Over the River Stocking

Sing a Song of Christmas I — Over the River Stocking Ornament by JBW Designs (chart at Traditional Stitches) — the first chart in a series of small stocking ornaments that each open with the first line of a familiar Christmas song or carol stitched across the front. This one’s the opening line of Lydia Maria Child’s 1844 poem “Over the River and Through the Wood” — originally written about a Thanksgiving sleigh ride to grandfather’s house, later picked up as a Christmas tune:

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go…

The line wraps in cursive across the stocking from heel to toe, with the grandmother’s house we go destination shown as the village stitched along the journey: a small white cottage with red door and a green wreath, a red barn with a yellow star, a tall yellow country building with red windows (a schoolhouse or general store), a black-silhouette bare tree, a row of fir trees in two greens, a red star above the village, a holly sprig with red berries at the start of the line, and a small brass star charm sewn on for embellishment (kit-included per JBW’s chart).

The chart calls for 32ct Wichelt Latte Country French linen plus hand-dyed cotton floss and JBW-supplied brass charms + Lady Dot Creates jumbo chenille trim. I went with what I had in the stash: a mystery-count Be Stitch Me hand-dyed evenweave in roughly the same warm-mocha shade, plain DMC instead of the overdyes, the included brass star charm, and a green polka-dot cotton trim at the cuff and hanger loop instead of the chenille — the green-on-cream cuff and the matching green hanging loop tie the whole ornament together at the top.

Started January 2, 2024. Finished stitching October 6, 2024, then FFO’d into the small padded stocking ornament October 12, 2024 — finished about 3” wide × 4.3” tall, palm-sized.

Stitched alongside a friend for a Welcome Stitchery shop drawing — both of us ended up entering finished pieces. My friend won the gift card!