The Two Rectangles Earwarmer (A Recipe)

The cold weather always brings with it the desire to cast on new projects. When the urge struck me at the weekend, I looked at the unfinished projects already on the shelf and decided whatever I started would have to be finished in one sitting. There was only one thing for it. Big needles, chunky yarn and something incredibly simple! In fact, I had it finished and on my head within a couple of hours.


After raiding my stash, I decided on Lana Grossa Lala Softness in colour 006 - from LoveKnitting (affiliate). It's a blend of 40% Polyamide, 40% Virgin Wool and 20% Mohair and has a hollow-mesh tubular construction so it's very soft and warm but very lightweight.  The recommended needle size for the yarn is 9mm but I used 8mm with cosy Moss Stitch. I used just under 33g so have some left from one 50g ball. 

Moss stitch requires an odd number of stitches and I wanted something quite wide to keep my head warm (even with a ponytail) so I cast on 21 sts. That gave me a width of 15 cm. My head measures 48 cm around the place I wanted to wear this accessory, so I bound off after 46 cm, leaving a tail for sewing the ends together. 


After sewing the ends, I made a second smaller rectangle with 7 stitches and knit for 16 cm, then wrapped it around the join in the main piece, stitched the two short ends together and secured in place with a few stitches. 

Two rectangles. Hardly any time at all. Perfectly cosy for walking the dog! If you want to make one, either with the same yarn or by raiding your stash, here's the summary. 
  • Decide on the required width and measure around the area of your head you'd like to wear it - for me, that's from the nape of my neck to the middle of my forehead. 
  • Make a swatch to work out how many stitches you will need to cast on for the required width (I admit that I guesstimated the number so that the item was my swatch, and it was fine so I carried on). See how much the swatch stretches - do you need to allow for stretching with the finished length, if so, adjust your measurements accordingly. 
  • The stitch pattern for EVERY row is as follows: (K1, p1) to last stitch, k1
  • Make the large rectangle a few cms smaller than the required length, bearing in mind the amount of stretch in your swatch. 
  • Make the small rectangle and sew in place. 
  • Enjoy having warm ears! 
If you like this post, you might also like my free pattern called Hilda - find it here

4 comments

  1. Thank you for this. I will stash dive at the weekend :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's not a 'recipe' it's a PATTERN!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By my terminology, a pattern would include the yarn, gauge, number of stitches etc. Hence I've called this a 'Recipe' - it can be followed to make the item, but it's not strictly a pattern.

      Delete

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