Instead of buying a headband ear warmer from a store, I decided to knit my own with scrap yarn leftover from other projects. Here’s how I came to that conclusion. The result was this quick and easy headband knitting pattern. You can find the free knitting patten below, but if you’re interested, I’ve also included a little information about how and why I came up with this design.

My Inspiration

First of all, I love to knit.  I taught myself how when I was about 9 years old.  I remember one day when my Grandma was babysitting me, we were at a restaurant with some of her friends, and I was knitting.  Her friends thought that she had taught me to knit, but as far as I know, she never knew how.  Although,  when she passed away a couple years ago, I saw a bunch of yarn in her attic.  Maybe she was into knitting or crocheting at one point.

Second of all, my ears get really cold.  I realized a few years ago that they stick out a little more than most.  My hair usually covers them, so I never really noticed, but when my husband and I go for walks and my hair is pulled back in a ponytail, cold wind makes my ears feel numb while his ears aren’t cold at all.  So, I’ve learned that I need to keep an ear warmer with me in case my ears get cold.

The obvious conclusion is that I must knit my own ear warmer, right?  I mean, I’ve knit about a dozen sweaters, an ear warmer has to be no problem.

What took the longest amount of time was figuring out what my headband ear warmer to look like.  I did a Google Image searches for inspiration and clicked through to a few blogs that gave me some ideas.

The picture that ultimately inspired me was from Wiseknits, an “Urban-Inspired Ear Warmer” pattern.  As the blogger says, it’s inspired by an ear warmer from Urban Outfitters.  I found some people in the comments suggest using a 1×1 rib to keep it from rolling, but the blogger said that made the knot too bulky.

Then, I clicked through to the Urban Outfitters page, and I’m pretty sure I came up with the exact stitch pattern they used.  Here’s the link to the ear warmer at Urban Outfitters.  Now, look closely at the stitches on the inside of the headband (the “wrong” side) in the following screenshot of their product:

 

As you can see, on the wrong side, there are two knit rows on each side.  I’m pretty sure that means they did 2 1×1 ribs on each side and stockinette on the rest of the rows.  Since ribs kind of disappear on the right side, I figured for 4 stitches in 1×1 rib, you’d only see 2 stitches on the right side.  I counted the rows on the right side (17) and added 2 for each side of 1×1 rib for a total of 21 stitches.  I’m not sure if that explanation made sense, but regardless, here’s the easy knitting pattern I came up with.

Headband Ear Warmer Knitting Pattern

Size 8 needles
Sport Weight (3) yarn (you could probably use worsted weight (4) but it’ll be a thicker band)

Finished size is 18 inches long (9 once you sew it together) by 4 inches wide.

Cast on 21 stitches.
row 1 (right side): k1, p1, k1, p1, k 13, p1, k1, p1, k1
row 2 (wrong side): p1, k1, p1, k1, p 13, k1, p1, k1, p1

Continue in this pattern until the ear warmer is about 18 inches long (or desired length to fit nicely around your head).  For finishing, you can either bind off all stitches in the pattern and sew up the seam, or (my preference) pick up 21 stitches on the other end of the ear warmer and use 3-needle bind-off so that the ends get sewn together while you bind off.

Gather the seam and sew securely with a yarn needle.  Weave in ends.

If you want the ear warmer to be an even closer match to the Urban Outfitters one, you could add a braided or knit piece to go over the seam, but I personally like the way it looks as is.

So, go for it!  It’s the same concept as knitting an infinity scarf but way quicker.  You could easily make one in an evening.  This is a great pattern for beginners who are new to knitting.  If you’re a real newbie, you can easily look up the basics of knitting on Google or About.com.

This is a great project to use up extra yarn leftover from old projects, and they’d make great Christmas presents.  I like this headband knitting pattern so much that I just started knitting another one in hot pink.

Update: 11/23/13

My hot pink headband ear warmer is complete!  I just love the color, and the yarn is so soft.  Really, when knitting, it’s all about the yarn.

Update 2: This pattern hardly takes any yarn at all to make. In fact, I used one ball of yarn to make myself a headband and to make my husband a hat. You can check out the easy hat knitting pattern here.

Now, that’s some Pretty Creative Stuff!