Kaitlin's Headband

I always have small ammounts of yarn left over from skeins when I make hats, and earwarmers require too much usually to get a whole project out of the tidbit I have left...

  I had this one skein that I loved and made a hat out of called Tweed Stripes by Lion Brand - the color is carribean and it works up so pretty...  I have a young lady in my church that I had on my mind A LOT recently and I just wanted to make a quick little something to remind her that somebody cares and is thinking of her, and this yarn just screamed her name - but what to do with it? Ball it up and say a prayer for her while I do it and say here's a pin cushion?? Seriously there wasn't much left at all - SEE ------>>>>>
So I started looking for a simple pattern that wouldn't take much yarn and where better to look than Pinterest.

 While browsing Pinterest I found this headband that I really liked ....  I went to the site and the moment I started to read the pattern I backpeddled - I hate to chain stitch; counting all those stitches takes me forever because I constantly lose count and my chain gets twisted. For those of you who can handle the chain stitching and counting is just your favorite thing to do - feel free to visit Creative Yarn's blog and get to hookin'

Creative Yarn: Headband with Flower

Creative Yarn: Simple Crochet Headband

I, on the other hand didn't want to chain stitch and decided that I wanted to make one look similar to this but have some elastic in the back and a couple other features maybe... So I came up with this!

The Kaitlin Headband

Supplies needed:

Size 4mm crochet hook

Worsted weight yarn – small amount (I used Lion Brand: Tweed Stripes Yarn - Carribean)

Elastic Pony Tail holder (I’m going to call it a ring for this pattern)

For clarification - When I say right side or left side of the head band I am referring to how the headband will be on the right and left side of a person’s head – not whether it’s the wrong side or right side of the crochet project

Abbreviations: DC – Double Crochet. ch- chain

To start you are going to cover the elastic pony tail holder in yarn by SC over the elastic

R1: SC 50 into the ring  (over the elastic) – join with slip stitch to cover the ring ( see photo to the right for help)

R2: Ch1 and turn, DC across - in the first 5 stitches.

R3: Ch1, turn, DC across 5 stitches

R4 – R5: Repeat row 3 (there should be 4 rows of 5 DC)  - you have now formed the right side of the headband’s base

R6: Ch 46 right off the 5^th DC (coming off of the end of the last 4 DC row)

R7: DC back into the 2^rd ch from the hook (this would be the 45^th ch), DC in next 4 stitches (ch stitches 44-41).

R8 – R11: Repeat row 3 – you have now formed the left side of the headband’s base

R12: Join DC row to covered ring by slip stitching into stitches 25-30 on the ring...  You can count 20 stitches from the end of R2 or just eye ball where you think it’s lined up and slip stitch across the row joining the DC to the SC ring area.

R13: TURN WORK continue slip stitching and work back across the row of DC - then up the end of the 4 rows of DC placing 2 slip stitches in the end of each row – 13 (5 across and 8 up) slip stitches

R14: Ch 40 and join with a slip stitch into the 1^st DC to the right side of the headband base.

R15: Slip stitch in next 2 stitches (this will be the 2^nd & 3^rd DC on the row of 5 DC) – Ch 40 and join with a slip stitch into the 3^rd DC of the left side of the headband’s base

R16: Ch 40 and join with a slip stitch back into the 3^rd DC on the right side of the headband base . – this should make two chains coming out of the center stitch.

Fasten off and weave in ends.    Embellish with a flower or a bow of your choice. 

To Make the flower pictured

Ch5 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring

R1: *ch 3 and slip stitch inside the next stich* repeat around  (5 chain 3 loops)

R2: *slip stitch inside the first 3 chain loop, chain 2 (counts as 1 DC) and 5 DC inside the chain 3 loop, slip stitch down past row 1, inside the center ring* repeat around. (5 petals of 6DC) – fasten off.

Once I finished the project I still had yarn left over and I wanted to make myself one - but I ran out of yarn before I got to R16 - so I just left it with only 3 strips of chains instead of the original 4 - so if you like the 3 strand look - just omit the last row and fasten off at the end of R15.

For right now all my patterns are free... Feel free to use this pattern as you would like, but please refer others back to my blog and reference the work if you are selling it, or gift giving.  Thanks so much and enjoy.

The Warmest Regards Earwarmer!

I prefer headband earwarmer patterns that are worked along the width and grow to the appropriate length - this way you can easily adjust the length for smaller heads.  With this in mind, many of the patterns I have found that are cute and have a decorative stitch all seem to be worked lengthwise; this made me decide to try my hand at writing my own original pattern - which I find challenging, I'm not good at explaining how I make things, but here is my first attempt at pattern writing.

Use a 5.5 Hook and Worsted Weight Yarn

Abbreviations:

St - stitch

Ch - Chain

SC – single crochet

DC – double crochet

Ch2 counts as 1 DC throughout

Ch6

Row 1 – SC across – (6 SC)

Row 2 – Ch2 & turn work, skip first stitch, DC in next 5 st (6DC)

Row 3 – Ch1 & turn work, 2 SC in first st, SC next 4 st, 2 SC in last st (8 SC)

Row 4 – Ch2 & turn work, skip first st, DC in next 7 st (8 DC)

Row 5 – Ch1 & Turn work, 2 SC in first st, SC next 6 st, 2 SC in last st (10 SC)

Row 6 – Ch2 & Turn work, skip first st, DC in next 9 (10 DC)

Row 7 – Ch2 & Turn work, skip first stitch,  DC in next stitch, skip next stitch, 3 DC in next stitch (this is a cluster), skip next two stitches, 3 DC in next stitch (this is a cluster), skip next stitch, DC in last two stitches

Row 8 - Ch2 & Turn work, 3 DC in space between clusters, skip next 3 st, 2 DC in space between clusters, skip next 3 st, 3 DC in space between clusters, 1 dc in top of last remaining stitch (top of ch2)

Row 9 - Ch2 & Turn work, skip first st, DC in next stitch, skip next stitch, 3 DC in space between clusters, skip next two st, 3 DC in space between clusters, DC in last two st at end of row.

Repeat Row 8 & 9 – 12 times.  Length should be about 18 inches (15 inches of clusters, 3inches of sc & dc)

Row 10 – Ch2 & Turn work, skip first st, DC in next 9 st

Row 11 – Ch1 & Turn work, SC two st together (this is a decrease), SC in next 6 st, SC last two st together.  (8 SC)

Row 12 – Ch2 & turn work, skip first st, DC in next 7 st (8 DC)

13 – Ch1 & Turn work, SC two st together, SC in next 4 st, SC last two st together.  (6 SC)

Row 14 – Ch2 & turn work, skip first st, DC in next 5 st (6 DC)

Row 15 – Ch1 & Turn work, slip stitch across row, when reach end of row, do not turn work,  ch4 and join to 1^st slip stitch (this will create your button hole) – turn work

Row 16- Ch1 and Turn work, SC across the ch4 and bind off.

Border: Join contrasting yarn at beginning stitch of row 1.

Ch2 and DC in same stitch, DC across next 5 stitches and 2 DC in stitch at end of row, work along the end of rows, DC in each SC row and 2 DC in the end of each DC row – once you reach the end of the edge (this should be the end with only 4 SC where your button hole is ) – 2 DC in first stitch and DC in next 2 stitches, 2 DC in last stitch of row; begin working along the end of the rows again with a DC in each SC row and 2 DC in the end of each DC row

I embelished the earwarmer with an applique I found at pinterest. You can find the owl applique here!

Love The Bluebird