Cosy crochet beret

In the hat department of Liberty the other lunchtime, I tried on a very nice pompommed beret affair with a price tag of nigh-on £100. It brought to mind this crocheted beauty from my Hats of the Week series back in February:

Tres chic

I thought why not revisit this splendid hat pattern (hattern?) in this freezing cold weather…

I found it in the 1969 book Fashion Crochet by Caroline Horne:

An ex-Hornsey Library book, I seem to remember

 ...published by Mills & Boon – which evidently, before it became chief purveyor of cheesey romance, used to publish craft books and have this lovely logo:

If you're on the lookout for new headwear, you can find another of my favourite patterns from the same series here.

And if you want to tackle the jaunty beret above – here are the materials you'll need, the instructions and a few more instructions. Ooh la la