The Letters Beret or Tam was inspired by a message from a movie wardrobe department looking for an Irish Look beret,
while filming here in Donegal this year. Unable to locate some ‘golden oldies’ I know are stashed somewhere, I was challenged to spend the weekend working out a couple of ‘new’ ones, inspired by the memories of 1970’s versions.
Over the years I’ve made and worn so many berets, mostly crochet in various yarns. It’s nice to return to knit and a strong cable pattern.
The increases are made by picking up loops below the next working stitch, they are invisible! The beret ‘grows out’ and then ‘grows in’ again. Once you establish what is happening you could vary the size or adapt to other yarn weights.

Materials
I’ve used Knitfield aran wool tweed from my web wool store, while all aran weights are good, preferably wool, or any yarn to suit the needle gauge will work great.
100g of ‘wildflower’ wool tweed was used to make this hat. Depending on your exact tension, you may need a little more than 100g, so buying two 100g cakes or three 50g balls is advisable

Technique
Knit on straight needles with some previous cable experience helpful. Written line by line rows 1 - 43, each row written separately. No charts.s

Sizes
Pattern is written in one size with advice on tweaking that.

Finished measurement
Circumference 21-22 ins

Thanks to all the crew in Gweedore with me in Spring for helping Knit test this hat. Also to Monica for simple advice added to the pattern having knit her second beret on circulars!

And that film? It’s called ‘Four letters of Love’, based on the book of the same name by Niall Williams, filmed in Ireland Spring 2023, costume designer Susan Scott.

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