White Family Stockings: Pattern and instructions

In the previous post, I shared some background on how the family stocking tradition began. This post tells how to make the stockings.

3 complete and 2 incomplete stockings

Printable Instructions

If you want a simple printable pattern, use this PDF for the instructions (Steps A-H) and this PDF for the image grid pattern (Steps A-B). 

Find the 2-page PDF for the image pattern grid here

Find the 1-page PDF of the instructions here

Sarah digitized the pattern based on the 1940s grid pattern and notes that Grandma had hand written, and the new PDF pattern is at least 10 times easier to follow than the original pattern. Sarah added numbers that make it easier to follow. You can either print it in color or shade it in after printing it in greyscale to help remember which color to use. Message me if you would like a copy of the editable spreadsheet.

The 1940s pattern with grandma's handwritten instructions

More detailed instructions

Skills required: 

• Knit stitch, purl stitch to make stockinette stitch
• Knit two together
• Mattress stitch
• Duplicate stitch 
• Crochet daisy chain for hanging loop

Materials:

-4 ply yarn (worsted weight = ordinary yarn)

I used Red Heart Super Saver. Get enough of each color to finish your stocking.

• 2 ½ oz. Red (boy)/ White (girl)
• ½ oz Green
• ½ oz. White
• ½ oz. Red 
• Beige (Santa face, hands)
• Black (belt- boots- face)

-Size #3 Needles

• I like 2 sets of aluminum circular needles. 29 inches long.
• If you like straight needles instead, you'll need 2 straight needles, 15 inches long, and 4-5 double pointed needles- 7 inches long

-Thread that matches to sew bias tape at top of stocking: Red (boy)/White (girl)

-Matching bias tape to keep the top from curling

• I got Wrights white Bias Tape Hem Facing (1.875" wide x 2.5 yd long) from JoAnn Fabrics and Wrights scarlet Double Fold Bias Tape Quilt Binding (0.875" wide x 3.0 yd long)

-Small crochet hook for repairs, darning needle, 2-3 stitch holders, stitch marker
-Print pattern and image, add name to pattern, Draw 3" and 8" marks on your paper for the heel flap length and foot length, respectively.

Instructions:

A. Body:

• Cast on 90 stitches (Gauge: 8 sts=1 inch from the pattern. I actually knit 6 sts = 1 inch). For this long-tail cast on I think I've been using about 5 feet of tail.

Instructions for long-tail cast on

A basic idea of what each step looks like on the stocking

• Follow image pattern until row 64. Each row in the pattern image is a double row: a knit row + a purl row.

Progress of the stocking body worked with straight needles. January 2017.

Notes on switching colors in the middle of rows:

• Leave at least a 6 inch tail, you can weave ends in later (optional). The Kitchener/ toe Stitch video at the end of this post has a good demonstration of weaving in at the end of the video.

There are lots of ways to manage the tails of the many colors on the stocking. The clothes pins in the photo above are one method, as well as yarn bobbins, for tails shorter than 3 feet, I recommend pulling them out ever couple of rows to keep them from tangling too much. I'm about to try yarn bobbins for longer strands though.
Note about how much yarn is needed for each section: for my gauge (about 6 stitches per inch), I use about a foot of yarn for every 10 stitches in the pattern (double rows). For example, to do the red for Santa's left shoulder, there are 25 stitches, so I would need a minimum of 2.5 feet of working yarn, plus a foot for 6 inches of tail on either side. I would need at least 3.5 feet of red yarn for that section. Another example: The black belt has less than 64 stitches, so I would need a minimum of 6.5 feet + 1 foot tail = 7.5 feet of yarn. I would want a bobbin for this since it is more than 3 feet.

Grandma Kathleen recommends only stranding (carrying a piece of yarn across the back of your work between colors) when you have 3 or fewer stitches in between. For example, most of the letters, there's less than a 3 stitch gap between colors, but on the middle of the belt, there's a 6-stitch gap. On two of my stockings, stranding between those colors caused the middle of the belt to be raised, not flat.

The video below shows examples of stranding and how you can carry more than 3 stitches across the back of the work without too many problems. Sometimes I have floats that are 10 stitches long, but they are twisted in, as the video shows from 10:40-the end.

This video below shows how to twist new colors together so that they don't leave gaping holes, especially when there's a straight up/down color change.

