Gettin' Busy and FO: Leg Warmers for a Certain Young Miss of My Acquaintance

It's been a relatively quiet week here at chez woolly.  We have very brief respite between the overindulgence that is Thanksgiving, and the madness that is the entire rest of December.  (At home anyway.  At work we just launched our annual Performance Assessment process -- the first since the two companies merged, and it's a bit of a cluster... but here at home things are nice and calm).

Hanukkah starts this evening, and I'll be lighting the candles.  We probably won't have a big celebration this year, but we're making plans to enjoy some fried foods and listen to some traditional Hanukkah tunes.  

This coming week also holds lunch dates with good friends, Christmas concerts, and my baby girl's graduation (and subsequent move back out of the house after a very brief, furniture-filled visit).   Oh, an my work's Holiday Party, if I can't weasel out of it.

It's pretty much GO GO GO from here 'til New Year's, so I've spent this morning doing some quiet reflection, goal planning, and just generally soaking in some peace.

And Pie.  Peace, Planning, and Pie.

I've been hustling to finish a pair of leg warmers I'm making for Jess' oldest sprogling.  She's a dancer, and what dancer doesn't need sparkly leg warmers?  (I'm also totally cheating and combining an FO post with a weekly wrap-up post.  My blog, my rules. Fight me.)

I did a bunch of research (and by "research" please understand I mean "trolling for patterns on Ravelry") but in the end I just did my own thing.  The pattern goes like this:

CO 52 sts in worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles

K2P2 until you've lost the will to live (usually after around 4" or so)

Now K2P2 some more until you've reached ~18"

BO, using a modified JSSBO*

Sob quietly as you cast on for the second one.

*Okay -- so Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off does just exactly what it says on the tin.  You basically add a little extra space in each bound off stitch by doing a backwards YO before you bind the stitch off (please find real instructions here.)    To modify it for the leg warmers, I just did the YO between each K stitch and each P stitch, but not between the stitches that transition between knit and purl.  That gave me just the perfect amount of stretch.

Project Notes

Pattern: My Own -- Simple K2P2 Rib

Yarn:  Caron Simply Soft Party in the "Silver Sparkle" colorway

Total Yardage: 253 yards

Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Started: November 8, 2015

Completed: December 6, 2015

I've cast on another set for Little Sister, using the yarn that's left (#matchymatchykal -- is that still a thing?)    For Bu's I'm following the same basic recipe, but I cast on 36 stitches, and will go until it looks right or I run out of yarn -- whichever comes first.

In other news, I arbitrarily decided at some point during November that I'd like to bust 10K yards knit and crocheted in 2015 (note to self:  have this revelation earlier in the year next time).  I'm sitting pretty on 9622 yards so I'm only lacking just short of 400.  

I'll have Bu's wee leg warmers, but that'll only net me 75 yards at best (since that is how much I have left).  I also have a few more little gifts to tie up here and there. 

But if I want to make my goal, I'd better plan to get serious.   To that end, I pulled Nurmilintu back out of the work-basket.

That should do it.