Knitted Watchband

for your watch =P

Posted by Erica

About

My watchband snapped in half so I made a new one. It uses a woven knit stitch with two strands of yarn held together. Can be done with one strand and any stitch pattern.

HOW-TO:

If you want, you can start this with a provisional cast-on, knit the pattern and then combine beginning and end with the kitchener stitch, but it may (or may not) be difficult to do after you've sewn in the watch.

Also this tutorial gives a woven stitch with two strands held together for the watch pattern while the grafting/kitchener stitch is stockinette in appearance, and while it can be done with two strands it might look kind of funny.

All that being said, I'm providing the pattern to make this watchband in its *basic* form, sewing the two ends together. Just know that there are other options =]

There are many steps because I want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to understand. It's not hard at all!

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You Will Need (4 things)

Watch
Knitting Needles
Yarn
Tapestry Needle

Steps (17 steps, 45 minutes)

1

I used:
-US9 (5.5mm) circular needles - can be done with two straights
-(probably) a few yards of dk weight
-(probably) a few yards of bulky weight
-tapestry needle

The woven stitch is done over an even amount of stitches. The yarn can be any weight, just make sure you cast on enough to make it wide enough.

BEFORE STARTING:
Cut an extra 12" of each yarn and set to the side. You shouldn't need all 12 but I say that just to be safe. It really depends on how small your yarn is/how high your rows are.

Cast-on:

With my yarn weights and needle size I casted on 12 sts using the long-tail cast on method.
2

Row 1 (right side - RS): *skip first stitch, knit through the back loop (tbl) of the second stitch - do not drop from needle! ...
3

Row 1 (continued): ... - knit first stitch normally ...
4

Row 1 (continued): ... then drop both off the needle.**

Repeat from * to ** across.
5

Row 2 (wrong side - WS): purl 1, *Skip first stitch and purl second stitch on needle - do not drop from needle! ...
6

Row 2 (continued): ... now purl the first stitch on the needle. Drop both.*

Repeat from * to ** across until 1 stitch remains.

End by purling 1.
7

Repeat these two rows until your piece wraps from the center of the bottom of your wrist to the bottom point where the head of your watch will go.

Everyone's is different so it's hard to say how long to go.. My wrist is 5.5" and the watch head is about 1". I knitted for a little over 2".

It's probably easiest of you end on a wrong side row - meaning the next row to knit is the right side (the knit side).
8

Work the woven stitch over four stitches - or two "sets" (as in there are four stitches on the right needle).

Bind off stitches until there are:
-four "regular" stitches on the right needle
-one stitch from the most recent bind off on the right needle
-three stitches on the left needle that have not yet been knitted

Remember, one stitch is two strands (in this case I have a chartreuse and a brown strand per stitch) - do not get confuzzled!

My bind off was over 4 stitches (since I started with 12).
9

Slip the last bind off stitch from the right needle onto the left.

You should have:
-four stitches on the right needle
-four stitches on the left needle (three that haven't been knit and one from the bind off)
-and a gap in between
10

Knit all four stitches from left needle in that woven pattern.
11

Next row (WS):
Work WS stitch pattern over four stitches.

If this *is* high enough for the watch head to show through - continue to step 13 (do not do the rest of this step).

If it *is not* high enough:
-Turn
-Knit four stitches in RS woven pattern.
-Turn
-Purl same four stitches in WS woven pattern.

(Photo is of the WS after these steps have been taken)

This should be good enough by now. Continue to step 12.
12

*This is only if you needed to work the bottom part of step 11.*

With that extra yarn you were supposed to have cut in the beginning:

-Purl in woven stitch over the four stitches that were left behind.
-Knit in woven stitch over same four

Now the this side of your gap should be on row less than the other side.

(The first side had three rows worked - WS, RS, WS. Now this side was worked as WS, RS).

You can trim the scrap yarn so that it doesn't get in your way - but leave enough to weave in once you're done knitting.

Continue to step 13.
13

With WS facing - use the backward loop cast-on method to cast on the same amount of stitches that you had bound off earlier. Do this from the right needle - where the main working yarn is coming from - not the scrap yarn.

In my case, I casted on four over the gap.
14

Now work the WS woven pattern on the four stitches from the left needle.

This will join the gap.

You should now have the same amount of stitches that you started with.
15

Your watch head should fit inside this gap.

Continue the woven pattern that you started with, you should be starting with the RS.

Continue until the piece fits around your wrist - maybe a row or two smaller than 'perfect' - just to make sure it's snug and doesn't wobble around on your wrist.
16

Once you've reached the desired length - bind off.

Sew the watch in to the knitting using the tapestry needle.

My watch is vinyl so I was able to puncture it and sew inside the holes for added support. If you have a metal tapestry needle or a pair of thin, sharp scissors, you can also puncture the watchband.
17

After the watchband is all sewn in, weave in all your loose ends except for the excess cast-on.

Close the band together and using the extra yarn from the beginning cast-on and your tapestry needle - sew the seam together.

Weave in the last end.

If you made your watchband the right length it should just slip on and off =] It'll have a little stretch to do that, but not so much as to wriggle around on your wrist.

(PS if you're looking at the times - it didn't take that long, I just didn't do the tutorial all at once)

Viola =]