When my friend Erika asked if I could design a Christmas stocking, I thought, “Why not?”

Why let something small—like never having knit one before—stop a knitting project?

Deciding to start at the beginning with some basic research, I plowed into the project.  After studying Christmas stockings’ construction, I decided it wouldn’t be any harder than knitting socks.  And was pleasantly surprised to find they were easier to knit than I thought.

So just how do you make Christmas stockings?

1. Knitting Christmas stockings is very similar to knitting socks.  Yes, the original Christmas stockings were actually stockings children wore the rest of the year.  So, the overall pattern is roughly the same as a sock pattern.
2. Modern Christmas stockings tend to be larger than socks. Larger in diameter and leg length, although the foot is often knit shorter.
3. To hide the stocking stuffers from little eyes, their stockings are often knit in stockinette stitchrather than a lace pattern.  Stockinette stitch is also a traditional pattern for stockings.  Stockinette stitch even gets its name from knitting stockings.


Candy Cane version of Christmas Stockings

4. Because most Christmas stockings are knit in the round, stockinette stitch is all knit stitches.  Many knitters prefer the knit stitch to the purl stitch.
5. If this is one of your first projects knit in the round, the yarn and needles are usually heavier than those used to knit socks to be worn.  This makes knitting Christmas stockings easier, especially if you’re not used to knitting with either a set of double-pointed needles or two circular needles.
6. Christmas stockings usually are knit from the top down, although there’s no reason they couldn’t be knit from the bottom up.  You might have to adjust a motif or graph if you’re knitting your sock in more than one color.
7. Because the stocking is for decoration, the heel usually looks squared and is often different than the main stocking color.
8. The toe is often the same contrasting color as the heel.
9. And left-handed knitters will be happy to note that Christmas stockings can be knit left-handed, too.  If the pattern has an asymmetrical motif, you may end up with a mirror image unless you reverse the graph.  The good news is most Christmas motifs are either symmetric or can be just as lovely as a mirror image.

Victorian version of Christmas Stocking

So you can see that knitting Christmas stockings isn’t so complicated after all!  And they’re fun to knit, then display or give away.

Keep knitting to your heart’s delight — or someone else’s,

The Knitting Yarn

Update 12/11/2011: Get my Christmas stocking patterns to knit by clicking here right now.

Knitting with crochet thread is definitely a challenge.

Maybe that’s the reason it’s called crochet thread or crochet cotton.

I’m using two strands of #10 thread, and stockinette stitch.  I like how the two colors of thread make their own pattern, even though it doesn’t show up well in this picture..

Even so, my progress has been slower than I’d like.

I’m trying to decide if it’s the size of the thread … the small circular knitting needles … or because the thread doesn’t “give” like yarn. Or maybe it’s a combination of more than one.

Right now, I just can’t figure it out.

What I do know is I seem to be finding excuses — maybe any excuse — to avoid knitting this project.

First it was one thing, then another.  And when I find myself looking for chores to do instead of knitting … well, I know there’s something not quite right.

The project started off okay. Here it is on May 1:

And now it’s probably about half finished:

It’s definitely at the, “Do I want to continue with this or just rip it out and start over?” stage.  And, I can’t decide.

Somehow the prospect of knitting this project has become, well w-o-r-k. 

My general rule of knitting is: it should be fun … or at least enjoyable.  In all truthfulness, I do like the softness of the knitted fabric. It has a nice thickness to it, and just might make the whole project worthwhile.

So, instead of ripping out my hard work, I’ll take a page from Scarlett O’Hara … and think about it tomorrow.

After all, it is only knitting …

Earlier this year, I knit a bag.

It’s made of hand spun wool, which I dyed with Kool-Aid.  Two packages of black cherry, and one of orange. The original color was grayish brown. Or was it brownish gray?

The bag is knit on circular needles, because I decided to minimize the number of seams.  It has one seam at the bottom.  And even that one I closed without sewing.

How?

Well, more on that later.

The pattern is actually fairly simple. I used a combination of garter stitch and stockinette stitch. Stockinette because, well it’s easy on circular needles.  You just knit every stitch.  And garter, because I wanted a flat not rolled top and a thicker bottom.

The bag ends when it does because, well I was tired of knitting garter stitch on circular needles. Hey, I thought it’s as good an excuse as any!

Garter stitch makes a nice sturdy bottom, don’t you agree?

When I made the bag, I wasn’t sure if I’d use it for a purse or a bag.  I decided to line it because, well pens and knitting needles tend to poke through the knitted fabric.  And after I finished it, I decided I like it for my knitting.

So, now I have a knitted knitting bag.

The instructions, including how I closed the bottom and my suggestions for places you could customize it are all in the pattern.

The pattern is free. You can download it here.

Here’s another view:

Or two …

When most folks think of “plain knitting” they usually mean stockinette stitch.

Because it’s smooth, and looks like the same stitch on the right side, it’s often thought by non-knitters to be the first stitch knitters learn.  Usually garter stitch is practiced first, because garter stitch uses only the knit stitch.  That is, every stitch is knit (no purl stitches). Its ridges often make it seem more complex.

On two needles, stockinette stitch is a row of knit stitches followed by a row of purl.  For circular knitting, whether using a circular needle … two circulars … or three or more double-pointed needles stockinette stitch is knitting every stitch in every row. Circular knitting though is more advanced than knitting with two needles.  So, even though stockinette can be knit every stitch, it’s not the way most knitters learn stockinette.

Unlike garter stitch, stockinette stitch has a tendency to curl. So borders, whether of garter stitch or ribbing are more common to help flatten the finished article.  And depending upon the yarn, blocking can help, too.

Stockinette stitch can be the first step towards more complex patterns.  For example, knitting with more than one color of yarn.  Whether Fair Isle, or some other pattern.

Looks complex, doesn’t it? This pattern uses only two colors.  It was fun to knit. And yes, I did follow a chart for it.  Well, sort of.  I actually changed the pattern from the original.

Here’s a more complex Fair Isle pattern from the ‘net:

Image via Wikipedia

I like to think of cable stitches as another variation of stockinette.

While they look complex, if you look closely you’ll see stockinette stitch, and reverse stockinette stitch in the pattern.  Reverse stockinette:  all purled stitches, found on the wrong side of stockinette stitch.

My latest project is stockinette stitch on circular needles.

Knit with two strands of crochet cotton, I like the variegated effect.

What are you knitting?