Like the Little Engine, I’ve had an uphill climb with crochet.

That part of my education was neglected, so I busied myself with knitting and forgot to learn.

A few years ago, necessity inspired me to take a lesson, just so I could add the finishing touches to this lovely camisole from Solveig Heisdal’s Poetry In Stitches, my favourite knitting book.

Alas, simple edgings are where my crochet skills stalled.

The impetus to make Avocado Beret came with a ticket to New York to spend Thanksgiving with my daughter. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her and I miss her terribly. So, midnight at the computer, and I’ve bought a ticket and a new coat.

There’s nothing like a trip to the Big City to justify new clothes. One doesn’t want to feel like a country bumpkin, does one? I don’t suit beanies (who does, really, except children and skaters?) so I decided on a French-style beret.

My first attempt was far from chic. It was too big, too loose and too floppy. That may be because I made the fatal mistake of “winging it”. Naughty me, taking a short cut, which always turns out to be the long way round.

Note to knitters: crochet is easier to unravel than knitting– no nerve-jangling rounds of live stitches, just one loop to pick up.

Back at the drawing board, I made a plan based on a knitted circle.

I used one hank of Cascade 220 2429-Irelande Heather, and a 4mm hook.

Here’s how I made it:

Begin with 8 chains. Join these into a circle with a slip stitch. Work a single crochet twice into these first 8 chains. Then work a plain round of sc. Next round, work a sc twice into each second crochet then each third, and so on to each 11th, working a plain round between increase rounds. Work 3 rounds straight in sc. Begin to decrease by skipping each 11th sc for the first decrease round, followed by a plain round, and so on down to each 8th, ending with 56 single crochets. Slip stitch 56 to finish.

“The Little Engine That Could” is a classic  children’s story about the joy of achievement that comes with perseverance. I can’t think of a better feeling.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Free Patterns, crochet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.