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.

Next Pattern:

There are so many things I love about the Stacking Stars pattern from Frankie Brown.

First, it looks like a kid’s toy, which it totally could be, though the intent is to stack the stars into a Christmas tree bit of decor.

I love the rainbow gradient, which makes it all the more cheerful, and serves as a reminder that, while you can plan out your colors beautifully, you can also use your stash for your own brilliant hodgepodge of a star tree.

It includes patterns for nine different sizes of stars, from 2 inch to 6 inch, which makes the perfect pile to look like a tree. What’s more, these stars are worked in garter stitch, so it’s a pretty easy pattern, even if you’re new to knitting. And the stars are solid, so not only can you use them to make your own amazing stack of a tree, you can make more to decorate packages, use as Christmas tree ornaments, make a darling garland, or all of the above.

The pattern calls for DK weight yarn but of course you could play with the yarn weight, too, to make stars that are even larger or smaller than the ones shown. And the bigger ones are made by just working more repeats, so you could continue to work as established to make larger ones to suit all your crafty purposes if you like.

Frankie’s patterns are free on Ravelry, but they ask that people who enjoy their patterns send a donation to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation. Through the years they have raised more that £26,000 for the charity, which helps families of kids with liver disease. You can donate to Frankie’s fundraiser here. They have tons of great holiday projects and other designs you can check out on their designer page on Ravelry.

[Photo: Frankie Brown]

Next Pattern:

Share this:

Have you read?

Share this:

Leave a ReplyCancel reply