B. Instep: (start with 72 stitches total)

• 18 Stitches off each end to start the heel. You can place these on stitch holders or on a string of contrasting yarn, 36 stitches in the middle 
• Stop pattern with 36 center stitches on one needle (row 73). You can put this on a long stitch holder if you'd like.

C. Heel:

• Combine both 18 heel stitches on one needle for a total of 36 and K&P for 3” from bottom of tree
• On last row of the 3 inches, P back for 20 stitches, P2 together, P 1,  and turn
• K 6, K2 together, K 1, and turn
• P 7, P2 together, P 1, and turn
• K 8, K2 together, K 1, and turn
• Continue until all of the stitches are used, about 15-20 rows, and 15-20 stitches across(?).

D. Gusset:

• Pick up 23 - 30 stitches along the heel for the gusset on each side, depending on how much you want it to gather. More stitches will give more gathering. Fewer stitches will give a flatter appearance.
• Divide all Heel & Gusset stitches on 2 needles (either straight or circular needles)
• K&P, decreasing 1 stitch each side at next to last stitch of every row until even with front panel

E. Foot:

• Put onto 3 double ended needles (1 each back side, 1 for front panel) (or 2 sets of circular needles)
• Continue K around in a circle w/4th needle
• Dec 1 st on each side of the foot every row until 18 sts on each underside needle
• Then Knit stripe
• 4 White (boy) / Red (girl)
• 4 Green
• 4 White  (boy) / Red (girl)
• Continue to K red (or white for girl) until foot is 8” long from the back of the heel

F. Toe:

Dec4=K2tog at each end of front & sides of back

(1) Dec 4 st in row

(4-5) K 4 rows plain

(6) Dec 4 “”

(7-9) K3 rows

(10) Dec 4

(11-13) K3 rows

(14) Dec 4

COLOR CHANGE

Boy: *WHITE toe*
Girl: *RED toe*
(1-2) K2 rows plain

(3) Dec 4

(4-5) K2 rows plain

(6) Dec 4

(7) K1 plain

Lastly, Dec 4 every row at sides of toe until you have 16 stitches total (8 stitches/4 stitches/4 st’s)

G. Weave Toe: (using yarn needle. K&P indicate how to insert needle- Kitchener Stitch. Not normal K&P)

• Front (instep) K – slide off
• Front P – Keep on
• Back P – Slide off
• Back K – Keep on

Sometimes when I do this it looks fantastic. Other times it turns out like purl on the outside. Not sure what went wrong there.

• Continue until the last stitch is on the needle. Then thread onto a sewing needle and push inside of the stocking and tie off. 

Here's an example of this:

H. Finishing:

• Stitch eyes, nose, mouth onto Santa using the duplicate stitch, demonstrated in the video below

• Darn together back halves of top & gusset sides with mattress stitch. The video below has the best demonstration of the mattress stitch I've seen from 2:20-9:25

• Crochet the top loop
• Sew matching bias tape to top of stocking to keep top from curling

The end!!! Congratulations. That's all.

Complete stocking except for bias tape at top

White Family Stockings: Origins

Christmas 2018. 2 generations of stockings.

In the 1950s, Grandma Kathleen started knitting Christmas stockings for her three children. She had no idea that it would become such a beloved tradition.

She already knitted some of Granddad Jerry’s socks, so it wasn’t anything new for her to do this too. When Aunt Peggy was about 13, she learned to make them too, and made stockings for Granny Jo, Grandma Kathleen, and Granddad Jerry, making three generations with the stockings.

Grandma Kathleen and Granddad Jerry's
stockings, made by teenage Aunt Peggy

Next, Aunt Peggy made stockings for her own children, Roger, Russ, Chris, and Jan. Uncle Brent liked the tradition, and learned to knit too. He made stockings for his kids too. Sarah was the first of those of my generation to start making the stockings, followed by Jan. They made stockings for their children too, making 5 generations of family with the stockings.

While teaching high school science during the 2008-2009 school year, I learned how to knit while attending a knitting group that a friend started. While visiting Aunt Peggy and Uncle Brent at Christmas 2009, I got introduced to the stocking. Aunt Peggy gave me knitting needles and yarn. I got off to a great start. After a while, I forgot what I was doing, and had to watch a few YouTube videos to get started again.

The record for fastest of the stockings was Cyrus': done in 4 days!

