Practicality Meets Passion: Mary Lou Egan Finds Inspiration on the Needles

Mary Lou Egan calls herself a “yarn first” designer. “When I design for patterns or publications, I almost always start with the yarn. I swatch and play with it to figure out what the yarn and swatch wants to be,” she explains. “I test out stitch patterns to see what works together and what is not annoying to knit. Some yarns are not meant for certain stitch patterns, no matter how great either is on their own.” After swatching, Mary Lou makes rough sketches with some draft dimensions. “I design on the needles, really. It means a lot more ripping out, but I can’t get it all figured out before I cast on the actual project.”

Mary Lou tests out stitch patterns to determine how the yarn behaves. Photo by Mary Lou Egan

Mary Lou based the popular and practical Chore Jacket she designed for the premier issue of Farm & Fiber Knitson a similar style she made for herself over 10 years ago. “It was getting a bit stretched out, and I’ve always wanted to make a pattern for it,” she says. An avid gardener and horseback rider living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mary Lou knows the importance of rugged layers.

The original version had a shawl collar and was knit in yarn from Starcroft Fibers. “Jani [Estell of Starcroft Fibers, in Maine] had dyed a sweater quantity of their Nash Island yarn in a color I loved, and I went to work making my (almost) perfect jacket,” she says. “I didn’t end up really loving the shawl collar, so I jumped at the chance to redo the jacket for Farm & Fiber Knits. Nash Island yarn is being redeveloped, so wasn’t available.” (Read Mary Lou’s article about Jani, Starcroft Fibers, and the unique sheep of Nash Island, “Sheep to Shore,” in the premier issue of Farm & Fiber Knits.) “The Harborside Aran I used is a perfect sub—the mixture of Columbia and Rambouillet is soft, wooly, and just springy enough.” She went with the stand-up collar she wished she had used the first time and put in modified drop sleeves instead of the set-in ones of the original. “The pockets are similar, because I love the size and the angled top.”

The author and the original version of her Chore Jacket. Photo at left by Gale Zucker; at right, by Mary Lou Egan

Her mother taught her to knit, but with seven kids, Mom didn’t have much time for crafting. “She taught me to make two-needle mittens from an old Jack Frost booklet, which I still have,” she laughs. She returned to knitting