20 Things About Me: Amy Christoffers Edition

With all the changes and new faces here at Berroco, I thought it was a good time for re-introductions! So here are 20 Things About Me, Amy Christoffers, Berroco Design Director and sometime-reluctant blog poster.

1. Many of of my earliest memories are of hanging out in my grandmother’s yarn shop (it was called the Village Shop) which she owned with two friends until I was about 8 or 9 years old (they even sold Berroco yarn!).
2. I did not learn how to knit from my grandmother, I taught myself from a book when I was in college.
3. I learned to crochet from my mom when I was 5 or 6.
4. When I first learned how to knit, I knit English style. When I taught myself how to knit Continental style, I started twisting all my stitches and didn’t notice. I even knit a whole sweater and was immensely proud of it until a lady in a bookstore came up to me and asked if I’d knit it myself. To which she commented ‘It must have taken forever with all those twisted stitches’. Oops.
5. My favorite color is usually orange.
6. Sometimes it is green.
7. My first pattern is the Goldfish Mittens– Berroco’s Ultra Wool Fine would be perfect for these!

   

8. My lucky number is 8.
9. My favorite food is popcorn.
10. The pattern Daisy Gertrude is named after my grandmother’s basset hound who was named after my great-great grandmother.
11. I love to cook. Making dinner every night is my moment of zen and a super important part of how I unwind, re-set and recharge creatively. If I don’t do it I can get cranky.
12. The best thing about cooking as a creative outlet is that if you try something and it isn’t good, you can always try again tomorrow. I think that sums up my philosophy about creativity and trying new things in general, too.
13. My favorite knitting technique is mattress stitch– it is so satisfying!
14. My other favorite knitting trick is the tubular cast-on.
15. I am from Vermont which means the perfect breakfast is pie.
16. I always wanted to be a designer when I grow up.
17. I first learned that there is a such thing as a ‘knitting designer’ from the book Knitting in America by Melanie Falick– specifically the chapter about Norah Gaughan.
18. My favorite Pride and Prejudice is the 1940 version with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. Olivier is the only Darcy for me.

    

19. I have traveled to some amazing places but I have never been to any desert. The Grand Canyon is on my bucket list.
20. I’m very introverted and writing this list made me very squirmy!

Looking forward to sharing more fun things here on the Berroco blog this year!

Happy knitting!

Amy