Two videos are going up today because I have a new beret
pattern I’m really excited about. This
first video is the automatically short-rowed beret, and the other one is the same
beret with a circular lace design.
These quick but impressive little projects are great to make for several reasons:
- They're interesting to knit with lots of useful techniques included.
- You can use small amounts of Group 2 yarn like self-striping sock yarn or 2/12 - the adult size is the biggest, and only uses 50 grams!
- These are also cute in scraps for the sections. Here's a way to use the leftover pretty stuff!
- The berets are fancy and impressive, easy to fit and wear, and make beautiful gifts.
- Lace can be quite tricky to short-row, but this technique of having the machine do all the shaping works GREAT with lace.
This first video shows you how, using a Brother or Knitking electronic knitting machine that will handle wide stitch charts, you can shape your berets automatically! This pattern is only for those machines.
About that: I do prefer to write patterns for almost any machine, but this pattern takes advantage of Brother electronic machines' capabilities. Punch card machines do not have wide enough patterns for the width of the beret. I did not work this out for Studio electronics, since I currently don't have one and my experience with them would indicate a number of difficulties to convert this pattern.
You can still make beautiful tams on other machines! Check out the Tam Take Two videos to see
how to do these hats manually, here: https://youtu.be/KTc_t_SBYg0?si=yxZdumUFd0j8-R1O
I am posting the pattern charts for these two baby beret
examples here to ensure you will have complete free directions to make these two baby berets. These are standard gauge hats, and this video
version is especially nice in self-striping sock yarn.
Please consider purchasing the new Berets: “Auto-Shaped and
Lacy” pattern collection, a click-to-buy digital download at https://www.dianaknits.com. This new pattern has 21 different berets –
four sizes, baby, toddler, child and adult, and five designs for each beret –
auto shaped without lace, plus four auto shaped round lace designs, star,
heart, diamonds, and cyclone. You can
program the patterns using the charts in the pattern or you will have access to
all the pattern files in Design A Knit format.
The first video has some interesting and useful technique
demonstrations. For instance, how to use
two 7-prong transfer tools to move the stitches quickly to the main bed, and how
the hat top is automatically short-rowed using the machine memory and the part
buttons. Doing the shaping automatically
is easy, fast, and accurate.
As the same time the hat top is knitted, the band is attached with a very simple sew-as-you-go technique. The resulting “seam” is professional-looking. I also demonstrate how to graft the first and last rows of the hat invisibly and how to gather the center of the circle neatly. I block my berets using a steamer after putting them over a plate, saucer or other round object, which results is an excellent look for the band cast-on edge and an accurately round hat top.
The second video is the beret plus a lace design that goes around the six sections of the top of the beret. These are really impressive-looking little projects, but the machine does all the counting and lace transfers! This video shows how to make the lacy hat top in detail, but you'll rely on the first video if you need some help with knitting the ribbed hat band or sewing up the hat.
Here is the pattern chart for the automatically shaped baby beret:
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