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A Profile of Rowan Yarns

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aMed for the eu-ropean mountain ash (Sorbus aucu-paria), a sturdy, deep-rooted tree that grows throughout england’s yorkshire hills, rowan yarns was estab-lished in 1978. its found-ers were stephen sheard, a textile specialist with years of weaving experience in

scandinavia and the United kingdom, and his childhood friend simon Cockin, a civil engineer who, after working on construction projects around the world, had returned to his hometown of holmfirth, West yorkshire, looking for a new challenge.

With a mission of providing a wide palette of natural-fiber weaving yarns around the United kingdom, the new company began by developing and marketing a line of rug kits and supplies to craft shops. The partners next sought funding to start their own mill, but the global recession of the early 1980s made banks reluctant to lend them the necessary funds.

sheard and Cockin had to rethink their business plan. still, they were lucky: handknitting was booming, and rowan’s yarns were perfect for this craft. traditional two-dimensional artwork had blossomed into textural and col-or creations, especially among United kingdom art students, and rowan became a major source of colorful yarns for their boutique collections. one could say that rowan yarns became the paint that inspired many of the

artists in the british wave of arts and Crafts–inspired knitting designers. the vi-sionary sheard exchanged ideas on art, design, and fashion with designers sasha kagan, erika knight, sarah dallas, susan duckworth, sandy black, angela king, annabel Fox, and Jean Moss as well as with partnerships such as artwork (a collaboration between british designers Jane Foster and patrick gottelier), and began creating new yarns, including tweeds, chenille, and sim-ple cottons; many of these were produced and dyed in the United kingdom.

a collaboration between sheard and the designer kaffe Fassett began in 1983 and continues to this day. Fassett supported sheard’s belief that innovative artist- created garments, such as the colorful ones that Fassett had been fashioning, could inspire hobby knitters to break out and explore these same techniques and self-expression. after a promotion in Woman and Home magazine sold more than 7,000 kits of Fassett’s Super Triangles jacket, rowan be-gan to produce patterns by other designers as well. as for the Super Triangles pattern, it became the impetus for the publication of Fassett’s first book, Glorious Knits: Thirty Designs for Sweaters, Dresses, Vests and Shawls(new york: Clarkson potter, 1985).

among key players in rowan’s growth have been three members of the hargreaves family: Mother kathleen, who

A

Profile

of

Rowan Yarns

L i n d a p r a t t

Rowan magazine 44. 2008.

Unless otherwise noted, all

photo-graphs courtesy of Rowan.

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joined rowan early on in the warehouse, distinguished herself through her knitting and technical skills. eldest daughter kim became sheard’s design protégée and was rowan’s first design director until leaving in 2004 to start her own design company. youngest daughter Lindsay con-tinues to work in the rowan sales office.

With the collaboration of new hampshire residents and United kingdom expatriates ken and June bridge-water, rowan began distributing its yarns in the United states in 1984. selling knitting kits at first, then expand-ing into open-stock yarn a few years later, the bridgewa-ter’s company, Westminster trading (now Westminster Fibers), and rowan set up a distribution system.

in 1985, sheard created a semiannual magazine that in-terprets rowan’s design vision for the season. a few years later, he developed rowan international, whose subscrib-ers receive not only copies of current issues of rowan’s Knitting and Crochet Magazine but also quarterly news-letters, discounts on workshops held in the United king-dom, and access to a special online forum of knitters and technical consultants.

during the 1990s, rowan added new designers and initiated a program of rowan consultants in major Unit-ed kingdom department stores as a way of creating a long-term bridge between rowan and consumers. nev-ertheless, the dismal economic climate in the mid-1990s eventually forced sheard and Cockin to sell the rowan business to Coats Crafts Uk. Cockin continued to run the rowan operation, with a new sales manager, Colin Chawner, joining the holmfirth team. sheard’s expertise was embraced by Coats, and he soon expanded his re-sponsibilties to encompass Jaeger handknits, a licensee of the german fashion house known for its distinctive european style.

With hargreaves at the design helm, rowan entered the new millennium with innovative design collections and new yarns such as big Wool (100% merino), Calm-er (75% cotton, 25% acrylic), and summCalm-er tweed (70% silk, 30% cotton) complementing the company’s more tra-ditional offerings. as rowan celebrated its first twenty-five years, sheard became Coats’s global yarn marketing manager, the designer kate buller succeeded him as the rowan brand manager, and Marie Wallin replaced kim hargreaves as head of design.

at Coats, sheard consulted in the development and growth of germany’s gedifra, regia, and schachenmayr brands, north america’s nashua handknits, and patons, toptobottom: Photograph taken in the 1920s of the Cooperative building in Al-mondbury, West Yorkshire, Eng-land. Rowan’s original premises were in this

build-ing above the grocer’s shop. Rowen’s Green Lane Mill, West Yorkshire, Eng-land, in 1980. The

mill was built in the early 1800s and produced woven gabardine fabric; the

busi-ness closed in 1912 following a boiler explosion. For the next sev-enty years, it was

used by Washpit Mill. leftto right: Simon Cockin, Stephen Sheard, and Ste-phen’s wife, Kath

Sheard, in the showroom at Rowan Mill, West Yorkshire, Eng-land. Early 1980s.

