Fast and Easy Christmas Stockings

I decorate for the holidays in drips and drabs, starting with wreaths and setting out little touches as Thanksgiving approaches. Every year I add at least one craft item.

Our old Christmas Stockings were getting worn, so I bought some new ones on sale, but when I hung them up, I realized I hadn’t gotten one for my dog. If you have a fur baby who’s a member of the family, you understand this.

Since the big stockings were knitted, I decided to knit Buffy a small one. Trouble is, I never learned how to turn a heel. Or is it called setting a heel? My knitting skills are limited. So, I turned to crochet and used a technique that doesn’t require shaping at all for either knitting or crochet. And the added thickness inside helps hold the stocking in shape.

For this project, you need yarn in two colors. (I used red and white.) A pattern cut in the shape of the stocking. I winged it, but children’s coloring books have lots of stocking shapes. You’ll also need a yarn needle and knitting needles or crochet hook G or J.

All you have to do is either knit or crochet 2 rectangular swatches in one color, big enough to cover your pattern from the lower right to the upper left. And 2 triangular swatches in the opposite color, big enough to cover the heel and toe area. (To knit the triangles, cast on 2 stitches and increase at each end, repeating until the triangle is big enough.) (To crochet the triangles, chain 2 and increase by 2sc at each end, repeating until the triangle is big enough.) Finally, knit in ribbing or crochet in sc rows a strip about 5 inches wide and long enough to go around the top of the stocking.

With all pieces complete, lay one of the rectangles on a flat surface, position the triangles in the appropriate places on top and lay the other rectangle over all. Now, position the pattern over your work, making sure the toe is hanging lower than the heel. Pin in place and sew all around the pattern, through all layers. Turn the stocking inside out. Whip stitch the heel and toe in place and sew the cuff strip to the top opening. Fold over the cuff and add a loop at the top with ribbon or crocheted string.

I’m going to add Buffy’s initial if I can find some black felt.

Now, the mantel is complete.

Even if you don’t knit or crochet, if you have a stocking pattern, you can sew anything together to create a festive stocking.

What was the best gift you ever found in your stocking on Christmas morning? Buffy will be excited to find a bone. But what is the perfect gift for a stocking?

Comment today or anytime before November 27 for a chance to win a copy of my Christmas novella, The Perfect Gift, either ebook copy or print. Incidentally, the perfect gift my heroine searched for would fit in Buffy’s little stocking.

It's Christmas 1963, and Macy Lance has it all. She'll soon graduate from a prestigious southern college, and a position in a top pharmaceutical firm waits for her. Best of all, Jonathan Tennent has proposed. But Macy has a secret. She isn't the woman Jon thinks she is. Knowing she must confess by Christmas Eve, she searches for a gift to rival the engagement ring Jon is giving her. Maybe she'll be able to convince his society-obsessed family she's good enough for their only son.

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