Two Strands Headband

Two Strands Headband

Some folks in my Ravelry group recently asked me to recommend a great project for a first try at stranded knitting.  I could point out a few  fine places to start but, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t think of a  perfect stranded starting point.  So, I decided to create one.  And I didn’t have to look too far for my inspiration, either – check out the banner on my Ravelry group, Two Strands, and you’ll see what I mean.

There are several virtues which I think are important for a first-time strander’s project: First, it should be a simple motif with consistent repeats and no long floats. Of course, it should be something useful and attractive.  It should be unisex and it must be free, to openly welcome anyone to give it a try.  And “fun” would be nice!  I think I’ve squeezed all of those virtues into my Two Strands Headband, below.  Give it a try and tell me what you think!

Two Strands Headband

Average adult size; finished circumference = 20”, allowing for 1 to 2 1/2” negative ease.

Suggested yarn:

3 50-g balls of Dale of Norway Falk washable wool yarn, each in a different color.

Colors used in sample:

A – Deep blue #5545; B – Purple #5036; C – Lavender #5224

Suggested needles:

Either a 16” long circular or a set of double-pointed needles may be used.

Two different sizes of needles are required – larger for the outside of the headband, smaller for the headband lining. To get the main gauge which is used for the outside of the headband, most knitters will want either US 4(3.5mm) OR US 5(3.75mm); however, those who tend to knit quite loosely might want US 3(3.25mm) and those who tend to knit quite tightly might want US 6(4.0mm).

USE WHATEVER SIZE YOU NEED TO OBTAIN THE GAUGE, BELOW!

Once you know which size needle produces the correct main gauge for you, drop down one or two sizes smaller for the inside of the headband. (The smaller the size used on the inside, the snugger the fit.)

Gauge: 24 stitches and 28 rows = 4”/10cm in stockinette colorwork on larger needle.

Abbreviations: K = knit; P = purl; rd(s) = round(s); st(s) = stitch(es).

Instructions:

Using A and SMALLER NEEDLE, cast on 120 sts.  Place end of round marker and join work circularly. K 11rds.  P 1 rd. CHANGE TO LARGER NEEDLE.  K 3 rds.  Work Star Chart, below, according to notes in box:

Star Chart:

Work Star chart as follows:  Begin at lower right, i.e., row 1 / column 1. Read all rds across right to left. Each square = 1 st to be K in color shown. Once you have K the 12 sts of a chart row, repeat columns 1-12 of that row 9 more times for a total of 10 instances to complete each rd. Complete rds 1 through 13 of Star Chart.

Using A, K 4 rds. CHANGE TO SMALLER NEEDLE. P 1 rd. K 10 rds. Bind off all sts.  Fold upper and lower linings to the inside on the purl lines and sew together each respective cast-on and bind-off st.

If you want to get really fancy, you can cast on using scrap yarn, then K 1 extra rd at the end, don’t bind off, remove your scrap yarn and graft the beginning and end together for a seamless effect.  For notes on grafting, see this article on my blog:

http://twostrands.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/grafting-911/

As always, post away with any questions/comments.  Happy knitting!

Oh, wait!  Hey, don’t go yet!  I forgot to show you something.  You know, I can’t resist goofing around with endless color possibilities, so take a peek at the first few that jumped out at me…and let me know what you come up with!

Two Strands Headband Alternate Colorways - The Tip of the Iceberg

Free Knitting Patterns from Dale on Kidsknits

Dale of Norway has just issued several free – yep, you read that right…”free”  – knitting patterns as PDFs for ladies’ summer knitting.  We’ve just put them up on my Kidsknits site. You’ll find them here. Have fun!

Chrysanthemum Mittens – The Pattern

You are welcome to copy this free knitting pattern for your personal use. You are warmly encouraged to use this pattern for charitable purposes. However, this pattern is never to be sold. This pattern is not to be used for any commerical purposes without the express permission from the designer and copyright holder, Mary Ann Stephens (me).

Please feel free to post any questions or comments regarding this pattern here on the blog. You can also reach me through my main website, Kidsknits, where you’ll find more of my patterns and kits – some for kids (obviously) but plenty for adults, too, including these other ladies’ mittens:

Amaryllis Mittens

Camellia Mittens

And don’t miss my Postwar Mittens from the Winter 2008 edition of Twist Collective.

