Le Béret
We’re adding a continental touch to what’s on your needles… Le Béret, designed by Tayler Harris, is a fun Fiddlehead twist on the traditional wool-felt hat!
For this quick-as-a-wink knit, you work a ribbed brim, then a round of simple increases to widen the body of your beret. A spiral of basic decreases brings you back to the center, and you’re done… From cast on to voilà in just a few hours!
Our Fiddlehead is “super bulky” weight yarn, which ensures a speedy knit, but it’s also incredibly lofty, so that, even knit on the denser side, it feels as light as a feather.
Fiddlehead’s distinctive structure is similar to bouclé but, instead of loops, the alpaca roving runs in curly waves along central threads. All that loose roving and amazing 100% alpaca fiber mean that Fiddlehead is shockingly soft, as well as très chic.
There are nine colors in Fiddlehead’s palette. Each one is a mix of two shades of alpaca roving, which adds depth to the color and makes every stitch satisfying.
It only takes one skein of Fiddlehead to make a toddler or kids beret and two for an adult, so pick up a skein or a two-skein Fiddlehead Bundle, and vive la knitting!
Designed for Purl Soho by Tayler Harris. Based in Utah, Tayler finds inspiration for her designs from the unique landscapes of her home state. From the beautiful mountains and canyons to the national parks and natural landscapes, she loves to incorporate the colors, textures, and shapes of her favorite places.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoLeBéret, and #PurlSohoFiddlehead. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 1 (1, 2, 2) skein(s) of Purl Soho’s Fiddlehead, 100% alpaca. Each skein is 65 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 55, (65, 80, 100) total yards required. We used the colors Pink Sea, River Stone, and Desert Gray.
- US 10 (6 mm), 16-inch circular needles (or double pointed needles for Toddler size)
- US 11 (8 mm), 16-inch circular needles (or double pointed needles for Toddler size)
- A set of US 11 (8 mm) double pointed needles
- Jumbo stitch markers, including one unique
NOTE: Our Fiddlehead Bundle makes one Adult size hat, or two Toddler or Kid sized hats!
GAUGE
9 stitches and 14 rounds = 4 inches in stockinette stitch on larger needles
10½ stitches and 16 rounds = 4 inches in 1×1 rib on smaller needles, unstretched
SIZES
Toddler (Kid, Adult Small/Medium, Adult Medium/Large)
- Finished Brim Circumference (at ribbing, unstretched): 15¼ (16¾, 18¼, 19¾) inches, comfortably stretching 1-3 inches
- Finished Diameter: 8½ (9¼, 10, 11) inches
Samples: The Pink Sea hat is the Kid size, and the River Stone and Desert Gray hats are both Adult Small/Medium!
PATTERN
BRIM
Cast 40 (44, 48, 52) stitches onto smaller needles. We used a basic Long-Tail Cast On.
Place unique marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Round 1: *K1, p1, repeat from * to end of round.
Repeat Round 1 until piece measures approximately 1¾ inches from cast-on edge.
BODY
Switch to larger circular needles (or double pointed needles, if working Toddler size).
Increase Round: *Knit front and back, k1, repeat from * to end of round. [60 (66, 72, 78) stitches]
Continue in stockinette stitch, knitting every round, until piece measures approximately 4½ (4¾, 5, 5¼) inches from cast-on edge.
SHAPE CROWN
NOTE: Change to double pointed needles when necessary.
Set-Up Round: [K10 (11, 12, 13), place marker] 5 times, knit to end of round.
Decrease Round: *Knit to 2 stitches before next marker, knit 2 together, slip marker, repeat from * to end of round. [6 stitches decreased]
Continuing in stockinette stitch, repeat Decrease Round every other round 4 (5, 5, 6) more times, then every round 3 (3, 4, 4) times, removing markers on the last round. [12 stitches remain]
FINISHING
Cut yarn and thread tail onto a tapestry needle. Draw twice through remaining stitches, and pull tightly to secure. Bring tail to inside of hat and weave in all ends. Gently wet-block.
Where can buy Alpaca Fiddlehead near Moncton NB
Hi Penelope,
Thanks for reaching out! We only sell our yarn from our website, and not in other stores, but we do ship nearly everywhere in the world. I’d recommend taking a look at our Shipping page to learn all about our options for shipping. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Dear Purl Soho, What a fun pattern! For the instructions, I’m not sure how often I should do the increase round. Thanks for your help.
Angela
Hi Angela,
You’ll only do the Increase Round once in this pattern! It’s not repeated at all, like the Decrease Round is. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Thanks, that’s what I thought but wanted to make sure. Love your patterns and everything about Purl Soho.
Angela
Hi! This pattern is adorable, but is there ANY way to get access to print it without all the photos and tons of pages? Threatened trees want to know! Many thanks.
Hi Anne,
Thanks for reaching out! Here’s how you can get a printer-friendly copy of any of our free patterns: If you’re on your computer, you’ll find a “print” icon in the right column just below the “Save To Favorites” button. If you’re on a mobile version of the site, you will find the “print” icon below the pattern and above the comments.
Click on this button, and a window will pop up where you can delete whichever parts of the pattern you don’t want to print. When you hover over any image or a text block, it will be highlighted in yellow and a “trash” icon will appear. Just click on this icon to delete anything that’s not necessary to the pattern! For example, you may decide to shorten the pattern by omitting certain images or the list of materials. Then, just click on the “Print” button in the upper left-hand corner of the pop-up window!
All the best,
Lili
Could you come up with a stuffed animal project for this yarn- a teddybear, puppy or cat perhaps? Maybe a kit?
Thanks.
Hi Stephanie,
That’s a great idea, and I think that would be really cute! I’ll pass along your suggestion to our design team.
All the best,
Lili
Can you suggest another, similar yarn for this project? The person I want to make it for loves teal.
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for writing in! I wanted to let you know that we do have a teal color of Fiddlehead–Northern Spruce. This color is made of a mix of more blue and more green strands of alpaca fiber, which blend together into a beautiful teal!
If you’re not a fan of Northern Spruce though, I’m afraid that we don’t have another yarn that’s very similar to Fiddlehead. However, you could use Super Soft Merino, which will work for the gauge of the pattern. (It’s a completely different texture from Fiddlehead though.)
All the best,
Lili
Could you clarify the needle sizes, please? The instructions say #10 needles for the youth and then #11 for the youth….did you mean the adult? Or am I misunderstanding the directions? It’s an adorable pattern! Thank you!
Hi Mardel,
Thanks for reaching out! You will use two different size needles in this pattern–larger needles for the main body of the hat, and smaller needles for the ribbing. We used size US 11 and US 10 for the larger and smaller needles, respectively, but we recommend knitting up a gauge swatch to determine what two needle sizes will be best for you!
All the best,
Lili