Finished knitting my first pair of kilt hose

**Tobus** · 4th May 23, 04:21 AM

For those not following my thread on learning to knit socks, I figured I'd post this here in the DIY Showroom. Last night I completed my first pair of hand-knit kilt hose.

They are plain self-coloured hose, with the cuffs being done in one vertical block of the traditional Gairloch pattern (which repeats three times around the circumference). This was my first go at this pattern, using it as a warm-up to doing an entire set of socks in the pattern.

I'm using Rowan felted tweed yarn, which is a fairly "hairy" aran-weight yarn. It has flecks of different colours in it, which along with the fuzzy appearance appeals to me for its rustic finished texture.

I planned out the cuffs by scaling the Gairloch pattern to suit my knitting gauge, circumference of my calves, and total desired height of the cuffs. I sketched out the pattern on my computer and used this as my guide whilst knitting. Surprisingly, the finished result actually looks like what I planned!

I didn't necessarily plan it this way, but these kilt hose happen to perfectly match the blues and greens in my Colquhoun kilt (woven in near-Wilson's colours). And the colour of the legs actually match the khaki top band of my kilt. Not only that, but these colours complement the mustardy-gold check stripes in my favourite kilt jacket as well (shown in the background). Win-win!

Aside from being my first set of kilt hose to knit, it was also my first attempt at a project using stranded colourwork. What is stranded colourwork? It just means using multiple colours of yarns simultaneously in the knitting to create a pattern, and the yarn that isn't at the forefront is carried along the backside as a "strand" or "float". Here's a picture of the cuffs turned inside-out, where you can see the floats. The pattern is basically a reverse of what's visible on the outside. Keeping the tension even on the floats takes a bit of attention, but I'm pretty happy with the uniformity and evenness of my floats.

**ShaunMaxwell** · 4th May 23, 05:05 AM

Very impressive!

Cheers,

SM

**gsmacleod** · 4th May 23, 05:53 AM

A fine looking pair of hose! Well done!

Shane

**stickman** · 4th May 23, 06:29 AM

Really good looking hose, great job.

**Tomo** · 4th May 23, 06:33 AM

Great work, fantastic looking hose - and I am a big fan of that Rowan Felted Tweed.

**Tobus** · 4th May 23, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by Tomo

Great work, fantastic looking hose - and I am a big fan of that Rowan Felted Tweed.

I believe it was your mention of it (and photos) that convinced me to try it. I do love the finished look and feel of it, but it's not the easiest yarn to work with. For one, it sheds like crazy as I knit. I end up with bits of wool all over my chest and lap. It's also fairly inconsistent in thickness. Some portions of a skein will be thinner, some thicker, and it varies between skeins and colours. That made it a bit aggravating for doing the colourwork, trying to maintain colour dominance and even stitches when the two yarns I was working with were different thicknesses. But in the end, all of these things add to the rustic nature of it.

I haven't yet "blocked" these socks by washing them. I hear that Rowan felted tweed has a very noticeable "bloom" to the yarn which will puff it up and even everything out when it gets its first wash. I just hope it doesn't distort the Gairloch pattern work. I guess we'll see!

I have enough of this yarn left for making some other projects (though not enough for another pair of full kilt hose). I'm thinking a WWII style watch cap from the green/pine colour might be just the ticket.

**kilted2000** · 4th May 23, 09:02 AM

Looks great!

**MacKenzie** · 4th May 23, 02:42 PM

I'd wear them and be proud to!

**JPS** · 5th May 23, 08:29 AM

So to be clear, you're using 5mm needles for most of this project? I have a set of 5mm circular needles, but most patterns I've been able to find call for a smaller size.