Christmas Knits Part 1: Kilt Hose

I’ve had an extra long weekend off work this week, first day back today. The problem with long weekends is that I want to procrastinate, even if there are 50 new emails in my inbox highlighted in red, demanding attention.

So, to prolong the procrastination I want to talk about Christmas knitting.

Yes, the time has come. There’s no use fighting it. In fact I saw a few threads on Ravelry about Christmas in July…I steered clear.

I started my Christmas knitting when I got back from holiday in August with these little beauties:

A pair of Kilt Hose for my Scottish Step-Dad-In-Law Jim. He’s a proud Scotsman and I have to admit to sometimes not understanding a word he says. I find that nodding and giggling at him usually does the job. He’s probably funny, I never met a Scot who wasn’t (something about living in the rainy cold gives you a nice dry sense of humour).

In the summer, as I was knitting my first pair of socks (a disaster) he happened to mention that the kilt hose he buys are rubbish these days and they’re not like his mum used to make. He also mentioned that his short legs were the bane of a Scotsman’s existence when it comes to Kilt Hose. They’re just all too long! Foolishly led into it, I reckoned I could make some for his Christmas present and if they were good enough he could wear them for his daughter’s wedding in May.

So in the search for Kilt Hose on Ravelry I came across a few traditional type hose (all with comments exclaiming how complicated they were) and then I came across Toirneach from Knitty. I had a brief look through the pattern and it looked ok. Unfortunately I didn’t like the Amphora lace cuff. It wasn’t for Jim, it seemed too feminine. So true to type, I decided to do what I always do on these important projects. I decided to try something completely new to me. Cables. Also true to type I didn’t just start of with a simple 2 x 2 cable. I started with a nine stranded plait. It was too small and not stretchy enough, so after about five started and frogged cuffs, I ended up with the simple plaited cable repeating pattern which is nice and stretchy because it’s kind of like a large scale rib and I used the leg pattern from Toirneach with a short row heel rather than a heel flap.

I’m rather happy and perhaps most worried by the fact that Jim’s leg measurements are almost spot-on the same as mine. I mean, he told me he has short legs, but really?