"Lopi sweaters will last a lifetime,' says Designer Mary Jane Protus . "People walk up to me and say, "I love your Lopi sweater.' They remember making one -- and seeing six kids wear it! That's where I think the lasting quality of the name 'Lopi' comes from. Mary Jane, who designs for Reynolds, is Lopi's number one American fan. She started young. "If you can believe this, I was in fifth grade when I first saw a Lopi pattern. In high school, I'd try to figure out how they did the yokes in the round, and I began saving money so I could buy all the Reynolds leaflets ( I have a complete collection). "I liked the look of the Lopi sweaters, working with bigger needles, loved the idea that there were no seams, the colors. I started developing my own patterns thinking that maybe I could do some work for Reynolds someday. Besides, winter sweaters were valuable to people here in Schenectady, New York." Schenectady may be one thing, but what about, say, Florida? Wendy Moore, of the Flying Needles yarn shop in Bel Aire Bluffs says "We get lots of winter visitors who ask for Lopi to knit for their grandchildren up north -- it grows so quickly." "Lopi has always been a customer-driven yarn -- people ask for it by name," says Cynthia Frude of Woolcott in Cambridge, Massachussets. "We're always amazed at how many knitters keep coming back to buy more Lopi. Lopi appeals to all ages: young mothers knit with it for their kids‹they're the ones who do four or five! And it's great for beginners‹the patterns are good, the needles big, and it's in the round, no purling! It's the yarn that customers come in and ask for by name, a real name brand.²

Back to "100 Years of Lopi"