Sloppy Beret – By Mrs Hedgehog
Mrs Hedgehog bought 2 100g skeins of my six-skein special “Aether” at the IKnitLondon Stitch & Bitch day and from one of them she made a mostly crochet slouch-style beret (except for the knit ribbing hat band).
Mrs Hedgehog's Aether Silk Beret
Materials:
100g Fluffenstuff “Six-Skein-Special” hand dyed silk (Double Knit weight single ply silk)
4mm crochet hook
5 4mm double pointed knitting needles.
Procedure:
(UK Terminology)
- Make a loop and work 12 dc into it.
- Join with a slip stitch and continue to work dc in a spiral, increasing irregularly as necessary to keep it circular and flat, until it is as big as a dinner plate.
- Do this based on experience with a little trial and error, start increasing every 2, then 3 etc until you end up hardly increasing at all. Interspersing no-increase rounds works well. to keep it flat. Mark the end of the round somehow if you’re going to be that orderly about it: I don’t bother, but just do it by eye with frequent checks.
- When it is big enough, decrease every 12th stitch for one round and then decrease every 10th stitch until the opening is just slightly bigger than a good fit over your normal hairstyle – with enough room to get the fingers inside.
- Put the last stitch on the first 4mm dpn and pick up all the stitches until you have a full cirle.
- Knit in knit-1-purl-1 rib for 10 rounds.
- Cast off with a really stretchy cast off.
i.e: k1, *return the loop on the right needle to the left needle, knit it again, knit/purl next stitch in pattern, cast off knit/purlwise to suit that stitch, repeat from * till you get to the end. - It is reversible; if you wear it inside out the texture is different, softer with a less obvious spiral pattern. The ribbing can be tucked inside or pulled down to keep your ears warm.
This is quite a big and slouchy hat. If you have less hair/a small head than Mrs Hedgehog, make the original circle a little smaller, and the band tighter with another decrease round before picking up and knitting.
