moss stitch beret

I couldn't resist the beautiful photo of Kent's Moss Stitch Beret when I first saw it on Ravelry, and decided it would make a nice little travel project. Kent has indeed made updates to the pattern and assures me that the new version works for real. :) But even a perfectly written pattern cannot stop me from making my own knitting blunders! For starters, I used the wrong stitch. I looked up moss stitch on the good old internets and found British Moss Stitch and American Moss Stitch. So I used British Moss Stitch. Which is what I would normally refer to as seed stitch. Why I chose the British version, I do not know. I'm not British. Maybe I thought it would look better with some British flava. Maybe I thought that Kent thought that it would look better with some British flava. But I was evidently supposed to use American Moss Stitch, also known as...moss stitch. Right. Anyway.

I used one skein of Cascade 220 Wool, and I checked my gauge, but this thing must have mutated to gargantuan proportions after blocking. It. is. huge. It's bobby pinned into place in the picture, to show what it should look like. I really like the would-be result, so I think I'll rip it and try again with much fewer stitches. When I re-knit, I think I'll use ---hey!---American Moss Stitch! This will also give me a chance to do a fancy contrasting lining inside the brim like Kent's second beret. I don't think I'm much of a beret-type girl, so this will probably be a gift.

What I like best about this pattern is the construction of the brim. No, let me clarify. I LOVE the construction of the brim. The brim is sort of hemmed. (Do we have a different name for that in knitting?) You knit 3" of stockinette then fold it under and knit the CO edge into the rest of the hat. I forced two of my knitting pals to look at it, and one of them was moved to exclaim, "Wow, it's like a real hat!" Now that's a compliment.