Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?


Well, it certainly isn't a tank top!

This doesn't happen to me very often, but I just couldn't get gauge and didn't want to have to start recalculating the pattern to a different gauge (knitting is my escape from thinking at the moment) so I had a flick through the pattern book and found a couple of patterns for which I was hitting the gauge perfectly and for which I had enough yarn.

Introducing the beret...


and the multidirectional scarf...


The beret was really fun to knit. The pattern gave directions for knitting it flat and then sewing it up, but this didn't seem to make sense for something so essentially round, so I worked it on circular needles, then DPNs once the circumference was reduced enough.


I couldn't really see how the scarf worked initally but since the pattern made no mention of picking up stitches (something I avoid if I can except in socks) I gave it a go. It's actually really simple and good fun. Whenever I'm making something with such simple but effective design, I'm always left wondering how it was worked out in the first place. The finished solution may be elegant and simple, but I would imagine the conception was fairly involved!

Finally, the Twilley's Freedom Spirit yarn (100% wool) was lovely to use, if a bit splitty and isn't at all itchy. I do think that it might be a bit warm for a layering jumper though.