Learn how to knit this chunky cable knit headband. This is the perfect beginner pattern to learn how to cable. The best part? No cable needles required! Use this free knitting pattern to make these gorgeous ear warmer headbands for women that can keep those ears warm in the fall and winter.
As a knitter, I am often intimidated by things that look too complex.
I find myself gravitating towards things that I think will be easier and not even considering things that I think will take me out of my knitting comfort zone.
Cabling was one of those things for many years. It looked far too complex and I can barely handle the basics of knitting.
Here’s the thing.
It is truly one of the easiest things you can do in knitting especially when you know a few of my favorite tricks for cabling quickly.
Today I want to show you how to cable and how this project can benefit someone in need.
This is the time of the year where the homeless and those in need really need us.
When the temperatures drop and you are in that cold-in-your-bones zone, you are welcomed by the warmth of your home, maybe a fire, and a hot drink to settle in with when you arrive home.
What if you had nowhere to escape?
Worse yet, imagine you were out in the cold without the warmth of a hat, gloves, or a scarf.
Let’s think of the children whose families can’t afford these simple luxuries of warmth.
You can’t knit a hat?
I get it!
Those double-pointed needles are a pain in the rear, aren’t they?
That is why I thought a simple knitted headband would be a great option for gift-giving and for a quick gift to share with those in need.
In fact,I highly recommend knitting a few of these for your homeless care packages to keep in your car.
Here are a few questions that I get asked a lot when it comes to knitting!
I Want to Learn to Knit. Where Can I Learn How to Knit?
Want to learn how I learned how to knit?
A good friend taught me.
She had all of her friends over that wanted to learn and I was one of the only ones that took this skill and has never stopped.
I am also pretty darn lucky because my mother-in-law is a knitter and has helped me through many of my more complex problems.
If I didn’t have these resources, I would take courses online that fit with my schedule.
Here are 5 of my recommendations on how to learn to knit. If you want to give your family a gift idea, consider asking for a gift card to cover your classes!
Skillshare
Honestly, this is going to be your most affordable option for knitting courses and I use my membership ALL THE TIME.
The best part is that you don’t have to be limited to just knitting.
This platform has classes for EVERYTHING. I have been taking an amazing weaving course through this that has helped me get started on my loom.
For business, I have been learning how to work on technical aspects of my site.
I can’t recommend it enough. In fact, this link should give you two months of free classes to get you started.
Bluprint Classes
I ask for Bluprint classes almost every Christmas (and for my birthday) and absolutely love them.
I have taken courses on knitting, cake decorating, and even food photography classes so I can do a better job showing food off for you here.
They are constantly running specials so it is easy to find an affordable class. If you like them, they also offer unlimited monthly class memberships too.
All Free Knitting
If you are on a budget, you can use this free resource to learn to knit. This is still set up as an organized course series, but costs you zero bucks.
YouTube always helps, as a great assistant, when using free online classes. I still pull up videos all the time to learn more complex stitches.
Bluprint Craft Box Subscription
Again, this is one of those fantastic gift ideas to ask for.
Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) curates incredible craft boxes that give you the supplies and everything you need to get started with a craft project.
They send you supplies, instructions, and everything you need to try a new craft. You get sent four boxes a year to learn new craft skills.
The best part?
It also includes a premium subscription so you can take unlimited online classes too.
How Do I Pick the Right Yarn for My Knitting Projects?
The yarn aisle can be very intimidating to new knitters. I can’t tell you how many times I have assisted fellow craft store shoppers with finding the right yarns for their projects.
Yarn can be light and delicate or super chunky and bulky (like the project that we are doing today).
Without getting TOO technical, the Craft Yarn Council assigns numbers to yarn that tell you what type of weight they are (you can see their detailed chart online) and these numbers can range from 0 (which would be perfect for knitting lace) all the way up to 7 (which would be used in a pattern like this chunky knit blanket I made).
At the top of the pattern, you should see what yarn weight category is recommended. While this pattern did call for 7, I felt like it became too wide and turban like (for my head) so I used a bulky weight of 5.
What is a Yarn Lot Number and Why Should I Care About It?
For small projects, you might not need to worry about this as much, but you can still end up with two balls of yarn with the same color name, but NOT be the same color.
Why?
Yarns with the same dye lot number were all dyed at the same time. Dying is a chemical reaction and that can make items dyed at different times turn out differently, even if the dye recipe was identical from one dyeing session to the next.
I could go into crazy details, but I don’t think it is important for this project.
What you should know is that it is almost impossible to get an exact match between yarns dyed in different dyeing sessions.
