Living in a New England college town, I am seeing students moving in with truckloads of furniture. They're looking for the finishing touches to personalize their apartments and dorms. This week’s Free Pattern is a colorful mitered square throw, Brenda's Blanket, featuring a favorite wooly novelty called Medley™. You might want to knit it as shown or change the color combination to suit your interior décor. You can also have a look at our entire collection of Medley patterns in our Web Gallery.

Medley is a favorite Berroco yarn of the novelty yarn connoisseur. Loaded with colors and textures, it allows you to create a very sophisticated, impressionist landscape-like fabric on big needles in simple garter stitch or reverse stockinette. Even the beginner knitter can master this exquisite fabric. This season, we have added three stunning new colorways.

All of the September fashion magazines have arrived. It's official, the knitting season is upon us! It’s practically “sweater weather.” The first order of business for every knitter worth his or her "salt" is to check out the new arrivals at their local yarn shop. Berroco’s new yarns and colors are in the stores and all of our new pattern books are available for you to browse. I assume that shopping for your next project is high on your “to-do list.”

¿Usted crochet? ¿Usted hace punto? We are looking for Spanish speaking instruction writers and proofreaders who can translate our American English instructions into Spanish. If you do and you are interested please write us at info@berroco.com

CORRECTION FOR ASARS PONCHETTE:
Please take a look at our corrected online pattern for the Asars Ponchette. This pattern was corrected on our website last Friday so if you printed the pattern for your files prior to that date, please print out this revised version. We apologize for any inconvenience.



Sabrina from Tallahassee wrote: I am knitting a tank top and there is nothing around the edges to keep it from rolling. I think it looks too homemade. Is there any way to give the edges a more finished look?

Sabrina, thanks for this question. I think it is imperative that all knitters learn a few basic crochet stitches. Whether or not you ever intend to become a crocheter, I encourage you to master these three techniques and put them in your bag of finishing tricks. To finish your tank top, I recommend that you try one of the following:

Work one row of single crochet and one row of backwards single crochet (also known as “crab stitch") around a neckline or edge of a garment to firm up the edges and control the "outside line." For a more delicate finish, perhaps one row of just single crochet will suffice. Another nice touch is one row of slip stitch and then one row of backwards single crochet. You can experiment. Crochet is so easy to pull out. If you drop a stitch, it doesn't run as in knitting. Chose a crochet hook that corresponds with your knitting needle size. To learn how, find a “how to” book on basic crochet stitches or Google ™ “crab stitch crochet.”

Today is the Friday before Labor Day. After a rain drenched week and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, I find myself dreaming of the cool, crisp fall and cold winter ahead. I have several projects on the needles and I look forward to many idyllic weekends, after the chores are done and the errands are run. I’ll throw some logs on the fire and curl up on my sofa, and listen to “This American Life” or “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on NPR. I love to listen to the radio with a throw on my needles, covering me as it grows. Ahh, this is knitting Nirvana.

All the best,


Margery Winter
Creative Director