"This season, the design department at Berroco was very lucky to have the assistance of our Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) intern, Amanda Keep. It's such a pleasure to have someone to help with tasks like organizing the office yarn bins to developing pattern stitches and adding knit and crochet finishes. Although she's modest about her beauty, we persuaded her to model a few pieces in one of the upcoming fall booklets as well. Thanks for everything Amanda!" — Norah

Cirilia here! I also loved having Amanda around, for somewhat selfish reasons. I picked her brain every chance I could get and one weekend I cajoled her into giving me at tour of the Textile Department. RISD students burn through yarn at a rapid clip; Berroco often donates yarns to the Department, I spotted quite a few shiny blue labels. Amanda is adept with both machine and hand knitting techniques and she has the ability to translate between the two. This week's free pattern Pretty Ditty Bag and the green sweater seen below (a sneak peek of the fall line) are both adaptations of her machine knitting coursework.

This week's free pattern is knit in Pure® Pima, a perfect choice for summer projects. A ditty bag is an all-purpose pouch that can contain craft supplies, a picnic for one or your latest work in progress. The stitch pattern, adapted from one of Amanda's machine knit samples, is unusual and fun to knit.

Knit in Pure® Pima Skill level: Intermediate FREE pattern instructions

Be sure to check out our Booklet Patterns in Pure® Pima.

Happy knitting,