This charming winter headband features a two-color brioche motif that is worked with a cozy bulky-weight MC yarn and a sparkly worsted-weight CC yarn. The suggested Hygge yarn makes the project super soft and warm to wear, and the Sparkle yarn is fun and glamorous, making the finished ear warmer a perfect accessory for any festive occasion. The headband begins with a basic long-tail cast-on and is worked flat in two-color brioche in a pretty stitch pattern (though plain two-color brioche ribbing could easily be substituted, if desired). The project concludes with a basic bind-off, then the cast-on and bind-off edges are sandwiched and sewn together to create the stylish twisted seam that can be worn at the front or back of the headband.
Time: Weekend Project
Skill Level: Intermediate
Size: 19″ [48 cm] circumference x 4.5″ [11 cm] width
Gauge: 17 sts and 21 rows = 4″ [10 cm] in brioche pattern st
Note: 1 row of brioche consists of 1 row of CC and 1 row of MC
Materials
Yarn: Red Heart Hygge (70% acrylic, 30% nylon; 132 yards [121 meters]/141 grams): 8631 Aloe (MC, 1 ball)
Red Heart Roll With It Sparkle (97% acrylic, 3% other fibers; 561 yards [513 meters]/150 grams): 9410 Diamonds (CC, 1 cake)
Needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm) 16″ circular needles
Notions: Tapestry needle
Abbreviations
sl1yo – Slip 1 yarnover
brk – Brioche knit
brp – Brioche purl
brinc – Brioche increase
brdec – Brioche Decrease
brdec+inc – Brioche Decrease and increase
Special Stitches
Slip 1 yarnover – Sl1 st pwise while creating a yo.
Brioche knit – K the st tog with its accompanying yo.
Brioche purl – P the st tog with its accompanying yo.
Brioche Increase (brinc) – Brk, yo, brk into a single st (inc from 1 st to 3 sts).
Brioche Decrease (brdec) – Sl the first st and its wrap kwise, knit the second st, pass the wrap of the first st off over the new st, return the st to the left needle without twisting, pass the third st and its wrap tog off over the new st, sl the st pwise to the right needle, pass the unwrapped first st off over the new st (dec from 3 sts to 1 st).
Brioche Decrease and increase (brdec+inc) – Work the brdec, then return the newly-decreased st back to the left needle without twisting and work a (k, yo, k) inc into the st (no change in st count).
Pattern Notes
The pattern is worked flat back and forth and then seamed.
While working in brioche, each row is worked twice: first the A row is worked with the CC and then the B row is worked with the MC.
The first and last st of each RS A row is slipped purlwise with the yarn in back; the first and last st of each WS A row is slipped purlwise with the yarn in front.
Pattern
With MC, CO 17 sts using the long-tail method.
Row 0 (WS): K1, (k1, sl1yo) to last 2 sts, k2. Turn work. Join CC.
Row 1A (RS): With CC, sl1, (sl1yo, brk) to last 2 sts, sl1yo, sl1. Slide sts back to work with MC.
Row 1B (RS): With MC, p1, (brp, sl1yo) to last 2 sts, brp, p1. Turn work.
Row 2A (WS) and all even-numbered A rows: Sl1, (sl1yo, brp) to last 2 sts, sl1yo, sl1. Slide.
Row 2B (WS) and all even-numbered B rows: K1, (brk, sl1yo) to last 2 sts, brk, k1. Turn.
Rep Rows 1A-2B twice more.
Row 3A: Sl1, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brinc, (sl1yo, brk) three times, sl1yo, brinc, s1yo, brk, sl1yo, sl1. Slide. (21 sts)
Row 3B: P1, (brp, sl1yo) twice, k1, (sl1yo, brp) four times, sl1yo, k1, (sl1yo, brp) twice, p1. Turn.
Row 5A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 5B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 7A: Sl1, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brdec+inc, (sl1yo, brk) three times, sl1yo, brdec+inc, s1yo, brk, sl1yo, sl1. Slide.
Row 7B: Rep Row 3B.
Row 9A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 9B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 11A: Rep Row 7A.
Row 11B: Rep Row 3B.
Row 13A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 13B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 15A: Sl1, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brdec, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brinc, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brdec, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, sl1. Slide. (19 sts)
Row 15B: P1, (brp, sl1yo) four times, k1, (sl1yo, brp) four times, p1. Turn.
Row 17A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 17B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 19A: Sl1, (sl1yo, brk) three times, sl1yo, brdec+inc, (sl1yo, brk) three times, sl1yo, sl1. Slide.
Row 19B: Rep Row 15B.
Row 21A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 21B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 23A: Rep Row 19A.
Row 23B: Rep Row 15B.
Row 25A: Rep Row 1A.
Row 25B: Rep Row 1B.
Row 27A: Sl1, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brinc, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brdec, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brinc, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, sl1. Slide. (21 sts)
Row 27B: Rep Row 3B.
Rep Rows 4A-27B twice more.
Rep Rows 4A-14B once more.
Row 29A (RS): Sl1, sl1yo, brk, sl1yo, brdec, (sl1yo, brk) three times, sl1yo, brdec, s1yo, brk, sl1yo, sl1. Slide. (17 sts)
Row 29B (RS): Rep Row 1B.
Rep Rows 2A-2B once.
Rep Rows 1A-2B twice. Cut CC.
Final Row (RS): P1, (p1, brk) to last 2 sts, p2.
BO in pattern. Cut MC, leaving a 12″ [30 cm] tail for seaming.
Finishing
With RS facing up, fold the CO edge in half with RSs together so that the selvedge edges touch. Fold the BO edge in half in the same manner. Sandwich the folded edges together, with the layers stacked as: half of CO edge, half of BO edge, half of CO edge, half of BO edge. Use MC BO tail to sew through all 4 layers of fabric, taking special care to align the 3 CC brk columns of the 2 central layers of fabric that face one another.
Weave in all ends. Wash and block.
How can I make this in a thinner yarn for San Diego weather? I want to try this for a friend who has lost her hair because of chemo.
From the designer: Thank you for letting me know about this question!
I would recommend using smaller needles to go with the thinner yarn (a needle that is two sizes smaller than the size recommended for the new MC yarn would probably be a good place to start).
To maintain the headband’s width, I would suggest casting on more stitches to create additional columns of the brioche stitch pattern, but the exact number would depend on the gauge of the thinner yarns that the knitter plans to use. I hope that this helps!