How to Make Knit Hair Ties

Posted on February 3, 2021November 30, 2021Uncategorized

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Here’s a tutorial for how to knit a hair tie, in case you need something a little smaller than a scrunchie. I made myself a couple pairs of these knit hair ties and I wear them in my braids every single day. They work great and look better than plain hair ties.

These hair ties work up really quick and are perfect last-minute gifts. Anyone with enough hair would love to get one or two of these in their favorite color. You could even go as far as to knit someone a whole set of hair accessories including a scrunchie and a headband.

I like to have a little project that I can take along with me, like boredom insurance. There’s a little zipper pouch in my bag with worsted weight scraps, hair ties, and US 7 double pointed needles. I’ll just start a scrunchie or hair tie if I get bored and I can always find someone who is happy to have the finished product.

I’ve used mystery worsted weight yarn from my stash, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted, and Knit Picks Swish worsted for my knit hair ties. All of the different yarns I tried made equally good hair ties, so I think it’s safe to say any worsted weight will work. I used the same thick hair ties for these as I used for the scrunchies.

Knit a Hair Tie

This knit hair tie is a quick little project that only uses about 3 yards of worsted weight yarn.

Materials

Approximately 3 yards worsted weight yarn
Thick hair rubber band

Tools

2 US 7 double pointed needles
Yarn needle

Instructions

Measure about 3 yards (2.75 m) of worsted weight yarn and wind it into a small ball.
Cast on 4 stitches.
Slide your cast-on stitches to the opposite end of the needle.
Move the needle with your work to your left hand and the empty needle to your right hand. Put your working ball of yarn through the middle of the hair tie. Knit the 4 stitches. Your hair tie should now be attached to the yarn.
Slide your work and the attached hair tie to the opposite end of the needle.
Repeat the previous 2 steps until your hair tie is fully covered in knit i-cord.
Here's what it will look like when your hair tie is covered, but it's not done yet! You need extra knitting around your hair tie so it can fully stretch.
Scrunch your knitting down to expose more hair tie and keep working until about 6 inches (10 cm) of yarn remain.
Hold your cast-on edge together with the live stitches and stretch the hair tie. If you can fully stretch the hair tie, you can move on. If you can't fully stretch the hair tie, it won't hold your hair tight. You'll have to knit a little more. Add more yarn if necessary (I won't judge you if you tie a knot to join yarn, it will never show!)
Now you'll join your live stitches to your cast-on stitches. I used kitchener stitch. It was pretty tricky and didn't turn out perfect on any of the 5 I made, but they all look good when they're in my hair. Any way that you join the ends together is going to be fine. You could bind off the 4 stitches and then just use your yarn tail to sew the ends together. Weave in the ends when you're done. I wove mine in invisibly by using duplicate stitch.
Your finished hair tie should have extra knitting scrunched around it when it's at rest.
When you wrap the hair tie around your hair it smooths out nicely.