When All Else Fails

There is knitting. The yarn may be a funny colored acrylic, and the needles raspy aluminum, but knitting is predictable. It is tractable, it goes at the pace you need it to, and it doesn't wait until Tuesday to tell you what to study for your Thursday test. Not that that last bit's actually happened in one of my harder classes and I'm feeling bitter and hating the teacher for all the time I spent this weekend studying the wrong stuff.

Back to knitting. Around Christmas, I whipped out three of these:



(Modeled here by Hermanita)

Pattern: Tweed Beret from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: A skein and a half of Cascade 220 for two solid-color hats and one hat with stripes of Cascade 220 and Lion Brand Mohair blend that I bought so long ago the color went out and came back in again.
Needles: size 6. You could go up to size 7 for a floppier fit. It wasn't until I was on the third one that it occured to me to use a 40" circular and pull out the extra length of cord: by the time you reach the hat's maximum circumference, there's only the shortest bit extra.
Be forewarned: you need 8 stitch markers to keep track of the increase points. There's no fudging this one, especially not if you're using black yarn.

I normally don't knit the same pattern twice, but hats are nice. You cast on, knit to the end, bind off, and you're done. No fiddly seams to sew or mates to match.

A little Quant and I think I can manage to look at school again.