Easy Knit Ear Saver Pattern

With all the mask making that is going on (side note: I’m involved with a group called Masks Now, which is working to meet requests for cloth masks from across the country) people are looking for different ways to help. If you’ve been making masks with elastic that wraps around the ears, or you know people who wear those kinds of masks, it’s a great idea to make some ear savers for them.

This is just a little strip of fabric with buttons on the ends that can hold the mask in place instead of having to wrap the elastic around the ears, which can be irritating when worn for a long period of time.

I had some questions about how to do this with knitting, so I wrote up a quick pattern. I made them both horizontally and vertically, with worsted and heavy worsted weight yarn, but you can use the same idea with whatever washable yarn you have handy. Let me know if you have questions!

Check out this article about all the different options for safe and suitable mask filters. Wondering how to strengthen your mask? Add interfacing. We also found a supplier for the metal nose clips.

We have also added a tutorial for making the Face Shields for medical staff which can be found here.

Need to make a lot of masks? Check out this amazing Mask Cutting Machine. It cuts 6 masks out at a time!

Wanting to create your own custom face mask? Check out this Website that allows you to design your own mask with ,photos, font and colors.

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I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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