Newfoundland sweater getting noticed after being worn in Netflix’s Below

Tia Rowsell had no idea when she purchased Cast On! Cast Off! 10 months ago, that her Triton yarn shop would play a featured role in the Netflix series Below.

And now that people have seen the Newfoundland Guernsey cardigan worn by Andy Jones in the show, she’s been overwhelmed with inquiries and orders for kits to make the sweater using the Pitcher Plant colour yarn that’s exclusive to her store.

Cast On! Cast Off! was started in St. John’s in 2013, and in 2022, former owner Lisa Chatikirou moved the shop to Triton.

Rowsell had been crocheting for quite a few years when she heard the store was coming to town. It’s something she really enjoys and got back into doing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“And I was kind of at it all the time,” she said.

Intrigued by having a yarn store in the town, she decided to put in a resume and was hired.

“I quickly fell in love, head over heels with everything about it,” she said.

All the yarns and real wool yarns, in all kinds of colours, from suppliers like Briggs & Little Woolen Mills Ltd. of New Brunswick and Indie Dyer, fascinated her.

Rowsell didn’t knit at the time, but being around the store and all the yarn, she felt inspired to take it up.

“I just kind of fell down the rabbit hole of knitting. And I have not put down the needles since.

“The more I learned about wool, the more I loved it. It became a problem in the best kind of way,” she said with a laugh.

“Knitting brings me so much joy and contentment. It’s a wonderful outlet for creativity. I love finding patterns, finding the perfect yarn to go with it. There is nothing like the feeling of casting on a new project, watching it take shape and then wearing it,” she says.

“Socks are my favourite thing to knit.”

She said it keeps her hands busy and she’s always got a sock on the needles that she can take anywhere. If she’s waiting for her kids or for an appointment, you’ll find her knitting.

“And lately, I’ve been focusing on more wearables for myself, like sweaters and tops. It’s endless what you could do with yarn,” she said.

Rowsell doesn’t just like the creativity; she also likes being a part of a bigger community.

“As someone who grew up here in Triton, I was surrounded by knitters and handmakers of every kind. There is so much talent in our province,” she said.

She said that includes fiber artists of all kinds.

“It’s been really fun to get to meet people,” she added.

A big inspiration of hers is the Saltwater Knitting book series by Christine LeGrow and Shirley A. Scott.

“I just love how they have preserved and revitalized our traditional knitting practices and patterns. Life is so busy in this modern era, and knitting, and handmaking in general, helps me, and others, slow down and feel grounded and connected,” she said.

When Chatikirou decided to sell the shop, Rowsell said she didn’t jump on it right away.

“I was a little while before I decided. But then, we kind of went for it,” she said.

She took over ownership in January, and that’s when she found out about the Guernsey cardigan.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“I was aware that the series was being shot in Newfoundland. Like everybody, we knew that they were here, we knew what was going on, and I was super excited about it anyway.”

As a big TV and movie fan, she thought it was cool that the series was being filmed here.

“And it’s not just filmed in Newfoundland, it’s set in Newfoundland,” she said.

Lots of things are filmed in the province, but most of the time, Newfoundland is a stand-in for other places, like Maine or Ireland.

“So, I was really excited. It’s about us. It’s us on the screen,” she said.

That excitement grew when she learned that yarn purchased from her store was used to make the sweater that Jones wears in Below.

Not only that, the pattern was designed by a Newfoundlander, Barbara Harpur, in collaboration with Chatikirou.

The Guernsey is a thick woolen sweater worn by fishermen that originated in the Channel Islands. Harpur’s pattern slightly differs from traditional ones, hence the name Newfoundland Guernsey.

Rowsell wanted to share that news with the world but had to wait for the show to air.

She has Facebook and Instagram pages for Cast On! Cast Off! that are pretty active and had posts ready to go as soon as the show was released on Oct. 8.

“All I needed was an actual little screenshot of it in the show to go with it, so I was up early looking for that,” she said.

Not only did the posts share her pride in the fact that the yarn came from her store and its connection with Chatikirou and Harpur, but they also let people know they could purchase kits to make their very own Newfoundland Guernsey cardigan.

It wasn’t long before people started contacting the shop, and she quickly sold out of the kits, which include enough yarn to complete a sweater in your desired size and information on how to obtain the pattern.

Rowsell explained that most patterns belong to their designers, and many can be found on Ravelry, where they can either be downloaded for free or for a fee.

Rowsell has shipped kits across the country from St. John’s to Vancouver.

She was able to do a small restock on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and has ordered more yarn from Briggs & Little, which supplies the shop with its six exclusive colours of yarn: the burgundy Pitcher Plant used in the Newfoundland Guernsey cardigan, Bergy Blue, Bakeapple Jam, Blueberry Jam, Strawberry Jam and Gros Morne. The colours are all uniquely Newfoundland in nature.

And while she doesn’t sell the actual sweater in her store, she did have a friend and fellow knitter, Lyanne Dupuis, knit one as a sample.

Rowsell and her son, Jordan Rowsell, even took it on a little photoshoot around Triton.

“So people could see the details, because on the show they distressed it,” she explained. “It looks really lived in. So, to kind of capture those details of the pattern, of the colour, we took it out.”

As overwhelming as it can be, Rowsell said she’s just enjoying the moment.

She’s not surprised there’s been interest in the cardigan but never expected it to be so much.

She’s in a lot of Facebook groups and knitting groups and said as soon as a show comes out, if there’s any sweater in it whatsoever, whether it’s handknit or commercially made, you’re guaranteed people will be asking where to get the pattern.

“I knew it would be exciting for us knitters in this community. I did not expect it to be as massive. I would have been happy to sell just a few kits. I did not expect to sell out,” she added.

She said the craft of knitting is finally being put on the big screen where it belongs.

“It’s a big deal.”

The interest is not limited to the Newfoundland Guernsey cardigan, as there are some other sweaters that were worn by cast members in Below. Rowsell is also sharing whatever information she can find on the other designs.