A Super Warm Headband to Knit in a Flash

I love knit headbands and earwarmers because they are almost as warm as wearing a hat without having to actually wear a hat. Since I’m always cold, even inside the house, I really should experiment with wearing a thick earwarmer like this one inside in the cold weather (I already wear fingerless gloves, often thick socks, usually under a blanket).

The Heartbreaker Earwarmer from Mandi Coffeen is worked in two colors of super bulky yarn. Use a bit that’s left over from another project to make the slip stitch pattern that looks like hearts in the middle of the design. Each round of hearts takes about 3 yards, so you could even use a bunch of different colors to make an ombre or rainbow color scheme.

In fact, since it only uses 40 or 50 yards of yarn (37 to 46 meters), you can use leftovers for both colors of yarn. Make a bunch and use all your super bulky stash.

The pattern is written in two sizes, and is easy to adjust if you’d like to make it bigger or smaller. The designer rates it as intermediate but it shouldn’t be too difficult if you’re comfortable working slip stitches and knitting in the round. The pattern includes photos to help you through the technique.

Even better, the pattern also includes a bonus pattern for a coffee cup cozy that uses the same fun slip stitch pattern. you can bet your drink will stay warm and your hand protected with such a thick cozy.

Either or both of these designs would make great gifts to knit up for anyone in your life, and once you get the pattern down you can stitch them up in a flash for bulk knitting (for teacher gifts, coworkers, family, etc.).

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Mandi Coffeen]

A Super Warm Headband to Knit in a Flash

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Just about anything you can make in fabric you can make in knitting, but there are some styles that you just don’t see that often translated into knitting.

For example, a button down collared shirt. This is a classic design, of course, and it looks great in a knit version, but it’s just not something you see much of.

Noma Ndlovu’s Guglethu shirt is the pattern to try if you want to knit your own button down shirt. This one is inspired by cashmere tops (though the sample was made out of yak yarn, not cashmere, and uses two strands of lace weight yarn held together) and includes lots of high-fashion details like double-knit cuffs, collar and shoulder seams.

It has a patch pocket on the front and 10 buttons including the button band and the cuffs.

The designer says you can also use a DK weight yarn held singly if you’d rather, and that the shirt looks good in a variety of yarns. There is another version on Ravelry that uses Berroco Remix Light, which is a mix of nylon, cotton, acrylic, silk and cellulose fibers. It has a more relaxed look but it still really pretty.

The pattern has 12 sizes, with a full bust measurement ranging from 32.35 to 72.25 inches, or 82 to 183.5 cm. The designer suggests 2 to 6 inches, or 5 to 15 cm, of positive ease when you pick your size. I could totally see knitting one that’s even bigger to wear more like a jacket, because I do that a lot with button down shirts I already own.

I love all the details on this shirt, which isn’t necessarily difficult to knit, but might introduce you to some things you’ve never knit before (like those cuffs with the plackets, or a shirt collar like this).

To learn more about this shirt and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself, head to Ravelry.

[Photo: Noma Ndlovu]

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