Headband with a twist knitting pattern

Thank you so much, I’m very happy my instructions were clear and you found it helpful!

Thank you very much for sharing, very easy project and very nice, I shall knit one for every in my family.

I would love the old fashioned paper patterns not down load ones

Thank you very much for your kind comment! Yes, I sew through all the 4 layers – you hold your headband like on the last picture, so the 4 layers are horizontally aligned, and then I just went top-down through all the layers and then bottom-up. I hope that helps!
I’ve also made I video tutorial of the headband, that I plan to publish very soon – videos are more detailed!

The video shows her sewing through all four at once.

Hi,
I am making this pattern right now for my sister and loving how it is turning out. I would like to make one afterwards for her 2 year old daughter so they would have a mommy and me matching set. I am going to decrease down to 24 stitches but am unsure of how long to make the band, do you have any suggestions on length?

Hi, thank you for your question!
No, I didn’t – I sew only the edges of the formed twist at the very end.

Thank you so much for your kind comment – it means a lot! I’m glad, that my instructions were helpful. I hope your family will be happy with the gifts!

Thank you so much! Happy knitting!

Thank you so much for your comment! I really appreciate your kind words and feedback – I’m new to blogging and it’s hard to judge my own work (Is everything clear? Maybe there is something confusing? And so on..). I hope you’ll be happy with the finished headband.

Thank you so much for the video! I am “YO” challenged and the video helped me so much! I cannot tell you how much I appreciated that. When I first was trying it based on the directions I could not get it to work unless I knit through the back loop. Oh dear!!

Thank you so much, I tried to explain the process as clear as I could!

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I was trying to make my instructions as clear as I could, and I’m really happy, that you found them useful! Happy knitting!

Thank you so much for your feedback! It’s a great motivation to post and make more tutorials!😊

That’s such a wonderful thing to hear, thank you for your comment!

Thank you so much for your feedback, I’m glad you like it! Oh, yes, Tunisian crochet is beautiful. I haven’t tried it, but I love the way it looks.

Thank you for stopping! I hope you’ll be happy with the finished headband!

Thank you so much! So, the finished headband is 4.5″ wide. If you’re using DK yarn, I’d advise you to double the strand, that way the ribbing will look full and the stitches will be more prominent. Maybe try bigger needles – if you have number 5 or 6 at hand, to see how the ribbing looks. I hope that helps!

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment! I’m glad to hear, that you have enjoyed this pattern!

Love this pattern! Wondering how you would accommodate for a worsted weight yarn rather than DK?

I am knitting with DK wool The width is 4.5 inches when I am knitting but it did feel thinner than I expected I have tried doubling the wool and the width is 5 inches which is OK but it does feel thick I just wondered if it will be flexible enough when putting it on a head

Thank you for your comment! Hmm… For me, yarn overs are very comfortable to knit and the process goes super-fast, but maybe you can try the Fisherman’s rib instead? These two stitches (English and Fisherman’s rib) look alike but are worked differently. There are no yo in the Fisherman’s rib – but it comes with the purl stitches. Hope this helps!

Hi Kara, thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it! Yep, English rib in the round is knit differently. You can find the pattern in my hat tutorial – “How to knit a mohair hat in English rib” (https://mirellamoments.com/how-to-knit-a-mohair-hat-in-english-rib-fluffy-cloud-hat/). Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for your feedback, I’m glad you like it!

Thank you for a great question! I handwash my knitwork… I also fear to ruin the hard work, so I just soak it in a luke-warm water (+ I add a gentle detergent) for about 10-20 minutes. Carefully wash it, wring out slightly (no twisting) and lay the item on a towel (I use the same towels for this purpose, that are light-colored, so they won’t transfer color onto the knitwork and are fluffy enough to absorb water), and let it dry flat. If the item feels wet, I take another towel, put it and press it against the item to soak up the excess water. It is actually not as daunting as it sounds.
I, personally, don’t risk to wash my knit items in the washing machine (but that’s me!). I wouldn’t experiment with wool, but acrylic might survive.
Hope this helps!

Hi Mirella – it’s me again. I watched a different tutorial on English knitting for making the English rib, and I *think* the pattern is really more like just pulling the yarn to the front, slipping the stitch purl-wise, and then k2tog for the yarn over and slipped stitch. You wrote above to another woman who also doesn’t knit Continental, but you said YO. After many failed rounds of this, a true yarn over as if to knit is too much here, and it adds all kinds of wonky spacing, and you don’t get the rib. The YO is formed when you K2tog over the slipped purl stitch. The only issue is the very first YO, which doesn’t really work easily unless you just pull it with your left needle as in the video and hold it? I would suggest adding in your set-up instructions that this was intended to be worked with yarn held on the left as a Continental design because it isn’t mentioned, and the current pattern does not seem to work as-is for English knitters. It does seem fluffy and nice though, and now I’m relatively determined to work out how to do this while knitting on the right!

