A Handknit Christmas Stocking for Carmen
My niece had a baby and named her Carmen. She is the most beautiful baby and I’m surprising my niece with a handknit stocking for her.
Knitting Christmas stockings takes me around 12 hours each, and I combine various patterns to make every one unique. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the different patterns and charts I used to create this special, one-of-a-kind stocking for Carmen.
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Skill Level → Intermediate with knowledge of fair isle knitting
Skills to know ↓
- Knit
- Purl
- Cast On
- Bind Off
- Weave in ends
- Knit 2 Together
- Yarnover
- SSK
- Knitting in the round
- Fair Isle Knitting
Needles
Knitpicks Caspian Options Short Interchangeable Circular Set
Yarn
I love this yarn for stockings because it is an 75% acrylic and 25% wool blend that gives the stockings enough oomph but are still soft and drape well. Plus the price is right!
The colors I chose for this project are:
- White
- Stitch Red
- Christmas Green
- Bright Purple
- Aqua
- Pale Greenhouse
For this stocking, I combined the free Cascade Christmas Stocking Pattern from Ravelry with elements from the Mix-It-Up Christmas Stocking pattern available on the KnitPicks website.
I started by casting on 64 stitches in white and knitting 7 rows. Then, I switched to red and light green, creating a pattern of K2 red, K2 green for 7 rows.
Name Section: Next, I knit 2 rows in red and added the name “CARMEN” using an alphabet chart I found online. I worked this section in fair isle, keeping the back plain red and catching the white floats every 5 stitches.
Transition Rows: After that, I knit 2 rows of red, and switched to light green. The next row I K1 green, K1 purple, then continued on with green.
Reindeer Section: For the reindeer design, I used the chart from the Mix-It-Up Christmas Stockings pattern available on knitpics.com. I then k1 purple, k1 green, then a row of green to finish this section which measures 6″ long.
Mid-Section Pattern: I then introduced 2 rows of aqua followed by a design that is also charted in the Mix-It-Up Christmas Stockings pattern. This section measures 2″.
Heel Section: This stocking features an afterthought heel. Understanding sock construction is helpful when knitting stockings, as there are various techniques for afterthought heels.
→ Check out my post with photos for my afterthought heel method.
Swag Section: This section follows a single chart pattern and measures 2 1/2″. For the transition between the toe and this section, I used K1 white, K1 green, followed by K1 blue, K1 green, and finished with a row of green.
After the 1/2″ transition section I began the toe which measured 4″. I generally aim for my stockings to be about 7″ from the heel, and this one ended up right on target at 7″. I’m really pleased with the proportions of this stocking!
The stocking needs a loop! I prefer using the I-Cord method:
Instructions
- Cast on 4 stitches using dpn’s and your chosen yarn and needle size.
- Knit 1 row. Do not turn your work!
- Slide the stitches to the other end of the needle (the right-hand side if you’re right-handed).
- Pull the working yarn across the back of the work to begin knitting from the first stitch again. (This is what creates the tubular, seamless effect.)
- Repeat steps 2-4, knitting each row and sliding the stitches after each row, until your i-cord measures 7 inches.
- Bind off the 4 stitches when you reach your desired length.
- Finishing the loop: If you’re making this into a loop, simply sew the two ends together securely to form the loop, or attach it directly to your project as desired.
Blocking: I use a steamer to block my stockings. I try not to get too carried away with blocking because I do not want to melt the yarn. So just a light blocking works best.
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