The Gourmet Beret ₊‧ Free Crochet Pattern ⋅˚₊‧ 𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅ très chic 👩‍🎨

I can't stop making these fabulously floppy berets, or as my five-year-old calls them, the painter hat. We're gonna call it the gourmet beret, and we'll get right into crocheting it today with some bulky weight yarn, like this Bernat Fluffy, which is a great yarn for this pattern because it's still light and lofty, allowing our otherwise chunky project to still have plenty of slouch. And I used a 7mm hook, or a USK crochet hook for this pattern. The top of the beret is a simple hexagon, so we're going to start that motif with a slip knot. And chain 4. Slip stitch to the first chain to create a little chain 4 ring. Now we'll begin the hexagon round 1. Chain 3, which counts as 1 double crochet, and into your chain 4 ring, work 1 double crochet. Chain 1, and work 2 double crochets into your ring. So far, you've got 4 double crochets, with 1 chain 1 between them. Again, chain 1, and work 2 double crochets into the ring. If, from afar, the hat looked like a granny stitch to you, you may have expected 3 double crochets in these clusters, but this beret is actually made of 2 double crochet clusters, with chain 1s between them. In my head, I was calling them skinny granny clusters. So continue working around with 2 double crochet, followed by a chain 1. And you'll have a total of 6 sets of skinny granny stitches. Chain 1, and slip stitch to the top of your starting chain 3 to complete the round. And that's it for round 1. Round 2, we'll set up the 6 corners of our hexagon. So chain 3, and turn. Chain 3s will always count as stitches in this pattern. And into the very next chain space below, work a double crochet. And chain 1. We'll make this a corner by working another 2 double crochets into the same chain space. And chain 1. Into the next chain space, work a corner as well, with 2 double crochets into the chain space, chain 1, and another 2 double crochets into the same chain space. Chain 1. Work a corner like this into each chain space of the previous round. And when you've worked back to the start, chain 1 and slip stitch to the top of your starting chain 3 to complete round 2. Now we'll start round 3, which will be similar to the rest of our increase rounds. Chain 3, turn, and work 1 double crochet into the first chain space right here. This is a regular old chain space, and not a corner. So it just gets 1 skinny granny cluster. And you can chain 1, and into the next chain space, which is a corner, you'll need to work another corner. So go ahead and put 2 double crochets in there, chain 1, 2 more double crochets to complete the corner. Chain 1, and into the next regular chain space, work 1 skinny granny cluster. Chain 1 to get over to the next corner, and I think you know what you've got to do here. Work a corner into the corner. Continue all the way around your motif, putting corners into corner chain spaces, and 2 double crochets in regular chain spaces. And when you've worked your 6th corner, chain 1, and slip stitch to the top of your starting chain 3. Now rounds 4, 5, and 6 are just like round 3. You'll continue growing your hexagon, working 1 skinny granny cluster in each chain space, and corners into each corner chain space. And after round 6, 6 rounds, hexagon, easy to remember, right? Anyway, after round 6, you'll have a flat hexagon about 10 inches or 25 centimeters across. Next, all we'll do is 1 round without increasing. What that will look like is a skinny granny cluster, followed by a chain 1 in each chain space, and even into the corner chain space, just work 1 skinny granny. Continue like that to the end of the round, and your piece will no longer lay flat. It'll start to curve up like this. And we'll start the first of 4 decrease rounds. Chain 3, turn, and work 1 double crochet into the first chain space. Counting this one, you'll work a total of 5 clusters before our first decrease. So across the next 2 chain spaces, we'll work a double crochet 3 together decrease. To do that, I'll chain 1, and begin 1 double crochet into the next chain space. But I'll stop after pulling through those first 2 loops. With 2 loops on my hook, yarn over, and insert between those next 2 double crochets. Again, work an incomplete double crochet. With 3 loops on the hook, yarn over, and work 1 more incomplete double crochet into the next chain space. Now with 4 loops on my hook, I can yarn over and pull through all 4 loops. And there's your first decrease. There will be 3 like this in the round. Chain 1, and into the next chain space, work 2 double crochets. Counting this cluster you just made, work 10 clusters. And then I'll show you that decrease one more time. Repeat that once more with 10 clusters, followed by a decrease. Then finish up with 5 more clusters. Then you can slip stitch to the starting chain 3, completing decrease round 1. Decrease round 2 starts with a chain 3, turn, and work 1 double crochet into the first chain space. And you'll continue on working clusters, including into the chain spaces on either side of your decreases from the previous row. You'll work a total of 10 clusters. Don't get too far ahead of the rest of the class, because this time we're going to do our decreases a little differently. After my 10th cluster, I won't chain, I'll skip the next chain space, and work 1 double crochet right into the chain space after that. And work a second double crochet into the same chain space to complete its cluster. And that's what the decreases will look like on this round, skipping right over a chain space from the previous round. Now, counting this cluster that we just made, work 10 total, and perform another decrease the same way. Then work another 10 clusters, and you'll wind up back at the start with an extra chain space. So this will be your last decrease of the round. Don't chain, and slip stitch right into the starting chain 