October 27, 2012
Personalized gifts in general are some of my favorite projects to stitch up. Legwarmers have got to top the list as one of the best ideas for any little girl you know. If you have a dancer on your shopping list of people to buy for, these are a great gift idea any time of the year! They won’t have to worry about someone else picking up their beautiful accessories with their name stitched right into them. While dancers probably make the most sense for these to be gifted to, I know my girls loved to wear their legwarmers even when they were not dancing. This pair was a custom order that was requested after I started stitching up legwarmers for friends and family.
*This post may include affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure for more information.*
The pattern I used for this project was The Anna Legwarmers by Holly Pitcock of HandmadebyMama.
Good yarn choices to use to make this would be Vanna’s Choice, Caron Simply Soft Party, and Red Heart Soft. I recommend any of these. I used Caron Simply Soft Party yarn in purple for this particular project with the colorway snow for the lettering. I’m including an Amazon link below to find it there. A few other places to check out to see if you could find good sales on any of these yarns listed above are the Lion Brand and Create For Less websites.
Something else that comes in handy if you decide you’d like to stitch this pattern up for yourself is a good set of knitting needles . My favorite brand to use, and the only kind I have ever really purchased, are the Knit Picks brand. They are so beautiful and I can’t help but smiling just looking at them. Pictured below are several of the mosaic wood options they carry. I just love them.
You can also find options at any of your local craft stores or even on Amazon. I’ll be sure to include a few other links as well. Several buying options to choose from and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. 🙂 You will see that most of the options I recommend are interchangeable sets, and only ones that I have heard great reviews on, even if I don’t personally own each brand. Interchangeable needles are going to be the most economical way to get started as you can use them for a wide variety of projects. Whatever you do, make sure to do your research. If you purchase a quality needle from the start, you won’t have to buy replacements later on. They will stand the test of time and use, so do your homework first and shop smart!
If you currently don’t know how to knit, I’d be happy to stitch this set up for you, just send me a message to custom order. Or…. I highly recommend learning how to knit yourself! Check out the site for Annie’s below for an online learning option. You can try this site out for free to see if you like it before continuing a membership. I’m also including a link for a kit similar to what I purchased back in 2012 that I used to aid in teaching myself to knit, long before these great online resources were as readily available.
Finally, here are the few little notes and tips I took for myself and saved in Ravelry when I stitched these up. I must have based it off the pattern linked, but then recreated a bit for what I needed.
size 6 needle:
c/o 32 stitches
K1P1 Rib for 10 rows
switch to size 7 needles:
work Inc Rnd 1, 2, 3 and 4 from stripe legwarmer pattern
switch to size 6 needles:
work k1p1 rib for 10 rows
cast off.
The following were notes that I took on some of the first legwarmers that I made based off the original pattern linked at the top of this post. If no other notes help, at least use the first suggestion of measuring the leg if that is an option. It will help ensure a perfect fit.
First I measured the leg. (If this isn’t an option than just do the standard sizing). I did the same pattern with 40 stitches cast on for the circumference around her leg (she can grow with them). Her leg measured 23.5 cm around.
I did the ribbing with 12 rounds instead of 14.
Her leg measured 9 inches long, so I worked them to that length before adding the second ribbing. This seemed to work for a perfect size to fit.
I did a ribbed bind off.
That should be about all you need if you want to try this one out. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any help. Make sure to check out the links at the end of this post for Knitcrate. For the month of December 2020 they are doing an Advent Calendar of sales. Each day they post a new code for the sale they are running that day. You may need to be a member or at least sign up for the emails to be alerted of these sales. I LOVE receiving this subscription box. It’s one of my favorites. It’s so affordable and the contents have been great. It’s a GREAT gift idea to give to someone to purchase for you. They can sign you up for a 3 month trial for less than $100. Click here or on any of the links below to get started.
Happy Stitching!
🧶💖
~Mindy~
