On my last visit to Paris, one of the specialty yarns I purchased was a single skein of angora from Lil’ Weasel.
I generally try to purchase yarns from the actual city or country I’m visiting. But I just couldn’t resist this angora from Lang Yarns of Germany.
The reason I decided to purchase a non-Parisian yarn was that the gals of Lil’Weasel had knit a sample hat using this yarn and I loved it.
I was going to knit that hat pattern but it unfortunately needed over 1 skein of the yarn, and I only had one skein. Wish the gals would have directed me to purchase a second skein, but oh well…
I took to looking in my Ravelry Queue and easily found another hat pattern that I could make work: the Bosc Hat.
My skein of worsted yarn was 137 yards versus the required 180-220 yards for the the Bosc hat. I threw caution to the wind and decided I was going to knit until I ran out of yarn. If I had to frog it, it wouldn’t be the end of the world; I’d just pick a different pattern.
I cast on for the smallest size but I omitted a decent amount of the ribbing (at least 4 rows) in order to save on some yardage. I knit the pattern as written, but started my decreases much sooner. This resulted in a lovely, fluffy beret instead of semi-slouchy hat.
I certainly didn’t have any extra bits of this yarn remaining after weaving in the ends; which is just fine by me!
I love the halo that results in using angora fibers – this yarn is a 70% angora/30% merino mix. The colorway I used was #0072, aka a light blue color.
Well… that’s all I have for you today on my Bosc beret. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
In: Knitting
What a lovely beret! I think this style fits you nicely, especially with the new hair color and cut. Your version looks much more elegant than the original Bosc hat. Do you remember/write down when you started the decreases? I think I need berets in my life, too. :-)
I generally take copious notes while I knit, M, but with this beret I didn’t take a single one. :( I honestly made this beret as an experiment since I didn’t think I’d have enough yardage to finish it – hence no notes.
If I were you, I’d reference another worsted weight beret pattern and see where they start implementing decreases (after how many inches of knitting from the cast on) and apply that back to the Bosc Hat. As long as you keep in the stitch pattern of Bosc & as long as the beret continues to fit your head, I think you can easily make it work for you also. Also keep in mind, blocking a hat around a plate also helps give it that ‘beret’ shape. Good luck!!
Thank you! :-) Sounds like a very good idea. Now to think of it, I actually have a nice beret that I knitted ages ago which has a pretty good shape and should have the matching weight. So this will make a good reference point then.
I didn’t know the trick with blocking around a plate. Ingenious! Thanks very much! :-)
This beret is lovely. I have one skein of alpaca from a local farm and I am a very newbie knitter. I have been looking for a very basic garter stich(I think) pattern but that is an internet worm hole. I have scoured stores looking for patterns and ready to give up. Each time I watch the Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society my beret search starts again. Do you have any suggestions?
Hello Gerri! Thanks so much for your kind thoughts on my beret. I love watching the Potato Peel Pie movie – I loved it so much I went back and read the book which was equally wonderful – I highly recommend it.
First things first – have you heard of the website Ravelry?? It is one of my major sources for knitting and crochet patterns. There are all sorts of forums where you can chat with other knitters and learn all sorts of good stuff – along with a searchable database for patterns to suit your every whim.
Alpaca yarn doesn’t have as much of the recovery (or bounce back) that a wool yarn generally has. I generally use alapca on scarves and shawls – items that don’t really need to have “fit”. If you’re determined to use your alpaca for a beret (which is fine), I’d recommend making extra certain you use small enough needles for the ribbing section at the bottom so it doesn’t stretch out with frequent wear. Does your alapca yarn contain a label stating what thickness it is: fingering weight, sport, dk, worsted? That will help guide you to a correct pattern & needle size for your yarn.
I just did a quick Ravelery search and I found over six thousand different beret patterns available on their site (some free, some for purchase). :D
I did see this one that uses a knit stitch and a purl stitch (worked stockinette) to make a very classic beret.
And I also found this one that does use the garter stitch (knit on every row).
If you decide to join Ravlery – look me up and add me to your friends. I go by the username of zilredloh on that site as well.
Cheers & Happy knitting!
Thank you Liz, I have been searching Ravelry but don’t have much luck navigating the site. I don’t seem to be able to access the patterns, just the pictures. There are very few that say they only use one skein. This alpaca is sport weight, 100 grams, 3.5 oz. I like the berets that you found now how do I look at the patterns? Do you think this will be a mistake to use on the beret?
Hello again! Do you have a Ravelry login? If not – you’re only browsing what’s around the site and are not actually IN Ravelry. You need to be logged in to actually use all of the Ravelry features.
Since you are a new knitter – I don’t want to deter you in any way from what you’re inspired to make. But also – since you are new, I would hate for you to make a garment that would not be successful. I think if I were you – I’d save your alpaca for a shawl or scarf. I’ve seen this small scarf around that is worn by vintage loving gals.
But if I were you I’d use a wool or wool blend for your beret. As a bonus look what I found!!! It’s a Guernsey inspired beret pattern to emulate the one worn in the Netflix show.
Liz, you are such a pearl, pun intended. Thank you very much this is exactly the beret I want to make. I will send a picture when I’m done. Stay warm.
Gerri