3, skipping that last chain space, and completing decrease round 2. Decrease round 3 starts with a chain 3 and turn. Complete a double crochet right into the space below, which isn't a chain space technically, since we didn't chain, but the gap between your first and last clusters of the previous round. Counting that cluster you just made, work 5 clusters total, then make a decrease the same way that we did on the previous round. No chain, skip a chain space below, and work your next cluster into the space after the skipped one. On this round, your magic number is 9. Counting this new cluster, work 9 clusters, and decrease. Oh, and I wanted to show you that when you come to the previous round's decrease, count that gap between stitches as a chain space as well. So yes, then work 9 clusters, and decrease, until your last 4 chain spaces. Then work 4 clusters, and when you've reached your initial 5 clusters, 4 plus 5 is 9, so you can slip stitch to complete the round. Now on this last decrease round, round 4, before you chain or turn or anything, go ahead and slip stitch to the top of the next stitch. Then slip stitch into the next chain space, so we can change where we're starting from in this round. Chain 2, and turn. We're actually going to start right in the middle of a double crochet 3 together, in the center of this cluster here. So yarn over, and insert between these 2 stitches, and make an incomplete double crochet. Yarn over and do the same in the next chain space, and you'll have 3 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through 3, and chain 1. Now you can work 2 double crochet clusters in each of the next 7 chain spaces. So counting this guy, you'll do 7 before the next decrease. And you may have caught it that this round has a double crochet 3 together decrease, so let's do a little refresh on those. Yarn over, incomplete double crochet in the chain space, 2 loops on the hook, yarn over, incomplete double crochet in the center of the next cluster, 3 loops on the hook, yarn over, incomplete double crochet in the next chain space, 4 loops on the hook, yarn over and pull through 4, and chain 1. Again work 7 clusters, followed by a decrease, followed by 7 clusters. And when you reach your first decrease, chain 1, and slip stitch somewhere in the top of that stitch to complete the round. Let's step back and take a look at our hat. Aren't berets an interesting shape? All that's left is to add our little waistcoat stitch brim to make it fit a bit better. And that will start with a round of single crochet. Now we don't need to turn our work anymore. You can chain 1, and work 1 single crochet right into that first stitch. And work 1 single crochet in the next chain space. Now, since we're setting up for the waistcoat stitch, I recommend keeping the first loop on your hook nice and loose. If you've ever worked waistcoat stitch before, you know that working into these stitches on the next round can get kind of tight if you're not careful. So the next single crochet, you'll work right between these double crochet stitches, into the next chain space, and in between the next 2 double crochets. Continue working around in single crochet like this, and when you come to a decrease, you can work 1 single crochet in that stitch. And continue on to the next chain space. When you've made it all the way around, you can slip stitch into the first single crochet to complete the round. Now we'll start the first of 2 rounds of waistcoat stitch. So I'll bring in nice and close to see that rather than working into the V-shaped stitches on the top that you're used to, we'll work a single crochet right into the center of the single crochet post below. To pull up a loop through the center of the stitch like so. Again, keep the first loop loose as you complete a single crochet. Again, into the middle of the post, and complete a single crochet. And that is how you work the beautiful waistcoat stitch. Go ahead and complete 2 rounds like this. You'll have about 48 stitches. At this point, you can fasten off, but we're not done yet, because no beret is complete without a little nubbin on top. So let's add one to our beret. Grab a new yarn and make a slip knot with a tail about the length of your hand. Pop the slip knot on your hook, and we're going to take the tail and wrap it over the front of your hook, and cross it over the working yarn. Yarn over normally with the working yarn, and pull it through the 2 loops on your hook. Again, grab the yarn tail, wrap it over the front, and cross. Yarn over, pull through 2. Once more, front wrap with the tail, yarn over from behind with the working yarn, and pull through 2. That's really all we'll need for our little nub. You can cut the working yarn, and just pull it all the way through. Now you've got a nub with 2 tails, and I'll show you how to attach it and close the hole on the top of our beret. With a smaller hook, working counterclockwise, insert under about half of these stitches right here at the top of your hat. Grab one tail and pull it all the way through. Take your little hook, and working clockwise, go under the remaining half of stitches to grab the other nubbin tail and pull it through. Now working down clockwise through the remaining stitches, grab your clockwise tail and pull it through, and do the same for the counterclockwise tail. Now you can adjust the nub and pull those strands really tight. You can tie them together tightly, and weave the ends back through some of the stitches before cutting them short. There, now it's really a beret. I've already made so many, and I love them. As a little bonus, I wanted to show off how cute they can be if you alternate colors. Here's an example of what I made, changing color every round with blue, black, and cream. I hope you enjoyed this pattern. Tag me online if you make a gourmet beret, because I'd love to see them. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye!