About This Pattern
This seamless, knit-to-fit skirt was inspired by the leg warmers that Amazigh men in Morocco’s Middle Atlas mountains used to knit for their fiancées. Intarsia-in-the-round is used to achieve the unique, tessellating pattern. You can read about why I designed this skirt here and why this Moroccan intarsia-in-the-round technique is important for the history of knitting here.

What the Pattern Offers
The pattern includes a brief essay about this indigenous North African knitting tradition as well as a bibliography and links to museum objects. Detailed instructions for how to do intarsia-in-the-round are supported by photos and charts.

Unlike most knitting patterns today, the pattern for this skirt is written as a recipe in order to approximate the oral nature of knitting in the past. It offers step-by-step instructions for the simple calculations necessary for knitting a skirt that will fit the wearer using any size needles and any type of yarn. This means that the finished skirt should fit any body shape and can be made with whatever materials are on hand.

The calculations are presented in a table with step-by-step instructions to help you achieve the numbers necessary for the pattern. These numbers are then noted in the pattern table, which includes instructions for each step and blanks for writing in your specific numbers.

The accompanying intarsia-in-the-round guide is illustrated with detailed photographs to help the knitter execute this advanced technique. The information can be applied to other patterns in which the knitter may want to use intarsia-in-the-round as a decorative element (as in the photos of the sweater).

Designer’s Statement
To the best of my knowledge, intarsia-in-the-round leg warmers are no longer made in Morocco. The technique described in this pattern is my hypothesis for how these leg warmers may have been made. This hypothesis is based on experimentation and the examination of museum objects, art, and photographs. It is my hope that this work will contribute to more awareness and a better understanding of the northern African branch of the knitting family tree.

You can read more about my work at: www.106metersfromtheroad.com.