Not Every Rowan Pattern Is Meant For You. That's The Whole Point

I learned something years ago from Sharon Brandt, who was Brand Director at Rowan for more than two decades.

She told me that they kept a matrix on the wall. Different types of knitters. Different body types. Different skill levels. Different aesthetics. And when they curated a collection, they worked deliberately to make sure there was something in it for each of them.

Think about what that means.

If you open Rowan Magazine 79 and love every single pattern in it, that's not a sign of good taste. It's actually a sign that Rowan failed — that they designed for only one kind of knitter, and that knitter happened to be you.

A well-curated collection is supposed to have things that aren't for you.

I find this enormously liberating. And I think you will too.

Magazine 79 is organized into three editorial stories, and once you know that, the whole collection makes more sense.

Meadow is high summer and color. Wildflowers, warmth, that particular kind of English countryside abundance. The patterns here — Teasel, Lupin, Honeysuckle, Gorse — have a softness and femininity to them. Wraps that drape. Tops with a certain ease. If your summer aesthetic leans toward gardens and linen and the feeling of being unhurried, Meadow is your story.

Regatta is nautical and classic and a little bit crisp. Helm, Spinnaker, Knots, Gale — these are names that belong on a boat, or at least on the dock watching one. Clean lines. Strong structure. There's even a unisex sensibility running through some of them, which Rowan doesn't always explore. If you dress for function as much as beauty, if you prefer your clothes to look intentional rather than romantic, Regatta might be yours.

Voyage is the one in the middle. Relaxed elegance. Nothing trying too hard. Field sits here — a plain sweater that is not plain at all once you understand what a well-executed simple garment actually requires. This is the story for the knitter who has stopped chasing trends and started curating.

You are probably drawn to one of these more than the others. That pull is information.

Here's another thing I want to say about knitting magazines that nobody quite says out loud.

They're selling a life, not just a pattern.

The photography, the locations, the styling — all of it is aspirational by design. A woman sitting in a sun-drenched English garden in a beautifully draped cotton top isn't just modeling a sweater. She's offering you a version of yourself. A version that has the afternoon light and the garden and the particular kind of unhurried ease that a hand-knit garment implies.

There is nothing wrong with this. Rowan is doing their job beautifully.

But there is a real tension — one that I think most knitters have felt and few have named — between knitting for the life you want and the life you have.

We've all done it. Fallen for the photograph. Knit the thing. Put it on. And stood there wondering why it doesn't look like that. And the answer is often not the knitting. The answer is that you were dressing for the meadow, not for your actual Tuesday.

The photograph is an invitation. Your job is to decide whether you actually want to RSVP. And you can respond with an alternate idea.  

I changed the colors. Amy changed the colors, the collar and the trim.  That's more than okay - that's the idea.

This is where knowing yourself — your body, your aesthetic, your actual life — becomes as important as knowing how to knit.

Which patterns in this collection are genuinely for you? Which ones are for the version of you that lives in a different climate or wears different shoes or has different Tuesdays? And which ones are for someone else entirely — not better or worse, just different?

We have kits available now for our favorite patterns from Magazine 79. The links are below. But before you click, I'd encourage you to ask the question first: which story are you in?

Link to Rowan Magazine 79 kits collection

Understanding how to match a pattern to your body, your aesthetic, and your actual life is one of things I teach inside the Crazy for Ewe Sweater System. If that kind of thinking appeals to you, the door is here. Crazy for Ewe Sweater System

Warmly
~Ellen