Knitting An Ear Warmer

This is another idea inspired by the "Make And Do" volume of the Childcraft Encyclopedia set by Worldbook. We liked the idea of ear warmers, but their pattern was a little plain, just a simple rectangle with a couple of ribbons sewed on. I wanted a pattern that would still be simple enough for the older girls to take on, but be pretty enough for them to want to wear.

We started out casting on just two stitches. We knit rows of two until we had a tie of about eight inches long.

Then we increased, by casting on an extra stitch at the beginning of the row, and knitting across. We repeated that until we had six stitches on our needle.

Then, we increased each row by two, until we had twenty-four stitches on our needle.

We continued to knit rows of twenty-four for about a foot. Then, we decreased (knitting two stitches together), by two at the beginning of each row, until we were down to six stitches, and we decreased by one, until we had two stitches. We continued knitting rows of two, until we had a second, eight inch tie. Finally, we sewed on a crocheted flower, just to give it a finishing touch.

The older girls can handle this pattern. And, it is pretty enough that they will be happy to wear them, when the weather turns just a little colder. They do keep the ears quite toasty. Thanks again to the folks at Worldbook (at least the ones who were there in 1967), for inspiring another fun family project.

It's great to be a homeschooler.