Things To Make & Do- Vintage Style Bow Beret

A little while ago I came across a beautiful beret pattern on Ravelry
it is for a Vintage Style Beret with Cute little Bow on the side which looks very 'Chic!' and best of all the pattern was available for free!

The pattern is from creativeyarn a very talented Italian girl who creates, her own beautiful Crochet and Knitting patterns, many of which are available for free on her blog!

For the 'Puff Stitch Crochet Beret With Bow' Pattern click here!
The beret is made up using Dk wool on a 4mm crochet hook.

It all went a little WoBbLy!!!

Now I am truly hopeless at crochet, my poor Mum has tried in vain to teach me many times to no avail. But as I loved this pattern so much, I decided I would give it a go and employ youtube and Google to help me muddle through.

So in case any of you need a little help with crochet too, here are the stitches and how to do them.

Ch - Chain 

Yo -   Wrap yarn around the hook.
Ps -   Puff stitch (see video)
Hdc - Half double crochet (see video) 
2Ptog - Puff stitch decrease - *Yo, insert hook into lower stitch, draw up long lp* 3times, Yo and draw through 6 of the loops (this will leave one stitch on the hook and the drawn through yarn), *Yo, insert hook into lower stitch, draw up long lp* 3 times, yo then draw yarn through all loops on hook, ch1.

 

Things I learned :

- Each puff stitch is made in the top of the puff stitch in the row below not in the chain between (oops!)
- It may look a little wobbly whilst doing the increase rows (see above picture) don't panic as this should sort itself out once its finished!
- I have absolutely no idea how to get the correct tension in crochet!

The back

From reading some of the comments on Ravelry it seems that many people found that their attempt differed from the original pattern as did mine but they all look great and individual none the less! And with it having 184 different projects to its name it is one well tried and tested pattern.

For my attempt I had to deviate from the pattern a little as when I got to round 16 it was still way too big! so I added two more rounds of decreasing rows to pull it in a bit more :

Round 15: Work 1Ps in same st as joining and 1 Ps in next 2 st, 2Pstog, *1 Ps in next 3 st, 2Pstog.* around, join.

Round 15a: Work 1Ps in same st as joining and 1 Ps in next st, 2Pstog, *1 Ps in next 2 st, 2Pstog.* around, join.

Round 15b: Work 1Ps in same st as joining, 2Pstog, *1 Ps in next st, 2Pstog.* around, join.

Also I wrapped the wool around the bow rather than doing the crochet band as my bow came out way bigger than (I think) it was supposed to, so the crocheted band was not really working!

All in all I am really pleased with how it turned out, its not perfect but I am still proud of my first attempt at proper crochet.

I have also found another crochet pattern this time for a Cloche style hat which I will add to my list of projects, it looks like with all the lovely patterns out there, I am well and truly hooked! (sorry!!)

Wendy x