Stitch Up a Colorful, Stash Busting Headband

I recently rearranged my yarn stash so that most of it is arranged by color, and it’s inspired me to take a new look at what I have, and to realize that I have a lot of odd balls and little bits leftover from other projects.

I intend to do some big stash busting projects, too, but right now I’m focusing more on little projects that can be done with those little balls, like headbands and earwarmers. These sorts of projects are great for using stash, and they make great gifts, too, and it’s never too early to start thinking about that, right?

The Striation Headband from Lee Meredith for Knit Picks is a great option for using up leftover bits of sock yarn. You can knit it with a single skein if you like, or pull out all the little leftover bits to make a colorful and cozy headband.

Because we all know a pair of socks never quite uses the whole skein, right? I have so many little tiny balls of sock yarn leftovers, and this would be a super fun way to use them.

The pattern is worked in garter stitch, so all you have to do to make it look harmonious is use the same color for at least two rows (one ridge of garter stitch) and alternate colors after working two rows. Always change colors at the end of a row and always on the right side and it’s sure to look great.

Or if you have a skein of self-striping yarn that you don’t know what to do with, just work it by itself and this project will still be super cute and done in a flash.

You could even try the same method with leftovers of different yarn weights, but maybe cast on fewer stitches for a heavier weight yarn so the project doesn’t get too wide.

You can grab the free pattern from Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

the simple cinching method mentioned above
sewing the stitches together
three needle bind off
grafting
crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!

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