Yuletide Legwarmers
Knitting up some cozy inspiration for 2025!
I only learned how to knit in 2021, but it quickly became one of my favorite activities. Even though I have knit a variety of blankets, scarfs, headbands and hats, I will admit that I am not the most advanced knitter… I tend to gravitate towards simple patterns that don’t require too much counting or attention because knitting is like my crafty meditation time. I like to knit mindlessly, for lack of a better word, as I watch movies or television in the evening. I love projects where I can just keep a simple pattern going, row after row, as I find it incredibly southing. And then the satisfaction when you look at what you’ve created over the span of a couple half-hour sitcoms? There’s nothing quite like it!
One project I have never attempted is legwarmers, which is odd considering I used to be a ballet dancer. When I joined my first ballet company, I remember vividly watching fellow dancers knit pairs upon pairs of legwarmers during breaks in rehearsals. There was a moment, where it seemed all my company mates were learning how to knit for the sole purpose of making their own leg warmers. For some reason, that I honestly can’t fathom, I wasn’t interested at the time. Now, fast forward more years than I’d care to share, here I am finally making the legwarmers I needed in my youth!
There are lots of options when it comes to knitting a project like this. I think the majority of knitters would opt for knitting in the round, but I am fond of knitting flat, so I found this pattern just a couple of days ago and got to work setting up my long-awaited legwarmer project!
In the pattern, Madeline from Knitting House Square shows how to figure out your measurements and yardage, which I found simply ingenious! However from that cast on start, I’ve taken some liberty with my actual stitch pattern. I’ve started with a 2x2 rib for 15 rows to create a cute stretchy border (which I will also include at the end) and then sequed into one of my favorite mindless stitches - the seed stitch - which is basically a row of knit 1, purl 1, followed by a row of purl 1, knit 1, over and over. Simple, but I love how cute and squishy this knit looks in the end.
I’m calling these my Yuletide Legwarmers for the obvious reason that they are being knit over this yuletide holiday (and in a gorgeous shade of sort of antique red) but my intention for these legwarmers actually has more to do with some of my resolutions and goals for the new year too.
Last spring, I started doing daily ballet barres at home and it was fabulous - I was feeling great, losing some LBS, and it was helping me overcome my fractured relationship with ballet. It’s impossible for me to fully explain what the issue is, but in a nutshell: I love ballet, but it also makes me feel terrible about myself and I don’t think I will ever fully rectify that strange dynamic. But suffice to say, when I consider what kind of exercise my body is craving, ballet barre always floats to the top and I enjoy it so long as I can keep my mental issues out of the equation.
I used an app co-created by a principal dancer at NYCB, Indiana Woodward, who is an incredible performer and a truly kind soul. Joined by fellow members of the New York City Ballet, fitness, Pilates, yoga experts, and more, the Grace and Form app has a variety of workouts that all have a ballet sensibility, with a wide assortment of levels of intensity. I was getting in a great habit of starting my day by following along with a quick stretch routine or yoga flow and then coming home to do a quick ballet barre before starting dinner. But then, somehow the routine got thrown out of whack. Work and life got stressful and I stopped. Full stop on ballet at home.
A little incentive can go a long way when it comes to motivation for me. I often set up little games in my head to keep myself on task and accountable. Like, if I take out the recycling on my way to work in the morning, I can treat myself to store-bought coffee. Things like that. Thus, the Yuletide Legwarmers are my commitment to getting back into my ballet workout routine. If I have a cute pair of handmade legwarmers to wear then I HAVE to do my daily ballet barres. That’s what they were made for!
Since I am also an extremely slow knitter, the ballet barres will have start before these are finished, but it’s nice to have a new balletcore accessory to look forward to as I dip my toes back into tons of tendus.
Are you knitting up any inspiring accessories for the new year?