I really got stuck on the heel, but Aunt Peggy came down to help me mid-December 2018, and got me back on track. Right before Christmas 2018, nine years after beginning, I finally finished my own stocking. I finished Paul’s stocking a month later (1/22/19), and Ada’s stocking three weeks after that (2/10/19). It’s amazing what experience and dedication can do for a stocking.

Isn't that a fantastic stocking hanger?!

Working on the stocking makes me feel closer to the White/ Wallace side of the family. Thanks to the dedication of Aunt Peggy and Uncle Brent, what began as a craft of love by Grandma has blossomed into a dear tradition for five generations.

Bryan has started his own on the left.
Jo's on the right is the last Gentry stocking.

This post shows the background of the stocking. To see the pattern and instructions on how to make the stockings, see the next post.

Grandma Lucy's Blackberry Cake

Renee sent me an e-mail with a couple of pictures and a story about how she was able to re-create one of Grandma Lucy's most famous cakes. The recipe she started with had ingredients, but no instructions!

Well, Renee tried it for the first time as a 13-year-old, and it turned out poorly. The cake was dry and the frosting was uninteresting. Something had gone wrong, but she wasn't sure what. Years later, Renee tried the recipe again, and got this delectable beauty:

Finished product of perfected cake 

How did she do it? Here is her story in her own words:

"Since Grandma Lucy owned her own restaurant, I felt that I wasn't doing justice to her cake. Granted I made the recipe as a 13 year old, and didn't have much baking experience.  

I received this recipe from Grandma Kathleen (Lucy's daughter). I received it on a visit to Florida in 2014.  

The way you make this cake is as follows: 

Make sure that you purchase heavy whipping cream for the cream. I also like to add a quarter teaspoon salt to the caramel sauce. Totally optional. 

For the cake, I found that it is best if it is baked in thin layers. So instead of baking and typical baking pans, bake it in four circular pans instead of two circular pants. You can bake them in thicker layers too, but you'll have leftover batter, and the cake may turn out dry, since it will need to be baked longer. 

Also, I line each pan with aluminum foil, spray with Pam, and dust with flour. You should do this step if you plan on making a layer cake. 

To make the cake, mix wet ingredients (except jam) in one bowl and dry ingredients in a bowl. I made my own sour milk. I placed 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar into a glass measuring cup. Then I poured in whole milk to the one cup line. Then I let it sit for a few minutes while I mixed together the dry ingredients, to let the milk sour. By the way, do not add blackberry jam until the very end. I am not sure exactly the best way to incorporate the jam. I put the jam into the cake batter by small spoonfuls and gently stirred the batter. Also, as in cake mixes, whisk the batter for two and a half minutes,. I did this before adding the jam. When the batter is ready, place into pans, and bake at 350 in a preheated oven. For the thin layers, you can get away with baking them for only 15 minutes. Bake them until done though, testing with a toothpick until it comes out clean. If you bake too long, it will make the cake dry. Sometimes very dry.

While the cake was baking, I heated up the cream on my stovetop. I added the cup of white sugar and packed cup of brown sugar and whisked it at high temperature, stirring occasionally until it was no longer grainy. After that point, I believe I only cooked it for three minutes. You want to have something similar to the consistency of caramel, but a little thinner. You want it to be thin enough that it can soak down into the cake. At this point, I have put the cake with bamboo skewers to make shish kabobs, and let the caramel ooze down into the cake. This cake is decadent, and delicious! Make sure that you pull the cake gently out of the foil soon after it is done baking. This is because the blackberry jam makes it stick to the pan, if you let it cool that for a very long time. The foil makes this much much easier. Feel free to simplify these directions. I have made this cake before, and made the caramel topping very thick. I don't believe that's how Grandma Lucy made it. I do like very much the consistency of the caramel topping oozing down into the cake."

What a treasure! I don't have very much experience with making cakes (box mix, anyone?), but it did occur to me that maybe the blackberry jam could be incorporated as something between layers. What do you cake-making people think? Would it ruin the effect of the runny frosting?

Also, anyone that tries out this recipe, feel free to let us know what you did and how the cake turned out. Happy baking!

EDIT: I asked Grandma Kathleen about mixing the jam in and the consistency of the frosting. Here's what she said:

"Mom's blackberry cake - yummy!

Yes, the jam gets mixed in with the cake batter.

Consistency of the frosting? Just like you are making candy (fudge). It gets sugary all too quickly. As I remember, it could be sort of saved by a spoonful of milk or cream at a time, stirred in. Good luck. It is certainly worth working for."