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shepherd, and Cleckheaton in australasia. he and Cockin re-tired at the end of 2007.

the year 2008 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the rowan brand and the begin-ning of a world tour featuring a retrospective of the history of rowan yarns and a gallery of its designs. in 2009, the exhib-it was seen in stores or at nee-dlework festivals in paris, new zealand, and various sites in the United states and Canada. in april 2010, look for it at the textile Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the slater Mill

Museum in pawtucket, rhode island. From its beginning, rowan’s vision, created by sheard and Cockin, has been to demand of itself an apprecia-tion of good design, high-quality ma-terials, and the finest colors, and the ability to listen, learn, and give back by teaching. it is this approach that has enabled the company to inspire and foster creativity and technical excel-lence in its designers and in the knit-ters who purchase its products. ❖

ab oUtthe aUthor . Linda Pratt is the national marketing manager for needlecraft for Westminster Fibers. She feels fortunate to have spent many hours learning from Stephen Sheard.

Top Row (left to right): Kim Hargreaves in Bond from Rowan magazine 28, Martin Storey in Morris from Rowan magazine 34, Sandy Black, Sasha Kagan in

Rosebud from Rowan magazine 34, Kaffe Fassett in Stone Circles from Rowan magazine 28. Center Row: Erika Knight in Pocket Yoke Polo Shirt from Rowan magazine 8.

Bottom Row (left to right): Marie Wallin in Rannoch from Rowan magazine 42, Brandon Mably in Crown Sweater from Knitting Colour, Jean Moss in Floral Peplum from Rowan magazine 9, Sarah Hatton in Bridges by Carol Meldrum from Rowan magazine 42, Sarah Dallas in Georgie from Rowan magazine 32. The first Rowan

magazine pub-lished in 1987.

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The Kaffe Fassett–inspired scarf.

Photograph by Jason Reid.

A

Kaffe Fassett

–Inspired

Scarf

to

Knit

I

nspired by kaffe Fassett’s striped sweater and scarf fea-tured in Rowan magazine 42, this project was created in rowan’s kid Classic and worked on larger needles for faster completion. While no one can compete with Fas-sett’s color mastery, this project did prove to be an exer-cise in color choice and placement.

M a t e r i a L s

Rowan Kid Classic, 70% lambswool/26% kid mohair/4% nylon, worsted weight, 153 yards (140 m)/50 g skein, 2 skeins each of #864 Precious (aqua), #862 Teal, #856 Tattoo (denim blue), and #855 Smudge (light gray); and 1 skein each of #841 Lavender Ice, #835 Royal (violet), #853 Spruce (dark olive), #865 Dash-ing (khaki), and #866 Bitter Sweet (brown); visit https://www.knitrowan.com/rowan-yarns.aspx (click on Stockists in lower left corner) for a list of retailers Needles, size 8 (5 mm) or size as needed to obtain

gauge Tapestry needle

Finished size: 23½ inches (59.7 cm) wide and 74½ inch-es (189.2 cm) long

Gauge: 17 stitches and 23 rows = 4 inches (10.1 cm) in St st beg—begin; beginning BO—bind off CO—cast on cont—continue; continu-ing k—knit p—purl rep—repeat st(s)—stitch(es) St st—stockinette stitch WS—wrong side a b b r e v i a t i o n s

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With #864 precious (aqua), Co 100 sts. k 4 rows, end-ing with a Ws row. keepend-ing 6 sts at each side in garter st (k all sts every row) and working the center 88 sts in st st, work 107-row stripe sequence as shown in the chart below. Cont as established, rep the entire 107-row stripe sequence two more times, then work the first 102 rows

once more, ending with a rs row in #856 tattoo (denim blue)—423 stripe rows completed.

Next row: (Ws) With #864 precious (aqua), k6, p88, k6. With #864 precious (aqua), k 4 rows—piece measures 74½ inches (189.2 cm) from beg. bo all sts.

Weave in all ends. block if desired.

Enter to Win!

W

e’re giving away three kits with all of the yarn needed to make your own kaffe Fassett–inspired scarf, compliments of rowan yarn! Click on the link below for the entry form and the official rules. no purchase necessary. The giveaway of three kits of rowan kid Classic yarn to make PieceWork’s “a kaffe Fassett–inspired scarf to knit” starts on december 18, 2009, at 12 midnight Mst and ends on March 1, 2010, at 12 midnight Mst. giveaway is open to residents of the 50 United states (and d.C.) 18 years and older. void where prohibited. sponsor is interweave press, LLC, 201 east Fourth street, Loveland, Co 80537.

3 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown) 4 #835 Royal (violet) 1 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown) 3 #865 Dashing (khaki) 4 #855 Smudge (light gray) 2 #864 Precious (aqua) 1 #835 Royal (violet) 2 #841 Lavender Ice 2 #865 Dashing (khaki) 2 #853 Spruce (dark olive) 3 #862 Teal

2 #856 Tattoo (denim blue) 2 #855 Smudge (light gray) 5 #864 Precious (aqua) 1 #865 Dashing (khaki) 3 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown)

1 #864 Precious (aqua) 4 #856 Tattoo (denim blue) 1 #855 Smudge (light gray) 2 #864 Precious (aqua) 3 #862 Teal

3 #853 Spruce (dark olive) 2 #855 Smudge (light gray) 2 #841 Lavender Ice 2 #835 Royal (violet) 1 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown) 3 #862 Teal

3 #855 Smudge (light gray) 2 #865 Dashing (khaki) 2 #853 Spruce (dark olive) 2 #862 Teal

2 #856 Tattoo (denim blue)

3 #855 Smudge (light gray) 3 #841 Lavender Ice 4 #856 Tattoo (denim blue) 1 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown) 2 #855 Smudge (light gray) 2 #866 Bitter Sweet (brown) 5 #864 Precious (aqua) 1 #841 Lavender Ice 1 #835 Royal (violet) 3 #862 Teal

2 #856 Tattoo (denim blue) 5 #864 Precious (aqua)

107-Row Stripe Sequence

i n s t r U C t i o n s Number of Rows Color Number of Rows Color Number of Rows Color

References

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