A learning project which, despite its flaws is still wearable. At first I thought the dark color would be a poor choice because it hides the cable texture but in light of the mistakes, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. My experience with cables is minimal but even though this seemed like it would be a lot of cabling the pattern is really straightforward and an ideal choice for an inexperienced cable knitter, though I stupidly omitted rounds 22 & 23 (plain K & P rounds) & added them in later.

Secondly, I used a size 6 needle for the Italian tubular cast on & ribbing. If I had it to do over again I’d go down a few more sizes. Yarn is (so-called) bulky but truly more heavy worsted, & I couldn’t imagine working on anything tighter but probably should have as ribbed band is a bit loose. However, the size 7 for hat body produced a firm, unfloppy fabric which is exactly what I prefer in a beret/tam.

I wanted this for a St Patrick’s Day party but multiple attempts at the tubular cast on put it well past that date well out of reach.