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Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Totally Random Baby Legs Pattern



What is cuter than a baby wearing a diaper and some baby legwarmers? These knit up quickly and are a good use for leftover yarns. Striped is my favorite, but solid, Fair Isle, argyle, intarsia or even lace inserts would work. Here is the basic recipe; feel free to spice it up as you like it!

Size: 0-6 months (3 inches wide x 9 inches long).
Needles: 5 and 7 circulars or straight (you could also easily knit these in the round and use double points here too--bonus, no seaming at the end!).
Fibre: Blue-green is Blue Skies Alpaca Skinny Dyed Organic in Mallard; cream is Blue Skies Alpaca Skinny Dyed Organic in Leaf; and brown is Aslan Trends Glacier Del Cielo in Espresso. The blue-green and cream are classified by the yarn manufacturer as DK weight; the brown is classified as sport weight. I would use anything you have leftover that is either of these weights with the number of stitches cast on. Of course if using a thicker fibre, you would need less cast on stitches, thinner fibre more.
Gauge: 5 stitches per inch; 8 rows per inch in stockinette.

*How-To:
With size 5 needles, CO 36.
K2, P2 rib for 10 rows.
Change to size 7 needles and K in stockinette until piece measures approximately 8 inches long.
Change back to size 5 needles, work 10 rows of K2, P2 rib.
Bind off in pattern.
Weave in ends and seam using mattress stitch to form a tube.
Make second legwarmer as first.
Find a baby to put them on and take some pictures and send them to all your friends (and to me too!).

*these directions are just the very basic instructions; for random stripes like mine, just use more than one color yarn and change it up as you please. My random stripes were dictated by the amounts of each color of yarn I had. If I were making a stripe of the same size, I would calculate the rows using the length and row gauge (7 inches not including the cuffs, multiplied by 8 rows per inch equals 56 rows; divide by four equals 14 stripes four rows wide; divide by two equals 7 stripes of four rows in two colors, etc etc). I would just plan ahead for whatever pattern or color I wanted to use. Unless I wanted solid, then I would just dive right on in!

3 comments:

affectioknit said...

Those are so CUTE!...and they leave the baby toes free for nibbling...

Patricia said...

Thanks! I can't wait to check to fit on Wee Too and do a proper photoshoot. Or maybe I could take them to Toddler Time, quickly put them on someone else's baby, take a pic and post it....I'm thinking this would not end well...so I'll wait for Wee Too...

Elena said...

Hello! I found this pattern and your blog on Ravelry.com--this pattern is just what I've been looking for!
I've just started casting on a pair for my expectant sister.
Thanks for sharing your creations.

Love,
Elena