Stray knitted beret

After knitting Tasha's Victory beret pattern I realized how much I enjoyed color work knitting and immediately got started on another project, Andi Satterlund's Stray beret. It's probably not a surprise to anyone that this was my next knitting project, my love for leopard print is well documented throughout my blog. I have leopard clothes, so of course the next step would be knitting a beanie :)

This beret may not look as complicated as the last one I knit, but trust me, it definitely took awhile to get the hang of things. With the Victory beret there were many different colors used throughout, but while knitting there were only two colors used in each row. With Stray I learned how to knit with three strands at once. In my right hand I held the tan (main color) and in my left I held the dark brown and black. As I went along it seemed like the dark brown yarn wasn't being held tight enough and looked a little puffy. Luckily my problems blocked right out for the most part.


The yarn was purchased online at Knit Picks. I used the Swish DK Yarn  which was nice to knit with and was super affordable. I tend to knit pretty tight, so I used needles a size up, a 3 for the ribbing and a 6 for the color work. Knitting with double pointed needles drives me crazy, so I used magic loop to finish off.

Every knitting project that I have made so far has used the same cast on method and when I saw that this one required a stretchy cast on I was excited to learn something new. I wasn't sure how to go about starting it, so I lurked around on YouTube and found this tutorial to be super helpful. The finished edge was super stretchy (mission complete) and I can see how it's perfect for a hat.

I enjoy blocking berets because they are so easy! Soak them in water for a half hour and then stretch them over a dinner plate to dry.


Overall, the pattern was great to knit. Andi did a good job of designing something that looks difficult, but is actually really straightforward to make. Now I just need recommendations for another color work pattern. What's your favorite? I think I'm addicted.