The Gunnister Stockings: Knitting Period Stockings

• A description of the Gunnister Stockings, a period pair of knitted stockings in the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh
• Determining the stocking size
• Figuring the Knitting Gauge
• Types and Techniques of stitches used
• Directions

Here's a description of the Gunnister stockings. I have no date for them, but a version of them is used by Plimoth Plantation in their 1627 village.

"The knitted stockings measure 23 inches from the top to under the heel. The length of the foot is about 11 inches, the circumference of the top 9 inches. The feet of both stockings are worn away, and have been replaced by other material. There are holes at the knees, some roughly mended. The woolen yarn is heavy, spun S, 2-ply. It is dark brown in colour, a mixture of various shades of brown fibres, including some black. The spinning and knitting are very even.

"The work is done on four needles, 7 1/2 inches and 10 rows per inch. 114 stitches are cast on at the top, and 7 rows of garter stitch follow. The remainder of the stocking is worked in stocking stitch, except for the clocks at the ankle and a panel down the back.

"One stocking has the foot replaced by the leg of another stocking. The wool is almost identical to that of the whole stocking but the yarn is fine, 2-ply Z, 10 stitches and 15 rows to the inch. It is worked in stocking stitch on 4 needles except on the top, which is worked below the casting-on with 1 plain row, 1 purl row, 4 rows of rib of 1 plain stitch,1 purl stitch, 1 plain row, 1 purl row and down the back of the stocking where 2 lines of a single purl stitch is separated by 2 plain stitches. 18 inches of the length of the stocking remains. 6 3/4 inches below the top the decreases start, and increases and decreases for the calf can be seen. There is no foot to the stocking, and there are holes in the leg. It is roughly four layers thick on to the bottom of the whole stocking by 3 strands of thick S spun yarn.

"The foot of the other stocking has been replaced by a very coarse rep, folded double. What is probably the warp is a dark brown lightly spun 3-ply S yarn, the weft a heavier, light brown 2-ply Z yarn. The count is 6 x 17. It is roughly sewn on to the stocking by a 2-ply thread with stitches 2 inches apart."

From this description alone, you can probably come up with some kind of stocking, but just in case, here's directions on how to make stockings that fit.

• Circumference of your thigh where you want your stocking to end
• Circumference of your knee
• Distance from the top of the stocking (where you took the thigh measurement)to knee
• Distance from top of stocking - minus 2 to 3 inches for the welting at the top of stocking
• Circumference for thickest portion of calf
• Distance from knee to calf measurement
• Circumference of ankle
• Distance from calf measurement to ankle
• Circumference of instep
• Length of foot

Should you choose to guesstimate here, The Workingwoman's Guide (1838) offers the following proportions:

"GENERAL PROPORTIONS FOR STOCKINGS

• Ascertain the proper breadth of the stocking.
• From the top to the bend of the knee is one square, or the length of the breadth.
• From the bend of the knee to the beginning of the calf is one square or breadth.
• From the beginning to the edf of the calf, is one square or breadth.
• For the small of the leg, one square or breadth; for the heel, half a square; for the narrowing on each side of the instep, one quarter of a square; from the heel to the narrowing of the toe, one and a half square; for the narrowing, a quarter of a square.
• Observe, that the squares always relate to the breadth of the stocking, at the time the next square is begun."

From your sample, carefully determine your gauge, both width-wise (stitches per inch) and length-wise (rows per inch). The most accurate way is to place a straight pin (it won't distort the knit) into the sample about one third of the way across. Measure from that point one inch. Place another pin, and count the number of stitches. Do a similar procedure to measure the number of rows per inch. Don't make the mistake of trying to make your sample smaller and measure from the edge. You don't get an accurate measurement at the edges. You must measure from the inside to get the best measurement.

Convert Measurements to Stitches

This is pure mathematics. If you have a measurement that is 10 inches wide, and you knit at 5 stitches per inch, you will need 50 stitches at that point. If you need to knit for 2 inches long, and you knit at 7 rows per inch, you'll need to knit 14 rows to get 2 inches. Round out to even numbers for your widths.

Decreases and Increases

Thigh-To-Knee Decrease: Take the number of stitches at the thigh, and subtract from it the number of stitches for the knee. That's how many stitches you will need to decrease when you work from the thigh to the knee. Because you decrease 2 stitches at a time (one on each side of the center back), divide this number by 2 to determine the number of times you must work a decrease row.

Because you must knit 2 to 3 inches even for stability and welting at the top of the stocking, you'll want to look at the shorter measurement from thigh to knee. Determine the number of rows you need to knit to get from thigh to knee.

Now you have the number of rows you need to cover the distance, and you know how many of those rows need to be rows in which you decrease. Divide total rows by decrease rows to get even spacing.

Knee-To-Calf Increase: Use the same procedures outlined above in reverse.

Calf-To-Ankle Decrease: This uses the same principle as the Thigh-To-Knee, but you need to make a decision first. You may choose to evenly distribute the decrease rows all the way down the calf to the ankle, or you may choose to put the majority of the decreases near the calf, and fewer (or none) as you get closer to the ankle. Either way is appropriate. Look at your leg, and figure out the best way to handle it. Once the decision is made, you can proceed as above.

Welting is simply several rows of stitching to help give strength and stability to the top of the stocking. The simplest form is six or eight rows of garter stitch, and is more common in the earlier stockings. By 1838, a knit 3-purl 3 rib was common, as was any variation of that (knit 4-purl 4; knit 5-purl 3). Basketweave (k 3, p3 for 3 rows; then p 3, k 3 for 3 rows) was also used.

