Three rows purl, two rows knit, two rows purl, one row knit, one row purl, then plain knitting (Irish stockings, Dunleavy p. 88)
Several rows of garter stich (six, in Burnston p. 100-101 and Pulliam, p. 30-31)
Stockings were patched, had the feet replaced, redyed, etc. to extend their lives (Dunleavy p. 88)
Stitches per inch:
Some stockings are described as 'coarse', which may correspond to the 5 to
6 stitches per inch reported from a shipwreck in New France or the 8
stitches per inch of the Gunnister man's stockings (Pulliam, p. 31).
The gauge goes all the way from 9 st./in. (Gehret) through 12 st./in. (Gehret,
Burnston) all the way up to much finer gauges in the range of 22 st./in.
for very fine stockings, but that certainly takes us beyond the realm of
'common' stockings.
Clocks:
purl-stitch clock (Gunnister stockings, Pulliam p. 31)
On a pair of wedding stockings, a knitted gusset extending above ankle,
with details such as a zigzag and diamond pattern on either side of the
clock in purl stitches, and a rose and tree clock design above it in purl
stitches (Burnston, pp. 100-101)
Toes:
equal decreases on either side of foot (Burnston, p. 101)
Back 'Seam':
purled every row (Dunleavy, p. 88)
purled every other row (Burnston, p. 101)
six-stitch seam (?) (Pulliam, p. 31)
Materials:
Worsted wool, cotton, linen, silk
Fitting and Proper, pp. 100-101
Dunleavy, Dress in Ireland, p. 88
Pulliam, Deborah. Gunnister Man's Knitted Posessions, in Piecework, September/October 2002. Loveland, CO: Interweave Press. p. 30-32.
