Free Knitting Pattern for Sweatbands

Size:
The size is adjusted based on your own measurements and gauge.

Material: 
The material will depend on what you choose to use. You can use either DK or Aran yarn.
If using DK yarn, I recommend using 3 mm needles, and if using Aran yarn, I recommend 4 mm needles.

Abbreviations: (I use US Terms)
St: Stitch
K: Knit
P: Purl

The pattern for the sweatbands consists of a classic rib stitch with 2 stitches knit and 2 stitches purl.

For my sweatbands, I used DK yarn and a 3 mm circular needle. I knitted them using the Magic Loop method, as it’s the most comfortable for me. My son wanted these sweatbands and was thrilled to pick out the Colours himself. He had a very clear vision and chose the Colours of the Irish flag. Luckily, I had the right Colours at home, so I could get started right away.

I knitted the sweatbands twice as high so that I could fold them in half and sew them together at the end. This gives them a thicker, more comfortable finish. My son, who’s almost 6 years old, was a bit confused while watching me knit, especially with the headband. The Colours seemed “wrong” to him. But once he saw the final, sewn-together result, he was so relieved and proud that it turned out exactly how he imagined.

Let’s start with the gauge swatch:
Use the yarn and needles that you plan to work with and knit a patch approximately 12 x 12 cm. This will give you enough stitches and rows to create an accurate gauge swatch. Work the swatch in the given pattern, meaning 2 stitches knit, 2 stitches purl.
The exact number of rows is not as important in this pattern; just knit as many rows as needed to reach your desired height.
Since this is an elastic pattern, you should slightly stretch your swatch to count the stitches for 10 cm.
In my swatch, it’s 20 stitches over 35 rows.
Which would be 2 st for 1 cm.
If I wanted a circumference of 56 cm I would cast on 112 st. (2x 56)
But if my gauge had been 18 st for 10 cm I could cast on 100 st. (1.8 x 56)

The arm sweatband:
I cast on 40 stitches because I wanted a circumference of 20 cm, as I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be too tight. It's important to cast on a number of stitches divisible by 4.
Then I worked 20 rows in white and 20 rows in green (orange for the second one). Finally, I sewed the cast-on edge to the bind-off edge, making sure to shift the seam to the inner middle so that it’s not visible.

The Headband:
Before you start, it's important to measure the head circumference. For my son, it measures 50 cm. To calculate the required number of stitches, take your gauge and divide it by 10, then multiply the result by the cm measurement.
In my case, it's quite simple: 20 stitches (from the gauge) divided by 10 equals 2. I then multiply this result by 50 cm, which means I need to cast on 100 stitches.
For my pattern, I started with white and worked 7 rows in white. This was followed by 14 rows in orange, again 7 rows in white, and finally 14 rows in green.
After that, I sewed the cast-on edge to the bind-off edge and shifted the seam to the inner centre so that it's not visible. This resulted in a beautiful pattern in the colours of the Irish flag.

And with that, my son was super happy and was jogging around the house with his new sweatbands. 😊










 

I hope you enjoyed this pattern. I would love to hear your comments or feedback if you worked the decoration. In the future, you will find many more free patterns on my blog at Crazypatterns. Just click on the “Posts” tab at the top. To make sure you don’t miss any updates, follow me here—you’ll always stay up to date!