Finished Project: Shell Stitch Leg Warmers

I’ve been wanting to make some leg warmers for a while now and finally had the excuse to make some for an 80’s night at my local climbing gym. I used a funky neon yellow Berroco Superwash Wool and whipped up a pair of leg warmers that are simple to make but appear to be detailed with the repeated shell stitch. While I didn’t finish them in time for the event, I’ll be making more of these in the future and iterating on the design because let’s be honest, leg warmers are wicked cool.

Leg warmers laid out flat.

Overview

These legwarmers are just made up from a repeated 3 double crochet shell stich, as referenced from Pink Mambo. I created a chain of 40 stitches, which ended up being the width of the leg warmer (the circumference of the opening). I continued rows of the same stitch until I reached a length of 9 inches. Once I reached my desired length, I seamed together the long edge of the leg warmer and weaved in the ends.

Thoughts

These leg warmers worked up so quickly and I love how the columns of shell stitches look isolated vertically to provide an extra layer of detail. I also didn’t have to worry about whether the leg warmers would be stretchy enough, I lucked out with the starting chain of 40 being the perfect length for my calf without measuring (lol). I will be making more of these in the future since they are so fast to make, and be experimenting with adding ribbing, potentially using different stitches, or even adding motifs such as buttons or tassels. 

Leg warmers in action.