My childhood friend Sarah was one of 10 kids. At Christmas every year, her family would hang up stockings that her grandmother had knit for each and every child. Every stocking had a name on it. I remember thinking that this was the height of all things crafty. I dreamed of one day being able to do the same. Well, fast forward several decades, and I'm finally fulfilling that wish!
This is one of my very first knitting patterns! I wanted to make a classic stocking that would be large enough to hold tons of gifts. I also wanted to be able to embroider a name on the stocking. Finally, I wanted to make a stocking that could be knit on 16" circular needles in order to avoid ladders. I've made quite a few stockings over the past year (see my inspiration here) and when I knit long stretches of stockinette, I can see ladders in my work if I use magic loop. Hence, circular needles were a must for these heirloom stockings. This pattern I created fits the bill! The final stocking is 17 inches tall by 6 inches wide. Want to make your own? I've written the pattern down below.
This is one of my very first knitting patterns! I wanted to make a classic stocking that would be large enough to hold tons of gifts. I also wanted to be able to embroider a name on the stocking. Finally, I wanted to make a stocking that could be knit on 16" circular needles in order to avoid ladders. I've made quite a few stockings over the past year (see my inspiration here) and when I knit long stretches of stockinette, I can see ladders in my work if I use magic loop. Hence, circular needles were a must for these heirloom stockings. This pattern I created fits the bill! The final stocking is 17 inches tall by 6 inches wide. Want to make your own? I've written the pattern down below.
Classic Christmas Stocking Pattern
- Materials. 16 inch circular needles in size 8 (you could also use magic loop or double pointed needles, if you prefer). Worsted weight yarn in colors of your choice.
- General overview of steps. For this pattern, you will knit a cuff (knit in stockinette and doubled over for a cuff of double-thickness). This is nice because if you personalize the cuff with a name, you can hide the back of the stitches inside the cuff. After the cuff, you will make a sock leg, mark your afterthought heel placement, knit the foot, knit the toe, and then you will circle back and finish the afterthought heel.
Cuff
Cast on 56 stitches. Join to work in the round. Place marker. Knit 18 rows. Purl 1 row. Then knit 18 more rows. Pick up the bottom of the cuff and hold the cuff doubled. The purled row will now be the top of your stocking. It should create a nice sharp folded edge. To join the cuff, you will knit through two stitches at once - the bottom row of stitches plus your live stitches. Do this all the way around.
Sock Leg
Knit 50 rows. Using waste yarn, knit 28 stitches for the afterthought heel. Move the 28 stitches back to the left needle. Then continue with the foot.
Foot
Knit 25 rows.
Toe
Row 1. Knit 28 stitches, pm, knit 28 stitches. 56 stitches total.
Row 2. *SSK, knit until two stitches before marker, K2tog. *Repeat. You should know have 52 stitches.
Row 3. Knit all stitches.
Row 4. *SSK, knit until two stitches before marker, K2tog. *Repeat.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have 28 stitches total (i.e., you will have knit 14 rows total). Kitchener stitch the toe together.
Afterthought Heel
Pick up 28 stitches below the waste yarn and 28 stitches above the waste yarn. Update: I have decided it works best if you pick up two stitches on each side of the heel. Use a long tail when you start the heel so that you can stitch up any gaps.
Row 1. Knit 30 stitches, pm, knit 30 stitches.
Row 2. *SSK, knit until two stitches before marker, K2tog. *Repeat. You should know have 52 stitches.
Row 3. Knit all stitches.
Row 4. *SSK, knit until two stitches before marker, K2tog. *Repeat.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have 28 stitches total (i.e., you will have knit 16 rows total). Kitchener stitch the heel together.
To personalize the cuff, I used capital letters that were 4 stitches wide, 8 stitches tall, and lower case letters that were 3 stitches wide and 5 - 8 stitches tall (depending on the letter). I pinned (https://www.pinterest.com/Saltycrafts/) some knitting alphabet charts, in case that might be helpful. I also pinned some color ideas.
Hope you all enjoy this pattern! Maybe one day someone will dream of having personalized stockings for their families, just like all of us! If you want to see more of my current projects, you can find me on instagram (SaltyCrafter) and on ravelry (bsl19).
