Monica Knits

These leg warmers were designed for cool weather and winter walking and are knitted with acrylic yarn for quick laundering. They feature feature 1 x 1 ribbing at the ankle and calf, a seed stitch buttonhole placket, shell buttons and a baby cable rib stitch. These are knitted from the ankle upwards and the buttonhole band is either knitted on or sewn on afterwards. The buttonhole band has a self-facing for aesthetic and structural purposes. To make it easier to pickup stitches for the buttonhole band, a chain stitch selvedge is knitted for the body, excluding the ribbing rows. These leg warmers use my preferred baby cable stitch pattern.   

Materials

1. Bernat Satin Admiral, worsted weight (Medium 4), acrylic yarn, midnight blue (04110), 100 gm (3.5 oz, ~ 363 yds), made in Canada
2. Wooly Nylon sewing thread
3. Sixteen shell buttons, 5/8" diameter
4. Dark blue or black 5/8" or 1" gross grain ribbon (or interfacing for button support), 144"
5. Two yards floss for buttonholes and attaching buttons, DMC #823 (dark blue).

Supplies:

1. Darning deedle
2. Size 6 (4.0 mm) needles, or size to obtain gauge
3. Stitch register / row counter
4. Stitch markers

Gauge, measured with stocking stitch, and 4.0 mm needles
5" = 20 sts
4-1/2" = 20 rows

Leg Warmer Instructions
Cuff

1. Cast on 60 sts with a 4.0 mm needle using the long-tail cast on method.
2. Work 1 x 1 ribbing for 1 " (5 rows). Place a marker (PM) at end of last row and cast on an additional 5 sts using the cable cast on method.

Body

1. (WS) P5, slip marker (SM), (K3P2)* across, PM. Cast on an additional 5 sts using the cable cast on method.
2. (RS) P2 , (P3 K1 YO K1)* across, P5
3. K5 (place on st holder), (K3P3)* across, K5
4. Sl 1, P4,SM (Sl 1, K2, PSSO2 ,P3)* across
5. (K3P2)* across, K5
6. Sl 1, P4, SM, (K1 YO K1 P3)* across
7. Sl 1, K2, (P3K3)* across, P3, K5
8. Sl 1, P4, SM, (Sl 1, K2, PSSO2 ,P3)*
9. Repeat rows 5-8 until desired length is reached.

Buttonhole Band
Although I reserved the sts with the intent of creating buttonholes, I wasn't able to find the buttons I wanted, so I ended up stitching a regular band without holes and sewing on shell buttons as decoration. You can read the earlier article to see how to create the buttonhole band with holes: Vertical Buttonholes and Buttonband.

Pick up the 5 sts from the stitch holder and work a band in seed stitch.
Seed Stitch: K, p, k, p, k (every row).
Bind off in seed stitch pattern.

Finishing

1. Crochet or sew the band to the legwarmer.
2. Weave in yarn ends.
3. Sew gross grain ribbon to the backs of the button and buttonhole bands using wooly nylon.
4. If desired, the leg warmers can be knitted as left and right handed. Since the buttons are on the side and the bands are cosmetic in this case, you don't have to worry about opening direction, so you don't have to knit right & left leg warmers.

*The Sl 1 stitch at the beginning of a row creates a chain stitch selvedge which lies flat and makes it easier to pick up sts later.

Related Posts
Stitch Patterns (1 x 1 rib stitch)
Bernat Satin Yarn
long-tail cast on method
Leg Warmers (olive green with flower petal buttons)

Abbreviations
WS - wrong side
RS - right side
PSSO2 - pass slipped stitch over 2 sts
PM - place marker
SL - slip marker
Sl 1 - slip 1 sts purlwise
sts - stitches