How to knit a braided headband

For a few months now I can’t stop thinking about knitting. It all started with Teo (hello 😉 who mentioned We Are Knitters, then I remembered the effect this vest from Wool and the gang had on me when I saw it last year (I think?) and it all came down on me, like an avalanche of purled and knitted stitches, wooden needles and lots of types of new yarn. You might have guessed this from my latest post on knitting needs and wants.

Anyway, one day I saw this awesome headband, from Kelerabeus on Kollabora, who made this wonderful white headband and made up her own pattern:

After seeing similar headbands/ ear warmers all around the internet I decided that I simply must make one for myself! I also decided that I don’t need any pattern so I eyeballed the whole thing. And it’s pretty easy actually! The back part is knitted in the round using double pointed needles. For the front part the total number of stitches is split in three and then each section is knitted separately. When they reached the desired length I braided them together and then rejoined all into one again.

This inspired me. “I know almost nothing about knitting, but I can do this!”, I said to myself.

hand knitted braided headband in grey

Which is exactly what I did, except, I didn’t remember to make the total number of stitches divisible by three (it’s ok, you can’t tell the middle braid is one stitch thinner, can you?) and I used single-pointed needles and didn’t knit in the round, but made the whole thing flat.

I know it’s spring and I’m the only person who is still wearing headbands but I love this! I’m thinking about making one in cotton yarn for summer.

braided grey headbank hand knitted closeup

This is how I made this braided headband:

I started with a 18 stitches and did 1 row knit, 1 row purl until I had around 10 cm of knitted band (pretty much what I wanted to cover my ears), then I divided the piece in three and knitted the three sides of the braid separately.

Because I only had 2 needles, I made sure I was conservating those stitched by putting them on a piece of spare thread. This is how I did it: picked up the stitches with a needle and then made a temporary knot to secure them. Then I just knitted the three tongues of the braid, braided them, put them back on one needle and did another 10 cm of knit purl, knit purl.

knit a braided headband!

If you want to keep this in a to try board, here’s the pinnable image (I’ve saved this to my Knit me slowly Pinterest board, if you want to see other knitted things that inspire me).

Thanks for reading!

how to knit a braided headband

 

 

 

 

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