Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Peaches on my head

One of my cousins still has every little piece of craft from her childhood. This is a good thing for me, because between being slightly o/c about getting rid of stuff, having moved a lot and having a bad memory in general, trips back in time to my childhood tend to yield murky pictures. On my recent visit to Germany my brain got a refresher when she brought out a box filled with stuff from our childhood. As kids we loved clubs, and in our years playing together must have formed a dozen or so, all either about animals or TV shows or even hats. Yes, hats. Berets, to be more exact. I had a black one, my cousin's was red, and we were the club of the Basques ( in German, a beret is called a Baskenmuetze). Looking at our manifesto and handdrawn passports, this club seemed to have been a spy club (don't remember who we were spying on), and my code name was Britta (which was my favourite name at the time, stemming I believe from some kid's book about a girl named Britta and her pony, Silver. Oh, the memories, they're coming back..)
So, this is a pretty long intro to be telling you that I still love berets and have been excited about so many of them popping up in blogland. But hey, I usually don't tell you much, so here you go. This is the second Kim Hargreaves kit I made, Peaches, from her 'Summer Breeze' collection. Described as a "slouchy crochet beret" it was anything but on my first attempt, though I can't really fault Kim for that. Everyone's head is a different size, and mine must be huge, since the first version of the beret perched on top like a deflated muffin. Easy to fix, I just ripped back to the increase rows, added two more of those, one more regular and one more decrease row. I'm still not sure if it's ok the way it is, I may wash it and stretch it a little, to get it more relaxed and not so flowery looking.
Peaches1
Peaches2
Pattern: Peaches kit, from Kim Hargreaves' Summer Breeze collection.
Yarn: 2 skeins of Rowan handknit cotton in 'thunder'.
Mods: Added more rows to make the beret bigger.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

So gorgeous!

maritza said...

Looks beautifully slouchy to me. Love the color you used. It's a gorgeous pattern, too.

Kara said...

I am definitely feeling the beret love lately. It looks like your mods in the end worked out perfectly. So cute!

lori said...

Your new beret is lovely. It *almost* makes me want to go learn how to use the hook!

yaiAnn said...

Now all you need are some super spy shades!

Linda said...

It came out just right in the end. Have you seen the new book Kim Hargreaves has out on her website? Very nice designs in there!

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, "Britta reitet die Hubertusjagd" ;))))
If you love KH and Berets- you have to knit "Flicker". Wool Cotton, very big and beaded. I knitted it for a friend and I love it, she, too.
LG Eva

Elena said...

I think it looks great on you!

Anonymous said...

Perfectly adorable!

DonnaC said...

Love this hat! Would not have made it if I only saw the picture from KH website, but yours inspires me!

nicole said...

I love the beret. That blue looks great with the colour of your beautiful hair.

I really love the "Britta" story. Sounds like you had some imaginative games when you where a kid. We also used to make up elaborate games that involved a lot of prep work. I remember writing elaborate menus (for the restaurant "game"), dictations and report cards (for school "game") and memos (for office "game"). It would take so long to set up, that by the time we were ready to actually play, we'd often be tired of it and move on to the next thing. I'm not sure kids really play like this anymore.

Anonymous said...

Really great hat! Kim Hargreaves has such pretty things.

seedless grape said...

I agree with lori z. The beret looks terrific and it is almost enough to make me want to figure out crochet! But I guess I have enough trouble trying to sort out my knitting . . .

Love the color, by the way.

Veronique said...

Ooh, I love the little bobbles at the top :) Perfect for the beret club!

Anonymous said...

Oh it's gorgeous, Steph! Such beautiful textures. And I think the fit looks great!

Anonymous said...

your beret is beautiful! the colour looks great with your hair!! I am tempted to make this , am still working on your mermaid handwarmers wonderful work!!

Anonymous said...

Super, super cute. I love how it looks! The color looks very nice, too. =)

Oiyi said...

Beautiful hat!

ink and ginger said...

A little late to the commenting party, but that beret is gorgeous. The color and stitching is perfect for cold weather.

Anonymous said...

Ohhh...I love the beret! I kind of want one lately but am unsure I can pull it off. I love this pattern.

(By the way, sad story--at least for me--bloglines seemed to kick your feed off without me realizing it. I thought you were just on an extended blog break until today I thought about you and couldn't find the feed. I am very irritated. Anyway, nice to get caught up and glad you are traveling and exploring. It all sounds really wonderful.)

Anonymous said...

can't wait to see your deep v-neck. i just knitted it too, and i love it.

drew
www.drew-o-rama.com