Felting by hands was not too hard. I even put it on the washer on hand wash cycle. I threw it in a zippered pillow case , with some beach shoes.
I new from this point that it may have been too short, but it was too big as well for my head. The opening was about and inch larger. If I had hair or a bigger head, that would have been no problem , lol.
I used a glass plate to give it the shape. The shaping was easier than I expected. I used clothes pins as well to hold it in place. I don't know if the pattern would have come out the same had it been crochet instead of knit. The pattern is for a knit Beret.
The picture above shows you what I needed to add after it was made. Yep, I grabbed the needles and made about a 2.5 inch brim, then I sew it in place and felted the brim by itself. It worked out exactly as I wanted it to begin with. I believe the whole project could have benefited from a 3 inch brim and about 2 more inches at the top.
In the end I am very happy with the outcome. The color is what I wanted and the shape is fantastic. I did not expect it to shape this way, but it does look good. I hope you enjoyed the hand dye, felting journey of this Beret. The pattern is made by Kent Turman for a moss stitch Beret. I adapted it to make it a felted Beret. Thanks for stopping by!
