Thursday, July 22, 2010

PATTERN: Big Button Beret

Okey-dokey, artichokeys. Today we're going to make the Big Button Beret!

Just a few words first (throat clearing: ahem, ahem):
1) This is a simple beret pattern - it's not a ground-breakingly new pattern. What makes this type of hat look quite snazzy is the yarn. I've been using sock yarns with a long colour stripe, which gives this effect:


And the second thing is, of course, the button. The hat is nice without a button, but an unusual button or even a crochet flower makes the beret a bit special.

2) Posters in recent threads on crochet/knit forums have been wondering about whether or not one may sell finished items made from a particular pattern. As far as I'm concerned - go for it! In fact, I would actively encourage those of you who craft for markets and craft fairs to give it a whirl. It's a very fast pattern (you can make a hat in an evening, if you're speedy.)

Right-ho. Enough of the speeches. Let's get down to work.

Ooops. One more thing:
This is not really a pattern, more of a loose guideline. Sock yarn is thin, so you need more rounds to reach the desired diameter. A thicker yarn (DK or WW) and a bigger hooks means fewer rounds - fewer rounds mean the hat will be finished even more quickly.

Right. We're really starting this time.

This pattern uses American crochet terms. British terms are in [brackets].
ch - chain
DC - double crochet [TR - British treble crochet]
2-DC together=
[2-TR together] (Yo, Insert hook in next st, yo, draw yarn through st, yo, draw yarn through 2 loops on hook) twice, yo draw yarn through 3 loops on hook.

You need:

  • approx 70 g sock yarn
  • 3.00 mm or 3.50 mm hook (e.g. E or F hook, American size)
  • 1 button

Chain 4, join with a slip stitch.
Round 1:
1 ch, then do 10 DC [TR] into the circle. Join last DC with a slip stitch to your first DC
Round 2: 1 ch, 2 DC [TR] in same stitch. 2 DC [TR] in next nine stitches. Join with slip stitch.
Round 3: 1 ch, 1 DC [TR] in same stitch, *2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next stitch. Repeat from * around, ending with 2 DC [TR]. Join with slip stitch.


Round 4: 1 ch, 1 DC [TR] in same stitch and 1 DC [TR] in next stitch, *2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next two stitches. Repeat from * around, ending with 2 DC [TR]. Join with slip stitch.

(Just a little note: see how odd the first two stitches look, the chain + 1 DC? That's actually okay. When you slip stitch the final DC in the round to the top of the first DC, the chain fills the little gap that you would otherwise have. That makes the end of the round less visible.)

Round 5: 1 ch, 1 DC [TR] in same stitch and 1 DC [TR] in next two stitches, *2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next three stitches. Repeat from * around, ending with 2 DC [TR]. Join with slip stitch.
Round 6: 1 ch, 1 DC [TR] in same stitch and 1 DC [TR] in next three stitches, *2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next four stitches. Repeat from * around, ending with 2 DC [TR]. Join with slip stitch.
Round 7: 1 ch, 1 DC [TR] in same stitch and 1 DC [TR] in next four stitches, *2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next five stitches. Repeat from * around, ending with 2 DC [TR]. Join with slip stitch.

Aha! Do you see what's happening here? We're creating a big, flat circle by simply increasing the number of DCs we do between each double-DC [TR] in every round. In round 8 you do 1 DC in the six stitches between the double-DC [TR], in round 9 you do 1 DC in the seven stitches between the double-DC [TR]. And so on.

But what should I do if my circle is curling?

Well, a little curling isn't a problem. It doesn't have to be completely flat. Look!

But if it's curling quite a bit, you could try one or both of the following:
a) go up a hook size. I started with a 3.00 mm hook but found I was crocheting a bit tightly and my hat was curling into a saucer shape, so I switched to 3.50 mm to adjust my tension.
b) You can repeat a round. In other words, do the round you've just done again, with the same number of DCs between each double DC. Then continue to increase by adding an extra DC between the double DCs in the rows that follow.