~SaltyCrafts
hello betty...thank you for sharing such a lovely pattern...and also for the story of your childhood friend...i am a relatively inexperienced knitter and i did not know about the ladders using the magic loop...i wish you and yours a wonderful, warm holiday season...take care...sally
ReplyDeleteHi, Sally! I'm a relatively new knitter myself! Other people may not have that problem with ladders, but I definitely have that problem. Until I can figure out how to fix my tension, circular needles are a great solution! Happy holidays!
DeleteLove this pattern. Exactly what I've been looking for. Do you duplicate stitch before folding over the cuff?
ReplyDeleteHi, Kelsey! Thank you so much! That makes me so happy. I do duplicate stitch at the very end, because that seems easier to me. What I do is I only stitch the outside part of the cuff, so all the ends and backing can be hidden inside the cuff between the two sides. Hope that helps!
DeleteHi Sally, I have just started this (in quarantine for 2 weeks, so thought I would give this a try) - I am looking for a video or something on how to knit this cuff together? I can't quite figure out how to knit the 1st row with the live stitches - maybe I am making this more difficult than it actually is? any suggestions? thank you
DeleteHi Sally. I am starting this pattern with 16" circular needles and the cast on stitches don't seem to stretch enough to join. I am reluctant to add stitches so I wont throw the pattern off. Any ideas?
DeleteI've been using magic circle and it's gone well. I just make sure the first stitch is taught and I haven't had laddering.
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ReplyDeleteI feel a bit silly asking, but what is the "pm" ?
ReplyDeleteHi, Gretchen:
DeleteDon't feel silly, it's an important question! PM means place marker- so if you have a stitch marker, add it to your needles. Sometimes if I run out of stitch markers, I will use a safety pin. Hope that helps, and thank you for looking at my pattern!
Thanks! I'm going to make stockings for my family for next year and,was looking for something exactly like this. I'm not real experienced and I think this will work
DeleteThat sounds lovely! Good luck- and feel free to ask questions if you run into problems!
DeleteHow much yarn is needed for the mostly solid color stocking, red and white?
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question! I wish I had measured. I believe it will be 110 yards of each color, because I know I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes- about one skein each. When I make my next stocking I will remeasure, but that may be a few months. Hope that is helpful!
DeletePlace Marker
DeleteI love this pattern, but want the stockings to be a tad smaller (maybe 3 or 4 inches wide at the cuff) Do you have any suggestions on how many stitches to reduce to?
ReplyDeleteThank you! You could try halving everything- halve the stitches and also the rows. So start with 28 stitches. Hope that works for you! Feel free to let me know if you run into any problems!
DeleteThis is the perfect pattern that I have been looking for. I am new to knitting and have been sticking to the basics. I am hoping to be adventurous and get one made for Christmas this year if I can find the time. I would like to knit the name in the cuff, but I cant seem to find the alphabet chart that you referred to on pintrest. do you have a link to it?
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting your pattern... I feel like this is a great intro to socks, too, since the steps are the same
ReplyDeleteHi Sally I have done the stocking which I like but I can not do the heel? Please help?
ReplyDeleteHi Sally: I just finished my first stocking, using another pattern, for my granddaughter's husband-to-be, and it had an afterthought heel. It turned out looking terrible - the seam of the heel went down the back, instead of across the heel. Your directions look similar; shouldn't the seam go crosswise instead of lengthwise and, if so, will it go this way in your pattern? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm learning how to knit and I want to do this, but I'm a visual learner. Is there a video that goes along with this? Your pattern is exactly what I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteI just searched YouTube for the parts that I was a little confused on and it worked well.
DeleteI have been knitting for years but just can't get how to join the cuff. Can you help
ReplyDeleteThank you for this pattern!
ReplyDeleteI like my stockings a little bigger, multiplying the stitch and round counts x1.4 gave me the exact proportions I was looking for (about the same size as store-bought stockings) and PERFECTLY fits the size of my size 8 circulars. I’ve made this larger pattern three times now (four is on the needles!) and will probably make many more! Thank you for all the effort you put into writing this pattern!
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