easy leg warmers...

ok, yes... i'm a child of the 80's. i love legwarmers, i admit it. they did come back into fashion recently, probably because we are now passing our dubious taste onto our own children! just kidding:) i have rediscovered for myself the actual practicality of legwarmers. they are great in winter. i find them especially useful when i want to wear tall boots but don't have long socks to wear under them... add some legwarmers over your normal socks and problem solved! today my daughter wanted to wear her clogs out. not really practical for such cold weather, but they were just passed onto her from a friend and i didn't feel like arguing with a three year old (for the 500th time today). my friend knit some really cute legwarmers for her daughters last year. it took her a really long time though... and i don't actually knit. so instead i took five minutes and made these (i already have a pair of black cashmere ones for myself). of course i have many felted sweaters lying around handy, but if you don't it's very easy. just take an old wool sweater and throw it in the wash on hot water to felt it (it's pretty easy but practice makes it much easier to predict the results based on type of wool in the sweater and water temp). i use eucalan wool wash, but any mild detergent would work. if you are making child size leg warmers, you will want to start with a smaller sweater or felt it tighter. after it is felted and dry you are ready for the hard part... take a pair of scissors and cut of the sleaves (to desired length) and put them on! the wrist part goes on first becasue it is tighter and will hold them up. i used pinking sheers on sidney's to give the bottoms a cute little edge. you can embellish them with embroidery or cute fabric too! easy, fun, and warm!