Last year I shared a roundup of shorts knitting patterns over at Our Daily Craft, and it’s consistently one of my most popular posts this time of year.
What that post lacked, though, was any projects of mine, because I have never written a shorts knitting pattern before.
And I guess technically I still haven’t, but I have written a detailed tutorial of how to knit shorts that fit you. Use whatever yarn you have, at whatever gauge you like, and knit using whatever stitch pattern you want to make the size you need.
The “pattern” walks you through knitting a swatch and the measurements and math you’ll need to do to make sure your shorts fit. Yes there is math. It’s not terrible, I promise. And because gauge is sometimes a liar, I talk you through all the points along the way where I tried the shorts on as I went to adjust the fit as needed.
This was actually a really fun project. I used yarn I’d salvaged from ripping up one of my husband’s old sweaters (with permission, of course!) and made a really simple pair of lounge shorts that’s all stockinette stitch with knit hems.
But it’s really easy to change it to make ribbed edges, or throw in an allover stitch pattern, or stripes, or whatever else you want to do. I love writing tutorials like this instead of patterns because I don’t know what your body is like or what kind of fit you want, or how long you’d like the legs on your shorts to be. And it’s really satisfying to be able to figure it out for yourself.
And once you know how to knit shorts that fit you, there’s nothing stopping you from keeping on with the legs and knitting a pair of pants in just the same way.
I’m actually really tempted to do just that. Good thing I’ve got another sweater to unravel.