Postwar Mittens

Chrysanthemum Mittens:

Chrysanthemum Mittens

Although I designed, knit and happily wore these last winter, I couldn’t bring myself to put them out on my site to sell the pattern and/or kit. It’s not that I didn’t want to share them with you. It’s just that, after I made the first (black) pair, I ended up with only 4 feet of the “natural” left and felt we had too close a call for making everyone happy with the kits. To allow for the potential gauge and yarn consumption differences across the population, I’d need to put an extra ball of natural in the kit. Unfortunately, I can’t do that for free. So, raise your hands if you think you’d like to pay 33% more for a kit, only to have a full ball of yarn left over. No one? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Me neither. Now, raise your hands if you don’t mind running out of yarn with just a couple of rows to go before completing a project. What, still no hands? Yep, that’s what I thought…me neither. You see the dilemma? So, what better way to solve such a dilemma than to turn the problem into a freebie, right? So, here it is, below. I’m leaving the yarn requirements in your lap. The cautious &/or loose knitters among you will want 2 balls of color “B” (the off-white / natural shown in each case here); the brave, daring and rather tight knitters out there might give it a shot with just 1 ball of “B”. Either way, I hope you’ll let folks here and on Ravelry know your thoughts and experiences.

By the way, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to read my previous blog post about these mittens. I used Hauk for that first pair. I had so little room for error at the end that it prompted me to think/write out loud about the possible reasons for the near-shortfall and to hypothesize about the same scenario using Heilo. I ended up making the teal/grean ones in Heilo. Interestingly, I did have about one foot more yarn left over with the Heilo, but I hardly think my little experiment with just two pair of mittens really constitutes a decent statistical sample. I tried weighing umpteen different balls of both Hauk and Heilo. They both really weigh in as pretty much the same, although each type occasionally has a ball with very minor variations (100ths of a gram)- variations that could, I suppose, translate to an extra foot or so of yarn here or there, but nothing more than that. Those little differences I encountered between the 2 yarn types could be either entirely diminished or greatly magnified by differences in other knitters’ tension. “Never mind!”

Since I made the Chrysanthemum Mittens (and blabbed about how much I love Hauk yarn), folks at Dale of Norway have decided to …hmmm, how should we say this>…let Hauk “fade away out of production”. The folks at Dale US resisted using the D word (“discontinue”) with me. In fact, when I asked them about this last Spring, they were adamant that Hauk would be around, for it’s very successfully used in their ready-to-wear line. But more recently, it has become apparent that Hauk for knitters has not taken hold nearly as well as Heilo or Falk (superwash version of Heilo) and it’s a goner. It’s hard to compete with Heilo! So, I’ve been told Hauk will be (or has already gone) out of production. I’ll keep trying to stock it until the last ball is gone, but if you’re hoping for some, do try to get it while you can. But if you can’t, don’t despair: Anything you can make with Hauk can be made at exactly the same gauge with Heilo or Falk. Have fun and happy knitting!

Chrysanthemum Mittens
Sized to fit an average adult female hand; palm circumference = approximately 8 ½ “

Suggested yarn: (see my blog articles – you may want a 2nd ball of color “B”)
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Black 0090 for background color “A”
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Natural 0020 for foreground color “B”
1 50-g ball of Dale of Norway “Hauk”, “Heilo” or “Falk” in Barn Red 4137 for cuff detail color “C”
Suggested needles:
One set each of 5 double pointed needles in US size 2(3.0mm) and US size 4(3.5mm).
USE WHATEVER SIZE YOU NEED TO OBTAIN THE GAUGE, BELOW!
Gauge: 28 stitches and 28 rows = 4”/10cm in stockinette stitch with colorwork on larger needles.
Note: The ball band gauge for this yarn is 24 sts = 4”. That’s great for a sweater, but mittens call for extra warm fabric, so we’ll tighten the gauge up slightly to 28 sts = 4”. If you’re shooting for the same size, be certain to use whatever size needles get you the targeted 28 sts over 4”, or 7sts/ inch.
Abbreviations:
A, B & C = yarn colors; EOR=end of round; K = knit; K2tog = knit 2 stitches together; P = purl; rd(s) = round(s); rem = remaining; rep = repeat; SSK = “slip, slip, knit” i.e., slip 2 sts individually knitwise, then K those 2 sts together; st(s) = stitch(es)

