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What is This?

My surprise knitting
So can you figure out what these are?  They are a pair that do match one another although my photo would perhaps cause you to question that statement.  Each is 8.75 inches long and 6 inches wide (22.25 cm long and 15.25 cm wide).  Each is knit in the round so there are no seams.  And because I liked the look of an i-cord cast on and bind off both techniques were used instead of what the instructions recommended.  I knit them using acrylic yarn because the odds are good they will be washed from time to time.  And BTW both were knit up in less than 5 hours.

Any guess?  Paul thought they looked like really baggy fingerless gloves and my knit night buddies were totally baffled.  I have been wanting to make these for about a year but from some reason always became sidetracked.  They are a piece of clothing, rather an accessory.  The Wordnik dictionary defines them as:  A form of cuff worn in England in the eighteenth century.  And they have recently come back into vogue.

Still unsure?  I'll clear it up for you: they are a pair of boot cuffs. Let me show you them being used in a photo prepared by the designer.

Hurricane-Cuffs-2-150x150.jpg (150×150)
Hurricane Boot Cuffs
These Hurricane Boot Cuffs are designed by Codi Hudnall and can be found on Ravelry.  This designer has several free and for sale boot cuff patterns so there are lots of versions to choose from if you go to her site on Ravelry.  I like the simplicity of adding just one purl every 10 stitches while knitting on a total of 58 stitches.  This mismatch of numbers is what causes the traveling swirl.  Here's a closer look at the end product.


And you might be asking, what purpose do boot cuffs serve?  Good question, perhaps they help keep snow from going over the tops of boots where the snow gets deep.  Or as I indicated before perhaps they are merely an accessory serving no real purpose.  Either way they were fun to make up and hopefully someone will find them fun to use as well.

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