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

Knitting Pattern -The Ice Diamond Headband

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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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