I love legwarmers. Not because “Aaah!! 80s FITNESS”, but because they allow me to wear cute short skirts in winter without feeling the bite of the cold on my legs as much. They also top ugly shoes and boots you no longer care for very well, and, well, so many people are afraid of them, you can’t be anything but unique in a pair of legwarmers!

I’ve spent hours browsing Ravelry for that “perfect pair”. But, I didn’t find them, so this is the first pattern I’ve “designed” from scratch.

The pattern:

For 15” wide leggings that fit over that size calf. For a size that will fit you, measure the widest part of your calf, where you want the legwarmers to sit at. Then, calculate how many stitches you’ll need to cast on. I had about 3.2 sts / in, so for me, 48 stitches was what I needed to achieve a 15″ circumference.

Cast-on 48 stitches using a 16” 4.5mm circular needle.

*K4, P2, repeat from *
Do this for 6 rows.

On row 7, knit the pattern above onto a 16” 8.0mm circular needle.

*K4, P2, repeat from *
Do this for 36 rows.

On the 43rd row, knit the same pattern back onto the 16” 4.5 mm needle.

Knit the same pattern for 5 more rows after that (total of 6 rows on this smaller needle).

Bind off.

Repeat for second leg warmer.

Notes:

This wasn’t my first choice of yarn, however I was at a show, and the other yarn I was looking at was quite a bit more expensive, and I would have needed 5-6 skeins of it to complete the legwarmers I was going for. The shopkeep convinced me I should get this yearn instead, and I’d only need 3 skeins of it to complete legwarmers. I suppose we had different ideas of what legwarmers look like, however, as I had wanted long ones, that would bunch up nicely. In the end, I only had enough yarn to make relatively short legwarmers, compared to the ones I’d had in mind. However, I enjoy how chunky the yarn is, resulting in a quick knit, and how super warm they’ll be topping my unlined leather Fluevog boots this winter. For a first attempt, I’ll give it an 8/10.

If you have any questions, you can comment here. Also, here’s the Ravelry pattern page.