Heart Headband

Heart Headband

As you may have guessed, I mostly knit this headband as a good way to get rid of some more of that skein of yarn I used for the Twilled Stripe Arm Warmers.  I also, admittedly, love hearts.  Finally, the adult version of this headband is intended for a head of about 22 inches in circumference; it would be easy to knit this pattern for a child by omitting 12 stitches, which would shave about 2 inches from the final circumference (and you'd cast on 84 stitches instead of 96).  And that's all I've got...

Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Paints (100% Superwash Wool; 220 yards [200 meters]/100 grams); #9860 Jelly Bean - maybe 1/3 skein?

Needles: One 16" circular needle in size #8

How it looks without the whole head-stretching-out aspect.

Notions: Tapestry needle, stitch marker

Gauge: 18 stitches = 4 inches in stockinette (once again, I kinda made that up and I didn't knit a test swatch. The label says that 5 stitches = 1 inch on US 7 needles, and yet again I'm using 8's since I don't have 7's in a circular needle either.  However, it's a pretty standard worsted weight, so any worsted weight yarn should work)

Cast on 96 (84) stitches, place marker, join in round.  Knit two rows in seed stitch, or in other words,

Row 1: * k1, p1; rep from *

Row 2: * p1, k1 *

Now it's time to move on to the heart pattern, which is basically the Knit-Twist Heart Panel found on page 156 of Barbara G. Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  As a quick note:

rt (right twist): knit two together, leaving stitches on left-hand needle; next, insert right-hand needle from the front between the two stitches just knitted together, and knit the first stitch again.  Finally, slip both stitches from left-hand needle together

lt (left twist): with right-hand needle behind left-hand needle, skip one stitch and knit the second stitch in back loop; then insert right-hand needle into the backs of both stitches and k2tog-b (knit two together through back loops, inserting right needle from the right)

m1 (make 1): insert needle from behind under the running thread and lift thread onto the left hand needle; knit one stitch into the back of it

And now the pattern!

Row 1 (and every odd row): * p1, k10, p1; rep from *

Row 2: * p1, k3, rt, lt, k3, p1 *

Row 4: * p1, k2, rt, k2, lt, k2, p1 *

Row 6: * p1, k1, rt, k4, lt, k1, p1 *

Row 8: * p1, rt, k6, lt, p1 *

Row 10: repeat row 2

Row 12: * p1, lt, rt, k2, lt, rt, p1 *

Row 14: * p1, k1, m1, k2tog-b, k4, k2tog, m1, k1, p1 *

Row 15: * p1, k10, p1 *

Knit rows 1 - 15 once through, then knit two rows in seed stitch.  Bind off loosely, knitting the knit stitches and purling the purled stitches.  Tuck in ends.