Where to find an old pattern for a knit Christmas stocking?

October 19, 2007 10:32 AM

Help me find the pattern for the knitted Christmas stocking of my youth!

My mother knitted Christmas stocking for all four of her children when we were young. We're all in our 30s and 40s and I would like to continue the tradition. She can't remember when she got the pattern and my guess it that it was a kit. The pattern/kit would have been available in the mid-60s through the early 70s. It features Santa Claus in the chimney on the front and a moon on the back. The top edge includes a space to add each child's name. It looks like this: Front Back Close-up

I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could make the pattern but I'm lazy and don't have time. I've spent hours searching online for it and have gotten nowhere. I once saw another one and asked that person where she had gotten hers and it turns out she bought it at a garage sale. Maybe I need info on good knitting forums for asking this same question but if anyone has ideas of where to find the pattern that would be the best!

posted by otherwordlyglow to home & garden (18 comments total)

Holy mother of god - I have that stocking! From 1976! I had no idea it wasn't just invented by my godmother. Whoa.
posted by tristeza at 10:35 AM on October 19, 2007

tristeza: That's amazing - no ideas where your grandmother got the pattern?
posted by otherwordlyglow at 10:53 AM on October 19, 2007

Nope - she's long, long gone. Dang! Now I might have to go on an internet stocking quest.....
posted by tristeza at 10:57 AM on October 19, 2007

I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could make the pattern but I'm lazy and don't have time. I've spent hours searching online
It honestly might be easier to just make the pattern; wouldn't take more than an hour or two, I would think.

Also, that stocking is awfully familiar; I think one of my cousins-in-law has the same pattern (the sequinned Santa, I don't know about the back).
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:01 AM on October 19, 2007

That looks like an enlarged version of a top-down sock pattern - you can find free basic patterns online and adjust them to fit your gauge. The colorwork is probably intarsia or duplicate stitch - the names are almost definitely duplicate stitch - and if you're feeling adventurous you can probably chart the color pattern on graph paper from the pictures. If you're a knitter and comfortable with colorwork, or willing to learn, you can probably improvise a similar pattern.

Ravelry has a TON of pattern info, as well as forums to help you figure stuff like this out - however it is still in beta and there is a waiting list to get in. If you aren't a member yet and don't want to wait for your invite, I can poke around for you and post this question in their forums - just let me know.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:18 AM on October 19, 2007

Note: For the color patterns on the leg, you'll want to knit flat and then sew up later. You may also want to look up tips for "intarsia" (color block) knitting.

1. Beginning:
How many stitches are around the top edge? (might be hand to count; you can count the stitches at the top edge of the nameplate.)
Is it 2:2 ribbing up there? How many rows of it?
How many rows of white in the nameplate?

2. Stocking body:
-It looks like there are shaping decreases as you go down the calf. These might not be so important since with a Christmas stocking you mainly want to be able to cram things into it -- but you can recreate them if you want the look. The easiest way to handle this is just to see how many stitches you're down to at the ankle and then figure that you want to spread out the decreases evenly (one decrease every so-many rows; always at the back-of-leg center) from nameplate to high ankle. This might not get you exactly the right shaping, but it'll be close. Alternatively you could examine the stocking more closely and try to see when she decreased on the original.
-The color patterns you can recreate just by counting the stitches and making yourself a chart.

Once you're done with the color-patterns on the leg, I would join into a circle and knit in the round with 4 double pointed needles. ...

3. Turning the heel, shaping the gusset etc:
Any present-day sock pattern can help you get a sense of this. It is strange the first time you do it, but it does work out. You'll just follow the recipe at that link, using the right percentages of the stitches you're working with.
Finishing the foot will be straightforward.

The only hassley bit is counting the stitches for your color patterns on the leg.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:21 AM on October 19, 2007

Hmmmm. I have knitted socks before and have done some color work but I'm not at all sure I can make this happen on my own. Ah, but i DO have a Ravelry membership. I'll also try there.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 11:33 AM on October 19, 2007

The style of that looks an awful lot like this, which is a Mary Maxim pattern. Too much to be coincidence? I'm not really sure, but it's something to look in to.
posted by anaelith at 12:35 PM on October 19, 2007

I'm seconding the idea that you make your own pattern--I think since you're able to knit socks, you would be an advanced enough knitter to modify a basic sock pattern.

My favourite sock pattern tutorial is this one from Knitty (Socks 101)--I found it really helped me understand basic sock construction. I successfully used this pattern formula to make a pair of large women's slippers by changing the number of stitches, the needle size, and the gauge of yarn.

Here is a Christmas patterns page from a directory of knitting patterns on the internet.

On preview: I see that you are on Ravelry--I bet you'll be able to do a pattern search there and something will come up (I LOVE that site).
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:54 PM on October 19, 2007

Oh, we have those! I'll ask my mom. She made one for my husband when he joined the family -- it doesn't look quite the same and I can't remember where she got the pattern but we have what appears to be the whole series.
posted by amanda at 1:16 PM on October 19, 2007

Oh, I didn't even look at the picture and it freaked me out to go back and look at those -- my mom's name is Sharon! And those are exactly what we have -- one of 'em has a reindeer, one some ornaments and they have little sequins here and there. Very cute!
posted by amanda at 1:18 PM on October 19, 2007

Odd, my gf thinks she has a felt copy of that pattern in her stocking. Gotta be easier than knitting that!
posted by zackola at 1:24 PM on October 19, 2007

Hurray for me! I just found the pattern!!! There's a seller on eBay who sells copies of vintage patterns. turns out it's a Fleischer's pattern number 7678, if anyone else is looking. So excited and thanks for the help!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:58 PM on October 19, 2007

My own best answer!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 2:01 PM on October 19, 2007

wow! my nana made these stockings (I think 10 total designs?) for all 7 of her kids, their spouses, and their kids.

sorry not helpful, but cool to me.
posted by spinturtle at 4:28 PM on October 19, 2007

What. The. Hell.

Why does everyone I know have stockings identical to the ones *we* had as children? Apparently there was some ancient friend of the family who knit them for all of us. And now my boyfriend has one that's almost the same - different pattern but the same lurid green wool.

Life is weird. This is not a helpful answer, but I could not resist.
posted by fuzzbean at 8:45 AM on October 20, 2007

Just as further information, my mom tells me she got the kits at Sears, so they were presumably widely distributed and easy to obtain.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 6:07 PM on October 20, 2007

That is way cool; glad you found it! (Incidentally, you posting this has made me realize that I need to make one for my new nephew - hadn't crossed my mind until now. So count yourself as the cause of this kid having a stocking for his first Christmas.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:22 PM on October 21, 2007