knithack: legwarmers

DSC_3050

i started with a thrifted old navy sweater (70% cotton, 30% wool, you better believe i’m using the rest of that yarn…).

upcycled legwarmers

made for a friend who moved further north in the middle of the winter and was all the colder for it. i don’t know how much use she’ll get out of them now that march seems to have turned into full-fledged summer. (don’t get me wrong, i’m loving every minute of the gorgeous weather, but the fact that the seasons aren’t acting right does make me a little uneasy…)

upcycled legwarmers

i knew she was jonesing for some legwarmers (like this or this, or this), so i kept my eye out at thrift stores until i found the right grey cabled sweater. (there was one false alarm… the sweater was too pretty to rip apart…)

upcycled legwarmers

i pulled out the seams (except for the sleeves), which has gotten a lot easier for me since reading this tutorial, and unraveled the shoulder of the sleeve, until it joined in the round. i used my size 7 double pointed needles, and picked up all of the live stitches, and proceeded to knit 2×2 ribbing in the round until i ran out of the yarn.

upcycled legwarmers

for non-knitters, there’s tutorials for reusing sweaters and just sewing, like this one right here.

upcycled legwarmers

i need to buy a sweater shaver…

About these ads
This entry was posted in craftiness, knitting, socks and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

8 Responses to knithack: legwarmers

  1. love that idea! I really like wearing legwarmers with my boots if the wind is going down them. They make it much warmer. This is a faster way to get them for sure!

  2. Erin-Kate says:

    What a nice friend! :) They look great!

  3. Ness says:

    So cute! I may have to do this instead of actually committing my knitting time to another pair of legwarmers that I never wear. :P I think i just need the right boots so I can use them as toppers.

  4. kessanlin says:

    These look so cute! I’ve always loved the look of leg warmers and have considered knitting them. But they have even less use than thick woolen sweaters in my climate. When I visit a colder climate, I find that I don’t know how to wear them (like I don’t know any long pants other than jeans…) It will be great if you can (maybe) talk a little about basic do-s and don’t-s combination for cooler weather in the near future?

    • ifandany says:

      i’m not much of a wearer of legwarmers myself. they fall into the category of don’t-they-look-cute-on-others-wait-i-have-no-idea-how-to-wear-them for me… as for your idea of a ‘do’s and don’t's for cold weather, it is an interesting one. i’m not sure i know how to approach it. especially since i would feel probably equally awkward about adjusting my wardrobe in a tropical climate. i will definitely think on it a bit, though, and if i come up with a good approach, i will totally post about it!

  5. knitxcore says:

    you clever lady! such a good idea!

  6. tessiturn says:

    Those are so so soooo rad. Love.

  7. Pingback: 2012: knitting roundup! « ifandany

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s