Amy Christoffers to Become Berroco Design Director

Knitwear designers Amy Christoffers is set to become the new design director at Berroco as Norah Gaughan prepares to leave the company after nearly nine years to pursue other interests.

According to a news release from the yarn company, Amy will lead the in-house design department in production of seasonal pattern collections as well as looking to outside designers for projects.

Amy blogs at Savory Knitting and you can see her designs on Ravelry. She’s been a part of Wool People, Twist Collective and Knitscene, among other publications. I’m told that Amy will start work next month in anticipation of Norah leaving in May.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of this amazing team. I love that I’ll be able to bring independent designers together with the creative talent at Berroco,” Amy said in the release.

Congratulations, Amy, and I look forward to seeing this new direction at Berroco!

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Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal.

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles.

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges.

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to.

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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