Free Knitting Pattern: Headband Flower

When Harper was born, she had this glorious full head of black hair (not quite sure where that came from!), but now, she’s a little more on the bald side. Beautiful, of course…but bald. So, even though I vowed to never put a huge flower or bow in her hair, I do find this little creation quite cute. And since I can’t bring myself to dress her in frilly pink stuff all the time, it’s great for when we are out-and-about, and I don’t want to constantly tell people that yes, she is a girl.

(I hope that my dry sense of humor is coming out in this post, and not the possible observation that I think my daughter isn’t cute! She is the cutest little thing on the planet –> and that’s not just because I’m the mommy!)

Without further adieu, here is the EASY, fast pattern:

• Yarn: Irrelevant. Any weight will do, but the bigger the yarn, the bigger the flower…and the bigger the needles you will need. I used Madeline Tosh Merino DK for the flower pictured here. You will only need a handful.
• Needle: I used a size 7 circular as a straight needle. Just use something appropriate for the yarn and how open you want the knitting stitches to be.
• Gauge: Irrelevant.

1. Cast on 60 using the long-tail cast-on method. (You will want to cast on somewhat loosely as you have to KFB through every stitch on the third row.)
2. Knit across (60 stitches).
3. KFB (knit through the front and back loop) across (120 stitches).
4. Knit across (120 stitches).
5. Bind off, but leave enough working yarn hanging to sew together the bottom of the flower.*

*For the flower pictured in this post, I switched to a different color yarn for the bind-off row to give the flower additional dimension. You can use your imagination with colors, and mix it up a bit!

Here is a great instructional video on KFB (knit through the front and back loop):

Once you’ve bound off your work, you’ll have a nice, curly piece of garter-stitch fabric. Simply wrap the piece into a spiral (like a rose), and use the remaining working yarn to secure it on the bottom (the cast-on edge). Use a knot to tie off the yarn, and cut off the remainder. You can then use regular sewing thread to sew your flower to the headband. You could also hot glue it to some felt to make a brooch, sew it to a t-shirt for embellishment or use hot glue with a plastic headband. Use your imagination! Another great idea would be to make these roses in varying sizes (using different yarns and number of cast-on stitches), and group them together on a onesie, headband, etc. You get the idea.

As for the headband itself, I used 1″ plush fold-over elastic (commonly referred to as FOE). I purchased mine at Kids in the Garden when I was making Harper’s diaper covers last year. It’s great for so many things! Just note that it does tend to stretch a bit, so either sew it so it will be tight on the wearer’s head in the beginning, OR, use hook & loop to make it adjustable.

Isn’t she just precious?