Completae: Norwegian Stockings

Pattern: Norwegian Stockings, by Nancy Bush in Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear
Yarn: Dale of Norway, Baby Ull, 2 skeins of Dark Grey (0083), 1 1/8 skeins of white (0010), and 1/20 skein of Light Blue (5703)
Needles: Two US2 circulars -- 16" Addi Turbo, and 24" Susan Bates
Start to Finish: ~April 25 - May 19
Modifications: The pattern called for Dale of Norway, Heilo, but, not being able to find Heilo, I used Baby Ull which has a slightly finer gauge. I also used size 2 needles instead of size 3. It all worked out just fine with the new gauge.


As I said before, this was my first pair of socks. There are some mistakes - you may see the jog-ful joins, the gaps where I picked up the heel stitches a little too loosely, and a couple of pattern mistakes on the first one - but none will prevent me from wearing these. I absolutely love them. What a great pattern!


One thing to note for future fair isles is that they really even out after being washed. When I was finished knitting these stockings, the black vertical stripes between pattern repeats at the top were extremely lumpy due to me holding the non-worked yarn too tightly in the back. The snowflake pattern at the top was also a little uneven and overall my tension could have been better. This all went away with blocking. All! Away! Completely! Amazing.

I was so happy with these stockings that I just had to go find a new friend for each one...