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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Magical Woodland Knits by Clare Garland is a few years old as I write this, but it’s such a fun book I couldn’t resist sharing it. Step into a magical forest full of realistic woodland creatures including rabbit, deer and squirrel, birds and mice, to name a few.

In all there are 12 creatures, and though they are rather small (the wolf is the largest at 14.5 inches/37 cm tall and 18.5 inches/47 cm long), they are so detailed these are definitely not projects for new knitters.

One of the smaller projects, for example, is the robin, at 5/5 inches/14 cm long. It calls for nine different kinds of yarn. Sometimes some are held together, while others are worked with on their own. This pattern only includes three pages of instructions, but the print is rather small and in that time there are six different sets of short rows. None of this makes it too difficult for a knitter with experience reading detailed patterns, working short rows and working with multiple strands of yarn at once, but it’s worth knowing going in that even for small projects you’ll need a lot of supplies and time to work on them.

These are also not meant to be children’s toys, as they can include wires and other supports that could be a danger to little ones.

The process photos often look like taxidermy on a tiny scale, with little animal pelts stretched out and tons of stitch markers showing where and how things go together.

The finished animals are so pretty it’s certainly worth the effort to stitch up these creatures. You might be tempted to make all 12 and set up your own forest scene or use them to decorate your Christmas tree. You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry.

Along the way you’ll also find a little folklore about the animals, charming drawings and pretty photos of the finished animals, too. In the back you’ll find some helpful techniques like picking up stitches, making I-cord and working short rows.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 12 patterns. Published 2020 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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