When following a Berroco pattern, how often do you use our yarns? Click to Vote

Today, you will take a tour of pattern booklet #259 L'attitude and I will talk about two great warm weather yarns, Touché™ and Ultra®Silk.

#259 L'attitude is a collection of 7 knit garments that have a certain flair and ease of fit. With a modern approach to dressing, today's woman can choose to layer pieces any way she wishes. She can choose long over long, long over short or short over long layering, using untraditional knits like shrugs, vests, wraps and tunics. Today's trendy cardigan rarely buttons completely closed and when it does, it has other nonconformist features such as the extreme geometric shaping in our "fit and flair" Napoli in Touché. Geometric shapes have influenced the silhouette and proportions of many of our garments this spring. Nigella, also in Touché, is a circle with an easy lattice border and a traditional sleeve cap. Noreen, knit in Ultra Silk, is pure and simple yet powerful in its concept for our knitters who prefer the dramatic bold gesture of monumental proportions. Nadine, also in Ultra Silk, is knit in one piece from the bottom up. The body is worked to the armholes and then stitches are bound off and more are cast on for sleeves. The yoke is then worked in one piece to the neck. Nanette, knit in Cotton Twist™, is a long pullover vest with a chevron lace pattern. The lower portion is worked from the bottom up while the bodice is worked in 2 pieces from side to side. Nanon, in Cotton Twist, is a short sleeved mesh stitch bolero that ties in front with ball adornments. Nico, knit in Bonsai™, is a tie-front stockinette stitch cardigan with seed stitch trim.

Touché is a cotton/Modal™ rayon blend of a classic twisted 4 ply yarn that knits to a traditional worsted gauge of 5 to the inch. This season we expanded this popular palette of 28 shades. Ultra Silk is a favorite designer yarn with the perfection of stitch quality of a rounded silk and rayon knit tube that is filled with airy nylon. With the undeniable hand of the finest silk, Ultra Silk is available in a palette of 15 colors.

Today we are posting 2 free patterns. Wren is a short-sleeved cardi-wrap knit in Zodiac™. We have fastened it with a kilt pin or you could wear it open and fold the shawl collar back. Wanda is knit in Ultra®Silk. It's another short sleeved shawl collar cardigan with interior shaping, loads of ribbing and interesting cabled details.

Courtney from New Jersey asked,   "I have been knitting for years now, but I always seem to have a problem with a rib stitch. When I switch from a knit to a purl the stitch seems to 'stretch out.' This only happens when I go from a knit to a purl and my purl to a knit is at a normal tension. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?"

Hi Courtney,
This is a good question. I too have been knitting for many years and I too have a looser purl stitch than knit stitch. You may also notice that when knitting stockinette you have defined ridges on the reverse side. I find that with certain yarns, like Pure®Merino and Ultra®Alpaca, my stitches are very uniform. These yarns are twisted and rounded to perfection. The natural elasticity of these fine woolen fibers helps to regulate an all over even tension in my knitting. Our Love it™ yarn also has an elastic component that corrects any unevenness in tension. I recommend you try knitting ribbing with any one of these 3 yarns and see whether you have better results.

All the best,

Margery Winter Creative Director