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1,600-Pound Stocking Knitted With Care In Hopes A World Record Soon Would Be There

The world's largest stocking — stitched together from handmade blankets — was confirmed by  <em>Guinness World Records</em> this week.
Cramer Gallimore Photography
/
Caron United
The world's largest stocking — stitched together from handmade blankets — was confirmed by Guinness World Records this week.

It's got a place in the Guinness book of world records, but good luck finding a chimney that can hold it: The world's largest Christmas stocking weighs in at 1,600 pounds.

The patchwork stocking, presented by yarn manufacturer Caron United, is 139 feet tall and 74 1/5 feet wide — as measured by a surveying crew.

It was confirmed as a record-breaker on Tuesday and will be revealed to the public at a Christmas celebration in Fayetteville, N.C., this weekend.

The stocking, created to support military charities, has been more than a year in the making. Caron United sent out a call for help on Veterans Day 2014. Since then, knitters and crocheters from around the country have been creating 3-foot-by-3-foot blankets and sending them in for the effort.

More than 1,100 crafters contributed, according to the blog of Caron's parent company.

The stocking helped raise more than $100,000 for an organization that gives scholarships to the children of U.S. military personnel killed in the line of duty, Caron says. The company contributed 15 cents for every skein of its yarn used in the stocking and also received donations to add to the fund, the Fayetteville Observer reports.

The stocking was unrolled to verify its size. It will be on display this weekend in Fayetteville, N.C., before it is disassembled into blankets and donated to charity.
Cramer Gallimore Photography / Caron United
/
Caron United
The stocking was unrolled to verify its size. It will be on display this weekend in Fayetteville, N.C., before it is disassembled into blankets and donated to charity.

And the stocking will have a second life, also serving the military, the newspaper notes:

"After the 139-foot-tall stocking has been put on display, it will be taken apart to create more than 1,100 blankets, officials said. Those will be donated to military hospitals, like Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg."

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Camila Flamiano Domonoske covers cars, energy and the future of mobility for NPR's Business Desk.