Seafoam scarf for grandma:
Turn a square hat for pappy:
FLS for mom:
I spent most of the trip to SC working on a pair of legwarmers. Lucky for me, I read about some of the projects on Ravelry AND got some advice from a friend who made these legwarmers. Here are my specs/mods/details:
- Pattern: Alpaca Sox Legwarmers
- Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in grey
- Yardage: 1.68 skeins = 727.4 yards (I know this is accurate, thanks to my new electronic scale for weighing yarn!!! Thanks, Santa!) This is WAY more yarn than the pattern calls for, but 1) I used a smalled needle size and 2) added more length than the pattern called for.
- Needles: Size 1 (I wanted them knit up tighter than the pattern called for, based on input from others that had knit up this project.)
- After the first repeat, I thought I had memorized the chart. Well, well. Turns out I skipped rows 7 and 8 of the chart. I didn't realize it until 6 repeats in to the first legwarmer. So, consider the lack of rows 7 and 8 a "design feature."
- From looking at the pictures of other projects, 11 pattern repeats should be sufficient to make the legwarmers the recommended 20.25 inches. But, since I went down 2 needle sizes AND skipped rows 7 and 8 of the chart AND wanted longer legwarmers (23 inches), it took 18 pattern repeats and 26 rows of ribbing (13 on top and 13 on the bottom) to complete the sox.
- When I wear them, it's hard to keep them up over my knees. I might add elastic to the wrong side or just wear them below the knee. We'll see.
I'll conclude with a few picture of the legwarmers. Here they are with ballet flats. Don't all ballerinas wear legwarmers? Too bad I'm way to clumsy to be a ballerina!
A close up of the stitch pattern... (sans rows 7 and 8!)
Totally 80s shot!! Legwarmers and heels. I'm totally sporting a side pony tail with this. Promise.
3 comments:
Wow, what a wonderful set of Christmas knits!! Love the February Lady Sweater for your mom. And those legwarmers are to die for! Much more put together than the quick ones I knit up last month. What a great idea to make them so long.
Never would have known you skipped two pattern rows from looking at the legwarmers. Very pretty! I want a pair myself now.
What great Christmas gifts! I'm still lollygagging around trying to finish my sister's birthday gift(socks) from last April-and I'm looking at her next birthday just around the corner. That's been my motivator. Guess I'll have to step it up a bit for this yrs gift to make up for being so late LOL. Your legwarmers are stunning.And you're going to be the only one who notices that u skipped anything;knitters are never really satisfied with their FOs,thinking they could have done this or that & it would have been soooo much better. It's the sound of a true artist. My daughter dances & I've make her a few legwarmers but I love yours cuz they're so pretty-like a specialty item!. DDs were to be warm and functional-I made them with Noro Silk Garden and simple SS-boring but fast, & I was surprised how beautiful they turned out. She liked them so much that 2 more followed. Now that she's doing more scholarly things, I see her wearing them as part of her everyday wardrobe-makes me happy. Every time your mom wears that sweater she's going to be thinking about what a great thing you made for her. :-)
Post a Comment