Leg Ups
By Laura Nelkin
A little secret of mine? I just “re” discovered leg warmers two winters ago and wear them EVERY DAY all winter long… one of my regrets is that I didn’t discover them when my girl was little. I would have had her chubby little legs in them every day too! This two color brioche stitch with it’s ribbed elasticity and dimensionality is perfect for these super simple leg warmies. You won’t be able to make just one pair, promise!
Size
Baby [Toddler, Kid, Tween, Teen/Adult]
Size shown: Toddler
Finished Measurements
Approx. Width: 5 [6, 7, 8, 9] inches unstretched
Length: 8 [10, 12, 14, 16] inches
Materials
Schaefer Yarn Chris [80% extrafine merino wool/ 20% nylon; 219 yards/197 meters per 4 ounce/114 gram skein];
Indigo; 1 skein
Thistle; 1 skein
Recommended needle sizes
US #5/3.75 mm double pointed needles (set of 4 or 5)
Notions
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle
Gauge
18 sts and 23 rnds = 4 inches in pattern, un-stretched
Pattern Notes
It takes a few rounds for the pattern to develop. This will be fiddly at first, but it is insanely easy once you get the hang of it.
Brioche st is made up of a rnd worked in the MC and then a round worked in the CC. Working both these rounds equals one complete round.
If you’d like to read more about Brioche Stitch, Nancy Marchant has written a wonderful book, and developed a great web resource on the technique. Ysolda Teague has a wonderful video demonstrating the tubular cast on.
Skills Required
Knitting on dpns
INSTRUCTIONS
With MC and using a tubular cast on, cast on 22 [26, 30, 36, 40] sts.
DO NOT join into round. Slide stitches to other end of needle.
Set up Rnd: (with CC) *wyif, sl 1, yo, bring yarn back to front, p1; repeat from * across: 33 [39, 45, 54, 60] sts.
DO NOT turn work, pm and join work into the round being careful not to twist the sts.
MC rnd: *K2tog, wyif, sl 1, yo; repeat from * around.
CC rnd: *Wyif, sl 1, yo, bring yarn back to front, p2tog; repeat from * around.
Note: Make sure that the first st of the CC rnd "catches" the last yo from the MC round so it doesn't fall off the needle.
Repeat these two rnds until the legwarmer measures 8 [10, 12, 14, 16] inches, ending with a CC rnd.
With MC, bind off loosely with a sewn bind off. You’ll want to work each knit st with a yo as one st in the bind off.
FINISHING
Weave in all ends and block.
Laura LOVES to knit and splits her work hours between Nelkin Designs and her paying gig as the design director at Schaefer Yarn Company. Between work, designing, publishing, and traveling to teach there aren’t many hours in the day left, so the rest of her time is spent plotting to take LONG vacations with her family so she can play and knit some more! Laura can be found on Ravelry as Loladesigns, and has an active group there, Nelkin Designs. Please join in, the more the merrier!
Pattern © 2010 Laura Nelkin. Contact