I thought this was a super opportunity to knit something warm, when I came across these two beauties in a pattern book I found in an antique store.
"Grandma kept warm in tights..." exclaims the headline. "Modern women are wearing full length wool stockings like these for smart heat conservation. They are flattering and comfortable."
Wow, I thought, I have to get this! The book dates from 1942, and if you look very closely, you can see that the pair on the right is actually held up with your normal, everyday suspender belt/garter belt.
They are knitted at a tiny 17 sts per 2 inches, 12 rounds to an inch. Since this is vintage Beehive 2ply Scotch fingering - a 9st per inch gauge/tension was normal! There were 230 yards to the skeins, and you needed 4-5 skeins, depending on your shoe size.
The sizes of the pattern have actually caused me a little confusion. They both claim to be for sizes 9-10-11, which seems on the large size for back then... and since it plainly states that change of size occurs in length of foot only, then I can assume that these are in fact the shoe sizes. I would guess you could easily change the size of the foot to fit your own however :)
Because, yes, I am feeling incredibly generous, and am sharing this pattern with you ;)
As always, these patterns are for personal use only, and NOT for resale. But you can do what you like with anything you make from it, just share pattern credits ;)
You can get your pattern here: 1942 Knitted Stockings Happy Knitting!
Those are lovely! Thanks for sharing the pattern!
ReplyDeleteSo my daughter laughed when I showed her this and called it an exercise in insanity because of the tiny stitches. :o) Then she proceeded to tell me about how the Latvians and Scandinavians knit full body stockings to keep them warm and even make wedding mittens that the bride and groom exchange. She is a wealth of information, that child of mine!
ReplyDeletePeace and Laughter!
Tasha: you are welcome :)
ReplyDeleteCristina: LOL I admit, that tiny gauge IS a bit of a turn off BUT... if you do the mathematics, you can knit it at a heavier gauge and have fewer stitches :) Maybe I should set it as a mathematical problem for my 13 year old LOL
Oh these are great! Don't worry about the sizes. I think the 9- 10 and 11 are referring to the length of ones foot, as in old stocking sizes and not the shoe size. So 9 would be for a 9 inch foot and so on… I’ve only ever knitted stockings on two needles and they knitted up nicely- I’m not sure if I could knit on four, though!!! T x
ReplyDeleteRachel, thank you for this pattern! I found you through The Vintage Pattern Files, and when I clicked on the name, I thought "That blog sounds familiar." Nice to find you again!
ReplyDeleteTUPNEY: You are probably right :) For me, I would probably just make to measure for my feet LOL And I would probably try and get it to circs as soon as possible!
ReplyDeleteHi JENNIFER! Long time no see ;) Yes I keep running into familiar names on blogs for various things I enjoy. And then I wonder... where have I heard that name? Only to realise it is another homeschooler, or 4 realer or... you get the idea ;) You are very welcome- I don't see many patterns for knitted stockings so I wanted to share :)