I was a theatre kid in the 1980’s, so you KNOW I rocked the leg warmers back in the day. I was never a dancer but I did musicals all the time and seriously, leg warmers were a necessity. Tap dancing for hours on cement floors kills your calves, people. It helps to keep them warm. Shin splints are no fun.
I had a few pair of ‘warmers and I wore them to rehearsals and maybe to walk home in or whatever. I was naturally cool in those days, I didn’t have to worry much about it.
Now, many years and pounds and a whole different life and lifestyle later, I still love the textured clothes that I’ve loved all my life: those layers and layers of dramatic scarves, interesting knits, nubby sweaters, skirts with some sort of woven pattern, ethnic fabrics, bright head rags, aprons, the bohemian gypsy look that I’ve been drawn to all my life. Long jackets over long skirts, boots with everything, necklaces that hit you in the pupik, that sort of thing. I LOATHE cheap fabrics and mass manufactured garments with cheap ethnic prints. HATE.
So I find this all very interesting:
I love it all. I love even the crazy little clogs that are like, “Oh, I think I’ll pretend to be a horse today.” Because I love INTERESTING. I love natural fibers. I love hand-knit. I would totally get a pair of knit leg warmers and wear them over my Harley ankle boots and under a skirt. I bet they’re easy to knit, huh? I should learn how to knit. Do you guys knit?
Can you tell how tired I am? Time for beddy by.
I second that. Especially the chunky knits like in the 3rd photo would be pretty simple to learn. (And Wendy, what about magic loop? total life-saver, I am never working with double points again!)
I tried to learn to knit a couple of years ago. Everyone who knits says how relaxing it is. Brought me to the edge of a breakdown! May be one of those things you had to learn sitting in your Grandmother’s lap, age 3 lol!
PS Still in love with the idea of knitting.
I tried to learn to knit several times, but gave up in despair. Then I discovered that there are TWO basic ways to knit–Continental and American. The results are exactly the same, but the process is different. I’m a Continental knitter–who knew? So, Lynda, see if you can find someone who can show you both styles. One might make intuitive sense to you, even if the other drives you nuts.
I, too, recommend the local yarn store route. Folks there love to knit and teach. They’ll patiently explain things, and help you find needles and yarn you’ll love.
Okay you guys I totally want to learn to knit although I fear this will be absolutely contrary to my natural strengths. And that it will prey on all my weaknesses.
I’m an avid knitter and have been for over a decade (despite being in my early 20s!)
This is a helpful website: ravelry.com
It has thousands upon thousands of beautiful (and some not so beautiful) patterns for anything you could ever want to make, from scarves to legwarmers to fingerless gloves, even felted boots!
I agree with PB on this, that interesting is good. However, sometimes knitter have a tendency to go a little over the top with these things. They assume that “I made it myself!” is an excuse for oversized, ill-fitting, or lopsided clothing, often in a rainbow of multicolored yarns.
My advice to knitters– keep articles of clothing one tone. Only break out that beautiful Noro (http://www.knittingfever.com/c/yarn/noro-silk-garden-sock/) for socks or the occasional scarf!
As a local Bostonian, I can say that there are indeed some amazing yarn stores around. One personal favorite is Wild N Woolly in Lexington, MA. It’s a trek for you, so it’s maybe not your best option, but it’s a great shop. It’s big, it’s cozy, the staff are knowledgeable and friendly, and I love it there. I also love a little place in Cambridge (Porter Square) called Mind’s Eye Yarn. Just go explore your local yarn store down on the South Shore and see what you find. Careful, though– some can be pricey (good yarn usually is, sighhh), and some staff can be cold and elitist (a problem I found in my hometown yarn shop!).
Knitting is a wonderful hobby; I don’t do it much, but I love when I do pick it up.
Good luck!
Knitting is not only a wonderful way to create, it is also a soothing way to wind down from the day. In the forty plus years that I have been a knitter, I have put it to use as a part of my spiritual life. May you find that learning to knit is a graceful and nurturing gift that gives to others. Had Ghandiji lived in a cooler climate, he surely would have knit!
A local yarn store is a good place to begin. From there who knows where the journey of a single stitch will take you?
I agree with Regina — to me knitting is a spiritual exercise. But I do know folks for whom it is an exercise in frustration. I love it because it keeps my hands busy in the evening so I’m not eating out of boredom and I can watch tv and feel like I’ve accomplished something! Good local yarn stores are wonderful places, but if you want to go to texture/textile heaven, PB, we’ll do a road trip to Web’s in Northampton…Nirvana!
And you could so do a pair of legwarmers on circular needles.
Can I just put a word in here for crochet? My mother and grandmother saw to it that I can knit, but I’ve never got beyond scarves and not very neat scarves at that. It never became automatic – I still have to think about every stitch. I’ve never had great hand-eye coordination which hasn’t helped.
But crochet – maybe because there’s just one hook not two needles, maybe because it just feels more freeflowing – I LOVE to crochet. And if you want some more excitement, try tunisian crochet, which is effectively knitting with a single hook.
Whichever you go for there are some great tutorials and sites online. I thought I’d be the only person in the world crocheting a laptop cover. I was wrong!
No, no, a thousand times no to leg warmers. No,no, no. Rent “Zanadu” and you will see why.
But yes to knitting. Start off with funky scarves, since you love those and you don’t have to purl. Then you can progress to prayer shawls. Then socks, or whatever. But no leg warmers! Worse than leggings, IMHO.
