Meet the designer beloved for her flattering sweaters
Amy is much admired for her flattering sweater designs and her CustomFit system
AMY HERZOG has been cited as an inspiration by many other knitwear designers, thanks to her beautiful, wearable sweater designs. She is passionate about helping knitters to achieve a perfect fit, no matter their shape or size, and her CustomFit system helps people to adapt her patterns for any yarn or gauge. Amy shares her expert knowledge on sweater fit through her books, which include Knit To Flatter and Knit Wear Love.
Who inspired you to take up knitting?
“My mother and both of my grandmothers were knitting constantly when I was a child; I think it would have been hard not to take up knitting, given their example!”
Do you have a favourite artist, writer, poet or musician who inspires you?
“Enough of them that it’s difficult to pick a favourite! I was just recently introduced to Jean Feeney’s paintings and I’m obsessed with them. She mostly paints different areas of coastal Scotland, and she has such a lovely, bright way of combining colours that I find really inspiring.”
Which knitwear designer has most inspired you, and why?
“I think it’s probably Martin Storey, and the whole Rowan design team. When I picked knitting back up again as an adult just about 20 years ago now, the pattern scene looked pretty different – individual designer downloads weren’t a thing, yet. Rowan’s Knitting & Crochet Magazine was the ultimate inspiration – I’d always make sure to visit my local yarn store the moment a new issue came out, and knit at least one of the garments (and often more) each time.”
Tell us about the colours, landscapes or architecture that inspire your work.
“I like to focus on really basic silhouettes and concepts, made from exquisite fabrics and with just one or two details. And inspiration for those details can come from anywhere. For example, this fall, I had the way Art Deco buildings tend to overlap these really clean curves in mind, and I wanted to incorporate that into a garment somehow. So for my ‘Clipper’ cardigan, I used short rows and a pop of lovely acid green in an otherwise muted olive to give a more modern nod to that idea.”
What is your favourite knitting book?
“The one I use most often is definitely Vogue’s Ultimate Knitting Book – it was the only book on knitting I had as a child, and I still reference it when I can’t recall how to do something or other. But I also often find myself pulling out and looking at Poems of Color, Wendy Keele’s book on Bohus knitting. I love the combination of purls texture mixed in with the colour.”
What fibres do you love to work with?
“This is always the toughest question to answer! But wool, silk, alpaca, and linen top my list. (Is that too many?)”
Which design from your portfolio are you most proud of, or is most special to you?
“Wow, I don’t know if there’s a ‘most’. I think I had the biggest feeling of success from ‘Sunset Drive’, which was the first design for my CustomFit custom pattern generator that wasn’t super basic, where I felt like I nailed all of the different constraints when I design for the site. All of the designs need to work not only for any different body, but for any gauge. It’s quite a fun challenge, and I loved the way they played out in this design.”
Are there any styles of knitting you’d like to explore further?
“Yes, I’d really like to get more into small embellishments and details on basic sweaters – ‘Clipper’ started this current inspiration off for me, but I have lots of ideas around applied braids, and different architectural touches on a basic garment.”