stripes, the
decrease has to be made on the wrong side, and is to lie to the left on
the right side.

PULLING OVER.--Slipping a stitch from the left needle to the right
without knitting it, knitting the next plain, and pulling the slipped
stitch over the knitted one. In this manner two or three stitches can be
pulled over the knitted one.

CASTING OFF.--To prevent the stitches from unravelling they are
finished off in the following manner. Knit off two plain, pull the first
over the second and drop it, so that only one remains on the needle.
Knit the next stitch, and pull the one behind over it, and so on. This
chain of stitches, must neither be too tight, nor too loose, but just as
elastic as the rest of the work.

MATERIALS FOR STOCKINGS.--Stockings can be made of silk, wool or
cotton, entirely according to fancy, but for coloured stockings, we
cannot too highly recommend the D.M.C knitting cottons, as more
durable, in all respects, than either silk or wool. They are
manufactured in 360 different shades, whereas, wool and silk are only to
be had in a very limited assortment of colours. For hand-knit stockings,
Nos. 25, 30, 35[A] are the best, for machine-knit, Nos. 40 and 50.

STOCKING KNITTING.--A stocking consists of five parts: (1) the top,
(2) the knee, (3) the leg, (4) the heel, (5) the foot.

(1). The top may be either ribbed, or knitted in an openwork stitch of
same kind or with a double-toothed edge, fig. 356.

(2) and (3). The knee, and the leg down to the heel, are generally plain
knitted; it is only children's stockings that are fancy knitted.

(4). The heel, is worked as straight knitting backwards and forwards; by
knitting first one row plain and then turning back and knitting it purl.
It is shaped to the foot by the intakes at the top.

(5). The foot is knitted plain, with intakes from the heel onwards, to
get rid of the superfluous stitches. Then knit a plain piece, without a
seam-stitch, till you begin to decrease for the toe, which can be worked
in several different ways.

To ensure the right proportions between the several parts of a stocking,
the following directions should be attended to. An ornamental top must
never be taken into account, in measuring the length of the leg. When
the top part is finished, you make the seam, at the beginning of the
first needle of the round, of one, or two purled stitches, or sometimes,
a narrow pattern of purled stitches. This marks the middle of the
sto