I love a slouchy beret. It’s the perfect thing to cover up my (many) bad hair days and still look stylish, but I can rarely bring myself to buy one. The details are never quite right–the ribbing doesn’t flow into the lace pattern, or the crown decreases seem careless–and I, as a knitter, know it can be done better.
The Grace Lace Beret has all of the right details. The cast on is a modified and simplified tubular cast on, and the simple lace pattern flows evenly from ribbing to crown decreases. The yarn, Louisa Harding Grace, is one of my favorites. The 50/50 wool/silk blend has a beautiful halo and just the right amount of drape. It feels delicate, but wears incredibly well, and is–of course–soft as silk. This season Harding introduced Grace in beautiful hand-dyed colors, too. The Grace Lace Beret works up super-fast, which makes it perfect for last-minute holiday gifts.
GRACE LACE BERET
SIZE
One size fits most women
MATERIALS
2 balls of Louisa Harding Grace or Hand Dyed Grace yarn
16” circular and DPN in US 9 or size needed to achieve gauge
set of 5 dpn US 4
crochet hook, waste yarn, stitch markers, darning needle
GAUGE
4 stitches per inch in lace pattern
ABBREVIATIONS
K knit
P purl
DD double decrease, slip two stitches together as if to knit 2 together, knit one, pass two slipped stitches over.
PATTERN
With crochet hook and waste yarn, chain 65 stitches. With working yarn, and US4 needles, pick up 60 stitches from back of crochet chains. Distribute stitches evenly over dpn’s and join in the round, being careful not to twist.
Round 1: (increase round) With working yarn, *k1, yo; rep from * across all stitches (120 stitches)
Round 2: *slip 1 with yarn in front, k1; rep from * across all stitches
Round 3: *p1, slip 1 with yarn in back; rep from * across all stitches
Continue in p1, k1 rib for 1 1/4″ from cast on. Remove waste yarn from cast on.
Change to US9 circular needles and work rows 1-10 of chart 3 times, then work rows 1-6 once. (see below for chart.)
Crown Decreases:
Round 1: *k5, DD, k4; rep from * across all stitches. (100 sts)
Round 2: k 1 round
Round 3: *k4, dd, k3; rep from * across all stitches (80 sts)
Round 4: k1 round
Round 5: *k3, dd, k2; rep from * across all stitches (60 sts)
Round 6: *k2, dd, k1; rep from * across all stitches (40 sts)
Round 7: *k1, dd; rep from * across all stitches (20 sts)
Round 8: k1, *dd, k2; repeat from * to last 3 sts, dd, k1 (15 sts)
Cut yarn leaving 8 inch tail. Draw through rem sts and pull tightly. Weave in end on inside.
Lace Chart
Enjoy your beret! And don’t forget to send us a picture!
Update: We no longer carry Louisa Harding Grace and Hand-Dyed Grace yarn. The Grace Lace Beret can be knit with any DK weight yarn that gives you 5.5 stitches per inch in stockinette. I think Filatura di Crosa Zara yarn would be a great choice.
Philadelphia magazine's Best of Philly 2010 - Best Way to Get Crafty!
{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
This is just so pretty! If only i knew how to knit!
I’m lovin’ this pattern. I’m currently working on the ribbing. Shouldn’t the materials list read 16″ circular OR DPN in US 9 ??
Hi Yvonne – I think you need the DPN’s in size 9 when you get to the crown of the hat. One circular US 9 won’t be small enough to do the very last rows of stitches, unless you use 2 circulars. Hope that helps!
This is such a beautiful hat. I want it! (I’m currently learning how to crochet.) In the meantime, I’ve included a link to this project on the Ever-Fashionable page of our Homemade Christmas Gift Guide. (Linked from my name, yay!)
Thanks for this great pattern – it was a pleasure to knit! I’m planning on another one (or two). Here is the link to my beret (couldn’t figure out how to post a photo here
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/tolebytobielynn/grace-lace-beret
Thanks again!
After you pick up 60 stitches from the crochet chain, shouldn’t knitting the first round in “k1, yo” pattern leave you with 90 stitches not 120?
Hey Tobie-Lynn, you’re beret came out beautifully!
Rachel, you should have 120 stitches because you’re increasing every stitch, which doubles your count.
I am new to knitting in the round, and I was wondering if it is possible to use 5 dpns instead of circular needles?
