If you live in or come from Ireland, then you'll already know that each year, there is a Gaelic Football competition that includes every Irish county (from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), called the All-Ireland championship, and the winning team goes home with the Sam McGuire Cup.
This year's final takes place this Saturday and this year it is a particularly big event, as the Dublin team (who previously won the cup for 6 years in a row) were beaten by the Mayo team in the semi-final a few weeks ago, meaning that Mayo could be the winners for the first time in 70 years (yes 70, you read me right, it's all got to do with a curse which I won't go into, but you can read all about here).
So my partner being from the beautiful county of Mayo (not as beautiful as Galway though😉), this year we are all very excited about this All-Ireland GAA final, which is why I made this crochet Headband in the Mayo county flag colours: red and green.
I'm sharing this here for free so you can use it to make your own headbands in your own county colours. Just not the Dublin colours, nor Tyrone (Ha Ha, just kidding😉).
My head is practically child-sized, so this would probably fit anyone over 12 years old, up to women with a small to medium head (I would make it bigger for a man or a woman with a bigger head size).
Materials needed:
50gr Dk yarn, red colour,
50gr Dk yarn, green colour.
I used 100% acrylic yarn as this is what was in my stash but you can use whatever yarn you want, you may have to adjust the number of stitches if your yarn is less or more dense than mine or if you need a smaller or larger headband.
3.5 mm crochet hook (E4 in US sizes),
Tapestry needle,
Scissors.
Abbreviations:
Ch: chain;
Sl: slip stitch;
FHDC: foundation half double crochet US (foundation half treble crochet UK):
To make a row of FHDC, start with ch2, yarn over and insert your hook into the first chain stitch made, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull up the 3 loops on the hook (1st FHDC made).
To make subsequent FHDCs, yarn over, insert your hook in the previous FHDC (it should look like a V), pull up a loop, yarn over and pull up the 3 loops on your hook.
HDC: half double crochet US (half treble crochet UK);
To make a HDC, yarn over, insert your hook in the next stitch, yarn over and pull up the 3 loops on your hook.
HHDC: Herringbone double crochet US (Herringbone treble crochet UK);
To make a HHDC, yarn over, insert your hook into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up the first 2 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull up the remaining 2 stitches on your hook.
Additional information:
1-In order to have smooth colour changes at the end of the colour changing rows, I decided to turn and work in rows from the end of row 2 instead of working in the round.
2-The ch2 at the beginning of the rows do not count as stitches, the first stitch of each row is made into the same stitch as the base of ch2.
3-The slip stitch to join each row is made into the first hdc or hhdc of the previous row.
4- I haven't made a swatch (Gasp!) but still got it right first time: my tip is not to make the foundation row too tight (you can try using a larger hook for this row, and to measure as you go: once your foundation row fits around your head when reasonably stretched out (don't go overboard with stretching out, think of how it will be stretched when worn), then you have enough foundation stitches.
Instructions for the Up Mayo Headband:
Row 1: Using red yarn, make 70 FHDC, sl into the first foundation stitch to join, making a closed circle, taking care not to twist your stitches.
Row 2: ch2, HHDC in each stitch around, sl into the first FHDC to join, turn.
Row 3: ch2, HDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HHDC from previous row to join, turn.
Change to green yarn.
Row 4: ch2, HHDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HDC from previous row to join, turn.
Row 5: ch2, HDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HHDC from previous row to join, turn.
Row 6: ch2, HHDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HDC from previous row to join, turn.
Row 7: ch2, HDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HHDC from previous row to join, turn.
Change to red yarn.
Row 8: ch2, HHDC in each stitch around, sl into the first hdc from previous row to join, turn.
Row 9: ch2, HDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HHDC from previous row to join, turn.
Row 10: ch2, HHDC in each stitch around, sl into the first HDC from previous row to join, turn.
Voilà! You can now support your favourite team in Sophie's Knit Stuff style and I can go back to knitting my socks off!
