I subscribe to a crochet newsletter  called Hooked on Crochet, published by AllFreeCrochet.com. The site has compiled loads and loads of free crochet patterns from around the web, and the newsletter provides a sampling via a daily email. The only downside is that they send you ads for other products, but I just ignore these unless it’s something that interests me.

Today’s Hooked on Crochet included a pattern for the cutest granny square Christmas stocking ornament. I’ve been looking for Christmas ornaments to crochet for our pathetic little Christmas “twig” that sits on a table top, and when I saw a photo of the pattern, I couldn’t wait to crochet it. So I stopped reading my email and did just that.

The stocking is fairly simple to crochet; it’s a three-round granny square  (the fourth round in red sews of the seams) with some adjustments on the third round to create the stocking toe. However, I found a couple of problems with the pattern, so if you decide to crochet one, take heed:

1. Single and treble crochet stitches are referred to in the pattern as “single chain” and “treble chain.” I have NO idea why, and it through me for a loop when I first saw it. But the abbreviations for the stitches — sc and tc respectively — are accurate so I ignored the fully spelled term and read the abbreviations.
2. Round 3 is a little hard to follow because there are so many bullets.  I kept losing my place and had to keep going back over bullets to figure out where I was. Just keep in mind that one side of the granny square consists of treble crochets (tc) to create the stocking toe, and the other sides follow a typical granny square pattern. If you print the pattern (which I didn’t), you can also check off each bullet as you complete it.

Fortunately, the pattern is beautifully illustrated with sharp photos, which helped me figure out how to complete the round. To crochet the stocking, you only need a small amount of worsted weight yarn in Christmas colors (or in colors that match your Christmas scheme) and a G/6 (4.25 mm) hook, making it a “perfect stash buster” project.

You still have time to crochet a few of these delightful granny square Christmas stocking ornaments. I whipped up the one in the photo in about 30 minutes flat. Use them as stocking stuffers or simply as ornaments to dress up your Christmas tree.