Roundtop Headband

Roundtop Headband by Corrine Walcher

What is Being Made

The Roundtop Headband is a knitted accessory designed to coordinate with the Roundtop fingerless mitts. This headband features a sophisticated construction combining cable work with ribbed borders, creating a warm and snug fit suitable for cold weather wear. The finished headband measures 14 inches unstretched with the ability to stretch up to 23 inches, making it easily adjustable to fit various head sizes.

Knitting Techniques Used

This intermediate-level knitting project employs several key techniques to achieve its distinctive appearance. The design incorporates cable knitting, which creates the intricate braided texture that serves as the focal point of the headband. Cable work requires using a cable needle to cross stitches over one another, producing raised, twisted patterns. The pattern also utilizes ribbed borders worked in knit and purl combinations to frame the cable sections, providing elasticity and a polished edge that contributes to the snug fit around the head.

Stitches and Stitch Abbreviations

The Roundtop Headband uses fundamental knitting stitches combined with cable crossing techniques. The stitch abbreviations employed in this pattern include:

• K (Knit stitch) – the basic forward-facing stitch
• P (Purl stitch) – the reverse-facing stitch used in ribbed sections
• 2/2 LPC (2 over 2 Left Purl Cross) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front; purl 2; knit 2 from cable needle
• 2/2 RPC (2 over 2 Right Purl Cross) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back; knit 2; purl 2 from cable needle
• 2/2 LC (2 over 2 Left Cross) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in front; knit 2; knit 2 from cable needle
• 2/2 RC (2 over 2 Right Cross) – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold in back; knit 2; knit 2 from cable needle

These cable crosses create the braided visual effect characteristic of the design, with the purl crosses helping integrate the cables into the ribbed border sections.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Roundtop Headband pattern is designed to work with aran, DK, or worsted weight yarns, providing flexibility in yarn selection. The sample was knitted using Dragonfly Fibers Valkyrie, a 100% superwash merino yarn in the colorway Winter Woods. This yarn is available in 200-yard skeins weighing 4 ounces, though the sample headband required approximately 70 yards, leaving ample yarn for other projects.

The pattern calls for US Size 6 (4.0 mm) needles, or the size needed to achieve the specified gauge. The recommended gauge is 19 stitches and 26 rows per 4 inches in blocked stockinette stitch, which helps ensure the finished headband meets the intended dimensions and has the proper elasticity for a comfortable fit. A cable needle is also required to execute the cable crossing techniques throughout the pattern.