Instructions: Using A, cast on 60 sts, preferably using a cable cast on, although a long tail cast on will work fine, too. Place marker. Join and work circularly. *K 1 in A, K 1 in B, rep from * to end of rd.
Braid on right mitten: *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st OVER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st UNDER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. Braid on left mitten: *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st UNDER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. *P 1 in A, P 1 in B, continually crossing yarn for current st OVER yarn for previous st, rep from * to end of rd. Continuing for either mitten: K 1 rd in B.

Checkerboard trim:
Round #1: Break off A, join C, *K 2 in C, K 2 in B, rep from * to EOR. Round #2: *P 2 in C, P 2 in B, rep from * to EOR. Round #3: *K 2 in B, K 2 in C, rep from * to EOR. Round #4: *P 2 in B, P 2 in C, rep from * to EOR. Repeat rounds 1-4 two more times. Repeat rounds 1&2 one more time.
Change to larger needles.

Main body of mitten:
K 1 rd in B. K 1 rd in A. Work Main Chart, starting at lower right corner, always reading from right to left and knitting circularly. Each square equals 1 st to be knit in color shown, unless otherwise indicated (see chart legend.) Read “Thumb details” section BEFORE working thumb indicators on chart.

Thumb details: Once you’ve knit up to your desired thumb placement indicator on the Main Chart,
break off an approximately 18” long piece of scrap yarn, K next 11 sts with scrap yarn, slide 11 scrap
sts back to left needle, K same 11 scrap sts with colors indicated in Main Chart.

Complete Main Chart. Break off yarns, pull ends through remaining sts, tighten, pull ends inside and weave ends in place. Weave in any other loose ends except for scrap yarn used for holding thumb sts. With scrap yarn still in
place, using 1 dpn, pick up 11 thumb sts immediately above scrap sts by inserting tip of dpn under right
side of “v” formed by each st. Using another dpn, pick up 11 thumb sts immediately below scrap sts in
same manner.
Carefully remove scrap yarn. Working circularly, starting at lower right of Thumb Chart,
using colors indicated in Thumb Chart, pick up 1st st in Thumb Chart from right side of thumb opening
(option: twist base of side st before picking up to lessen any gap at thumb base); pick up next 11 sts in chrysanthemumchart
Thumb Chart from lower dpn; pick up 1 st at left side of thumb (same option applies); pick up remaining
11 sts in Thumb Chart from upper dpn. (Thumb sts can be distributed around as many dpns as you like.)
Continue with remaining rows of Thumb Charts, always working circularly and following Thumb Chart
indicators for shaping thumb top. Break off loose ends, pull ends through remaining 8 sts, pull ends to inside
and weave in place. Make 2nd mitten in same manner except be certain to work the 11 scrap sts and the
thumb on the OTHER side!! (Yes, that is said from experience!) Wash finished mittens and block, if necessary.

Chrysanthemum Mittens

Chrysanthemum Mitten Charts

Chrysanthemum Mittens and the Mystery of Hauk vs Heilo

Like ‘em? I’ve just finished my Chrysanthemum Mittens, above. I designed these to be knit in Dale of Norway Hauk yarn, which is essentially good old Heilo 100% Norwegian sport weight wool that’s gone high tech with a Teflon infusion to make the yarn especially water and stain resistant. The Teflon even makes the yarn slightly softer. And it knits at exactly the same gauge as Heilo. So Hauk is a perfect alternative for stain-prone comfort seekers like me. It’s great stuff – I love it!

By using needles a couple of sizes smaller than I’d normally use for sport weight yarn, I ended up with especially dense, warm fabric that I’m really happy with for mittens. But just how much of this yarn we need for these mittens is another question.

