Category Archives: Berroco Mantra

PROJECT/KIT Mrs. Watson for Summer

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Pre-Order

These kits are a special-order, we aren’t stocking them in the store on a regular basis but you have the option to order them any time (it will be available to purchase as long as the manufacturer makes it available to us). Your kit will ship or be available for pick-up once it arrives, and we will contact you. If you need your kit for a specific date please let us know and we can find out if it’s doable. 

Mrs Watson

I’ve kind of been into slightly order patterns lately, not necessarily ‘vintage’ or retro, but things I think are awesome, maybe a bit different, but didn’t get the traction that other patterns do. I think of them like the Miros or Gaudis of the pattern landscape: peripheral, but absolutely brilliant.

One of these gems is Mrs. Watson by Martina Behm. I love the asymmetry and the graphic quality of the design. The shape is just interesting, and I like the way it draws inspiration from nature in the markings on a feather or a leaf (yeah, I know, I have a bird, I know feathers and leaves don’t actually look like that, but you get the concept). The stripes are created using short rows and an asymmetrical shape is achieved using strategic increases (don’t worry, it only sounds hard, it’s actually pretty straightforward).

This pattern also comes with a small technical bonus – it’s all garter stitch, which means you don’t have to unwrap any of you short-rows! If you are familiar with the short-row technique, then you already know that this is the fussier part of it, so it’s great to be able to skip it.

The Yarns

While I was swatching summer yarn samples from Berroco I had one of my “you know what would work well together …?!” moments. Berroco Medina knit up in such a beautiful colourway, I thought it might really hit the spot for a summer wrap (it’s a blend of cotton, viscose & acrylic). I paired it with Berroco Mantra, a 100% silk yarn, which is it’s a matte silk with a slightly slightly rustic look. Both are summer yarns, neither contain any woolly ingredients – perfect for a spring & summer wrap!

If you want to use a winter (wool) yarn, I suggest Fibre Co Acadia for the main colour and Schoppel Edition 3 as the contrast (you can also flip the solid vs ombre yarn, I’m trying that out right now). If you only want to use solid colours then you’ve got lots of options, just about anything Sport Weight to DK Weight will work.

Colours

I’ve gone through all of the colours for both yarns and paired them up with their best candidates for this project. If there is a combo that I missed, you can choose the “Choose Your Own Colours” option and leave us a note when you check out (or email) with your choice. 

The design works extremely well with a high contrast between the two yarns, especially the neutral cream as the main colour and the shifting colourway of a darker contrast colour. This kind of pairing is a no-brainer – natural/cream goes with just about everything, and it always makes the coloured yarn pop. I used main colour 4402 Cream and contrast colour 4733 Agadir.

There is, however, a case for colours that are a bit closer together, they just have to be colours that work well together and respect the balance in the pattern. You may not always get the same distinct patterning, but it can be gorgeous in a waving, undulating way. If you feel like the high contrast print is a bit too stark for you, consider one of these combos, they’re more subtle.

Modifications

I made our shawl a bit larger than the pattern (see Larger Size in the drop-down menu) by adding an extra three pattern repeats in “Leaf Pattern 3” and “Leaf Pattern 4” (a total of 6 leaf patterns between the two sections combined). 

I did not block our sample because I was enjoying it exactly as it is, but these yarns will block well and can be blocked aggressively if you want to make your shawl larger. 

I did not carry the yarn up the side and don’t recommend doing this – it left A LOT of ends to weave in and used up yarn unnecessarily.  I strongly recommend following this tutorial on how to elegantly carry colours up the side: https://youtu.be/mDYQVKETTUw

Size

Like I mentioned above, I did not block our sample, but these yarns will block well can be blocked aggressively if you want to make your shawl larger. 

  • Regular Size (following pattern instructions): approx 66″ long x 20″ across (blocked, made with Berroco Ultra Alpaca on 4mm/US6 needles)
  • Larger Size (with 6 extra pattern repeats): 68″ long x 20″ across (unblocked, made with Berroco Medina & Berroco Mantra on 3.75mm/US5 needles. Will be substantially larger if blocked aggressively)

Kit Includes

Kit DOES NOT Include

Because the pattern is owned by an independent designer, I think it is in their best interest if each customer buys and downloads it themselves. If you have a hard time with this type of thing you can purchase the pattern through us and we will download and print it on your behalf (see the bottom of the drop-down menu for this option). 

Special Skills

Knit it Hacks

  • I like to put a locking stitch marker in my wraps so I can find them easily and keep track of how many I’ve done (it isn’t necessary, but I find I makes life easier).
  • I also use locking stitch markers to mark sections of the pattern, so I can quickly look and see how many repeats I’ve finished.