When your circle has a diameter of approximately 28 cm (that's 11 inches - and this is a matter of preference: you can do a bigger circle, which will make a floppier hat). My hat reaches a diameter of approximately 28-29 cms (11.5 inches)  when I've got 15 DCs between each double-DC.

Depending on the weight of your yarn and your hook size, you might reach this size with fewer or more rounds than me. At this point you stop increasing every round and you start to decrease.

Decreasing:
Round X: 1 ch, *1 DC [TR] in next ten stitches, 2-DC [2-TR] together. Repeat from * till you're back at the starting DC [TR] - and don't worry if you haven't finished after exactly 10 DCs, this is just an approximate value so that we decrease evenly thoughout. Join with a slipstitch.

This time, curling is good! Curling is desired!

You repeat round X again and again, and as you do, you see how the circumference of your hat is getting smaller. The 2-DC together basically makes one stitch out of two, and that makes the brim of the hat decrease in size as we do each additional round.


Pop the hat on your head now and again, and when it has reached the point where the brim sits snugly (but not too tight!) against your head, stop decreasing!

From now on, you just continue to crochet in the round, with one DC in each stitch.

Continue till the brim is about 10 cm (4 inches) long, which is long enough to fold it over and attach a button.


You may not reproduce this pattern in print or claim it as your work. You may not sell the pattern. Do not copy and paste pattern to another website, please use a link. And, obviously, if you make millions from making these hats, you have to give me a significant share.

20 comments:

Gracey is not my name.... said...

Great tutorial! I've made bunches of hats and tend to just make as I go - no pattern - just a faint idea of what I want....

The Gingerbread Lady said...

One thing that this blog has been good for is to teach me how to break down an instinctive process. I think crocheters become good at thinking 3-dimensionally, so you don't even think about how you got to that curve or this wavy bit, do you? Anyway, hopefully this will be a help to someone who's never made a beret before :-)

glor said...

This is stunning ... great tutorial!

Aussie Maria said...

Thanks so much, it is just what I have been trawling Ravelry for. I know I HAVE TO repeat rounds to stop curling and I thought that was just me ☺

Gumnut said...

I love your tutorials. Now I know how to make a hat. Thankyou!

And I need to find myself some of that lovely Noro yarn everybody seems to have ::drools::

Nutty
(yarn envy)

Anonymous said...

Can you please tell me what brand of yarn and color that is? it's beautiful!

The Gingerbread Lady said...

Hello Misskatpegasus!
The yarn in the first beret picture (orange, purple, black) is Lana Grossa's Meilenweit Merino. I believe it's number 2143. The yarn I used for the second demonstration hat (grey, black, pink) is Noro Kureyon sock yarn and I think it's #S240. I hope this is helpful!

Lia said...

I just like this berret... have read and copied the text and will surely give it a try. Very nice to see and good explanation too!

needlekrafter said...

thanks for sharing this lovely pattern! i love it!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for this pattern. It's nice and simple, and would make a great beanie for my sister for Christmas. I've been playing around with it a bit to get it to look the way that I want, but because it was curling, I took your advice and did the same row twice. I have moved onto the next row, but now my problem is that it's waffling a bit. Any advice on how to prevent that?

The Gingerbread Lady said...

Hello Gydeinn,
Okey-dokey, let's have a think about this...
First of all, I would rip back the round that's all waffly. It's hard to unwaffle it if you continue! At this point you could try two things:

(a) switch to a hook a half-size (one size?) bigger. Your tension could be a little tight and the yarn might need a bit more wriggle room. Switch to a bigger hook and try the next round as normal to see if that helps. Most of my curling problems come because my hook is too small or my tension is too tight.

(b) If you want to stick with the same hook, it's a matter of increasing a little, but not so much that the round becomes all floppy and waffly. I would repeat the round again but maybe try it like this:
*2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next five (or ten or whatever number it is) stitches. Then do a 1 DC where you should do 2 DC, 1 DC in the next five (or whatever stitches. Then 2 DC [TR] in next stitch, 1 DC [TR] in next five (or ten or whatever number it is) = in other words, increase with 2 DC [TR] every OTHER set of five (or whatever) DCs, as opposed to after every set of five (or whatever) DCs. Then continue with the next 'proper' row.

