A letter
The cheerful knit with hearts all over it.
In a red brick townhouse on a quiet New York street, two friends keep the tea warm and the door open — and the knit that makes women smile sits folded on the table in the front room.
Somewhere after fifty, a lot of women quietly start dressing to disappear. The sweater you reach for on a cold morning is the one nobody will look at twice: grey, sensible, safe. Nobody tells us to do this. We simply stop expecting our clothes to lift anything, and after a while we stop asking them to.
I have written about women and what they wear for a long time, and I have heard that story more often than I can count. So when women kept telling me about a small house in New York where they felt at home again — in the room itself and in their own clothes — I wanted to understand what happens behind that door.
It starts at the door. Parker & Hayes lives in a red brick townhouse on a quiet street, behind a blue-gray bay window and a small brass plaque, with a blue-gray front door that is nearly always left open. “Our door is always open,” Margaret says, and she means it literally. The women who visit all describe the same greeting: “Come in, make yourself at home.”
Inside it is not a store. It is a home. The front room has warm wood floors, an old wooden table piled with folded knits, and daylight falling through the bay window. There is a cup of tea if you want one, nobody rushes you, and you can take your time. Every so often Eleanor comes down the stairs with an armful of knits, past the rail of coats in the hall, and the two friends tease each other about whose taste is better. Women do not come here as customers. They come as guests.
Margaret loves a graceful neckline and a touch of polish; Eleanor will always reach for the softest knit in the room. Their house rule settles every argument: nothing comes in unless it is elegant and comfortable. When I asked which piece women lean in to look at, they both pointed to the front-room table, to a half-zip knit scattered with small black hearts called the Brenda. “It is the one that makes a woman smile before she has even picked it up,” Eleanor said. So I asked them why, and I am going to let their words carry it.
1A collar you set to the weather
“This is the detail we both argued for. The zip runs halfway up a knitted collar, so the neckline is yours to decide: pull it all the way up and your neck is covered on a windy walk, open it a little and it falls into a relaxed V the moment you step back inside. One sweater, two necklines — it means you are not hunting for a scarf on the way out of the front door.”
2Little hearts, scattered right across it
“Small black hearts are scattered over the whole knit, not printed in a tidy row, so the pattern feels drawn rather than stamped on. It is cheerful without being loud, which is precisely why Margaret let it in — it reads as a pretty knit from across the front room, and only up close do you see the hearts. Women lean in to look, and then they smile.”
3Relaxed through the body, nothing pulls
“Eleanor tested it the way she tests everything: could you wear it all morning at home and forget you had it on? The body is cut relaxed and the shoulders drop softly, so there is room to move and nothing pulls when you sit down or reach for the top shelf. The long sleeves finish in snug cuffs that hold where you put them, pushed up at the sink or down again on a cold afternoon.”
4Four colors, for a whole long season
“It carries you from early fall right through to spring, and it layers under a coat without any bulk. Wear it with black jeans and boots, with white pants, or over a striped shirt — from the kitchen table in the morning to lunch with friends. Dusty pink, sky blue, gray or camel, in sizes S, M, XL, 2XL and 3XL, so you can keep the one that suits you where you can reach it.”
The Brenda, next to the usual half-zip sweater
| The usual sweater | The Brenda | |
|---|---|---|
| The feel | Heavy, or tight across the middle | A soft knit with room to move |
| The fit | Clings, or swallows you whole | Relaxed body, dropped shoulders, snug cuffs |
| The collar | One fixed neckline, take it or leave it | A half-zip you set yourself — up for warmth, open for a V |
| The look | Grey, and forgettable | Little black hearts scattered right across it |
| The colors | One safe grey | Dusty pink, sky blue, gray and camel |
Every order leaves the house the way a guest would: wrapped with care, with a little card on which Margaret writes two words. Welcome home. It sounds like a small thing. Reading what women write back, I am not sure it is.
Because not every woman can walk through that blue-gray door herself, Margaret and Eleanor have now opened it online as well. And to celebrate, they are holding their very first Open House, with the door wide open for a little while.
The Brenda Half-Zip Sweater
P|H - Heart Print Half-Zip Sweater for Women Brenda
$119.95$59.95Save 50%
- Small black hearts scattered over a soft knit
- Half-zip collar: zip it up, or open it to a relaxed V
- Relaxed body with dropped shoulders and snug cuffs
- Four colors · sizes S, M, XL, 2XL and 3XL
- Free shipping · 30-day returns
Open House prices, for a little while only
What I would tell you if we were friends
So many of us spent years letting the cheer drain out of what we wear on an ordinary cold morning, on the quiet understanding that a little print is for other women. What struck me about Parker & Hayes is how gently they argue with that: an open door, a warm front room, and a knit soft enough to live in that still has some joy in it.
If you have been reaching for the same grey sweater since September, come in and have a look at the Brenda on the front-room table. Take your time. Pick the color you would reach for first. Their door is always open.
Welcome home.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Carter
- Free ShippingOn every order
- 30-Day ReturnsWithin 30 days of delivery
- Parker & HayesA townhouse shop in New York
Elizabeth Carter writes for Parker & Hayes. · Parker & Hayes, New York · Free shipping · 30-day returns.