Knit Legwarmers on a Circular Knitting Machine

Circular knitting machines are a lot of fun to use and make it easy to knit tubes. Despite the name, it’s also possible to knit flat panels on a knitting machine, but this is a function a lot of people don’t use because there’s a bit more of a learning curve around the technique.

Once you understand how it works, though, it’s just about as easy to work panels on a knitting machine as it is to crank tubes. (I say almost because you do have to pay more attention to make sure you aren’t dropping stitches on the sides of your panels.)

And once you know how to make panels, you can make them any size, from a couple of stitches for an animal’s ear to using most of the stitches on your machine for a project like these knit legwarmers.

To make legwarmers on my knitting machine I made a swatch using the yarn I was planning to use and measured it and my leg to determine how many stitches I needed. It was just about all the stitches my machine will do flat, so if you need bigger legwarmers you might need to do two smaller panels for each leg and sew them together.

Because I’m a knitter I also knit ribbing on each end of the leg opening (using a smaller needle at the bottom of the leg so it would hung my ankle more). This makes them look like hand knit legwarmers even though they took a fraction of the time knitting by hand would.

I made mine kind of short because of yarn limitations, but you can make yours a lot longer to increase the slouch factor if you like. Or add stripes, stitch on your name or a design in duplicate stitch…there are so many options!

Check out the free pattern for knitting legwarmers on a knitting machine over at Our Daily Craft. And let me know if you’re looking for particular knitting machine patterns and I’ll see what I can find or design for you!

Adding a bit of knitting to your fall decor is a lot of fun, whether it’s knit pumpkins or a bunch of adorable knit ghosts like these.

Knit ghosts can be super simple like this free ghost knitting pattern from Trixie Zynch on Ravelry. Using about 50 yards of worsted weight yarn, they’re worked from the bottom up and are super cute as a pair.

This fuzzy little ghost from Forest Knitting Toys is holding a pumpkin and wearing a witch hat, though of course the accessories are optional, as is the fuzzy yarn. The main yarn is chunky and the ghost measures about 10 cm/4 inches tall. It’s worked in the round.

Another fuzzy ghost in more of a Pacman style is this ghost plushie form South Stitch Girls. It’s worked in the round with bulky yarn and includes a sweet little bow you can make in whatever color you like.

The ghost doll from Edith Grace Designs has little arms and a curl at the top of its head. The body is worked flat using DK weight yarn and you could also work it in glow in the dark yarn for extra fun. The body and head are worked in one piece with the arms knit separately.

The Grim Grinning Ghosts from Susan Claudino are super cute and you can knit them in any yarn and gauge you like to make ghosts of different sizes. These are worked in the round with the body done in one piece and the arms are knit separately. The ghosts shown were knit in sock yarn, DK and worsted weight yarn. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Make a ghost with funny striped legs with this ghost shelf sitter design from Claire Fairall Designs. It’s worked in three colors of DK weight yarn, and the letters spelling out boo are made with strips of garter stitch sewn into shape.

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