Palindrome Headband

Designed with 5 strands of fingering weight yarn held together for a warm bulky fabric, the piece is marled garter stitch, with neat slipped stitch edges, and the diamond pattern running over the top is made by slipping and twisting single strands pulled apart from the working yarns.

It’s a bit weird but it works and makes for a cool effect! The headband is constructed flat from one narrow end to the other, then seamed together when it’s done. It’s designed to use fingering weight mini-skein sets or sock yarn leftovers, using about 50–70 yards/meters of each of five contrasting colors, and you can even modify the pattern to use fewer colors if you want a less bulky/more narrow headband. (Notes for that are included in the pattern!)

You need:

• Fingering weight yarn in five different colored mini-skeins or small leftover balls, approx 50–70 yards/meters per color sample is in Sea Change Fibers Littoral Merino Fingering mini-skein set: Flora & Fauna colorway (56 yards / 51 meters used per color)
• Size US 10 / 6mm needles, straight or circular to work flat

Use five solid colors that all contrast well with each other. The single strands will not pop off the marled base if they are very tonal shades and/or if they are all similar colors.

Sizing:

Width of 4.5” / 11.5cm; circumference of approx 14{16, 18, 20, 22}“ / 36{41, 46, 51, 56}cm unstretched, to fit head sizes 15–17{17–19, 19–21, 21–23, 23–25}” / 38–43{43–48, 48–53, 53–58, 58–63}cm but the circumference can be custom sized based on where the first half is stopped. The width can be changed by adjusting the gauge.