I used 1 ball of each color (black, barn red and natural) and ended up with a generous bit of the black left over, tons of barn red left over and a downright stingy four feet of the natural left over. It was a close call, too close for my taste. It’s all too easy to imagine knitting just a wee bit looser and running out of the 1 ball of natural before finishing up. I’m figuring kits to make 1.999 mittens might not be terribly popular . So, it’s time to look further into a question that’s been bothering me for a while now: Do Hauk and Heilo really have the same yardage???

According to the ball bands, they do. Like all Dale yarns, both Heilo and Hauk are put up as 50g balls. Both say they provide 100 meters. But I wonder if that’s precisely true, or merely an approximation, or…perhaps, not even so approximate an approximation.

Given: Heilo + Teflon = Hauk. Assume the 50g does truly stay constant. I’m no chemist, but last I heard, Teflon is not weightless. So, as Teflon is infused into the yarn in the dye bath, it increases the wool’s weight, right? So I’m betting there’s a proportionate decrease in the yardage per 50g ball. Is it so slight a change that there’s no sense in changing the yardage numbers? Or is there more to it?

Having made the first mitten in my second pair ofChrysanthemum Mittens, this time in Heilo, I’m taking a look at what I have left so far in the natural and it seems that I’ve got considerably more natural left with the Heilo than I did with the Hauk. Granted, I’m just going on memory at this halfway point. I’ll report back to you when the second one is done. It will be interesting to see just how much more, if any, of the Heilo natural there is to compare with my 4 feet of Hauk. Any guesses? Stay tuned!

Monkster Gets Stranded – Free Knitting Pattern

I’ve just added the free knitting pattern for these Norwegian Teddy Bear sweaters to my Kidsknits.com site. You’ll find links to this and a few other free knitting patterns I’ve designed on the left-hand side of my homepage, Kidsknits. You can also get to the pattern for the above sweaters by clicking here: Monkster Gets Stranded.

I’ve had a free pattern for a similar, but plain, Teddy Bear sweater (aka Monkster’s Sweater ) out there for a while:

Both of these wee sweater patterns use essentially the same construction method, with a few minor differences. The old one was made with worsted weight yarn; the new pattern uses sport weight yarn. The old sweater was solid-colored, (but you can add any motif your heart desires); the new sweaters, obviously, use “stranded” knitting technique, (but you can create your own Nordic motif, opt for stripes, or keep it simple and solid-colored, too.) Both patterns are worked circularly, from the bottom up, with raglan shoulders, in this fashion:

The fully-fashioned decreases in the old version were chosen to highlight the points at which the raglan shoulders were mitered. That method is especially nice for solid-colored knitting – the decreases form an interesting feature on an otherwise blank canvas. The decreases in the new version were chosen to minimize the visual disturbance of the raglan miters. I typically opt for subtle decrease methods for multi-colored, Nordic knitting so that my shaping and my motifs don’t visually compete with each other.

The new sweaters, at top, both use the same technique you’d find in most any life-sized raglan sweater: a few stitches at the base of the armholes are put aside on stitch holders while the yoke is worked as one circle. Once you’re all but done, those few held stitches are grafted together at each armhole base. This helps in two ways: it provides more flexibility at the underarm for the wearer (although I’m not sure guys like Monkster really appreciate that fact) and it makes the joining round, wherein the sleeves and body become one, a good bit more manageable. But, it also leaves a little bit of grafting work to take care of at the end. (See my “Grafting 911″ post, under “Technique”.)

In the original, plain sweater, I did not cast off any stitches at the base of the armhole. So, the joining round for that version has to be worked with the “circular” knitting flattened for a round or two, and it’s a bit trickier to wiggle your yarn and needles in and out of the flattened work. The most saintly among you may find yourselves cursing like sailors at that point, but it does save you a good bit of finishing work. It’s a nice shortcut for a quick toy sweater, but it’s not something I’d recommend for the opinionated, comfort-seeking, self-propelled types. Personally, I prefer the method in the new, stranded design.

At the bottom of the new pattern, in addition to the charts for the above motifs, you’ll also find an empty chart awaiting your own design. I’d love to see what you come up with, and I’m sure others would, too. Send a photo of your finished sweater and I’ll share it here. Have fun!