Today I will show you snapshots from my recent trip to Florence. I was there in the beginning of July to attend the yarn exhibition, Pitti Filati. I spent several days shopping for new yarns for Fall 2006. As always, I wandered the streets of Florence with camera in hand, looking for those precious morsels of inspiration that I find in my favorite stores and store windows.
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Let's take a closer look at Softy™, a favorite yarn of many Berroco fans.  We have added 5 new shades to the palette of this soft and textural technofur yarn.  It is like the softest French angora without the allergens.

We are posting a free pattern for a lovely and easy to knit scarf/vest called Indra. It’s knit in Softy and it ties in front with a wide satin ribbon. Knit in simple stockinette stitch using a double strand of Softy, this project works up in no time. Over the past several seasons we have amassed quite a legacy of “Web Exclusive” free patterns. They are archived on our website and absolutely free for you to down load. To see them all, click here: Web Exclusives



Marnie from North Carolina wrote: I am about to begin the Issey sweater vest in book #236. In the beginning under BODY, it reads,“Work in St st until piece measures 12”, etc. I am on circular needles, so does it really mean knit each row (not knit one row and purl one row?)  In the stitch glossary, under stockinette stitch, it says to knit every round when working on a circular needle, not knit 1 row, purl 1 row. Which should I do?  I am confused.

Marnie, circular needles were originally conceived to replace double pointed needles when knitting in a tubular fashion.  Socks, hats and some sweaters are better knit in the round. When you cast on a number of stitches and join and work in the round, you will then need only to work in the knit stitch in order to create tubular stockinette stitch fabric. However, many knitters have discovered that it is easier to maintain a large number of stitches by using a circular needle because you will have too many stitches per row to fit comfortably on straight needles. Knitting one row and purling one row on a circular needle without joining creates a stockinette stitch fabric. So you can knit Issey in the same manner as on straight needles.

Thanks for writing. It never occurred to us that this might confuse the new knitter.

All the best,


Margery Winter
Creative Director