These pants were designed to match The Fawn Sweater that I wrote about in this post. I originally bought the yarn to make a large blanket. I had so much of it still left that I thought, why not try making something I haven’t seen many knitters make. I can’t say I’ve seen many people making knitted pants, so I set out without a pattern again for a fun challenge.
The Idea
Coming from the raglan sweater, I wanted to try making pants that had elements of raglan increasing so that they might be more form fitting around the butt. I wanted them to be fairly straight legged until the bottom where they sharply taper in and end in some ribbing.
Materials
Chateau by Stitch Studio by Nicole in color fawn
Size US 11 circular needles
An elastic for the waistband
Construction
I cast on 48 stitches, and knit in knit 1, purl 1 rib for about 2 inches. I placed a stitch marker as follows: beginning of the row at center front, knit 12, place marker 1, knit 5, place marker 2, knit 7, place marker 3 (center back), knit 7, place marker 4, knit 5, place marker 5, knit 12, end row. For the increase rows, I knit to 1 stitch before marker 2, *make one stitch with the proper lean, knit 1, slip the stitch marker, knit one, make one*, knit to 1 stitch before marker 4, repeat the instructions between **, knit to the end of the row. Knit one row, increase row, and repeat five times for a total of 10 rows. Knit 4 rows. Increase row.
Here I began to work short rows since the front was much longer than the back at this point. *Knit to marker 4, turn the work. Purl to marker 2, turn the work. Knit to marker 5, turn the work. Purl to marker 1, turn the work. Knit to the end of the row*. Knit 1 row. Increase row. Knit 4 rows. Repeat the short row steps between **. Knit 8 rows.
I like to wear my pants rather high on the waist so this ended up being a good length for me to begin dividing the legs, but I wanted to close the gap between them a bit more so I worked the following rows: *Kfb in the next 4 stitches, knit to 4 stitches before marker 3, kfb the next 4 stitches, slip the stitch marker, kfb the next 4 stitches, knit to the last 4 stitches of the row, kfb in the last 4 stitches*. Knit 1 row. Repeat the steps between **.
Slip the first leg onto some scrap yarn, that is all the stitches (54) between the beginning of the row and marker 3. Cast on 2 stitches across the gap and knit to the end of the row. *Knit 1 row. Knit 5, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (48 st). Knit 8 rows. Knit 6, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (42 st). Knit 8 rows. Knit 5, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (36). Knit to just above the ankle, or 60 more rows for me. Knit 2, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (27 st). Knit 1 row. Knit 1, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (18 st). Knit 1, k2tog, repeat to the end of the row (12 st). Continue in knit 1, purl 1 rib for 8 more rows, then cast off in the stretchy bind off used for The Fawn Sweater*.
I slipped the stitches for the second leg back onto the needles. Using the center front as the beginning of the row, I left a long tail to sew up any gaps, then knit around until I reached the end of the stitches and picked up two across the gap. Then I repeated the steps between ** for the second leg.
For the waistband, I bought a 1 yard elastic which happened to be just the right size for my waist. I sewed the ends of the elastic together to form a circle, then folded the ribbed waistband of the pants over it and sewed it down inside.
For the pockets, I counted over 4 stitches from the center front on both sides, then picked up 12 stitches close to where I separated for the legs. I didn’t pick them up in the same row, due to the short rows around the sides, so I picked up in what I hoped looked like a straight line across the front. I knit up 20 rows, then 2 more in knit 1, purl 1 rib, then cast off, leaving a long tail to sew up the edges. These pockets came out much more functional than the ones on The Fawn Sweater.
Thoughts
Just like with The Fawn Sweater, the ribbed parts of this piece stretched out and never snapped back, but I don’t mind. Around the ankles it actually ended up being a good thing because it made it easier to slip my feet through the opening.
I did try looking up stretchy cast on techniques for the waistband but with this yarn it was very difficult to try something where the yarn had to slide over itself a lot, such as Jeny’s stretchy slipknot cast on. In the end, I used the single cast on since I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to measure out a tail for the long tail method.
I don’t even need a blanket when wearing these pants, they are so warm and cozy. I wore them out to the store already once and didn’t feel the chill in the slightest. I’m sure I would had there been any wind but either way, they are so nice to wear.
I still have another large ball of this yarn, so I have a feeling I’ll be making socks, a hat, and mittens to complete the look. I’ve never made mittens before so I’m most interested in trying that project. We’ll see where the yarn takes me! 🙂