Essentially, you increase enough to flatten the circle, and the hat looks better if you increase evenly all around (every X number of stitches).

It's hard to describe in words because it's the kind of thing that would be easy to see and fix in seconds if we were face to face. :-( I hope this helps and I'd love to see a picture!

Unknown said...

Hello Gingerbread Lady,

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I got what you meant, and that helped a lot! No more waffling! It's curling again, but I can take care of that. I have only been crocheting for a month (I'm more of a knitter), but I'm not a beginner per se. So far the only things I have made are a few stuffed animals for various people, so trying something like this has really helped me.

Again, thank you so much, and happy holidays.

Tristin said...

Thank you for such a wonderful and easy tutorial (I found it on Craft Gossip). I've printed it and am off to start one for myself (now that I'm done crocheting for everyone else!) Love your crocheting!

Sandie said...

Love this pattern and will post about it in my blog today. Thanks for the tip about ch 1, dc in same stitch. I love joining in an actual stitch. Never too old to learn something new. Also thanks for the joliprint pdf files. Great help.

rubah said...

I just finished making one of these today, and I'm very pleased with the result!

I was using a thicker yarn and a slightly larger hook, so I made a bit of a change to the repeating rounds.

It got a little complicated, but I'll try to recall it as best as I can.

After it was about 6" in diameter, I started skipping a stitch and filling in a ch 1 between, to start gradually loosening and saving myself some yarn. I did that for about 4-6 rows, then switched to ch 2 and skipping two stitches. I did that all the way until time to decrease. To decrease, I switched back to the ch1 skip 1 pattern, and skipped every other ch 1, and did that for two rows, then that was about tight enough for my head, and did several rows of straight dc until it fit pretty well (and ran out of yarn! ;))

here is a picture of how it looks when I'm wearing it
http://snowy-day.brontoforum.us/stuff/others/beret.jpg

Brenda said...

Hi Gingerbread Lady,

I love this pattern and have successfully began to make my own hat... Though it looks great, I arrived at the decrease part and did a few rows and I'm still not seeing a change in the circumference of the hat. Is there any advice you have for me to decrease the circumference in another way?

By the way, I am using thicker yarn if that makes any difference. Thank you!

Indie-B

The Gingerbread Lady said...

Hi Brenda,
In order to decrease more quickly, you just have to do more 2-DCtogs (2 double crochet together). At the moment, you are probably doing:
Round X: 1 ch, *1 DC [TR] in next TEN stitches, 2-DC [2-TR] together.

In order to make the hat brim decrease more visibly, maybe try
Round X: 1 ch, *1 DC [TR] in next SEVEN stitches, 2-DC [2-TR] together.

and, if it still doesn't decrease fast enough,
Round X: 1 ch, *1 DC [TR] in next FIVE stitches, 2-DC [2-TR] together.

You see, because you have thicker yarn, you've probably got fewer stitches than I would have with my skinny sock yarn ... so you have to decrease more often. The exact number of stitches between the 2-DC together isn't really important as long as they're spaced evenly around the hat (that's why I do them after every tenth stitch, because it's easy to remember.)

I hope this helps and sorry for not replying sooner, I was away for the last couple of days.
I hope you're enjoying the holidays...
Olivia / The Gingerbread Lady

Beate said...

Thank you sooo much for this pattern! I have been looking all over for a pattern which uses a thinner yarn but couldn't find one. Yours is so lovely and easy and beautiful! Thank you again!
Bea

Unknown said...

thank you so much, made a hat last night. Looks great

Unknown said...

Hi, ultra-newbie here. I got a perfect flat circle, then I tried decreasing and it is a disaster. I know that it needs to curl over as it decreases, but mine puckered like it had been sucking lemons. I don't know what 2-DC together means.

cheers
Deziree