The Legwarmers saga

Two different people asked me for legwarmers for Christmas. EDIT: and there was a bonus pair for one of the recipients. 

One pair were in terracotta chunky wool. Single ply, so doable on the 22 peg circular knitting machine with care. As with my last few pairs, I used the train ticket trick to 'add' three pairs of extra stitches for calf shaping. Then decreased two stitches at the top before ribbing both ends on 6mm dpns, (Note to self: Row counts are in diary entry 2022-11-21.) I even took some process photos to share with the discussion group. Then the UK had a severe cold snap, so this pair were delivered early - and welcomed - before I could snaffle them to take a quick photo. Another time I might make them a little longer, but they were definitely good to go. 

I'd bought some gorgeous dk merino for the second pair, but failed to find a suitable pattern.* Ah well, I can work this out with a tape measure and a few calculations. Except: the ankle needs to be bigger than you'd think, to be put on over the heel; and the circumference needs less than you'd think, to stay up nicely. With negative ease, that means more length than you'd think - as you trade width for length when worn. By the time I'd knitted up two failed attempts (way too slouchy) , I'd run out of time before the last posting date, and substituted a different present. 

*Of course, at knit'n'natter a couple of weeks later, someone is wearing a k2p2 tube, no fancy shaping, which fit her beautifully. Far fewer stitches than even my second attempt.

Hey ho, can I use the circular knitting machine and make a pair by mid- January? Ran up a small sample tube with the merino DK, and unsurprisingly it was just spread too thin. . So not with this yarn on this gauge machine (it's good for aran, ok with a soft chunky or a fluffier dk)

What I could do is plan to visit the newly opened wool shop down the train line and get some aran. (Edit: Successful run on Christmas Eve, merino aran in a colour that will suit my friend) And in the meantime try out a flat-panel approach with some leftover thicker grey acrylic dk on the machine. 

First thought was to do the widest flat panel I can (19 pegs) and hand-knit extra stitches, starting with a to be at the ankle, dividing into panels and increasing from three stitches to nine at the calf. Notes in diary entry 2022-12-17. Tried a contrast yarn first for the smaller panel, as a learning exercise. This was a good balance between fast and shape-able. It looked fine on the table - the same join as a ten-stitch blanket was neat and decorative. Not a bad fit when on, either, though I hadn't done the top ribbing yet. Those colours and proportions do make me want to add an animal head (grins) 

stretches to

Replaced the contrast yarn with grey. Don't know if I distorted anything while unpicking. But, when worn, every imperfection in tension or break in the yarn showed. Glad I prototyped this It'd be a good technique for a sleeve gusset, say, but not in this situation. It's the right hand item in the picture, the left is the wider panel worked topdown. 

Next try 2022-12-21, still using the grey prototype yarn, was to move the shaping to the wider panel, start with 13 sts and increase below the calf. The seam now starts just above the rib, rather than working a tube first, and the narrower panel was worked on the machine and mattress stitched in. That's neater, though although I reviewed the video of the increase technique, I'm still not quite tidy enough to want to use it on good yarn. Needs more practice on something with less stretch. 

So the final prototype, and one I'm happy enough with to make a matching pair, uses the same stitch count as last time , but is worked top down and decreases in the lower part of the calf muscle. The shaping again is worked on the wider panel. Note that the top ribbing is worked after decreasing two. The first warmer stayed up through an hour's wear. 

Whilst I'll test the pair for a full day before breaking open the good Aran, and decide whether to decrease four before ribbing or just two., these look good enough, and I'm confident that I can deliver something nice and warm to my friend in the next couple of weeks. 

EDIT New Year's Day. The grey Acrylic pair, photo at the top of this post, were wear-tested by me soon after Christmas, delivered New Year's Eve, and wear-tested in the Pennine foothills today. The recipient grinned muddily when she got home and says they pass. 

The merino wool Aran pair for the January birthday were done without seams on the machine using the train ticket method. They just need ribbing by hand, and I'll cast off two stitches, making 26 on 5.5mm needles. 

Sand sea and sky yarn. Cat's ears hat

There was one ball, can't remember where it came from, of an interesting yarn. The label said Pebble baby DK, I think by wool craft. One white strand plied with long variegated runs of light blue and a sandy brown. Lovely effects, nice in your hands, but not enough for a cardi, so let's make hats.

After a few stitches, I realised it's OK, rather dense, on the recommended 4.0mm needles, but would be too thick to work the ribbing on 3.5mm needles. I was keen to deliver the dozen newborn hats, and thought maybe I'd do a few on the Circular Knitting Machine - mine is an Addi pro 22 peg, knits as just less than 6.0mm needles. I bet the coverage would be fine (it was)

Waded unthinkingly in to crank out the 19 st by 40 rows panel for a cat's ears hat, and hated it. All the blue fell on one side when folded, all the sand and brown on the other. Where the stripes met at the side seams, I'll leave you to picture.

Next attempt hand-knit with 5.0mm needles, 63 sts topdown. It was started with the outside of the ball, blue and white, and I'd hoped to end with the dark band of sand/brown. And would have done, if I'd used fewer stitches. This came out 12 month size, and overshot the sandy runs, finished with white, and fussy mouse wasn't keen. Rather than unpick all of it, I took it back to just above the sand, added a run of browns from the middle of the ball, and finished with sand and earth. 

This I do like. Shame I don't have a recipient in mind, who would really enjoy this. But it will be donated to the baby equipment bank and keep someone warm.

The two newborn hats in yesterday's post were knitted (54 sts on 5.0mm) from the next runs, blues and whites. To arrange the colours, I started with blue, alternated the ball thread with the tails. One came out with bands of cloud, and wide pools of water reflecting the sky - much like our very shallow beach. The other a more hazy day, with more sand and sandhills visible. 

Leaving both ends of the ball in browns and sands. I bet they'd make lovely cat's ears hats, panel 40 rows, darkest brown at the top. Out with the machine again. 

First attempt I made work for myself by cranking white to brown to white, thinking I'd find a good fold line and unpick the bits I didn't need for the ribbing. It turned out fine, hand knitting the ribs by alternating the unpicked ends until one of them ran out. But I could have made my life easier. 

Second attempt I remembered that the outside of the machine gives a good approximation to the yarn length needed for a round or a 19st row. So I wound the yarn round, chose my colour change pattern, reserved some white for ribbing, cranked out just a few more rows than I expected. Just unpicked the odd row, much nicer. Spiral knit the ribbing with the reserved white and the ball thread. Yes, I'll do this again with the right yarn. 

And the final hat was done without handknitting. The two user groups I read for this machine often ask ¿can a newborn hat be made on a 22 peg machine? The short answer is the 22 pegs are not big enough for a tube hat, the simplest to crank. But they are big enough for a cat's ear. Some users don't hand-knit as well as crank (many do). But you can convert stocking stitch to rib with a crochet hook, using the drop and latch technique. The final hurdle to overcome is to get the cast off (bind off) row loose enough. This time I crocheted an extra chain between each pair of ribs, and the whole hat will stretch to fit the intended 13.5" circumference. 

There are just two small ends of blue left, about 5g. Maybe will eke out another colour when I do the next batch of newborn hats.