Custom kilt hose?

[RevJoe]

I have a bit of a dilemma....I have relatively small feet (8EEE) but my calves are quite large. (I can thank years of athletics and my mother for my legs.
I ended up renting my formal kilts when I got married and the only kilt hose I could find that would fit very snugly around my legs were for someone with size 13 feet.

Short of taking up knitting, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[ForresterModern]

You might try a pair of piper's hose, as they come in a couple different sizes and the patterned bobble tops are fairly stretchy. Granted I wear a size 13 shoe, but I have found the calves to be generously designed for thicker calves (I got mine from cycling) and are extremely long which allows for several turn downs, depending on your length. White ones are mostly acrylic while the colors (regardless of what the item descriptions might say) are about 80% wool. They can be had for around $20-30US. PM if you want my suggested sites.

Matt at the STM sells Lewis hose which are kind of like pipers hose on steroids and a lot of people like them. I don't yet own any, but have heard the tops are pretty stretchy. Check with Matt on sizing and stretchiness, as well as colors and price.

[sydnie7]

Or you can have them made to order in your choice of color, as posted recently here. We have taken a few orders but still have room on the books.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Sounds like what you need is a pair of our "fully fashioned" Lewis kilt hose. These are made just the same as our standard Lewis hose, but made to fit an extra large calf. But the foot of the hose is still made according to shoe size, so you should be able to get the fit you want.

They are listed at the bottom of this page:
http://giftshop.scottishtartans.org/hose_lewis.htm

It says this is a special order item, which is generally true, but I do have a small stock of the fully fashioned hose on hand at the moment. If you are interested you can call or email the museum and let me know your shoe size. I can tell you what colors we have on hand in that size.

[The Barry]

Go for some hand knit hose. You'll end up with better hose, and they'll actually fit. You'll spend more, but you'll end up with far superior hose.

[fluter]

Try the fully-fashioned and piper's hose, to be sure. Matt and some of our other sponsors, as well as some of our members (sydnie7), also offer custom hand-knit hose.

Knitting is fun, too, but there are trade-offs: kilt hose are looong, and for those who don't hate knitting, it can be addictive.