Beautiful Day Bandana
When everything is coming up daisies, our free Beautiful Day Bandana knitting pattern is a charming expression of the day! Cast on with two of our lightest, floatiest, most favorite yarns: Cattail Silk and Tussock.
One-row stripes of these two fingering-weight yarns create mesmerizing shifts in color and texture. And on slightly larger-than-normal needles, they knit up into a gossamer fabric with a captivating translucence that lets the light of a beautiful day shine through.
The fabric has an ethereal halo thanks to Tussock’s mohair content, while intriguing nubs of color from Cattail Silk, our 100% mulberry silk beauty, add an appealing texture. The silk in both yarns brings a glowing luster and elegant drape. Stunning!
Our nine Beautiful Day Bandana Bundles give you a selection of lovely color options, including our pairing of Tussock’s Anjou Pear with Cattail Silk’s Patina Blue. Or make your own bundle… Just pick up one skein of each yarn in the two-color combo that excites you!
To make your bandana, you’ll knit a straightforward stockinette stitch square, all in single-row stripes of Cattail Silk and Tussock. And once it’s finished, you’ll fold the generous square into a triangle and toss it over your shoulders. The fabric is so light that even a double layer won’t weigh you down in the slightest!
Your Beautiful Day Bandana will make every day you wear it… well, more beautiful!
If you love the yarn used in this project, you’ll love all of our other yarn, too! Explore our 35+ lovingly created yarn collections, in nearly every natural fiber and spectacular color you can imagine… Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn shop!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Gianna Mueller. See more of Gianna’s designs on her Instagram!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoBeautifulDayBandana, #PurlSohoCattailSilk, and #PurlSohoTussock. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
Our Beautiful Day Bandana Bundle includes all the yarn you’ll need to make your own bandana…
- Yarn A: 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Cattail Silk, 100% mulberry silk yarn. Each skein of this fingering-weight yarn is 618 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 350 total yards required. We used Patina Blue.
- Yarn B: 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Tussock, 60% super fine kid mohair and 40% silk. Each skein of this lace- to fingering-weight yarn is approximately 328 yards/ 25 grams; approximately 290 yards required. We used Anjou Pear.
You’ll also need…
- US 4 (3.5 mm) 24- or 32-inch circular knitting needles
Choose from 9 pretty palettes, shown above! They are…
TOP ROW
Moon White + Beach Stone; Pale Wisteria + Saffron Yellow; Patina Blue + Anjou Pear
SECOND ROW
Fallen Leaves + Alpine Phlox; Pale Rose + Bright Thistle; Cerulean Velvet + Pink Joy
BOTTOM ROW
Cherry Blossom + Bright Verdigris; Flower Field Charcoal + Silver Needle; Kingfisher Blue + Lapis Lazuli
Or choose your own shimmering shades… Just pick up 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Cattail Silk and 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Tussock!
GAUGE
21 stitches and 30 rows = 4 inches in stitch pattern
NOTE: As can happen with fine yarn, you may not be able to match both the stitch and row gauge. If in doubt, match the stitch gauge and just repeat Rows 1–4 to the measurement given in the pattern.
SIZE
Finished Dimensions: 24½ x 24½ inches square, with a hypotenuse of 35 inches
NOTES
TURN + SLIDE
“Turn work” means to do what you would normally do when you finish a row on circular knitting needles: Transfer the needle from your left hand into your right hand and the needle from your right hand into your left, flipping the work around so the opposite side is facing you.
“Slide work” means to keep the same side of the work facing you and to push all the stitches to the right end of the circular needles. Without turning the work, start the new row as you normally would.
You will know that you’re doing this right if the yarn you need to complete the next row is right there waiting for you! For more help on this technique, visit our Turn + Slide Tutorial!
SLIP STITCHES
Slip all stitches purlwise with yarn in front.
PATTERN
With Yarn A, use a basic Long Tail Cast On to cast on 129 stitches, slide work (see Notes).
Row 1 (right side): With Yarn B, knit to end of row, turn work.
Row 2 (wrong side): With Yarn A, slip 1 (see Notes), purl to last stitch, slip 1, slide work.
Row 3 (wrong side): With Yarn B, slip 1, purl to last stitch, slip 1, turn work.
Row 4 (right side): With Yarn A, knit to end of row, slide work.
Repeat Rows 1–4 until piece measures 24½ inches from cast-on edge, ending with Row 3.
Cut Yarn B.
With right side facing and using Yarn A, bind off knitwise.
FINISHING
Weave in ends and gently wet block to finished dimensions.
