Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Hanging Christmas stockings is a long-standing tradition that is enjoyed by many families around the world during the holiday season. The origins of this tradition can be traced back to the story of Saint Nicholas, a kind bishop who lived in the 4th century. According to legend, Saint Nicholas was known for secretly leaving gifts for poor children in their stockings or shoes.

As the story spread, the tradition of leaving gifts in stockings evolved into the practice of hanging them by the fireplace on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus to fill with small gifts and sweets for children. Today, the tradition continues, and many families hang stockings for all members of the household, including adults and pets, as a way to add a festive touch to their home decor.

“Knit Christmas Stockings, 2nd Edition: 19 Patterns for Stockings & Ornaments” by Gwen W. Steege offers 19 simple and fun patterns to help you create your own unique Christmas stockings. With this guide, even first-time knitters can make beautiful stockings for everyone on their list. The book includes a variety of styles and designs, from wacky to whimsical, classic to daintily darling, to suit every taste. It also includes ideas for using smaller skeins and project leftovers to make mini stockings for pets or tree ornaments. With this guide, you can knit yourself a merry little Christmas and make a cherished family tradition.

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Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

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