And these hat patterns may just find their way to Ravelry. Yes, I finished some of the other hats, but I never got pictures and still feel somehow that they're not worthy.
But working on Chuck's beret inspired me to make my own slouchy beret designs and made me revisit a stitch that I invented over a decade ago. At least I think I invented it, I've perused many stitch dictionaries since then and never found anything exactly like it. Some stitches look similar, but they have different methods than mine.
Originally I used the stitch in a project for my mother in law. An Easter basket using Re Heart acrylic. The stitch is really tight, with twisted stitches and stitches that are passed over other stitches and in that Red Heart yarn it came out so stiff it didn't need wires or inserts or anything. I wrote down lots of notes - this was before the internet and way before Ravelry and way before I had a local yarn shop with people who might want to recreate my patterns - but I guess since this was my creation I tried to keep some notes.
The stitch leans to the left a lot and so I've tried different techniques to mitigate that, but nothing seems to work. However, that was before I knew anything about blocking, so I imagine that blocking would help the left leaning bias problem.
Anyway. A few year ago while messing around with sock designs I tried making the stitch a bit lacier, but it made the sock twist around and that bugged me. After making the beret it occurred to me that my weird stitch would look good as a slouchy beret and so I tested it out with some leftover worsted wool. I liked it a lot and so used some really yummy merino wool and I am delighted with the hat design. I also used this stitch in a cowl neck-warmer type thing, although I think it'd look good in a longer, infinity scarf type thing. I want to do that design in several weights and offer that up as a pattern.
I also repurposed the Vortex Swag stitch as a slouchy beret. I used it in a brimmed hat, but I think it's better as a slouchy hat.
Everything has been washed and is drying and then I need to find a model and take pictures. feh.
