I have been having a lot of fun working away on the William Morris Fox stocking pattern that I got from
Encompassing Designs. It is going to be a "forever" stocking for my grandson Jackson who is not yet two.
There is a story behind the choice of the design, and it is all around the video
"What does the fox say?" by Ylvis, which if you haven't seen yet, you should go and watch. From the time Jackson was very tiny, whenever I saw him, I would sing the different sounds from the video, and he thought his Grandma was hilarious. Even over the phone, I could evoke giggles galore by just singing the song.
So when deciding to hook him a stocking, I settled on this design. For now, it will still evoke the video and funny sounds, but when he is grown, it will just be a beautiful William Morris classic design that will hopefully be appropriate at any age.
There has been a lot of learning in this project. The thing I have always loved about William Morris designs is how they seem to glow. The dark background and the lightest value around the leaves is lovely, even when you use textured wool, which is what I chose to do.
When the body of the stocking was done and I had the top part left to do, I tried a number of different combinations for the backgrounds behind the crown. I had worried that the candy cane stripe might be too bold for the design, but I really want to line the stocking with candy cane stripe cotton. Turns out the proportion is ok and the red does appear in the flowers below the fox.
The first attempts at the colour behind the gold crowns were too bright and they didn't relate to anything else in the design, but I think I am happy with where I have netted out. I will look for some navy velveteen for the back of the stocking and possibly some cording/piping as well.
I will share a finished picture when all is said and done. He will never know how long his Grand spent on this crazy project, but hopefully he will always smile when he looks at it and remembers "What does the fox say."
