Size Chart for Calves

Hi everyone,

I’d like to crochet some leg warmers as a gift for a friend. However, she’s very slim, and I don’t have her measurements. Are there any size charts for adults that ideally list measurements just below the knee and at the ankle?

Or any other guidelines? How do you handle it when you’re making a gift but don’t know the measurements?

Best regards 

Hi there,

It might be difficult to find or create such a chart. Even with shoe sizes, standard sizes don’t always fit.

Do you already have a specific pattern you’d like to follow? If not, it makes sense to make sure the leg warmers are stretchy.

Or you could add a stretchy cuff at the top of the leg warmers so they don’t slip down if they’re a little too big.

Best regards
Birgit

Hello Onomatopoetika,
I don’t think there is a size chart for this. After all, every calf circumference is different.

But I do have an idea:
measure the circumference of your upper arm, or your calf circumference. Based on that measurement, use a gauge swatch to calculate the stitches as if you were knitting in stockinette stitch. But then use that stitch count for a rib pattern, e.g. 2 knit stitches, 2 purl stitches alternating. It pulls together beautifully and is also very stretchy. And then, of course, it also depends on whether the leg warmers will be worn over pants or over leggings. That can add a few centimeters too - just measure it on yourself and, for a slimmer leg, use a few fewer stitches (for the rib pattern, 2 sts k, 2 sts p = divisible by 4).

Hope this helps.

I wrote a blog post about “gauge”; see here:
https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/blog/667/maschenprobe-umrechnen-so-geht-s

Maybe another option would be to incorporate buttons.... For that, a pattern that’s stretchy enough that you don’t need special buttonholes, but where the buttons will fit through almost anywhere, would work best—perhaps a pattern with double crochet stitches?

Thanks for the replies. :)

It's this pattern here. However, I'm going to crochet it in rounds, not in rows. The relief pattern does offer a kind of stretchiness at the beginning and end... I'll allow for a few centimeters less and see what comes out. 
I'll keep the idea with the buttons in mind in case Plan A doesn't work. Thanks. :)

@Onomatopoetika
welcome to our community. If you ask the author of the pattern, she might be able to give you a tip or help you.
Great username, by the way—you don't see that every day :-)

There’s knitting elastic. It’s wafer-thin. I like to incorporate it into sleeve cuffs. You just need to run it along with the main yarn.

Oops—sorry, I guess I was a little distracted... it is a crochet pattern, after all.
I agree with Christa-Pecina: this knitting-in elastic is available, for example, from Prym (item no. 977770) and is called “Strick-Elastic” — 200 m.

Do you have to carry this elastic all the way through the ribbing? And won’t it show then? So far, I’ve only seen this 3-meter knitting elastic from Prym, in white and black. I picked up the white one, but the yarn is red. 

Hi Onomstopoetika!
You can’t see it. It’s as thin as sewing thread, and you knit the entire cuff with it.
I don’t know what you bought in the 3-meter length. I think you may have ended up with round elastic cord.
The exact name is “knitting elastic.” I bought it from the mail-order company “Buttinette” (they have everything for sewing, crocheting, and knitting). There, 2 rolls of 200 m each cost €4.95.
Hope that helps a little. Hugs, Christa

Hi Onomstopoetika,
The “Strick-Elastic” knitting elastic that Christa and I mentioned earlier is transparent and therefore not visible. You can either carry it along as you knit—usually throughout the entire ribbing—or thread it horizontally through several ribbing rows later using a wool needle, similar to how you’d hand-sew a skirt waistband—but in that case, it’s best to use this ultra-fine elastic doubled.

I think you might have come across a hat elastic or something similar; that would be visible.