Child Legs

Scroll down to February 25, 2008 entry for pattern instructions. Sewing elastic in at the top of the leggings is recommended, to help keep them on better.

Recipient: DD1
Designer: Moi
Pattern: Child Legs (if you can call it a 'pattern')
Completed: February 24, 2008
Colours: self-striping: pinks, purples, blues, white
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Completed status: To wash before DD1 will allow them back on her legs
Pictures:

completed


'in action' (I am fully aware that I've paired stripes and a floral here...but hey, if you can't clash patterns when you're four, when can you clash 'em? [Do NOT say the Academy Awards.])

2008-Feb-25

Dunzo!

I love 'em, DD1 loves 'em...although she thinks they're 'prickly' and, I think, still harbours resentment that they don't go right up to her crotch like real pants. Sigh.

Okay, so let's get into the knitty-gritty of the pattern and how to make your own: Knit a tube of 2x2 ribbing to whatever length you want for your kid.

Need more details than that? Alrightee then...

• Leggings are knitted from the top down.
• 100g of sock yarn should be plenty. These leggings used just over 75g of Trekking XXL.
• Using the long tail cast-on and a 4mm needle, cast on 60 sts.
• Switch to 2.5mm needles (or 2.75mm if you want the leggings a bit looser) and join, being careful not to twist, doing K2, P2 ribbing.
• Continue K2, P2 ribbing until legging is 18" or whatever length suits your fancy. (My kid wanted the leggings to go from ankle up to way past mid-thigh, so she got 18".)
• Cast off.
• Make another legging.
• Fits a slightly shorter- and skinnier-than-average 4.5-year-old girl with room to grow.

2008-Feb-24

Ahem. Did I say that Trekking XXL didn't repeat?



Whoops. I eat my words - it totally does. Or, at least, this colourway does. Don't it look nice? I'm now only about three inches away from finishing leg #2. When I do, I'll post a picture of DD1 in them, and detail how I made 'em.

2008-Feb-20

I surged ahead on the first leg yesterday, and got it to a point where I figured I should try it on DD1 again.

Uh, DUH, yeah, it comes up practically to her crotch!

Fortunately, she likes it that way. In fact, she complained that it wasn't 100% all the way up her leg. (In response, I essentially told her to suck it up, it was already extremely sufficient in the length department.)

So, at 18" in length, I cast off the first leg.



Next up: Leg deux.

2008-Feb-1

I weighed what's left of the ball, and I've got really quite a ways to go until the halfway point (of course, my understanding of where precisely the halfway point is would have been improved by weighing the ball before I started knitting with it, but I'm an idiot who doesn't think ahead, so there goes that idea). I guesstimate I've got about 6 inches more to do before the first leg is finished, so I'm not worried at all about running out of yarn.

I've also taken an updated picture:

2008-Jan-23

The first leg has grown quite a bit, it's at least a foot long now. I tried it on my daughter today and it fits really well. She also really likes it, although she wants it to come right up to the top of her leg instead of mid-thigh (which was my original plan). Hopefully there will be enough yarn to do this. Speaking of which, I should really weigh what's left of the ball to see whether I'm at the halfway point yet.

2008-Jan-11

This has become my 'purse project' - the one I stash in my purse for emergency knitting needs. :) As such, it's seen a few inches' growth recently.

2008-Jan-1

So I was looking at my new ball of Trekking XXL, and it occurred to me how many of the colours also appear in DD1's favourite skirt. And then I wondered, why should I have to make socks with this? What if I made a child version of Baby Legs? She could wear them with the skirt, maybe over white tights, and it would look super-cute and swizz.

So I cast on.

I went for at least three inches wondering when the colourway would cycle around to the beginning again, until I remembered that I'd read on a number of blogs that Trekking doesn't repeat! So I became zen with the idea of fraternal leggings, and continued on.



They are going to look awesome when they're finished. I'll post exactly what I'm doing to make them once they're all done, but really, it's just two 2x2 ribbed tubes wide enough to fit your kid's thigh.

Labels: dd1legs