Mary Stowe weaves more than just wool – she spins a haven of connection, comfort and community with her shop.
By Anna-Rhesa Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Mary Stowe knits at an astounding pace while speaking with customers inside her shop, Yarns Etc…, located in a tucked-away space beside Eastgate Crossing. She channels her passion for stitch-craft into building community through her small business.
“I was just born to do it,” Mary says. She grew up in Greensboro as one of six siblings and began crafting projects when she was 6 years old. “I used to get yelled at because I left pins and needles all over the place, and my brothers would step on them. I cut fabric and made little messes everywhere I went; still do, 56 years later.”
Mary first considered fiber arts and patterns as a career path when she was working in a New York City yarn shop while earning her bachelor’s degree in marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She returned to North Carolina after several years in New York teaching at FIT and working in the crafting department at Woman’s Day magazine.
“I was only 32 when I started my [first] shop in Greensboro,” she says. “I felt like I was always trying to prove myself.” At one point, Mary owned three yarn shops in Greensboro, Chapel Hill and Raleigh. “I’m actually very, very good at this, very talented at this,” she says of her skills. “I’m one of the fastest knitters in the world.”
Mannequins and displays inside Mary’s Chapel Hill store show examples of her knitting patterns, including a sweater that was recently spotted on a Vogue runway show model. Her shop is a busy hub for classes, charity craft donations, sewing machine repairs and meetups.
Mary has shared her expertise by teaching at NC State’s Wilson College of Textiles, the now-shuttered craft center at Duke and at her own shops. While she no longer has time for those classes, she stays busy on the road as a sales representative for a yarn manufacturer and a quilting fabric company.
Mary contributes to her community in many ways, having served on the Town of Chapel Hill’s advisory boards for stormwater management and short-term rental rules and regulations. Until recently, she was a longtime board member for the North Carolina Children’s Museum. Deeply connected to those around her, she wasn’t alone when Hurricane Florence flooded her shop the same year she moved into her current location in the low-lying Eastgate shopping center. “Six inches of water can do $30,000 worth of damage,” Mary says. “It was heartbreaking.” But as soon as people found out that Mary needed help, they arrived with tools, food, money and support. Just three weeks later, she reopened the shop, ready once again to serve her customers and community.
“Providing this to people in the community is wonderful,” Mary says. “It’s kind of like ‘Cheers.’ It’s a place where maybe not everybody knows your name, but you’re going to walk in, and I’m going to remember you. People who are in the shop talk to one another. And lots of people have made friends here. People meet here. I love that. When people come in, like, on a Saturday, they go, ‘Oh, I’m meeting my friend from so and so. We decided to meet at the yarn shop, and now we’re going to lunch.’ Whether they buy anything or not, it doesn’t matter.”
Mary recalls a friend telling her that she’s running a women’s help center thinly disguised as a yarn shop. “Knitting makes you feel good. The repetitive act of knitting has the same effect on your brain as yoga or meditation. It really calms you down and keeps you focused.”
