Blackberrying

No, I don't mean the portable electronic device.  Growing up in the vegetation-rich Georgia suburbs, this time of year my sister and I would sometimes go with my chemist mother to the industrial park where her "office" was and pick blackberries off the bushes out back.  Apparently I and my geographic quirks were not the only ones with a berry thicket past (my favorite is P---'s story from knitgroup about berrying among the discarded toilet bowls).  In any case, 'tis the season, and two of my latest pursuits have to some extent at least revolved around the titular fruit.

The first was an impromptu recreation of blackberry pie, with a standard 3-2-1 hand-shaped crust and a filling that involved--well, blackberries, of course--splashes of ginger ale and whipped cream vodka, flour for thickening, and just a tiny pinch of thyme to cut the syrupiness.  It comes out a bit tart to start off but mellows beautifully.  I'd offer you a taste, but, alas, technology hasn't advanced that far yet.

The second is the promised lace beret, pictured here:

It's a bit tricky to start the way I did it, but there aren't many top-down beret patterns, at least not that I've seen recently, so it might be worth testing out on the ol' double-points (or, *sigh,* circulars).  You cast on 5 stitches and increase in the round by knitting 1 into the front and back of each stitch (10 sts total, might actually help to start like you're doing an I-cord) to form the first row of the Arrowhead pattern.  Increase by a factor of 10 stitches every fourth row until you reach a desired diameter (for size 8s and worsted weight, knit into front and back of every stitch to double every 4th row until you reach 80 stitches, then knit into the front and back of every other stitch on your next iteration to make 40 stitches for a total of 120).  Repeat Arrowhead pattern approximately 4-6 times or until you get bored or start to run low on yarn, then decrease by a factor of 10 stitches every 4th row (k2tog to decrease) until you get to a reasonable head circumference (in my case, to 90 sts).  Finish Arrowhead repeat for that number of stitches, knit 1-2 rows, and bind off.  And there you have it: 1 piping hot totally cool blackberry beret.  Bon apetit!

Or perhaps you prefer the pie?