Free Pattern – Winter Waves Ear Warmer

As a crochet designer, I find inspiration in many places, some expected, some surprising. So check this out!  In a recent Pinterest search, I stumbled upon a stitch I’d never heard of before —- the counterpane stitch. “The what??” I asked myself. Well a little research (thank you, Google fairy) told me that it is the translation of  an Old French word meaning bedspread. Naturally, I was intrigued,  began to play and ended up with headbands!

The counterpane crochet stitch (say that 3 times fast) produces a very stretchy, textured fabric. It’s a GREAT showcase for solid colors.  This headband/ear warmer is easy and fun to make and is a customizers’ dream.  You don’t need buttons. You don’t need ties. Why? The chain-less foundations row and the counterpane stitch automatically make this a stretchy headband. So you can get this great gift into someone’s hands that much quicker.   It is easy to size too – just make the beginning chain as long as you want for the circumference of the head and make the band as wide as you like by repeating the Pattern Row until you achieve the desired width — that’s it!

Stay tuned for more posts with modification ideas for this simple and fun headband. I’d love to hear from you with your ideas!

Basic  Headband

Materials:
This stitch has a lovely texture that shows best in smooth yarns, but you can use any weight or type of yarn you like, just make sure you have the right size hook for the yarn you choose. I used worsted weight yarn and a USH (5.00 mm) hook for most of my headbands.  I also found it worked well to drop down a hook size for the Base Row and Final Row.  In some cases I worked two strands (two colors) together to achieve a variegated result.

Abbreviations:
beg – beginning
ch – chain
FSC – foundations single crochet
RSC – reverse single crochet
sc – single crochet
sl st – slip stitch
st(s) – stitch(es)

How to make the counterpane stitch – Yarn over and insert hook in next stitch, yarn over and pull loop through stitch and first loop on hook, all in one movement, yarn over and pull through remaining two loops on hook. The counterpane stitch is also known as the herringbone half double crochet and you can find a tutorial here!

• Base Row: Work a FSC chain the desired length to go around the head less 1” to allow for stretch.  If you find that your yarn/stitch combination is very stretchy, you could go down a total of 2” for a snugger fit.  Join with sl st to beg sc.
• Pattern Row:  ch1, work a row of counterpane st.  Join  with sl st to beg st.
• Repeat Pattern Row as many times as necessary to achieve the width you want.  I used 8 rows for most of my headbands.
• Final Row: ch, sc in each st.  Join with sl st to beg sc. Fasten off.
• Border: Join yarn, RSC(crab st) around.  Fasten off leaving 5″ tail.  Using tail, join to beg st being sure to continue the design created by the stitch. Repeat along second side.

Add the flower from my free Double Loop Flower pattern to finish it off .

~Maria~

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