Dear KnitBits® Subscribers,

After completing her long awaited first book, Knitting Nature, Norah Gaughan joined the Berroco team to become our Design Director. She brought to us her inspired creativity and vast knowledge of knitwear design. At once, our line of yarns and patterns took a definite swing toward the classics and as luck would have it, so did the fashion knitting trend. Norah's brilliant and original stitch patterning contributes so much to our Berroco design vocabulary.

KNITTING NATURE, By Norah Gaughan
Photographs by Thayer Allyson Gowdy Stewart
Tabori & Chang • STC Craft | A Melanie Falick Book Hardcover with Jacket • $29.95, 176 pages • 75 full-color photographs • 9" x 10" ISBN 1-58479-484-4
Available at yarn shops nationwide.

Now, as Creative Director, I am able to have a broader brush stroke as Norah is focused on the finer details. I am delighted to say that her new book is truly ground breaking and inspiring. I was first struck by the magnificent photography and design of this book. After reading it from cover to cover, I am eager to pick up my needles and share the fascination with natural form that has inspired Norah to create her masterpiece.

Norah muses about her book:
"After reading a popular science book about nature's patterns (The Self-Made Tapestry by Philip Ball), I became fascinated by natural patterns and how they appear again and again in situations that seem to have nothing to do with one another. Similar patterns are made by different processes because ultimately only a few laws of physics control growth and form. For instance, Spirals are seen in circumstances as diverse as hurricanes, sunflowers and sea shells. Branching is seen in the totally unrelated forms of frost crystals, trees and rivers. I decided to explore these shapes in knitting.


Some of designs in this book are structurally similar to nature's example (this is the case with the Snapping Turtle Skirt shown on the cover and the Basalt Tank) while some are merely inspired by the rules of nature. Others were inspired by mathematical representations of patterns from nature as was the case with the Coastline Skirt. For a few, the pattern from nature becomes a surface decoration imposed on the grid of knitting, as is the case with the Branching Aran Guernsey. The Target Wave Mittens playfully represent a chemical reaction that affects patterns from butterfly wings to zebra stripes.

In all cases, working within the framework of six categories of patterns found in nature set my mind free to look at things differently, allowing me to rethink the structure of sweater making beyond the normal front, back and sleeves. I've always felt I do better work given a few limitations. I find the phase 'do whatever you want' quite daunting. Limiting my thoughts to patterns from nature provided me with something to hang my thoughts on in a cohesive manner."

For a Q&A with Norah, click here.

Today's free pattern is a beautiful handbag, Brea, which Norah designed using principles and techniques found in her book. The front and back are each four segments of a hexagon, knit from the outside in. A simple cable pattern repeated four times combines to resemble a lotus flower. Choose from our 50 colors of Ultra Alpaca (knit double stranded) and whip one up to suit your wardrobe.

WIN A FREE BOOK!
A treasure hunt icon, shown right, is hidden somewhere on the Berroco website. Follow the clues below to find the icon and enter to win. Ten free books, Knitting Nature, will be awarded. Winners will be selected randomly from individuals who correctly respond by email received before midnight (EST) May 29th. Must be a resident of US or Canada. Employees of Berroco are not eligible.

Start where the heart is.
Waste no time, go to the greens.
March on, to where all butterflies like to be.
If you know the ropes,
this ancient language
reveals a treasure to behold.

About Yarn Substitution in KNITTING NATURE
As you might imagine, it takes a bit of time to produce a hardcover book such as this. In that time two Berroco yarns have been discontinued. The Roundabout Leaf Tank was originally shown in Denim™Silk and the Swirled Pentagon Pullover was shown in Pleasure™. For both garments, Ultra™Silk is a beautiful substitution. Here's a look at the Swirled Pentagon Pullover re-knit in Ultra Silk.

All the best,


Margery Winter
Creative Director