Knit Matching Arm and Leg Warmers for a Fun ’80s Vibe

I don’t know why we stopped wearing leg warmers. Those little sweaters for the bottom of your legs are great from days when it’s super chilly out, and they’re great to wear under pajamas or under leggings when lounging around at home.

Jimenez Joseph has a fun pattern for a coordinating set of legwarmers and wrist warmers — appropriately called Breakdance — with a fun tuck stitch she calls Grab Stitch that makes a wavy stripe pattern.

They’re meant to be a bit slouchy but come in three sizes to suit your body parts or those of the person you are knitting for. These would be a fun retro knit gift for an 80s loving person or a dancer in your life.

You can get the pattern, which includes a video tutorial on how to do the stitch, from Ravelry for $6.

[Photo: Jimenez Joseph.}

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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