French Knitted Hairband – Easy for Kids to Make

French knitting is an easy project for kids and I’ve done it with my girls many times. We knit with a cardboard roll and paddle pop sticks. Works a treat! The kids usually make scarfs, but this time, we made hair accessories with the finished product.

Here are two of my girls french knitting on the trampoline 3 years ago.

How to French Knit

Materials

• Wool (This beautiful wool was from a goodie bag I got from Spotlight)
• Cardboard Roll
• 4 x paddle pop sticks 
• Packing tape

1. Gather all your materials.

2. Tape 4 paddle pop sticks evenly spaced around the roll. Make sure they are taped on very securely. 

3. Feed the wool inside toilet roll and allow approximately 20cm hanging out the bottom of the roll.

4. Cast on by twirling the wool around a paddle pop stick twice in a clockwise direction.

5. Move to the next paddle-pop stick and repeat, this time in an anti-clockwise. Repeat until you have completed the last paddle pop stick.

6. Locate the bottom piece of wool.

7. then lift the bottom piece of wool carefully up over the top piece of wool and over the paddle pop stick (leaving the top piece of wool on the stick). Repeat (6 & 7) on all four paddle pop sticks.

8. Using the wool, wind around the top of the paddle-pop stick (so you have two wool lines on the first paddle pop stick).

9. As before, lift the bottom piece of wool over the wool and up over the paddle pop stick, moving on to the next stick and repeating the process.

10.  Repeat until you have the length desired. Use the wool hanging out the bottom to tighten the project as you go along.

11. Once your project is the desired length, cut the string off the ball of wool. For more info on how to make a hair band, see the notes below.

12. Next you need to cast off. To do this, gently lift the first loop off the paddle pop stick.

13. Feed the wool strand trough the loop.

14. Repeat with the other three paddle pop sticks until the knitting is free. I always reinforce the ends by tying a few knots.

How to Make a French Knit Hair Band

French knitting with this process makes for a great hair accessory because it has that elastic give to it. As for length, un-stretched, it needs to be approximately 10cm less than the head it is going around.  This way, it will stretch out and hold the head well. I just estimated this before casting off. Tie with both ends with a section of wool and it’s done.

Headband. It’s soft and comfy to wear. 

Works as a scrunchy too. 

Video

This is an old video and it’s not great, but it demonstrates the french knitting process.

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