It's a raspberry beret, but not from a secondhand store.
Ages ago, Practical Crocheter wrote this pattern to use one skein of a chunky polyester chenille from Cascade, called Pluscious (now discontinued). One of the tricky things about crochet is that inserting the hook into the previous row to make each stitch means that you have to be able to see your stitches. For fluffy yarns, like Pluscious was, that can be tricky and can discourage a lot of crocheters from using a lot of fun yarns.
This pattern doesn't involve any counting. It's done entirely based on measurements, and you only increase in the first several rounds. Those increases are at the same interval every round, so you don't have to count stitches at all. Likewise, the one decrease round is done by skipping a stitch every so often--again, without counting stitches.
Since this beret is mostly made in half double crochet, the fabric isn't strictly reversible, but does look good on both sides. Of course, if you make it out of a really fluffy yarn, you won't be able to tell which side is which.
The sample pictured here used about half a skein of Cirro, from The Fibre Co. That skein was an impulse buy on my trip to Knit Dallas, and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. When I decided to make this beret pattern printable, I instantly thought of using Cirro to make the sample. Unfortunately, Cirro is more of a DK or worsted than a chunky yarn. I stranded it with a partial skein of black laceweight mohair I had in my stash, and I'm really pleased with how that combination turned out.
The sample shown is a good size for a teen or small woman. If you make the hat according to the larger measurements, it will work for a larger hook.
This post has been linked to Happiness is Homemade, Busy Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Senior Salon, WITS, Wonderful Wednesday, The Stitchin' Mommy, and Thursday Favorite Things.
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