Friday, January 13, 2006

Mini Christmas Stockings



These little socks have been a part of our Christmases ever since I found the pattern in the Denver Post when I was about 14. I've made anywhere from 2 to a dozen new ones nearly every year since then. It has become a point of honor to only use white, red and green yarns, generally in sport weight on size 2 or 3 needles.

Eventually the original newspaper clipping was lost, but this is the pattern that has settled into my mind.

CO 20 stitches. Work 6 rows in garter stitch.

Change yarn colors. Work 16 rows in stockinette stitch.
(These 16 rows can be in one solid color, or a simple pattern can be worked in this section)

End with a purl row, break off all but one color to work the foot.

On next row, knit across 13 stitches, turn work
Purl back across 6 stitches
Work back and forth on these 6 stitches only for 6 more rows (forming top of foot)

Pick up 6 stitches along side of foot section, Knit across 6 stitches, Pick up 6 more stitches along other side of foot section, knit remaining 7 stitches. You should have 30 stitches on the needle.
Purl back across these 30 stitches.

Decrease rows:
Row 1: Knit 2 together, Knit 12, K 2 together, K 12, Knit 2 together.
27 stitches on needle
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit 2 together, knit 10, knit 2 together, knit 9, knit 2 together.
24 stitches on needle
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: Knit 2 together, knit 9, knit 2 together, knit 9, knit 2 together.
21 stitches on needle
Row 6: Purl

Bind off all stitches, leaving a tail of yarn to sew up bottom of foot and back of leg of stocking.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I tried this pattern and find there must be a mistake where you pick up stitches; adding 12 more stitches equals 32, not 30. I'd like some clarification on this.

wdunlapm@frontier.com