Knitting: Adapting a Bookmark Pattern to Make a Headband

Lately I've been trying to do some different things with my hair. That goal includes utilizing hair accessories, which I seldom ever wear but -- in a perfect world -- would like to. I decided to knit myself a cute headband in hopes that I would actually use it if it was handmade. I'd been eyeing a bookmark pattern in Veronik Avery's "Knitting 24/7" (the sea crest bookmark) that I thought was would make a very pretty hair adornment. So I knitted the bookmark to the appropriate length for my head and added i-cords to each end for ties.

You could really make any bookmark into a headband, or use a pretty cable or any small section of a pattern you found like. Though it's pretty simple to do, I figured I'd share my method with you anyway. Maybe it will give you some inspiration!

I started by knitting an i-cord for 12 inches, which ended up being way too long. I'd recommend making your i-cord no more than 10 inches. The bookmark pattern was 16 stitches across, so I needed to increase from my 3-stitch i-cord. There are many ways to do this, but I did:

1. kfb, k1, kfb (5 stitches)
2. (and all even rows) purl
3. kfb, k3, kfb (7 stitches)
I continued in this fashion until I had the number of cast-on stitches called for in the bookmark pattern. I began knitting the bookmark, measuring against my head as I went (I ended up doing 8 repeats of the 10-row pattern on size 4 needles). When it stretched across my head to about the top of my ear, I began decreasing in the same manner I increased -- ssk on the first two stitches of the row and k2tog on the last two stitches. Once I decreased to 3 stitches, I made another 12-inch i-cord. And voila! Now you're holding a pretty headband!