We announced the next Berroco Knit-along for the Odora Shawl earlier this week. Odora was designed by Emily Nora O’Neil and uses four balls of Berroco Folio®, so for this week’s swatching post, I wanted to talk a little bit more about this great yarn!
The first time I used Berroco Folio was when I was swatching for the Green Apple Tank from Knitscene Summer 2014. I’d been wanting to work with Folio since I first saw it so I used this design as an excuse to knit with it, and I loved the entire experience. I can say with quite a bit of authority that if you find you make a mistake, or need to re-design a project on the needles, Folio rips out and re-knits quite nicely! Since using Folio for that project, I’ve been dreaming of other projects to knit with this beautiful blend of alpaca and rayon, and now I get to knit my Odora Shawl with it!
For today’s post, I swatched with Berroco Folio Luxe™, which has the same amount of alpaca content in the yarn, but has a little less rayon and some added sparkle. Our recommended gauge is the same as Berroco Folio, and Luxe comes in six shades inspired by natural colors, so you could use Berroco Folio Luxe to knit Odora if you’d like. Folio and Folio Luxe are both three-ply light DK-weight yarns. I love knitting with Folio and Folio Luxe is no different—despite being a mostly alpaca yarn and having guard hairs plus small bits of sparkle, the knitting is smooth and the yarn flows through your hands easily. Depending on your project, you can either block the fabric and pin (as you’d want to do for Odora) or simply steam the finished piece to let the stitches relax a little bit (my swatch was lightly steamed). You can see how subtle the sparkle is—just enough to catch the light but not completely overwhelming.
Folio and Folio Luxe are great for all kinds of projects, but it’s especially lovely in shawls! We have many garment and accessory patterns designed specifically for Berroco Folio, but I think it’s especially great for warm-weather shawls.
We have Berta, designed by Amy Christoffers, a free shawl knitting pattern knit in Berroco Folio Luxe. There’s also Greenland Sea, designed by Norah Gaughan, which features a lace patterns that mimics the rolling waves of the sea. Sliver is a v-shaped scarf in an eyelet column pattern, designed by Norah Gaughan. And Iwo, a colorblock shawl designed by the Berroco Design Team, allows for personalization depending upon which two colors of Berroco Folio you choose.
What projects have you knit with Berroco Folio or Berroco Folio Luxe? Let us know in the comments!
-AP
I would make a shawl with this yarn. I’ve been wanting to make a shawl but just never started.