Learn About This Yarn Bundle + All Our Beautiful Yarns
Our Beautiful Day Bandana Bundle includes one skein of Cattail Silk and one of Tussock, two of our most special fingering-weight yarns! Cattail Silk is 100% mulberry silk, with an earthy feel, a light drape, and an offhanded elegance that you will love. Tussock combines 60% super fine kid mohair and 40% mulberry silk for a glistening yarn as light as a dandelion-puff. Pick up a Beautiful Day Bandana Bundle to cast on for this free knitting pattern and experience the joy of these two gorgeous yarns!
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
Thank you for a fun and beautiful Bandana pattern. I can’t wait to make this, they are two of my favorite yarns. This Bandana would make great gifts too. Thank you for all of your amazing patterns to pair with your wonderful yarns.
This looks beautiful!
I think I would like to make it in a wrap size and I have ordered double the amount of yarn. Can you help me determine a good size and how many stitches to cast on?
Thank you so much!
Hi Kristie,
Thank you for writing in! Are you interested in doubling both the length and width or just one? To double both, you will need 4x the yarn since you are ultimately enlarging the square rather than one side. I hope this helps and I will keep an eye out for your reply!
All the best,
Gavriella
Hi Gavriella.
I do understand that it would take 4x the yarn to double the size of the square. I was thinking of an oblong that wouldn’t be worn doubled. I’m coming up with something like 18 inches wide by 70-80 inches long. I figured I’d need to cast on about 95 stitches. Am I in the ballpark or can you suggest what might be better?
Thank you so much!
Hi Kathy,
95 stitches sounds perfect for a width of 18 inches! From there you can knit the pattern for as long as you’d like!
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
Hi, since I’m allergic to mohair, I was wondering if you could recommend another yarn to replace Tussock?
Thank you!
Hi Judith,
Thank you for asking! A great alternative (although not as fluffy) would be Quartz due to its wonderful heathered feature. Linen Quill could also be a wonderful option! I hope this helps but please let me know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Gavriella
Just out of curiosity is the bandana on the model actually two of them and did she tie them behind her neck?
Hi Edana,
Thank you for asking! The model is wearing a single bandana folded corner to corner and then worn diagonally. You can think of it as a single shawl but double layered and then tied! I hope this helps clarify but please let us know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Gavriella
Hello,
Quick question… Are the sides of the bandana suppose to roll? I know rows of stockinette tend to naturally roll, however, the pattern also has some purl rows, so why would the edges roll inward?
Thank you
Ali
Hi Ali,
Thanks for reaching out! Because this project is knit entirely in stockinette stitch, there will always be a bit of a natural curl to the fabric. Once you block your project after finishing it, that should minimize the rolling significantly, but there will likely still be some due to the nature of the stitch pattern. If this bothers you, I’d recommend adding more of a border to the bandana! You can use a symmetrical stitch (like garter stitch, ribbing, seed stitch, etc.), and this will help prevent the edges from curling at all. As you mentioned too, you can also knit it entirely in garter stitch if you want. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Hi Lili,
Thank you for your response and suggestions…I decided to knit the bandana, entirely in garter stitch with slip purl edges using the long tail cast on method (180 stitches) with one strand of fingering weight yarn. (size 2 needle).
I know this will take some time, considering the needle size.
Hopefully, it will workout.
Wish me luck!
Take care,
Ali
Hello,
Would this pattern be better worked entirely in garter stitch, rather than stockinette? My work is rolling like crazy.
Thank you,
Ali
Can you please give me your address. I’m coming to NY this fall and would like to visit the shop.
Hi Sandra,
We’re glad you checked in with us before stopping by! We’d hate for you to show up to empty doors though, so we feel it’s important to let you know that after four long years, we have decided to keep our New York City shop closed. We know this may be disappointing, and for us, too, it is still a really difficult decision to process. We have always cherished interacting with our customers in person, and we have really missed that aspect of our business.
We encourage you to reach out anytime via email, check out our website to see or upload images of whatever you’re making, ask a question in the comment section of the project you’re working on, subscribe to our newsletter, or even schedule a Zoom chat… We are here for you as much as ever!
All the best,
Lili
Thank you for the pattern!
I am currently working on this project and curious if I am doing the edging correctly. On row 2 and 3 I am to slip the first and last stitch purlwise. Am I to slip the same stitch on row 2 and 3? So the same stitch from row one isn’t worked again until row 4? It is making the edges pull and I’m afraid I am doing something wrong. Thank you for all your help.
Hi Heather,
Thank you for writing in although we are sorry to hear you are running into issues here. Could you please send a photo of your project to customerservice@purlsoho.com so we can have a deeper look? We’ll be able to better visualize what’s going on that way!
All the best,
Gavriella