It’s truly incredible what one can make with a pair of pointy sticks and a ball of yarn. It never occurred to me that pants could be on that list.
Cue the Jog-a-long on Instagram, where four pattern designers collaborated to launch their own takes on knitted or crocheted joggers at the exact same time: Briana Luppino (The Little Wolf Knits, Tan Line Joggers), Chantal Miyagishima (Knitatude, Cable Crush Joggers), Courtney Clark (Tinderbox, Jasmine Pants) and Lo Shapera (Lo Rain Knitwear, Palazzo Pants).
It was a dream to have so many fun and functional patterns to choose from, and each design offered something different. It was a tough choice to make, but I went with the Tan Line Joggers as I welcomed the drape and airyness that fingering-weight joggers would have for lounging around the house, working from home, or running errands (much like my other favourite pair of joggers from the My Favorite Murder podcast merch store, except without the subtle profainity on the pocket). Hopefully one day I’ll get to take these pants on a plane with me, too.
I had the perfect yarn for the job too, a massive ball featuring a gorgeous hand-painted gradient by The Blue Brick. The City of Grand Rapids was a blue-to-brown limited colourway. It was part of a collection inspired by a scuba tour that Blue Brick owner Shireen Nadir took of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. It turned out beautifully, with the gradient shifting down from the waistband to the cuffs. (PS: Even though the yarn is gone, click here to check out her Instagram posts with photos and info about the wrecks!)
However, if I were to do it again, or if anyone out there is inspired to do the same, I would use two balls of gradient yarn instead of one big one, so I wouldn’t have to try so hard to map out the gradient evenly between the two legs. My best solution I could come up with was to eyeball how much yarn there was between each colour change and wind it into two even balls.
Getting the fit right was also a journey. I’m not sure if it was a tension issue or if my circular needle cord was too long, but the waist turned out comically large despite the fact I chose the right size for my measurements. And of course, I didn’t notice until after I had finished the pants and tried them on fully for the first time. Because the waistband was added last by removing the provisional cast-on and picking up the live stitches again, I didn’t think anything of the fact that my pants were quite roomy at the hips before I got to that part of the pattern.
Au contraire, as when I excitedly donned my freshly-finished pants, they fell clean off in an instant.
I don’t know when or if I’ll expect to be the kind of knitter who gets it 100% right on the first try, but I’m not there yet for sure. So I undid the ribbing and made several decreases, trying it on as I went and with a slightly shorter cable for my needles. Briana in her pattern notes also recommended reinforcing the waistband with elastic thread, and that helped tremendously as yarn can be very stretchy.
Since finishing/re-finishing/re-re-finishing the joggers at last, I’ve practically lived in them. It knitted up surprisingly quickly for a fingering weight pattern, which several others who’ve also made these joggers have noted. Due to popular demand, Briana is also testing a DK weight version of these pants, so I can only imagine how fast those would get done!
It’s like a whole new world, this pant-making thing.
Bonus content: my first proper-effort Instagram Reel
Oh my gosh; those pants are gorgeous! I have no idea what you are writing about but that is fine. Sounds very intellectual. You have opened up a whole new world for yourself and for the rest of us to enjoy.
They look sooooo comfy. Great job Centaine!