Over the past 25 years, a good friend made me two sets of three Christmas stockings for my dogs. The original ones where knit from yarn scraps and had stripes on the legs. Each dog had a name tag with a tiny Christmas rubber stamped image and their name written in calligraphy. The second set of Christmas stockings were for my most recent 3 dogs. The socks were middle sized and each had the dog’s name done with color work in the knitting. Sadly all three are now dogs of the heart, no longer on the hearth. (Though actually my house doesn’t have a hearth but you get the idea)!

My friend is in her late 80s now, and I don’t think she’s doing any knitting now. But I want to continue the tradition, so I’m making my current two dogs stockings of their own.

The pattern is on Ravelry. It’s called “Mini Christmas Stockings” by Julie Williams of Little Cotton Rabbits. She sells the pattern but the cost is very reasonable.

The stocking is knitted flat and then seamed up the back. The instructions are great, but each time I knit one (I’m on my third) I see details I missed before. But I think that just I don’t knit a lot. I can complete a stocking in an afternoon if I have some quiet time to concentrate on the designs.

These stockings are really sweet. I’m using yarns I have, so the weights don’t necessarily match exactly, but that seems to work out anyway, I love how they work up, so I’ll probably make a few more and then decide which ones I want to keep for my dogs.