Of berets and earwarmers

I’d given both my cable-and-bobble hat and Odessa hat away sometime ago, as neither really fit me properly. That left me with only one knit hat, the mistake rib one (which, as you know, I’ve since frogged). So I wanted to increase the hat count.

Pattern: Beret Gaufre by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Anzula For Better or Worsted in Deep Sea
Needles: US5/3.75mm Clover bamboo circular needles, US6/4.00mm Clover bamboo circular needles and DPNs

I omitted the i-cord stem but otherwise knit this beret to pattern. And I probably should have blocked this using a larger plate. Oh well, maybe next time I wash it.

It doesn’t completely succeed on the “keeping my head warm” front, but I like it as a fashion accessory, so whatever. I’m actually really pleased with how the striping turned out, too.

I’d never actually knit with Anzula yarns before this (although I had several in my stash) and now I’m kind of kicking myself for waiting for long. Lovely stuff!

Since the beret doesn’t do me much good when my hair’s up, I ended up knitting something else for my ears, which tend to get very cold very fast when it’s windy.

Pattern: Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Wool in Twilight Blue
Needles: US5/3.75mm Clover bamboo circulars

When I say I used the Calorimetry pattern, I mean that I basically stole the basic shaping and tweaked the hell out of the rest. I had to recalculate the numbers to accommodate a different gauge AND a narrower band AND a smaller circumference. I didn’t like the holes, so I did yarnover short rows instead, and I didn’t have any spare buttons floating around, so I just seamed the thing.

I probably could have made it even tighter, but it still works to keep my ears warm. It was a good way to use up the random partial ball I had in my stash, too.

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