baby "exploding calves" legwarmers

Before I explain the legwarmers, I must comment on an alarming development that these photos reveal: Milo is standing up and walking around furniture. He has been doing this for 3 weeks now, meaning he was 7 months old when this started. Suffice to say, we were not ready. Sadie was only learning to roll at this point and her relaxed approach to physical development suited us perfectly. And when she did start motoring around, it never occurred to her to get into things and test her limits. We hardly babyproofed the house - she was THAT gentle on us. But when I joked that I was going to have a baby boy who got into everything I obviously didn't knock on wood hard enough. Oh well.

So back to the legwarmers. Milo has what you'd call enormous legs paired with an absence of ankles. Footwear has been tricky for him and socks don't make it past the should-be-ankles-here area. So legwarmers seemed a good idea to keep his calves warm, but I had to adjust the standard tube style. Now, this is hardly what I can call a pattern because it is so simple - I just know that sometimes having someone suggest a needle size, yarn and the number of stitches to cast on is all I need to get started. And I imagine there are many other babies out there lucky enough to have such delicious legs.

You will need:
Aran weight wool (I used Noro Silk Garden)
4.5mm DPN needles
stitch marker

Gauge: this isn't an exact science, approximately 4 to 4.5 stitches per inch will do.
Size is for chubby 6-12 month olds: Milo is 21lbs at 7 months and his legwarmers are 6" tall.
For the M1, you can use your increase of choice. I used M1L for all.

Cast on 24 stitches. Join in the round, pm, and [K2, P2] for 8 rows.

R9: knit in stockinette for 9 rows.
R18: [M1, K6] 4 times (28 stitches).
R19: continue in stockinette for another 9 rows.
R20: [M1, K7] 4 times (32 stitches).
R21: continue in stockinette for another 9 rows.
R30: [K2, P2) for 8 rows.

Bind off loosely and weave in ends.