A Beret for Everyday - my very first hat pattern

It's the hat I grab when I am running out of the house and don't know which hat to grab. It's a go-with-everything beret, and it is one of my favorites.

Photograph by R.B.

It won't win any prizes for the most exciting stitch pattern, but it is a great shape. And that is so important to me. Not too 'big'. Or floppy. It is close fitting, reminiscent of an early 1930s beret - but I can still get my hair into it if it starts to rain.

This is the first of a small collection of hats I have designed in recent months.

Photograph by R.B.

Photograph by R.B.

Photograph by Mike D.

Here it is worn with the open seam creating an alluring V-shape over the eye.

This is a design I first did back in 2006. I originally knitted it in an unknown cream wool, and scribbled down the pattern in my now battered old notebook.

Photograph by Mike D.

I wore it when I photographed some designs back in 2011, as it didn't detract from the jumper.

For this one, I've used Excelana 4 ply wool, in shade Saharan Sand. I just had one ball of it, from the photo shoot of A Stitch In Time Volume 2.

Image from Stitch In Time Vol 2

It's the remainder of this ball in fact! I hate waste.

Here's a bit more info if you are interested in purchasing the pattern:

Knit flat on two needles, from the bottom up. I used a thumb cast on method with one needle to give a neat ridged edge which seems to mirror garter stitch.

Yarn
One ball Excelana 4 ply Shade Saharan Sand (159m)

Needles
2.75mm needles
3.75mm needles

Tension
24 sts and 28 rows = 10cms / 4ins measured over stocking stitch using 3.75mm needles.

Size
To fit 21 - 23 inch head.

My head measurement is 22 inches, and it fits quite snugly. I would recommend using 3mm needles for the garter stitch brim if your head is 23 inches or more. But as with all knitted hats, I find it stretches slightly as you wear it.

It is available on Etsy here, if you fancy giving it a go.

Since rediscovering the social media world after years of self-imposed exile, I've become obsessed with it, taking pics of myself on my phone and posting them on Facebook and Instagram. Usually after too many glasses of wine, in the kitchen, next to the back door. (Ooh, the glamour).

Do you spy my Brace Of Acorns brooch? This is a little brooch I designed some years ago for a workshop I taught for Craft Guerrilla, along with my Posy of Violets. I'll be offering this soon too, in two colourways.

I'm also starting to offer a few vintage patterns from my collection on Etsy.

I really hope you like my first beret pattern. I'm very nervous about it, but I've got to try!

Theodora.