Knit an Easy Twisted Headband, By Hand or Machine

I love knitting headbands, maybe more than I love wearing knit headbands, but I’m trying to get them into the rotation more often this year.

Knit headbands are generally pretty quick and easy to knit, they don’t take a lot of yarn, and they can be great stash-busting projects. They’re also effective at keeping your hair out of your face and making a messy hair day a little bit better.

I was recently cleaning up some yarn leftovers and made this two-toned twisted headband knitting pattern.

The twisted headband look is super popular and it’s really easy to do.

I made a wider version a couple of years ago using a circular knitting machine, so if you want your headband in a hurry, that’s always an option, too. And while this one is wide and the one I knit by hand is narrower, you can make a hand-knit version wider if you like by casting on more stitches. You can also make a narrower one on a knitting machine if you have a 22-pin machine. I haven’t tried that yet but I think it would be a great size for summer.

And once you know the basics of the twist, you can make all sorts of variations on this headband. Add stripes instead of doing color blocking. Make it in sock yarn instead of worsted weight. Throw in a simple stitch pattern like moss stitch. If you use a stitch pattern that doesn’t curl and looks good on both sides, you don’t even have to start with a tube, just knit it flat.

And if you don’t like the twist, or don’t always want a twisted version, just sew the ends together flat.

You get the idea. I feel like there are going to be a lot more knit headbands in my summer plans. I’d love to know if you knit them or if I’ve inspired you to try!

Knit Legwarmers on a Circular Knitting Machine

Make a Drop Stitch Scarf with a Circular Knitting Machine

Knit a Shrug on a Circular Knitting Machine

Circular Knitting Machine FAQs

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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