Little Stocking

My neighbor-niece, CutiePie, came over on Thursday morning to learn how to knit Christmas Stockings on the knitting machine. I spent about 1 1/2 hours teaching her how to use the knitting machine and make a stocking. She is only 10 and the daughter of a dear friend. All her children call me 'Aunt' and my children call her 'Aunt' as well.

CutiePie came over because she wants to help me with a bigger project. In a few weeks we will be having a class on dying wool. My 'brilliant' idea is to have enough mini-stockings knit in white wool so that each child can dye their own stocking! I'm not sure if that will happen since I will need to have 15 stockings made by then. When CutiePie heard my idea she said, "I can help!" So of course I wanted to let her help. Hopefully the learning curve won't take too much time!

We made one mini-stocking on Thursday. When I am knitting by myself, instead of teaching, I can get about 4-5 stockings knit in an hour. It takes me another 10-15 minutes to stitch up the toe and the side of each stocking.

Hopefully one day I will write up my pattern notes into a real pattern that someone else can follow. When I do, I will post it to my blog. For now, here is a photo of the stocking we knit.

This mini-stocking is about 10" long. It isn't too hard to adjust this pattern to make other sizes. The number of stitches cast on is the same as the number of rows for the leg. The number of rows for the cuff is the same as the number of rows for the leg (the cuff is doubled over so it looks as if it has fewer rows).  The number of rows for the foot is 1/2 the number of rows for the leg.

Photo of the inside of a mini-stocking after it has
come off the knitting machine.

  Photo of the right side of a mini-stocking after it has
come off the knitting machine.

When our children were younger I would knit three stockings for each child to give away to their favorite friends for Christmas. The stockings were filled with small candies, pencils, erasers, small toys, or anything else that our children could think of for their friends. When I meet one of my children's childhood friends, they often let me know that they still have the little stockings that were knit for them so many years ago. That brings a smile to my face every time. I'm glad to know that it is something that they treasure and have fond memories of.