Vintage-Look Beret

Vintage-Look Beret by Susan Pinner
Find the pattern in issue 74 of Inside Crochet magazine.

This retro-style beret with a floral centre is made in the round in a soft and snuggly alpaca.

This colourful design is taken from Granny Squares & Shapes by Susan Pinner (GMC, £14.99), available from www.thegmcgroup.com

MATERIALS
● Stylecraft Alpaca DK, 80% acrylic/20% alpaca, 100g/240m/262yds
Yarn A: Olive 6021 x 1 ball
Yarn B: Lime 6015 x 1 ball
Yarn C: Red 6022 x 1 ball
Yarn D: Teal 6018 x 1 ball
Yarn E: Cinnamon 6016 x 1 ball
Yarn F: Toffee 6011 x 1 ball
● 4mm hook

YARN ALTERNATIVES
The beret uses approximately 60g in total of yarn in total – perfect for using up yarns from your stash. For the alternate version (below), use Teal 6018 (A), Lime 6015 (B), Cream 6010 (C), Toffee 6011 (D), Olive 6021 (E) and Storm 6014 (F).

Granny Shapes & Squares by Susan Pinner
GMC (www.thegmcgroup.com),
£14.99 • UK terminology

➻ We were big fans of Susan Pinner’s first book, Granny Squares, so we were thrilled to see that she’s brought her pretty, vintage-feel style to another collection of crochet patterns inspired by the simple granny motif. This time, though, she’s branched out from just squares to also include diamonds, circles, hexagons and more. The book begins with an introduction to hooks, yarn and crochet techniques, plus basic granny shapes and a guide to colour inspiration. We then get to the real heart of the book: 20 beautiful patterns using the techniques and motifs. These range from projects for the home, such as a decorative stool cover, beanie bowl or daisy rug, to accessories such as a pinwheel shawl or cotton slippers and even garments such as the multi-coloured cami top (above), made of simple diamond motifs. Our favourite is the stunning boho-feel daisy top, though we do think the pretty heart bunting would be perfect hooked up in time for Valentine’s Day. Handy “Granny’s tip” boxes appear throughout the book with useful pointers when working the designs.