Is it ok to use Louisa Herding Kashmir Aran instead of the grace?
Yes, Jill, you can always use dpns instead of circulars as long as they are long enough to hold all of the stitches.
Sarah, you can use Kashmir Aran, but it’s a thicker yarn than we used, so swatch first to see if you like the fabric at that gauge.
This will be my first beret and I was a little confused as to the 1 x 1 rib instructions being after row 3. I have also read on ravelry by others who have done this beret that they just casted on 120 instead of 60 stitches. So I’m not sure what to do. Suggestions please. I would like to begin this project tonight.
I just finished knitting this beret and wanted to tell you what an awesome pattern this was. It was well-written, easy to follow, and I ended up with a gorgeous beret that I will wear constantly. Thanks for the amazing pattern.
Dana, after round 3, just work plain p1, k1 ribbing. You can cast on 120 stitches to begin as you’ve read people have done and the beret will come out fine.
And Tucker, glad you like the pattern! Enjoy your beret!
thank you Craig, I was thinking from the picture that the
1×1 rib was first not 4th. But i’ll try it, thanks again.
I am making this beret following the directions to a T, but my lace pattern doesn’t flow from the ribbing the same way as in the picture. It still looks fine, but I really liked the way the lace pattern created arches directly from the ribbing. Mine has one rib in-between each of the arches. Why isn’t mine turning out the same? I can send a picture of my work in progress, but I don’t know how to include it in my comment.
I figured out my error (and made a little swatch starting with p1, k1 ribbing, to verify what I thought). I had begun the first row of the lace chart with my knit stitch going into a knit stitch, instead of into a pearl stitch. That meant my “knit one” at the end of the chart was landing on a knit stitch of the ribbing, and began to create that long rib in-between each repeat of the lace pattern. I ripped back all three repeats of the lace pattern that I had completed and began again. It is working correctly, now. Thanks for the pattern!
Maybe it was just me, but I could NOT figure out the ‘simplified tubular cast on’, so ended up doing it the good old fashioned way. Even my mother who has been knitting for 40+ years couldn’t figure it out. I think we were analyzing it a little too much…
Anyway, this hat has been a pleasure to knit!
Thank you so much for sharing the pattern
what weight is the Grace yarn – am trying a couple of swatches in the pattern to see if I like it – cannot seem to get gauge right have tried a sport and also a soft 4-ply.
Once you remove waste yarn from cast on. You have 60 live stitches on one end and 120 on the other end. What do you do with the 60 stitches.
You can find the Grace in our online shop. I’d swatch with the needles the pattern recommends as a starting place, then go up or down from there.
Hi.
Thanks for sharing your pattern, I just knitted a Grace Lace Beret today, and I love it!
Greetings from Norway
I finished the Grace beret last weekend and blocked it, but my ribbed band is way to big (I cast on 120 stitches instead of 60). Any ideas how to make the band tighter without scrapping the whole project? I really like the rest!
The lace chart isn’t very clear to me. Is it an 11 stitch or 12 stitch chart? the print explaining the symbols is tiny and kind of garbled looking on my screen. Help?
is the slip stitch part supposed to be a 1 or 2 stitch decrease? i knitted a swatch of this and it kept increasing because of the 2 yo’s and only one decrease. should it be a k3tog or sk2po? (i’m guessing it isn’t a sk2po because that looks quite different from your hat)
Hello! I love this hat it’s beautiful. However, I am having some trouble understanding what the first steps with the crochet needle and then through step 3. Can I just cast on 120 stitches to a small size needle and knit 1.5in of single rib? Is there something then that is fundamental to the hat that I would be missing. In addition, I’m terrible with dpns, would circular needles accomplish the same thing? Thank you very much!
Yes, you can cast on 120 stitches using a circular needle. Your hat will look slightly different, but it will work.
I’ve completed the ribbing in US4 DPNs with 120 stitches. Now I’m lost. 1) What do I do with the loops that will result from the removed waste yarn? 2) Do I switch from US4 DPN directly to US9 circular? Because, that’s a huge difference and I’m having trouble transferring the small stitches to such large needles. Thanks!
You don’t do anything with the stitches after you remove the waste yarn; they just form a decorative edge.
And yes, you switch from the size 4s to the 9s. It may be tight at first, but it will work!
