annecy beret

Another new pattern to reveal this week (I’m on a roll!) and happily, it’s another design for Knit Picks! The Annecy Beret went live today on their website as part of their Independent Designer Program.

Interestingly, I had first imagined this design in an angora-blend yarn, for a super lush (and slightly 1950’s-sweater-ish) texture. But after communicating with Knit Picks a bit, we settled on their fantastic Gloss HW/Aran yarn, which is a 70/30 merino/silk blend, in their “Coast Grey” color just in time for winter. The yarn has great smoothness and elasticity as you knit with it, but the silk lends just the right amount of sheen and polish to the finished fabric. I enjoy the finished design in this yarn even more now than the original concept because the swirling ribs are more defined as they wrap towards the crown and the simple lace eyelets that are snuggled between the ribs also have a nice definition/body to them.

Probably the neatest detail of this beret is its knitted hem. The more that I come up with designs, the more I realize that I like simple, well-thought-out and well-finished ideas. Having a knitted hem on the beret means that the hat will always fit snugly with a thick, cushy brim that will not shift or stretch a great deal, and the brim will have a professional, sleek look. It is a bit of a fiddly technique to achieve this hem because it requires a provisional cast on and later knitting two sets of stitches together, but (1) it’s worth it; and (2) it’s a great training ground for those of you who haven’t tackled this technique before. Easier to try it out on a small hat than on a large garment! 😉

As always, Knit Picks has been incredibly supportive and it’s a complete joy to work with them again. I’ve added pages here at Makewise and on Ravelry to make the pattern more readily available, but you can always follow the link above to support Knit Picks (which I heartily recommend!), buy the PDF, and get started right away!

The beret is named in keeping with my other beret pattern, the Courchevel Beret. In both instances, they’re named after French Alpine ski resorts. Now, I’ve never been to any of these resorts (and would probably spend 95% of my time falling down if I did visit them), but honestly – who wouldn’t want to wear a beret while strolling the resort in full-on apres-ski fashion? A girl can dream. Mega thanks to Andrew, my husband/photographer/patient stylist, who helped me snap these photos on the rooftop of our building in the midst of 40 mph winds. I was hoping for a little bit of that French-girl-je-ne-sais-quoi, but I think we were lucky to just get some photos without my hair in my face. 🙂

Enjoy!