Dear KnitBits subscribers,

Today we will focus on another Berroco “classic.” Our Cotton Twist™ was developed several years ago to be a basic cotton yarn that would befit our Berroco image. Berroco yarns always offer something special. The touch of rayon in Cotton Twist adds a depth of color and extra allure to the mercerized cotton. Berroco brings bling to basics in a color range of 42 spectacular solids and 13 spaced dyed mixes. It knits on a size #8 needle at 4.75 stitches to the inch, putting it in a “worsted” range. Over the years we have designed many Cotton Twist garments for knitters and crocheters. Every spring the knitting magazines look to our Cotton Twist color range for their color work sweaters.

Have a look at our Cotton Twist patterns to see some of my favorite designs. You can also find many patterns in our Free Patterns section. You are invited to print out anything you like among these free patterns. Then you can go to your local yarn shop and have your choice of colors.

This week I have been experimenting with yarn crafts and I made some Ojos de Dios, or God’s Eyes, using chopsticks and Cotton Twist yarn. I used chopsticks, but any smooth sticks will do. If you want to know how to make these you can click here.

You can make arts and crafts from our yarns by actually using the yarn as paint and gluing it to a board, much like the yarn paintings of the Huichols Indians.

Having been inspired by these “paintings,” I have been experimenting over the years with creating compositions with yarn.



READER'S TIP: Marilyn from Washington State wrote us with a great idea: “For those of us who knit with circular needles, I found that putting the circular needles in a shoe bag with clear plastic pockets makes a wonderful circular needle case. It will have 20 pockets and will hold all your needles plus a couple of pockets for your long stitch holders and misc. items.”

Marilyn, thanks for the great idea, this will help me to organize my new studio that is almost complete now. It will have lots of bulletin boards, a big work table and bins for my yarns, sewing machine, knitting machine,
dress form, drawing and painting supplies. There will be an adjacent photo studio so that I can show you in each Knitbits what I have been creating in my new space.

With my new studio, I will be able to move from my administrative duties in my office with computer and telephone to my creative area with materials and wall space, never mixing the two and therefore keeping my creative responsibilities “outside the box”. While I will continue to create knitted and crocheted projects, I hope to be able to take Berroco Yarns to another dimension of craft. Having had a background in painting and drawing as well as knitting and dressmaking, I plan to be very creative in this new stage of my career. I hope that you too will enjoy all the ways I will experiment with Berroco yarns.


All the best,


Margery Winter
Creative Director