I’ve been working on a set of knee-high stockings inspired by research Marie and I have done about the stocking tops that Henrietta Ryder (of Richmond in Swaledale, Yorkshire) designed in the late nineteenth century. Mine are inspired by the idea of foldover stocking tops, and borrow calf shaping techniques from Miss Ryder, though not as an exact copy.
I’ve particularly enjoyed planning embroidered decoration (“clocks”) for some stocking panels at the sides of the stocking legs. Marie is currently knitting a blue pair with a star pattern in which the clocks will be worked in duplicate stitch (aka Swiss darning), whereas on the pair that I am knitting (one stocking finished, one halfway done) the clocks are worked in embroidered chain stitch.
I’ve designed four pairs in all, and hope to have published the patterns in time for Yarndale this September.
The first picture is after blocking, the other two while still on the needles before finishing the leg.
