FO: Best of Both Worlds Stocking

The first year that Mr Snips and I were married, I felt it was important for us to have something special to commemorate our first Christmas that we could use year after year. And, when you’re a knitter, the first thing that comes to mind is to create something from your sticks and strings.

I settled on creating Christmas stockings, from a pattern I remembered seeing in my mom’s copy of Handknit Holidays (remember how I took it back? ;-)). Mr Snips asked for traditional red and green for his. I decided to veer a little on the unconventional side, slightly inspired by the photos in the book, and selected purple, green and grey. Mr Snips got the funkier slip stitch pattern version, and I went for the tamer stripes. I had never made anything in the round, and had to have my mom’s help to get going and to figure out the heel, but I was determined to make these lovely stockings. It was certainly worth learning a new skill to create them.

When I found out I was pregnant, I knew our little one would have to have his or her own stocking for Christmas. And when I found out we were having a little girl, I knew the perfect solution was to make the pattern of Mr Snips’ stocking, in the colors of mine. It would be the best of both worlds, just as I knew our little one would be the best of both of us. 

It truly made my heart sing to see three knitted stockings on our mantle this year. It really drove home the point that we are a now a proper little family and that we are starting our own traditions. My own little stocking that my mom embroidered for me when I was tiny still hangs in my bedroom each Christmas and is very dear to me. Every time I looked at BK’s stocking, I hoped she would hold the same fondness in her heart for it as I do mine, and that it will become a part of all of her holiday memories for her lifetime.

Our stockings (l to r): mine, Mr Snips, and BK’s

Her stocking is made of Berroco Ultra Alpaca (green) and Rowan Lima (purple). I spent ages trying to decide on a perfect lining fabric. I had enough left from mine that I could have used it for hers, but I thought she should have a piece of it that was all her own. I wanted it to coordinate with the colors, but it is (perhaps not shockingly) next to impossible to find Christmas fabric with purple in it. I finally found some fabric that I loved on Etsy (Merry Christ-Moose – Taffy), that I thought was a little girly but not too much, and something fun but not too juvenile so that it will grow with her. When it came to ribbon, I decided to use the same ribbon that I had left over from mine, so she has something that’s just like mine. It’s hard to see, but it has silver sparkly snowflakes on it. Overall, I am thrilled with the result. The completed object looks more involved than it really is, since it’s just a slip-stitch pattern. It practically fell off my needles, but a lot of that may be the enthusiasm I had for making something for her first Christmas. The sewing of the lining took me a few months to work up to, but I had it all put together by Thanksgiving. And the sewing wasn’t even that bad after I just decided to buckle down. 

This project helped make the season merry and bright. I hope you found some kind of little project to make the season merrier – I’d love to hear about it! If not, I recommend trying one of these stockings for next year!