1655 Stockings Knitting Pattern

These stockings are adapted from the stocking instructions published in the compendium of household advice called Natura Exenterata published in London in 1655. The biggest difference between these and the originals is scale: whereas the stockings in the original instructions probably were knitted in fingering-weight wool at a gauge of about 10 stitches per inch (4 stitches per cm), these are knitted in sportweight wool at 7½ stitches per inch (3 stitches per cm). (In 1655, stockings knitted at this gauge would have been regarded as "coarse" or "common" stockings.)

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