Beautiful berets!

Last winter I posted a free, simple beret pattern, which I used to make my daughter a gift (which she loved, yay!) and today I'm feeling the urge to knit a few more. Berets are supposedly hot fashion accessories this fall -- though to be honest, they're one of the few hats that look flattering on my tiny head, so that's one good reason I knit them.

Fair isle beret I knit with literally scraps of leftover worsted wool.

The other reason is that they lend themselves to a variety of patterns on that lovely, circular top part, and I also really enjoy knitting with double pointed needles, which is a plus for berets because of all the increases and reducing you do.

Finally, I absolutely love how easily they block (well, the wool ones) by being stretched overnight on a plate balanced on a wide-mouthed bottle. So they're really like knitting projects and circus tricks all rolled into one. And that reminds me I really need to get a photo of me doing the beret blocking balancing thing -- which means I better start knitting a new beret, yay!

Meanwhile, here are a few more pics of some berets I made last winter:

The "up" side of two berets, green alpaca and a purple mystery wool blend.

And here are their bottoms! Of course, when you wear them, the brims add to the overall design.

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Free quick slipper pattern

Mrs Fisher's Slippers I call these Mrs Fisher's slippers because I knitted a very similar pair when I was in grade four during an extra-curricular craft class, which really means that this is simply my own variation of an easy slipper pattern that's been around for a very long time indeed. My teacher (Mrs F) was an infinitely patient, bespectacled lady who obviously could knit with her eyes closed and I was NOT a very skilled knitter at the time. I suspect she got a little tired of me asking her over and over to explain how to purl, heh. So I feel really accomplished when I can knit these up in a couple of hours.. See what I did, Mrs F? This project works with most worsted weight yarn, doubled (eg. knit with two strands held together). I use between size 4.5 to 6 needles, depending on the weight of the yarn (you can use bulkier, you'll just get a bigger slipper). Play around with sizing by varying size of needles as well as number of cast-on stitches. These are k...

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