Star band knitting chart

About this design

Gold stars on a navy sky make a band that is cheerful on a child’s hat and still smart on an adult’s. The stars are Y15 Sunflower on Y35 Navy, each one five stitches across with a pointed top and two little feet, and they sit eight stitches apart. Between them, a round of single yellow stitches offset by half a repeat adds the small twinkles that turn a row of stars into a night sky.

Knitting the band

Read the chart from the bottom up, starting with the twinkle round. The floats in this chart are uneven, so it is worth knowing where they are. The twinkle round and the two rounds that form each star’s top point have one yellow stitch in every eight, which leaves seven-stitch floats; the rounds through the body and feet of the stars keep floats at five stitches or fewer. Trap the yellow once in the middle of each seven-stitch float, or knit those three rounds in navy only and add the single yellow stitches later in duplicate stitch. Duplicate stitch also lets you place the twinkles a little more freely if you like a less regular sky.

Sizing and repeats

At 20 stitches and 28 rows per 10 cm, the 48-stitch chart is 24 cm wide and its 8 rows come to about 2.9 cm. In the round, cast on a multiple of 8: 80 stitches (40 cm) for a toddler hat, 88 (44 cm) for a child, 96 or 104 (48 to 52 cm) for an adult. The band also works at the hem and cuffs of a child’s jumper, where small stars look playful without overwhelming the garment.

Colour plan

Navy does the most work, 80% of the 384 stitches, followed by Sunflower at 20%. Every colour is used at least 78 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. Every square of the grid is filled.

Working notes

The longest float is 7 stitches, and 3 rows have a float longer than 5 that should be caught on the wrong side. Every row uses at most two colours, so it can all be worked as stranded colourwork.