Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation Sets a World Record With Caron United
If Santa is going to fill this stocking, he has a lot of work to do.
A record-setting, 1,600-pound, 7,663-square-foot Christmas stocking will be unveiled at Arnette Park this Saturday.
The stocking, created by knitters in all 50 states, four Canadian provinces and Ireland, was being prepared for its debut at the Crown Expo Center on Tuesday.
Created from Caron United brand yarn, the behemoth decoration helped raise more than $100,000 for the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, which provides college scholarships to the children of fallen U.S. troops.
The stocking, spreading from one end of the expo center to the other, was officially measured by a local land surveying crew, said Kimberly Partrick, an adjudicator for Guinness World Records that confirmed the size.
Janet Smith, a spokeswoman for Caron United parent company Spinrite LP, said the effort to create the stocking began last year, with a call to arms for knitters to raise their needles and chip in on the project.
Caron United is based in Washington, North Carolina, Smith said. So knitters were encouraged to send 3 feet by 3 feet swaths of knitted yarn to the headquarters there.
It was assembled in Fayetteville this week, officials said, and will be on display during the city's Christmas in the Park celebration between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
As part of the effort, Caron United donated 15 cents for every skein of yarn to the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation.
That, coupled with donations, added up to the $100,000 gift, Smith said.
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.
After it was measured on Tuesday, crews folded the stocking and moved it using two forklifts.
It will take a tractor-trailer to move it to the park this Saturday, officials said.
Partrick, the Guinness World Records adjudicator, said care was made to ensure the stocking's precise measurements were recorded ahead of the event.
She presented officials with a certificate of the achievement, reading: "The largest knit/crochet stocking was created by Caron and unveiled in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA, as verified on 8 December 2015."