Hello Everyone!
During our March
Mowry Madness we reveled in the amazing patterns by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee
Knits. While Andrea Mowry is not the first designer to coin the term “fade”
(that was Stephen West), she is arguably most responsible through her designs
for many of us finding our fade and
catching “fade fever”. For many of us in the Yarns Family of Yarns by HPF, we
first met Andrea Mowry when we knitted her “What the Fade?!” shawl, her mystery
KAL that incorporated six skeins where colors seemed to magically melt into one
another. For me, I learned a different way of putting colors together, using
keys bits or speckles of color in one skein to bring out a color in the next skein.
During
an interview with indie UNTANGLED, Andrea was asked how she “Find Your Fade”
shawl, came to be. She explained that she likes to do what she calls a
“creativity experiment” and uses yarn from her stash that she most wants to use
without constraints or expectations. And finding your fade doesn’t stop at
shawls, during our Mowry Madness KAL this month our knitters have “So Faded”
and “Comfort Fade Cardi” on their needles. Andrea Mowry also designs modern
handmade garments like the “Weekender”, which is not a fade but does
incorporate interest with a tubular cast on and well placed slipped stitches
and purls. This is my first sweater and with such a well-written pattern and
links to new skills, like the tubular cast on, I am confident that my first
sweater will not be my last. We are looking forward to seeing everyone’s
sweaters. We are also knitting the Vintage Prim Hat because you can never have enough Brioche!
And
here’s a little bit more about Andrea Mowry. She learned how to knit from her
Grandma Ginny. Andrea started her career as a pastry chef and went to culinary
school. The owner of the bakery shop where she got her first baking job loved
that she put knitting under ‘other skills” on her resume. When she left the
kitchen she went from writing recipes to writing patterns, something she says
felt very organic for her. Her designs are inspired by yarn colors and she
always swatches. And lucky for us, she is so creative that we have great deal
of “Mowry Madness” to choose from. Based on her social media, Andrea looks like
she loves to knit with other knitters bring the sense of community among those
of us who love having a project on our needles or hooks for that matter. And
community is so important to our lives and well-being.
Now,
a bit more about community - Jacksonville, AL, the home of Yarns by HPF and
many members of our Yarns Family, was recently hit with an EF-3 tornado on
March 19th. This tornado took out homes, the local university
buildings, businesses, and a church, among other devastation. The pictures and
video on the news cannot capture the brutality of nature. But what are very
apparent is the strong sense of community though people’s resilience,
volunteerism, and strength. #jacksonvillestrong is not just a hashtag but a way
of life as Jacksonville, AL recovers. We were so hearted when our Yarn Family
checked in with each other and us. Communities come in all shapes and sizes and
our Yarns Family came together to help and comfort each other. We are so
grateful that our Yarns Family is safe and we definitely felt the strong sense
of community when we gathered in the store so we could be together and find a
bit of peace among the severest of storms. Our Yarns Family and our
Jacksonville, as always, are in our heart. After all, we are #jacksonvillestrong
!!
Knit On, Lisa
