designer spotlight

Summer Knitting with Martha

Sweet summer knitting should be projects that travel well and wear well, and Martha Wissing  has been on a roll dreaming up beautiful new designs featuring Berroco yarns. 

The Rock Street Tee, designed for Pima 100

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This simple boxy pullover is suitable for the knitter wanting to make her first sweater. Consisting of only knit and purl stitches with simple increases and decreases for shaping details. Techniques used include three needle bind off, picking up stitches and seaming. The front and back are knit from the bottom up and the three needle bind off is used for the shoulder seams. Stitches are picked up along the sides and the sleeves are knit down to the elbow. The sleeve length can be customized for the perfect fit. Stitches are picked up for the neckband and worked in the round. Side seams are sewn.

The Bluebonnet Top designed for Berroco Fiora

Screenshot 2017-06-16 14.15.15Spring in Texas is Bluebonnet time! They are massed along the highways and covering fields here in Central Texas thanks to our former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. Mrs. Johnson had a vision to make the world better – more “beautiful” – one plant at a time. She recognized that wildflowers and other native plants can lift the spirit and that conserving them and using them in our everyday landscapes is critical to our future. She established the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center to realize this dream. When in Austin be sure to visit!

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The front and back of the sweater are worked bottom up. The length is easily adjusted by working fewer repeats of the Leaf Lace Pattern. The three needle bind off method is used for seaming the shoulders. Stitches are picked up for the sleeves and the sleeves are knit from the shoulders down. The Leaf Lace Pattern is worked four times across front for size X-Small/Small and five times across for sizes Medium/Large and 1X/2X.

The Poplar Point Shawl in Modern Cotton DK

Screenshot 2017-06-16 14.23.53The Poplar Point shawl is worked sideways, increasing to the halfway point then decreasing to the end. If you have additional yarn and would like a larger shawl keep increasing until you have used half of your yarn. The leaf pattern is along the top of the shawl when worn.Screenshot 2017-06-16 14.23.33

Check out more of Martha’s design work in her Ravelry portfolio, and see more Berroco yarns here.

4 thoughts on “Summer Knitting with Martha

  1. These are all lovely summer patterns using cotton yarns that I am intrigued to attempt! Winter is when I work on my summer knitting projects so at least one of these will be a part of my summer 2018 wardrobe. Thank you Berroco for wonderful yarns and beautiful projects!

    1. Hi Linde, I did a quick search through Ravelry and didn’t see anything that was exactly like the Bluebonnet Top, but you may see some things you like there that you could adapt!

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