FOs

Beret:
specs
yarn - my handspun... jamberry [ roving dyed by Nancy Ballasteros in W.A and purchased at Purl's Palace and unidentified purple ] and blueberry [same unidentified purple roving gifted by Felicity, and BWM Delta readyspin ]
Don'tcha love that 'bright sunlight directly in the face and showing all the wrinkles' pose?

gauge - 22 stitches per 4"

needles - 4.5mm

I was told that for homespun I should go up a size or two in needles on what I'd expect and this yarn worked out to about 5 ply / sport . Seems like it was good advice... the fabric of the hat is neither too dense not too loose and, as you can probably see in the photo, drapes beautifully.
I'm pretty chuffed at how it turned out and really like the colour combo. I'm wearing it with the Yarn Harlot Scarf made from the same Blueberry and it even tones with the fingerless gloves. It will go quite nicely with black, blue, purple and red, so that's about 7/8 of my wardrobe :]

pattern:
started out as a lacy beret from Cleckheaton book 956 but with a ribbed band instead of picots, and then I realised that the eyelets looked odd in handspun so just made it plain. So basically it's nothing at all like the original pattern and I just followed along for stitch and row count.

For the record though, this particular pattern book is an absolute beaut... hats, scarves, socks all in four sizes from baby to adult woman. If the discussions on Ravelry are to be believed it must be sold out all over Australia. I got mine from the supermarket for about $8 straight after it came out.

Surplice baby Jacket
yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Dk
needles: 4mm
pattern: Vogue Knitting International Spring 2007

this is the second one and I decided to lengthen the arms before adding the cuffs.
It worked well and I've since made another in blue. The colour is off on my monitor - it's not deep rose pink, more of a country red.