So I did a little experimenting. I agree with what you said here:

"So my main problem at the moment is less to have a texture as such but to have it at that small leg seam."

So leaving aside the issue of what the texture actually looks like, I set about experimenting with using nodes to force a tileable texture to be able to shrink to a tiny area and follow a curve.

Here is the tile I'm starting with. I downloaded this from here:

http://www.sharecg.com/v/27272/texture/Hi-Res-Cable-Knit-Textures

These are free textures by Agatha Paige. (Thanks go to Agatha - very nice work.)
 

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)