So, even in California it's cold outside. I know, it's not snow, it's not Arctic tundra, but what with my not having a car, I spend more time outside than most people and I notice this stuff more than everyone else. So I tend to be waddling around in enough layers to pass as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man when I go to work in the mornings. Most days I am wearing leggings + sweatpants + pants or a giant skirt on the bottom alone. I'd like to wear some of my nicer/dressier skirts, but it takes some doing in the winter. People actually complain to me that I am wearing darker/more boring clothes in the winter and they find this disappointing! (This is a bit shocking. I can't imagine walking up to someone and telling them that when they wear turd brown every day, that gets kind of boring too! I guess they're all living vicariously?) Uh...well, I don't like it either, but that's weather and practicality for you.
Most leggings are sold in the color black. This looks good under darker-colored clothes (dark purple, blue, red), but not so much if you want to wear anything light pink or yellow. For years I have tried to find some white or cream or otherwise light-colored leggings (NOT TIGHTS, I am done with tights now that I no longer take ballet, and they don't keep your legs warm anyway), and have struck out for years. I found a pair of gray ones once. ONCE. And one time I resorted to ordering what looked like cream leggings online, only to find that they were actually a nasty mustard color. What the hell? I next thought about solving this problem by making different colored legwarmers to go over the black. I have one pair of thigh-high legwarmers I filched from my mom years ago that are very helpful in cold weather, but they don't always stay up. I made some cream-colored (boring, but oh well) legwarmers last year, but they didn't come out terribly great. Finally I decided that I should just knit an entire pair of leggings, using some pastel-shade yarn I was going to make a dress out of, but the dress did not work well when you have small back + giant boobs and I had to scrap it.
(Note: ironically, I finally found a pair of white legwarmers the day after I started knitting these things. Oh well, layers...)
I was using this Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, "Nether Garments", which works off of her percentage method.
However, when it came to making legs, I found that I needed to customize it more. After awhile she just has the legs get wider and wider, and my knees and thighs uh...didn't need to be THAT wide. So I tried them on a lot, didn't enlarge it much at the hips, added a short row panel at the back so I didn't go all plumber's crack, and... voila, took me about 2.5 weeks to do (I took a few days off due to aforementioned hand issues). I am wearing them today and they are marvelously warm, like wearing sweatpants to work. Except dressier. Also, I'm not frequently stopping on the street to hike them up, looking like I'm in Pretty Woman or something.
Here they are with a knitted skirt I did.
Yes, I know they look ridiculous in that Easter colored yarn. I think this is the one thing I've knit in public that does NOT get compliments. But I don't care. I like 'em. And if you think these are weird, I saw FAR WEIRDER ones on Ravelry. Seriously, these are tame, comparatively speaking.
I kinda want to make another pair. These are fun. Maybe in red, or a nice tie-dye-y blue/purple yarn, or purple...
This is what I did to customize them:
CO 38 sts, knit in k1, p1 rib for 10 rows. Switch to stockinette, knit for 3 inches. Place marker at center back of leg and start doing the increases (1 on each side of the back 2sts on side of marker, every 3 rows) for 13 increases (12 inches from bottom) = 64 stitches.
Start decreasing by 2 every 3 rows for 4 repeats = 56 inches. Should be at 56 stitches by 13 inches long. Knit for 3 more inches until leg is 16 inches long (to top of knee).
Move the increase point to 14 stitches over (right or left side), start increases again in same manner for 3 repeats (62 stitches). Switch from DPN's to 16 inch circulars here. Continue in stockinette for another 16 inches/until leg hits your crotch region. Repeat for other leg. Put stitches on a longer circular needle, 20something inches (I forget what cord I used for this, whatever works for you).
Put 19 stitches on inseam of each leg onto another strand of yarn, put all remaining stitches onto circular needle and start knitting in the round. After 10 rows, place markers on the side of each hip (22 stitches in), do 5 increases in same method as patt. Knit in round for 5 inches.
Now, when I tried them on at this point they fit fine in the front, but were likely to have "plumber's crack" in the back. So at this point I did 14 rows of short rows on the back side from marker to marker, then did another row in the round connecting them all together. I placed a marker when I got back to the original short row starting point. Then I knit in k1, p1 rib for 2.5 inches, bound off, and sewed the crotch together by winding the needle through the open stitches. I did not need to size down the needles for the ribbing at any point.
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