Thank you for your feedback!😄

Thank you so much for your kind feedback, I’ve really puta lot of effort into this!😊

Thank you very much for your comment. Oh, yes – headbands are great projects for left-over yarns!

Hi Mirella
Thank you for pattern & I have read all your lovely comments but I can’t find video, I can see where it says video in large print but nowhere to actually play it can you help please

Thank you for the feedback, I’m glad it was useful! 🙂

Thank you for stopping by!

Yep, the rows are the same it is just that in the first row you don’t have any yarn overs yet, so you knit 2 stitches together, but after the first row, you have yarn overs. You still knit 2 together, but one of the two is a yarn over. So technically you do the same thing. I hope I’ve made it clear, if not – don’t hesitate to ask!

Yes, that’s possible!
You need to work the first row with your main color, then change to a contrasting color and just work the second row in pattern. The slipped stitches will remain in the main color, the other ones will be worked in the contrasting color.
Change color in every row.

Hi there! It depends on the weight of your chosen yarn and your gauge, but basically, if it’s a DK yarn, and those 90m are in 50g, then no worries – it will be enough. Anything lighter, than bulky will do.
I used a DK yarn (50g/92m), and I had quite plenty of leftover yarn.

Hi Joanie! Thank you so much for your kind words!

Hi, oh, yes, there are many different knitting techniques. They are based on the knitter’s style, personal preferences, region, etc. No worries, just experiment, and choose what you like best.
So in this case, this is just a different type of ribbing called the English rib. It is more textured and stitches are more defined than in the standard knit2, purl2 (or knit1, purl 1) ribbing. The knit2, purl2 ribbing is also tighter, so if you will work the headband in 2×2 ribbing, the vertical stripes won’t be as defined, and the headband will be narrower (in this case you would need to cast on more stitches). If you want to work without the yarn overs and knitting 2 stitches together, I’d recommend working in knit1, purl2 ribbing – this way, there will be more space between the vertical stripes, and they will be more defined. Again – a matter of personal preference.
Hope this helps!

Hi, the standard is US 7-9 (4.5mm-5.5mm). You can start by checking the recommended needle size on the yarn label, you are planning to use. #4 weight yarn is heavier than #3 (the thread itself is thicker), so the stitches will be bigger. The difference is not huge, but it’s something to keep in mind. This means, that if you’ll cast on the same number of stitches, the headband will be a bit wider. If you want it to be narrower, cast on fewer stitches.
Hope this helps!

You’re welcome, I’m glad I could help. It’s totally normal to have questions when you take up something new!

Thank you for your feedback!
Yep, there is very little difference between row 1 and 2. When you start the 1st row, there are no yarn overs yet (just stitches) but when you work the 2nd row – there are yarn overs. In the 1st row, you knit 2 sts together, in the 2nd you knit a stitch and a yarn over together. So you do the same things, they are just called differently. I hope this makes sense.

Hi, nope, it shouldn’t be too tight – English rib is stretchy. Maybe you’re using needles, that are too small for the chosen yarn? Try to go up a size. What yarn weight and needle size are you using?

Yep, you need larger needles for this yarn. For worsted weight yarn (#4) it’s generally recommended to use US 7-9 needles. I used US 4 for light-worsted yarn (#3). I’d suggest you try US 6 or 7 size needles. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much, that’s what knitting is all about – creating, trying new things, and being creative!

Hi, thank you! Oh, it’s hard to say without seeing the headband, but let’s go through the twist together. So, the headband is finished and is lying on the table, you:
– fold it in half, so each edge looks like a V;
– you take one edge and twist it 180 degrees – not 360 degrees, right? Now one of the V’s is turned upside down and looks like this – Λ.
– no more twisting. Bring the edges closer together and insert V into Λ.
At this point, you can secure the edges with pins, turn the headband inside out and check if it looks ok.
I hope this helps, if not – you can upload a picture here in the comments or send it to me by e-mail, and I’ll try to help.

Thank you so much, I hope you’ll be happy with your new headband!

I hope you’ll enjoy knitting the headband! That’s so weird, I’ve checked the video, and it seems fine to me. You can try watching it on YouTube, here is a direct link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9BNWI90DXg

Hello, you’re very welcome!
This pattern is stretchy, so, yes, the band should have some negative ease and be slightly shorter, than the head circumference, otherwise, it won’t stay on the head and will tend to slip off.
You can wrap the existing band around your head to test if the length is comfortable for you – it shouldn’t be too tight, but it shouldn’t feel loose.
Hope this helps!