Gosh, I guess I’d better finish off that afghan I tossed down in disgust at least 3 years ago. [Girl, it’s not like I’d be wearing them over tights with leotards! Trust me a bit more than that! – PB]
I learned to knit my 2nd year in seminary, and around here folks knit in class, in meetings, and several knit Hats for the Homeless http://hats4thehomeless.blogspot.com/ or prayer shawls during church service. My dear friend taught me to knit – for several holidays gave me yarn, needles, a pattern and the gift of her time. I know myself as an accessory knitter – scarves, socks, hats, mittens, etc. Easy to carry along wherever and to actually finish the project. Plus one or two skeins of fabulous yarn won’t break the bank. I echo the comments about the LYS – local yarn store.
I love leg warmers and knit more each fall to go with new boots/accessories. Also I have so much to do that I need small projects so that they will get done. Mind’s Eye in Porter Sq is good although I mostly go to Winsor Button in downtown Boston
Knitting can be lots of fun and is destressing which is always helpful.
I love leg warmers and knit more each fall to go with new boots/accessories. Also I have so much to do that I need small projects so that they will get done. Mind’s Eye in Porter Sq is good although I mostly go to Winsor Button in downtown Boston
Knitting can be lots of fun and is destressing which is always helpful.
i love knitting. i had to put it aside while i was finishing up seminary and doing my internship (while working, renovating my victorian farmhouse, raising my son and tending my romantic relationship). knitting can be frustrating and soothing, depending on the project and day.
but the best thing about knitting is the instant camaraderie found with other knitters! no matter if it’s the airport, doctor office, bus or … we love to talk to each other! and i find that the more experienced knitters are so generous in their help and advice.
For me, knitting is more of a can’t-sit-still thing than a spiritual thing and I’m not particularly good at it. That said, everybody is good at it when they use a circular loom and I’m sure one could make legwarmers with one.
CC
Long-time lurker, coming out because I’m a knitter 🙂 (see linked blog) Would encourage anyone to try it once. I would totally teach you if I didn’t live 10+ hours away!
I admire those who can knit and crochet; I have relatives and friends who do so and I wish I could. Have tried repeatedly but all my attempts look like something Johnny Depp would wear in a Tim Burton film.
I can, however, draw awesome looking animal doodles, especially dachshunds and long-legged water birds.
I would LOVE to learn to knit as well. But, dear Peacebang, as another doctoral candidate whose spare time -isn’t that a funny expression – is spent dissertating, I’m pretty sure that at this point in time learning to knit would be one of many possible, though admittedly potentially productive, procrastination techniques. Or at least it would be for me. 🙂
What I love about knitting is that it has a beginning, middle, and end – and there is a finished product. I’m not much of a kinitter, despite having done it for nearly a decade (I, too, learned in seminary), but I love it. Now that the weather is turning cooler, I will be knitting more, including finishing the baby blanket I started this summer.
And I agree that it is probably very possible to do a basic legwarmer on circular needles.
Legwarmers. I made a set with a different colorway of Socks That Rock (Blue Moon Fiber Arts) at each end. Two skeins of sock yarn for 2 legwarmers. (one skein usually equals 2 long narrow women’s crew socks) Usually I knit socks on the bus.
I knit mine in the round, on 2 circular needles (half the stitches on each 24-inch circular). Why? If you knit on the bus or train, it’s much easier to have half of the stitches on a giant stitch holder while you knit the other half using the other circ. I have used 5 double-points, but I prefer matched sets of Addi Turbo or Turbo Lace now. I knit Continental in one color, and strand 2 colors Faroese style (one color in left hand Continental and the other color thrown like a Brit in the right hand).
Continental knitting tensions the yarn through the left hand, and the needle in the right hand forms the stitches by picking loops up. This style is prevalent in Germany and Scandinavia, though methods for two-color knitting vary.
Norwegian is supposed to be threading BOTH colors through the left hand, picking off the color of
choice, Continental style.
What the other writer calls “American” I have heard called British, in which the yarn is thrown with the right hand to form each stitch. In Elizabeth Zimmerman’s memoirs there’s a whole discussion of how Continental style was forbidden to her when she was a child because of its association with Germany.
However, my observation is it DEPENDS on which region of the USA where you are knitting. If persons of Scandinavian or German extraction are prevalent, you will find more knitters who were taught Continental by their relatives.
Confession: I knit one color Continental and two-fisted Faroese for stranding.
Aren’t you really just nostalgic for those lost days so that wearing leg warmers makes you feel young again? I went to school during the LL Bean ascendancy. I feel wonderful in cords, a flannel shirt and a great sweater worn with hiking boots even tho’ I know at another level that I don’t want to look like that now, some 30 years later.
Thank you, Nellie.
You should at least try knitting. I found it very easy to pick up (I learned 2 years come January). I have mainly done hats and scarfs but a pair of leg warmers would be super easy. Once you know what your doing it could be your first fun project.
I second all the people saying it can be a spiritual experience. It can also keep your mind focused if you are the type who had a hard time paying attention. I take mine to conferences and to meetings. (like the rosary beads it gives your hands something to do so your brain can work)
I highly recommend it you do pick up knitting to choose fiber worth the time and effort you are putting into a project. You can get cheap yarn almost anywhere but if you really want to make items which will be worth the time and will actually be worn for their beauty go to your local yarn shop.
Also if you are ever in Porter Sq on a Wednesday night stop by Mind’s Eye Yarn, I am part of a knitting club that meets there. (and the yarn there is fabulous!)
There are wonderful opportunities to knit with others at knitters retreats in a quiet, reflective setting – like “Sheep May Safely Graze” at Mt. Saviour Monastery)As an added bonus, at Mt. Saviour you are given a skein of the wool from the sheep which are part of the monastery and available in the monastery bookstore in varying dye lots.
I’m gonna second the comment about crochet, I’ve been taught how to knit on multiple occasions and it never sticks, but crochet is AWESOME! It seems less strict to me, and there are so many stitches and variations, once christmas I got on a roll and crocheted slippers for everyone in my extended family…