So I think that I may have the same problem as Cara. I started by just casting on 120 stitches onto circular size 4 needles but I am afraid that my band will be WAY to large (about 2 times as large.) Is there a way that I can fix this without ripping out all of my work?
thank you so much for this beautiful pattern!
it took me a half dozen times tearing out to get it down – but it was all worth it, the final product is lovely.
i ended up using a size 5 DPNs and size 10 circular, the pattern is slightly more pronounced, but it looks great and fits my big head just fine.
I feel really silly asking but when i print out your pattern there are dark squares. are these “no stitches” or purl?
They’re “no stitches”.
Hello! You’re my HERO! :’] This pattern doesn’t seem SO hard and is BEAUTIFUL! I’m going to start right after I get the dpn but when I do someday finish ill send the picture!
Good luck to everyone else. :]
Hi, this is kind of stupid, but I’ve no experience reading charts so um, for row 1, does it mean that if the dark squares mean “no stitches”, my first stitch will be the yarn over, my second stitch is the slip 2 stitches stitch and my third stitch is another yarn over? What do I do after that? Sorry about this.
Thank you for this pattern- Have you seen My Sister’s Keeper? This MUST be the hat the younger sister was wearing at the end!! It is so beautiful- I can’t wait- it’ll be my first lace pattern:)
This is the Abigail Breslin Beret from the movie. How pathetic am I? I look for knits while watching movies?
Well, then I’m pathetic too because I always notice the knits in movies! I haven’t seen the movie you’re talking about, but if you’re right then someone must have been inspired by Elizabeth’s design, which was done before the movie was released. How cool!
Hi i’ve just started knitting and this pattern completely boggles me.. but the reason i am writing is because i love the hat and really want one! would anyone sell me one?
Thanks
Love the look. NO CLUE what you’re talking about with the whole cast on method you use here. I’m giving up and moving on to another pattern because of it.
Spent 2 hours trying to figure it out and ended up with just a massive knot.
I’m sorry you didn’t understand the cast on. You can just use whatever cast on method you prefer and begin the ribbing. The hat will turn out fine.
What size crochet hook is needed for this? I don’t see a size mentioned anywhere. . .
Craig, I’m with et above. If the dark squares, all odd rows, are “no stitch” squares, then does that mean that on all the odd rows, the pattern goes “*yo DD yo, repeat from * 40 times”?
While trying to figure out how a horizontal row of nothing but “no stitch” might work, I found this site (http://www.smart-knit-crocheting.com/knitting-charts.html) that has a chart for the lacy Horseshoe pattern. That appears to be such that, if knitting flat, purl the rows w/o increases/decreases, and if knitting in the round, knit all stitches that aren’t increases or decreases. Is that right?
I’m pretty confused.
Dorian, I used a crochet hook that was a size or two up from the needles I used on the band. Only because I did not have one the same size. Mine is slightly loose, but it still looks good. Next time I would use the same size crochet hook as the needles on the band so it’s more uniform and the stitches look consistent.
I am not the pattern writer of course. I am making the hat now, and this was just my experience.
I love the effect of the “simplified tubular cast on.”
Loving this. Never really crocheted anything, but I really did enjoy the beginning of this project. I will start on the lace pattern as soon as I get out of work. (Or maybe when my officemate goes to a meeting….)
I’m a bit confused by the pattern instructions. Once I’ve picked up the 60 stitches from the crochet chains, what do I do with the waste yarn? When do I take it off? And how do I slip 1 with yarn in front and then knit 1?
I really want to understand this cast on. Where the pattern says:
Round 1: (increase round) With working yarn, *k1, yo; rep from * across all stitches (120 stitches)
Round 2: *slip 1 with yarn in front, k1; rep from * across all stitches
Round 3: *p1, slip 1 with yarn in back; rep from * across all stitches
In round 2, am I slipping the k1 from round 1 and knitting the YO from round 1?
In round 3, am I purling the slipped k1 from round 2 and slipping the knitted YO?
I am patternwhisperer on ravelry if it is easier to reply there.
Yes, to both. Sounds like you’ve got it.
On the first few rows, when it says “slip with yarn in front”, is it understood to slip the yarn purlwise?
Yes. I always slip purlwise unless the pattern says otherwise.
My GD wanted a purple hat and picked this pattern. It worked up quickly and was a fun pattern to make. The pic is at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/crochetsarah/grace-lace-beret-2
Next Comments →
{ 10 trackbacks }