Thank you so much! Oh, yes, headbands are great to use up the leftover yarn!

Hi, thank you for your question! I’ve mentioned the edge stitches (or selvedge stitches) because I’m soooo used to adding them when I’m working flat, that it felt weird to knit without them. It may seem confusing to other knitters, so I should probably just remove this part.

Hi Gloria! Oh, no worries, it’s a perfectly fine question, thanks for asking! The thing is that row 1 and 2 DO follow the same pattern, but in the first row there are no yarn overs yet, so I’ve split the instructions. When I first published the pattern, I’ve had one line of instructions, and some people were confused by “knit 2 stitches together” in the second row – they felt like it should be “knit the yarn over and the stitch together”, so I changed. Since then, I’ve been thinking, I should change it back because other people started to get confused – “it’s the same pattern, what’s the difference between the rows?”😂 Need to somehow please all!
I hope this makes sense!

Hi Nancy, let’s figure this out! Yes, there should always be 30 stitches on the needles. Each “knit 2 stitches together” decreases 1 stitch, but there is always a yarn over next to it, that increases 1 stitch. This way the number of stitches stays the same. If you say, they start to decrease then you’re probably missing yarn overs somewhere. If the stitches decrease slowly, say, one stitch in each row, you’re probably skipping a yarn over at the beginning of the row.
Yes, if you’re not familiar with the continental style, this probably seems confusing. Just repeat the 3 steps of the pattern as you normally would in the British way:
1. Yarn over ( wrap the yarn around the right-hand needle).
2. Slip the next stitch as if to purl.
3. Knit 2 stitches together.
About rows 1 and 2 – I will try to paraphrase, hope this will make sense. When you are working the 1 row, you are working with the stitches from the foundation row – cast on stitches, that are all the same – normal stitches. So you don’t work with yarn overs. I should leave just one row of instructions, this is getting confusing😂

Yea, the more we talk about the rows, the more confusing it gets. Basically, there is no difference between the rows, you just need to repeat the same steps – yarn over, slip one purlwise, knit 2 together. How many stitches do you decrease in a row? Do you decrease a lot of stitches in every row or just 1? If it is just one, it’s most probably the first yarn over that is missing, if there more, then something is is wrong, when you repeat the steps.

You’re welcome! Thank you for your feedback!

Hi, it’s #3 (DK/light worsted yarn).

Hello,
Thank you for your kind words!
The repeat might be confusing at first, but it’s really simple once you get the hang of it. So, if we count the stitches, then the repeat actually involves 3 cast-on stitches: *Yarn over,  slip 1 stitch purlwise, knit 2 together*. That’s 3 cast-on stitches.
Let’s look at it step-by-step:
Step 1: Yarn over – 1 stitch on the right-hand needle.
Step 2: Slip 1 – 2 stitches on the right-hand needle.
Step 3: Knit 2 together – 3 stitches on the right-hand needle.
In each repeat, you work 3 cast-on stitches. You knit 2 stitches together (so you decrease 1 stitch), and you compensate it with a yarn over, so the number of stitches in each repeat stays the same – 3 stitches.
I hope I’ve managed to explain it! 🙂

Yes, you can knit the headband in 2×2 rib stitch, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, it is tighter than the English rib, so the headband will be narrower. Also, it is a multiple of 4 stitches, so you’ll need to cast on for example 32 stitches (depending on the yarn and needle size) – it’s always better to knit a gauge swatch first and calculate how many stitches you need to cast on. And for a 2×2 rib stitch, I’d add edge stitches (selvedge stitches) so it would look neater.

Hi, yes, you may sell the finished headband.
I ask not to distribute the patterns, but you may sell the finished items.

Hi Marilyn,
Thank you for your feedback! I’d suggest casting on about 24 sts and knit for about 45-46cm (17.7- 18.2″).

Hello! A gauge swatch is always a good idea. My gauge is – 10x10cm (4×4 inches) = 26 stitches x24 rows.

Hi I’m using 100% acrylic to knit this suggestions , do I double the strands and size needles , how many stitches do I cast on, could you advise me please. My granddaughter’s don’t like wool up against their skin.

Hi, thank you so much for your kind feedback, I truly appreciate it!

Hello, the video is in the “pattern overview” section, at the beginning of the post. You can also find it in the sidebar of the homepage.

I’m glad you liked the pattern, the headband must have turned out wonderful and windproof!

You’re welcome, it’s so nice to hear that!

Yes, fixing mistakes in English rib is frustrating😢 Maybe this video will help:
https://www.garnstudio.com/video.php?id=675&lang=en