Heel As Follows
K2, Slip, Knit and PSSO, K1, turn
Slip 1, P3, Turn
K3, Slip, Knit and PSSO, K1, turn
Slip 1, P4, Turn
P4, Slip, Knit and PSSO, K1, turn
Slip 1, P5, Turn
P5, Slip, Knit and PSSO, K1, Turn
Slip 1, P6, Turn
P6, Slip, Knit and PSSO, K1; 8 Sts.

With the same needle and the white yarn, pick up and knit 9 sts from the inner edge of the half heel (the 9 stitches that were slipped on the beginning of the heel)
Take up and K across the 27 sts of the instep, pick up and K the 9 sts of the inner edge of the other half heel, then K across the 8 heel sts. 61 STS.

Gussets and Instep
Row 1 and all odd numbered rows With white, Purl
Row 2 K14, K2tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K14
Row 4 K13, K2Tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K13
Row 6 K12, K2Tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K12
Row 8 K11, K2Tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K11
Row 10 K10, K2Tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K11
Row 12K9, K2Tog, K29, Slip, K and PSSO, K9
49 STS
Work Stockinette stitch (P 1 row, K 1 row) for 14 rows, ending with a K row. Break white and leave a 12 inch tail for seaming.
Join skein of red and P 1 row and K 1 row for 11 rows, ending with a P row.

Dec. Row, K23, K2Tog, K24; 48 STS
P 1 Row

Toe
Row 1 - right side - K9, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K18, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K9; 44 sts
Row 2 and all even numbered rows - Purl
Row 3 K8, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K16, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K8; 40 sts
Row 7 K7, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K14, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K7; 36 sts
Row 9 K6, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K12, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K6; 32 sts
Row 11 K5, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K10, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K5; 28 sts
Row 13 K4, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K8, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K4; 24 sts
Row 15 K3, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K6, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K3; 20 sts
Row 17 K2, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K4, K2Tog, K2, Slip, K and PSSO, K2; 16 sts

After last Dec row, with wrong side facing you, place the first 4 sts onto a needle holder, then slip the next 8 sts to the free needle. Slip the last 4 sts to a 2nd holder.

Beg. with the 4th st, slip 4 sts from the first holder onto the 2nd needle. K the last 4 sts from the 2nd holder onto the same needle having side edges at center of needle. Points of both needles should be at the same side as the end of the yarn. Break the yarn, leaving a 14-inch end for weaving the toe.

Weaving Toe - Thread the yarn into a yarn needle and weave the sts together as follows:
*Pass needle through first st of front needle as if to K and slip st off, pass through 2nd sts of front needle as if to purl and leave st on needle. Draw yarn through, pass needle through first st of back needle as if to purl and slip st. off. Pass through 2nd st of back needle as if to knit, leave st on needle and draw yarn through: Repeat from * until all sts are joined. Fasten off.

Finishing
Sew in all ends securely. Sew seams with matching colors. Steam stocking lightly, do not steam ribbing. Using letter chart below and duplicate stitch, stitch name onto stocking with white yarn on the red stripe at the top of the stocking. (Letters are 7 sts high)

Sew a white pom-pom or jingle bell onto Santa's Cap and a small red pom-pom for his nose.

Trim the tree with sequins and beads as follows:
Sew beads and sequins onto the tree, inserting needle from wrong side through the stocking and the sequin, then through the bead and back through the same sequine and stocking to the wrong side.

CHARTS

Santa Chart

Or you can download it here:
For Excel
For Microsoft Works Spread Sheet


Letters



And now for my horribly bad camera phone pics of the stockings I made:

A close up


The backside


A Comparison


What I'm not happy about is how completely different the two santas look, even though I was SUPER anal about the stitch count and everything. I'm sort of glad I didn't take any pics of the 3rd stocking cause that was even more different.

What those pictures also do not show is that after they were done, I stitched sequins onto the trees to look like ornaments, stitched a star at the top of each tree and stitched a gold jingle bell on santa's hat. I also crocheted strips that were three stitches wide and 20 sts in length and sewed them on as the hanger.

So there you have it folks, the vintage Christmas stocking.

6 comments:

Diana said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! There was no way my knitting skills would be good (or patient) enough to reconstruct this pattern on my own and someone wanted $50 per to do it for my family! You are great.

Unknown said...

THANKS so much for posting. I have spent hours and $ looking for this pattern and now I have it!!

Unknown said...

This is a great find!! Thank you thank you thank you! My sister had this one and I always wanted one like it. Now I can make it for my boys!!

Unknown said...

OMG!! This is my stocking my Aunt made me 54 years ago!!! I have been looking for this pattern and the rest of the stockings that my family has. Do you have any more vintage stocking patterns???

Lori said...

My Mom made this stocking for her 3 daughters and all the first cousins, as well as for my husband and 3 sons, for a total of 14 stockings!!! It is my turn to continue the tradition for my first grandchild. I have her original pattern which is yellowed and fragile. It is also faded where it is creased. I was going to have to recreate several areas. Thank you so much for posting the chart and instructions.

Pat said...

How do you flip the instructions so the toe and Santa point left?