The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

It’s Christmas Eve 2008!

I wanted to post this photo today, as it is appropriate for this “Night Before Christmas!”



Christmas stocking from around 1995.


Tatted motifs and counted cross-stitch ribbon on the cuff.


Have you spotted the 8-sided snowflake?!!












I purchased the commercially made stocking in the mid-1990s (velveteen and brocade fabrics, with gold stitching already on it), as I realized immediately that it would be a great place to display some motifs that I had tatted but put away in my tatting ‘stash’. I also found a home for my counted cross-stitch ‘ribbon’ that I had stitched sometime in the early ‘90s.

You may recognize the eight-sided snowflake from my Christmas card on the previous post – this is where it now resides! It definitely does appear to be size 50 thread.

I’m embarrassed about the top ‘motif’ which looks like a heart, but is really a strawberry pattern (Workbasket June-July 1995), gone a bit awry, as I did too many knots in the final chains near the top! I always hope that visitors to the fairs don’t look too closely at it! I could replace it, but it helps remind me of my not-so-successful tatting attempts!



I am looking for the sources for the other patterns, but I do know that the heart in the toe of the stocking is Teri Dusenbury’s. I have a duplicate of this heart on a velvet box, to which I added pearls afterwards. (I didn't know how to tat them in yet!) Sharon Briggs posted my photo of it back in February, before I even considered starting a blog, as I felt too intimidated to do so! Of course, Sharon gave me the encouragement to give blogging a try, and also helped me through the process. Thank you so much, Sharon!

I wish I had more time right now to express how I feel about this fantastic ‘electronic’ worldwide tatting community, specifically the 25-Motif participants brought together by the amazing Sharon Briggs! Words can’t express my appreciation to Sharon for her tireless efforts in starting this Challenge and making it so successful – and, of course many thanks also to her assistants, Clyde, Laura, Aileen, and Jeff, who are doing a wonderful job with updating it. We all are aware of the effort that it takes to do this!

Also I am grateful to all tatters who are a part of the fabulous World Wide Web and who have so generously shared their experiences and tatting patterns! ( Also a big thanks to those on the internet who supply threads, shuttles and books that would otherwise be unavailable to us!) Not only is the tatting fabulous, but the websites and blogs are so creative, too!

I’m still trying to figure out just the basics of blogging, and I pretty much hold my breath hoping to do everything correctly with just posting text and photos, yet so many of your blogs have bells and whistles that astound me! I’m in total awe of all of this and can’t believe I’m actually a part of it

I will end this post with the same wish as Santa, as he drove out of sight: Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!