I love the look of the December Bow by Petite Knit. This bow is cute year-round and I wanted to try to add a clip to make it a fun hair accessory for me and my niece. Keep reading to see how to fold the December Bow and what clips I added to make the perfect hair accessory.
I first knit a December Bow using scrap yarns; it is super soft and beautiful. I attached it to my luggage to help me identify my bag and I think it looks great. When I visited my niece, she saw the bow and said that she would like to have one too. So I told her I would make one for her.
I decided to modify the December Bow pattern to make a smaller bow for my niece with the goal of turning it into a hair accessory. I used a beautiful bright pink/magenta fingering weight yarn from Coates & Co that I had left over from my Sleigh All Day Wrap. I used US size 1 needles and cast on.
I knit the required cast on, but reduced my increase repeats so that I only had 18 stitches on the needle. I knit and then decreased as close to pattern as possible with my different stitch counts, so the entire length of my finished work was 17″. I then knit the double knitted bow center as written, but on a US 0 needle from my Chiaogoo mini set. I kept the cast on and bind off tails long so I could use them to secure the bow a little easier.
HOW TO FOLD THE DECEMBER BOW
The December Bow pattern has super clear instructions and diagrams to walk through the folding process. And if you are more visual, there is even a link to a video tutorial on the Petite Knit site. So this may be redundant, but I wanted to share my knitting experience:
* Position your knitted ribbon on a flat surface with the ends pointing down.
* Use a darning needle and same color yarn as the bow to weave through each ribbon’s tail horizontally (left to right). And then weave the yarn back (from right to left).
* Tighten each end of yarn to gather the ribbon fabric. Tie a knot to secure the ribbon in this position. I recommend leaving the yarn tails long for later securing the hair clip or adjusting the shape of the bow.
* Find the center of the top of the bow and mark it with a stitch marker.
* Use a darning needle and same color yarn as the bow to weave through the bottom of the ribbon’s center vertically (bottom to top). And then weave the yarn back (from top to bottom).
* Tighten each end of yarn to gather the ribbon fabric. Tie a knot to secure the ribbon in this position. Again, leaving the yarn tails long will help to secure the hair clip or adjust the shape of the bow later.
* Secure the double knitted center piece to the bow’s center, and then attach it to the ribbon tails so it looks how you like.
* Use the remaining yarn tails to secure the hair clip to the back of the bow. I found these hair clips to be really strong/good quality and able to hold my curly hair.
Here’s that full tutorial video so you can see more details >>
Hair Clip Tutorial
Hair bows have been becoming more and more popular. I thought that this pink bow turned out super cute and I wanted to make one for me.
I had this beautiful fluffy yarn from Walk Collection that I was excited to use. It’s Big Kid Mohair in the color Orchid, a vibrant juicy purple that is so fluffy.
I knit this second bow on US 5 needles and again 18 stitches. I knit the double knitted center piece on US 3 needles. With this bow, I used my original Chiaogoo needle set. Overall the knitted ribbon fabric for this bow was 25″ long.
I attached a hair clip to my bow too so that I could match with my niece. Both bows are so pretty and I love how they turned out. They are fun and playful and easy to make.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I definitely recommend the December Bow pattern. It’s very thorough and clear with diagrams and text instructions for folding the bow. The bows are quick and east to knit, and you can do so much with them — from hair clips to luggage accessories to ornaments — a bow just makes it better!
I hope this knitting experience/folding tutorial was helpful for you. Check out my Ravelry page to see my other projects and what I’m working on next!
