A couple of months ago, I got the urge to design a double knit cowl. For those of you that know me, you know that I tend to work in fingering weight yarn or lighter. Most of the time, at any rate. But this time, I thought I would branch out and use something heavier. So I settled on Bugga! from the Verdant Gryphon. I’ve used a lot of different yarn from Gryphon over the years, but somehow, despite its popularity, Bugga! had not been one of them.
We discussed colours and settled on a deep, rusty orange (Eastern Amberwing) contrasted with a blue (Eastern-Tailed Blue Butterfly). For the main motif, I thought it would be nice to knit the Midgard Serpent. The Midgard Serpent (Midgårdsormen, in Swedish) is a creature in Norse mythology. The giant snake surrounds Midgard (the world) holding in the great seas. It is so large it surrounds the world and bite its own tail. At the end of time, during Ragnarrök, the Midgard Serpent will let go of its tail and the oceans will fall off the edge of the world, and the world will end.
The serpent snakes around the cowl, and surrounds your neck. It has a picot hem on the top and bottom, and is fully reversible since it is double knit (the colours are reversed on the inside).
When I had finished the design and was knitting the cowl, I was chatting with Gryphon and mentioned that I had chosen to knit the Midgard Serpent. Her response? “Well, I have the Midgard Serpent tattooed on my ear, so I’m definitely a fan.”
I thought she was joking.
The pattern can be purchased from the Verdant Gryphon here starting Jan 18, 2013. After Feb 1, it will also be available here and on Ravelry.
What a gorgeous design … congrats!
Gorgeous design and gorgeous colors! Another term for a snake eating it’s tail is ouroboros. It is found in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology as well as in Norse. Cool design!