Hats off to the humble beret

Nicole Mallalieu's Quick Beret

I love wearing hats.

I used to wear them a lot at Uni, particularly my vintage op shop ones,

but since encroaching middle age amd domesticity have snuck up on me,

I find that my hat wearing is functional rather than fashionable.

Nicole's new pattern caught my eye recently

and having seen it made up,

I decided to give it a go

even though berets and I have always eyed each other off suspiciously.

I have never liked them and I suspect that they have felt the same.

After 2 silly mistakes on my part,

one of which was cutting through the body of the fabric and having to start from scratch,

I thought that I should just let it go.

But it is a beautifully simple and well written pattern

and I do like the result.

I am probably never going to love the beret

but I definately like it.

I used a piece of brown woollen fabric from my stash

and a not-quite-matching grey poly for the lining

but no one will see it.

And it will be perfect for those manic late school runs

when the hair style, like the children, is running amok and is best covered up.

PS Have you noticed that beret is one of those words that sounds strange and silly when you have

been saying or writing it for a while...