I am not talking about just pretty artisan yarn either, I’m talking about the big brands, like Lion Brand or Red Heart, can also have completely different dye jobs.
It happened to me once when I was whipping up a pom-pom wreath for the holidays.
Make sure that the yarn you get has the same lot number on the package (you can usually just find it by purchasing your yarn all at one store).
If you don’t, you could end up with unintended variations in your finished work.
I Have Arthritis and Hand Pain. What Can I Use to Minimize My Pain While Knitting?
If you are just stopping by from Pinterest, you might be unfamiliar with my story. I have chronic pain in my hands and elbows from a connective tissue disease.
For three years, I stopped knitting because I just couldn’t get my fingers to cooperate.
I am back to knitting (which I’m incredibly grateful for) and these are the tools that helped.
Curable– This app has been transformative for my pain. It uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help you retrain your brain and the pain signals it is sending. It has done more for me than anything else because I am learning to reroute the bad signals to my hands. This takes time and practice, but I’m thankful for a drug-free way to reduce my hand pain.
Oval Ring Splints– Oval rings can act as supporters to your fingers and are one of my most relied upon tools through hand pain. Since they are made from plastic, they can fit/not fit based on weather conditions and inflammation. I recommend one of these sets because it allows you to switch sizes based on the swelling in the joints.
Arthritis Compression Gloves– Compression is your BFF when you have chronic pain and compression gloves are so helpful for arthritis or for Raynaud’s Syndrome. I find that it restores warmth to the tips of my fingers and also feels very comforting to have them compressed.
Ergonomic Knitting Needles– While I haven’t made the investment in these (yet), I do think that this is one more thing you could explore to improve your comfort levels.
Take breaks, as needed, and be patient with yourself. I know how frustrated and sad I was about this. I hope these suggestions can help you as much as they have helped me.
Ear Warmer Headband Knitting Pattern
Supplies Needed
Any Bulky Yarn (My top preferences for this project are the Lion Brand Hometown USA & Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick)
US 11 Bamboo Needles
US 10 Double-Pointed Needles (you just need one!)
Optional: Stitch Counter (to help you stay on pattern)
(video below)
Trying to show you how to cable in a picture tutorial was a little impossible so today so I thought I would do a video.
I am so terrible at videos so please forgive me.
I’m off to a conference this week where I am hoping to learn more about doing these better for you all- it’s one of those work challenges I need to learn to tackle.
I know how helpful it can be to show these techniques in a video. Scroll to the end of this post to watch!
This cable is called a Shadow cable.
In this pattern, we will be bringing three stitches in front with our double-pointed needle and three stitchescabled laterbehind our work.
This cabling adds a double layer of warmth in this pattern and I’d love for you to scroll down to the bottom so that you can see how I do this.
Cable needles look like this and I have a ton of them.
I hate them.
I usually lose my stitches and I find it difficult to transfer stitches especially when it comes to bulky yarn.
You can certainly buy them,but I recommend just doing a double-pointed needle one size down from the work to grab your stitches.
I am a big fan of bamboo because they grip the yarn so well especially when moving stitches around.
It’s the only type of needles I knit with!
Not only are these quick to knit (they shouldn’t take you more than two hours!), but I think they look pretty fashionable too. I have noticed that many stores are now carrying these in their hair accessories.
Can we also acknowledge how cute the girls have it these days with hair accessories?
The aisles are filled with gorgeous patterned headbands, head wraps, turban headbands, and hair clips.
It has been so fun seeing the revival, for my daughter, of those adorable scrunchies and wide headbands.
I bet your tween or teen girl would love this homemade gift!
For gals with long hair, ear warmers are a dream for keeping your locks in place.
For ponytail days, you can just pull your hair through a hair band and still have warm ears.
I gave them a test run on the most miserable weather day which is ALWAYS, ALWAYS Halloween.
My husband was freezing, but I was delightfully warm thanks to these cozy ear warmers.
The cabling really adds a double warmth to them.
For particularly rotten Indiana days (I know they are coming), you can layer this under your hat for extra ear protection.
Can you just imagine the warmth you can give this season to someone in need?
This little project is fast to memorize and easy to execute with a good audiobook (can I recommend our books section to you?) or with a great big Netflix binge (I’m sure you can find loads of recommendations on my 3 Little Things list).
Thank you to Nancy Ricci for sharing her beautiful Vanessa Headband Pattern for free with the Ravelry community- I am so honored to share her pattern with you today!
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE PATTERN AND TUTORIAL!
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Love this knitted gifted idea? Here are a few more posts I think you will love!
Check out my video below to see just how easy it is to cable with your double-pointed needle!
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