Beanies part 2

I was tired of the harsh lustrous acrylic I had been using for children's jumpers [sweaters]. Australian Country Spinners market it as baby yarn - eek! It won't be knitted by me for any of my grandchildren. It looks so pretty but it's so harsh to knit with because of that strand of lustrous acrylic. So, what better place to put harsh yarn than on the head but away from the skin. This pretty-to-look-at yarn cried out to be a beret. I love the look of berets but I wouldn't think they are very practical as a head-warmer! Nevertheless, I couldn't resist so a beret it had to be! It's the right size around my head but the top is a little large. It's probably not really appropriate for charity knitting either but I'm sure it will fit someone. I love the look of berets but I don't have the confidence to wear a hat as an accessory. I think it takes a certain kind of personality to pull it off and I'm not one of them - I'd be utterly self-conscious!


Somehow I have missed showing photos of two beanies I knitted in winter: the first has a self developed slip stitch pattern and the second is the end [hurrah] of that yarn I bought on special and never want to knit with again! Fortunately, it's no longer made so I won't be tempted to buy it because it's cheap!!




There were some more beanies knitted in August. All of them were knitted from Moda Vera "Spell" which is a acrylic/wool [75%/25%] blend. There were four of them but one photo is sufficient. One had a moss [seed] stitch band, the others are rib - one K1P1, the other two K2P2.


I liked these beanies but I felt the yarn wasn't shown to advantage so, in September, I cast on three times for an entrelac beanie because I thought the colours of the yarn would show up better. I was right but the first beanie was way too big - enormous in fact, and the second I decreased two quickly so that it was the right diameter but too short in the cap! The third one still didn't work so they were all frogged and a different design created. This one involved eight triangular shaped panels. Each panel was knitted then stitches picked up along the edges and the next triangle begun [an entrelac technique modified].


I like the twisted stitches between each triangular shaped panel. There is another similar beanie on the needles having its spring vacation in my drawer at work becasue I forogot my kntting in my eagerness to get out of there [and start my two week break].

Rising from the frog pond

After a week of deliberation, the beret did indeed go swimming in the frog-pond. And up out of it rose... a beret!

The new beret has been knitted on 2.75mm and 3.50mm needles [a smaller size than the smaller size used previously!!] - now, naturally enough, the beret fabric is tighter but the beret is too small for an adult's head - even for an adult's small head. But that's okay - it will fit an older child who will love the pink, mauve and yellow combination of my hand-dyed yarn.

As for the second 50g skein that was in the original; it is resting - waiting for me to realise what it was always meant to become!

So, a win all round - I successfully completed my beret [though I'm not entirely happy with the way the fabric bunches]; and a young lady somewhere will get a beautiful, one-of-a-kind beret.

Knitting is a learning process

Even when one has been knitting forever, one can still learn something! Like:

• It's possible to create 'ladders' using circulars. How you may well ask? I wish I knew!!


• Finishing the top of a hat at 24 stitches then threading the yarn through the stitches and pulling tight gives one of two results: either there is a small hole at the centre of the hat or the hat puckers at the top. Neither of these is ideal when making berets!!


• Patterned fabrics - e,g, lace, eyelets, etc. - may hide a multitude of sins: like my uneven tension!


• Even though the finished size of an object doesn't matter because it's going to charity and it's bound to fit somebody, a gauge swatch is still a good idea!

And how did I learn all this? Yesterday, I cast on for a beret. I use size 3.5mm and 3.7mm needles with 8ply/DK yarn because I know I'm a 'loose' knitter. I knitted the band in K2, P2 rib on the smaller needles, then changed to the larger needles. The resulting fabric is too floppy, there are a couple of ladders [that were created by some unknown force], there are 'holes' where my tension is uneven and there's a hole [or puckering] at the crown.

The question is: to frog or not to frog? Now, as regular readers would know, I usually have no qualms about frogging; if I don't like it, I rip it out - right there and then, no questions asked!

I had such high hopes for this beret. It's knitted in two skeins of my hand-dyed yarn. The yarn is pretty and the beret was meant to be too! When it was 'finished' and I looked at it closely, I just felt sick to the pit of my stomach. I was totally depressed! Yet, I don't feel inclined to rip out this beret. So, I guess I'll leave it to sun itself beside the frogpond while I think about its fate!

Tam's legacy

Tam tried to become a beret. Not enough yarn. Beret went swimming in the same frogpond as Tam.

Tam has now spawned two beanies/chemocaps/head huggers. If they can't be used by Penrith's needy, they'll be donated to one of the many hospitals crying out for chemo caps for cancer patients. Long live Tam!!