The Irish Ewe's Holiday Stocking
Materials - 1 skein each Raspberry, Green Fleck, and Bainin Size 10.5 needles, 16 inch circular AND double points, set of 5
Gauge - Loose enough to felt, somewhere around 3-4 stitches per inch
With Bainin, cast on 80 stitches (or enough to get around your circular needles without too much stretching). Join and work 6 to 8 inches of 1x1 rib.
Switch to stockinet stitch, and stripe pattern of 10 rows Raspberry, 10 rows Green Fleck. Work straight to desired length (we did 5 sets of stripes, and one more Raspberry section) Turn the heel on 20 stitches (or 25% of total number of stitches) We did a square heel flap as follows, but as this is felted, feel free to change it up a bit!
With Bainin, Slip 1, K 1 across 20 stitches. Turn.
Slip first stitch, purl to end.
Repeat until square, then turn the heel itself -
Slip 1, knit 12, SSK, turn
Slip 1, purl 6, P2tog, turn
Slip 1, knit 6, SSK, turn
Repeat these 2 rows until all stitches have been used, ending with a purl row.
Next row - With Green Fleck, slip 1, knit across.
Pick up a balanced number of stitches along side of heel flap (we did 11 and 12, odd numbers are fine, just note which side needs an additional decrease!) Place a marker here, then knit across foot stitches, place a second marker, and pick up a balanced number of stitches on the other side of heel flap. Knit to middle of heel flap and mark for beginning of round.
Round 1 - Knit to 3 stitches of first marker, K2tog, knit to second marker, K1, SSK, knit to end of round.
Round 2 - Knit
Repeat until you are back to your 80 stitches (or whatever number you started with)
Continue down the foot in the stripe pattern until desired length (we did 3 repeats) Switch to Bainin and work toe -
Switch to DP needles, 20 on each of 4 (or 1/4 of total number)
Round 1 - *K2tog, knit to end of needle, SSK* work between stars on EACH needle.
Round 2 - Knit
Note - I prefer a rounder, shorter toe and will often not work the even rounds at all. Go with what you like best.
When there are 8 stitches left, break yarn and draw through remaining stitches. You can also work a 3 needle bind off, or even graft the stitches.
Hanging Loop - I simply chained a length of about 4 inches, folded down the cuff and attached it to the center back. You can also work a few inches of Icord.
Felting -
Lighter colors often take longer to felt. Don't panic, the Bainin WILL felt down! Here's our method -
1. Soak it - Soak the stocking in hot water and dish soap for a good hour or so. Replenish the hot water as needed. It does not have be boiling, just hot enough to not scald you if you put your hand in for a few seconds.
2. Shock it - Take the stocking from the hot water and plunge it into a bucket of ice water. Get some ice cubes in there to help speed things along! Dunk the stocking back and forth between the two water temps a few times, leaving it in each bucket for a minute or so.
3. Toss it - Into an old pillowcase. Bunch the top of the pillowcase up in your hand, fold the flap over, and secure with a rubber band. Trust me, yarn lint balls will not be good for your washer, keep it in the pillow case!
4. Agitate it - Put into the washer, low water level, hot water, a tablespoon or so of laundry soap. Let it work through a whole agitation cycle, then stop the washer before it spins or rinses. Reset your washer to the start of the agitation cycle again. You don't need jeans or old towels in there, but if you have some that are super duty, toss them in and let them go along for the ride. Just make sure the pillowcase and stocking have lots of room to move around.
5. Check it - At the end of every agitation cycle, open up the pillowcase and check your progress. Once you start seeing some action, check every 5 minutes. Each time you check it, take the stocking all the way out, and pull it both length and width wise. Secure the rubber band back on each time. Don't worry about any piles of yarn fuzz, we'll take care of that later.
When your stocking is fuzzy enough to make you happy - mine go through 3-5 times, and I can still see a bit of the stitch definition - take it out of the washer and the pillowcase. Roll the stocking in a towel or three to get out as much water as you can, then start tugging it into shape. Don't forget to roll the cuff down. Lay on some towels to dry. Now is a great time to pick off any fuzz balls that annoy you.
If you can, air dry the pillow case too, and keep for your next felting project.
Felted items take from 1 to 3 days to dry. If you can't wait, take heart in knowing that I also do a LOT of last minute holiday knitting, and resorted to throwing it into the dryer on low heat for about 10 minutes. it was enough to speed things along.