Center Back Panel

Something has to mark the center of the back, so you can keep track of rows. The simplest way is a single purl stitch down the center. They were often more elaborate, to also allow for a little give.

Some known variations:

• a six stitch panel (2 purl, 2 knit, 2 purl)
  or (1st row: k1, p1, k2, k1, p1. 2nd row: p1, k1, k2, p1, k1)
  or (1st row: k1, p1, p2, k1, p1. 2nd row: p1, k1, p2, p1, k1)

  a five stitch panel (1st row: p1, k1, p1, p1, k1. 2nd row: k1, p1, p1, k1, p1)
Feel free to design your own panel.

Clocks

Clocks are designs at the ankles. Sometimes they are just on the outside of the ankles; other times they are on both the inner and outer ankle. The Gunnisters have them on both sides.

You can put one design at the ankles, or you can put two or three on top of each other. The Gunnisters have 1) a moss stitch diamond, 2) an moss stitch inverted triangle, and 3) a broken knit 2-purl 2 ribbing only on the sides of the ankle. These are fairly common because they are nice geometrics. Florals motifs have been found, but are less common, probably due to their intricacy.

The easiest way to design clocks is to chart them. Using knit and purl stitches for contrast, basically just figure out what you want. From the chart and your calculations, you can figure out where you'll need to start them on the stocking.

k k k k k k k p k k k k k k k		k k p k p k p k p k p k p k k  
k k k k k k p k p k k k k k k 		k k k p k p k p k p k p k k k
k k k k k p k p k p k k k k k		k k k k p k p k p k p k k k k  
k k k k p k p k p k p k k k k 		k k k k k p k p k p k k k k k 
k k k p k p k p k p k p k k k 		k k k k k k p k p k k k k k k 
k k p k p k p k p k p k p k k 		k k k k k k k p k k k k k k k
k k k p k p k p k p k p k k k 
k k k k p k p k p k p k k k k 			inverted triangle
k k k k k p k p k p k k k k k 
k k k k k k p k p k k k k k k 
k k k k k k k p k k k k k k k

		moss stitch diamond
	

Heel and Foot

The only heel I am certain is an accurate style is from the same book The Workwoman's Guide from 1838. The drawings show it as a pointed flap.

One half of the total number of stitches are knit as a flap long enough to go down and around the heel. At that point, several decreases are evenly spaced in the same row, reducing the total number of stitches by 20%. The heel is bound off and sewn.

Take up the instep stitches and pick up stitches all around the foot. Decrease as needed along the foot to the toe. Decrease for the toe resemble the modern mitten. Simply decrease evenly until there's only a dozen or so stitches left, then fasten off.

I do have reference to a similar heel in a Tudor stocking, which I am told is in the V&A. I have not seen it, nor do I have any more information on it, other than it exists.

I can't imagine that a seam under your heel is going to be very comfortable. You'd have to be very careful about weaving it. Also, this will likely never show. This being the case, feel free to use your favorite heel, foot, and toe. If you know of any more heels, please let me know so I can add it here.

Okay, now it's time to put this all together.

• 1. Cast on the required number of stitches for the thigh. I cast on over two needles, just to make sure that the cast-on is loose enough. If yours is tight, like mine, you might want to do that.
• 2. Work 1 to 1.5 inches in your chosen welting. Start your chosen center back panel and continue this panel until you get to the heel. Work another .5 to 1.5 inches in plain stockinette stitch.
• 3. Start the decreases to knee. For a nice, neat appearance, don't decrease immediately beside the center back panel. Keep one knit stitch before and after the panel. You may want to decrease by knitting two together in the back of the stitches on one side of the panel, and in the front of the stitches on the other side. This keeps both decrease stitches slanted in the same direction (either toward, or away from, the center back).
• 4. At the knee, knit .5 to .75 inches plain. Then start the increases to the calf.
• 5. Once you reach the calf, knit .5 to .75 inches plain. Then start the decreases to the ankle.
• 6. Start your chosen clocks in the appropriate place. They will probably start about 2/3 of the way down the calf, and should bring you right down the ankle, to the start of the heel.
• 7. Divide the stitches in two. Put half the stitches aside for the instep. Either follow your favorite sock pattern from here, or continue along. Work the heel flap on the other stitches until the flap reaches under your heel, almost to the middle of your foot. Decrease every 4th or 5th stitch in the next row, and bind off. Fold the heel flap in half, and sew it up.
• 8. Pick up all the stitches on the instep. Looking at your measurements for your instep, figure out how many more stitches you need. Pick them up evenly along the heel rows. You'll probably need to pick up one stitch every other row, maybe even 75% of the rows.
• 9. Knit plain for 2 rows. Then start decreasing for the foot. Generally, you decrease 2 stitches (one on each side of the instep) every other row until you are back to the number of stitches for the ankle, then knit straight for the foot. Your foot may not be shaped that way, so decrease only as many as you need, or perhaps every third row.
• 10. Knit even until you are two inches from the end of your toes. Start decreasing every other row, by knitting together every 7th and 8th stitch (or something like that), then every 6th and 7th stitch, every 5th and 6th stitch, and so on, until you are down to only a dozen or so stitches. Cut the yarn, leaving a 15 inch tail. Run the tail through all the stitches, take them off the needles, and pull tight. You may want to run the yarn through the stitches again, then weave in the ends.