The Call of the Sirens lace stole draws on the Greek myths about the Sirens. The Sirens’ calls could bewitch sailors to make them forget who they were and and where they were going. Often the Sirens caused them to forget to navigate their ships and the ships would be wrecked against the rocky shore.
The edging of the stole show the waves, followed by the rocky shoreline. The center portion of the stole represents the braided hair of the beautiful Sirens.
I had originally knit this shawl in Sappho I from the Sanguine Gryphon. It was, in fact, my first design using Gryphon’s wonderful yarn. It’s since been followed by many more designs, including Thoth and Seth (both from Ancient Egypt in Lace and Color), the Midgard Serpent Cowl, Näcken, Eyjafjallajökull, and many more.
Since Sappho I has now been discontinued, I’ve had the Call of the Sirens sample reknit in Mithril from the Verdant Gryphon. This time it’s in a gorgeous blue-green colourway. Many thanks to Jacquelyn in Colorado Springs for her beautiful knitting.
To celebrate this new look for the Call of the Sirens, the pattern is discounted 25% until Dec 3, 2013 (23.59 PM EST). Use the coupon code odysseus during checkout. The pattern is available here.
And we have a winner…..
Kat!
Congratulations. Your PDF copy of the book can be either added to your Ravelry library, or sent via email. Let me know what you prefer.
Earlier this fall, Cooperative Press released a new book – Hitch. It contains a number of patterns inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, including a lace shawl designed by me.
As you know, I like to design shawls with themes to them. Fairy Tales and folklore are a wonderful source of inspiration, and one which I have used both for KAL patterns, and my new collection Fairy Tale Lace. Ancient Egyptian mythology inspired an entire book, and Norse mythology a number of other patterns. So looking into Alfred Hitchcock and his movies was a natural fit, but also a fun challenge.
Like most other people, I have watched a number of Hitchcock movies over the years. But when this call came out, I decided I should re-watch something with my designer hat on. After some deliberation, I settled on Spellbound – the 1945 movie about a mental institution, starring Ingrid Bergman. It’s a fun (or should I say creepy?) movie, and on top of that, there is the Swedish connection with Ingrid Bergman.
Ingrid Bergman plays Dr. Constance Pedersen who is a psychoanalyst at a mental institution in Vermont. The new director of the institution, Dr. Edwardes, seems rather charming at the beginning of the movie, but it turns out there are a number of disturbing inconsistencies in his persona. He has a strange phobia of parallel lines, and his handwriting does not match previous examples of his handwriting. Dr. Constance realizes the man is an impostor, but that he suffers from amnesia and does not know who he is. Dr. Edwardes confides in her that he has killed the real Dr. Edwardes and taken his place, but Dr. Constance believes that he is innocent and suffers from a guilt complex. In the end it turns out that the impostor and the real Dr. Edwardes had been on a ski trip together, and that the parallel lines symbolize the ski tracks. Dr. Edwardes had died there, during the trip. I don’t want to spoil the ending for those of you wishing to watch the movie, so I’ll leave it at that for now.
My shawl, the Constance Shawl, has snowflakes as the main motif because of the fateful skiing trip. There are parallel lines along the bottom border, and in the body of the shawl for the lines that frighten Dr. Edwardes. It’s knit in gray, in a shade reminiscent of black and white movies. And the red line comes from the fact that although Spellbound was filmed in black and white, there were one or two frames of bright red at the conclusion, when a gun is fired into the camera.
You can win a PDF copy of the book by leaving a comment here and/or on my Facebook page about what your favourite shape of shawl is and why. You can double your chances by leaving a comment in both places. The winner will be announced on Oct 17. Please make sure that you leave some way for me to get in touch with you if you win (email/ravelry ID).
This post is part of the Hitch Blog Tour. If you’d like to see what others have to say about the book, check out these other stops.
9/28/2013: Sunset Cat Designs
10/5/2013: Knitting Kninja
10/7/2013: Herrlichkeiten
10/8/2013: Knit and Travel
10/9/2013: Knit & Knag Designs
10/10/2013: Wooly Wonka Fibers
10/11/2013: Verdant Gryphon
10/15/2013: Impeccable Knits: Shifting Stitches
10/16/2013: Rewolluzza
10/21/2013: Knitwear Designs by Carolyn Noyes
10/22/2013: Peacefully Knitting
10/23/2013: Dark Matter Knits
10/24/2013: Turnknit: Dani Berg Designs
10/25/2013: SweetGeorgia Yarns
10/28/2013: doviejay knits
10/29/2013: Triona Designs
10/30/2013: Tactile Fiber Arts
11/4/2013: A Knitter’s Life
11/5/2013: Catchloops
11/6/2013: Yarn On The House
11/07/2013: Ramblings
11/12/2013: Hazel Knits
11/13/2013: Knitcircus
11/19/2013: indigodragonfly
11/9/2013: Fyberspates
11/25/2013: knittingkirigami
11/22013: A B-ewe-tiful Design
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (or the rat-catcher of Hameln, as it is known in German) is a fairy tale about the town Hameln which was infested by rats. A man in colourful clothing who claimed to be a rat catcher offered to help the town. He brought out his flute and all the rats follow him to the river, where they drown. The town refused to pay him for his services, and he left the town in anger. Several days later he returned, and while the townspeople are in church, he played his pipe and lured all the children out of the town. They disappeared and were never seen again.
The houses in the town of Hameln can be seen on the border of the shawl, and the body is colourful, just like the rat catcher’s clothing.
This shawl is suitable for one skein of variegated colour yarn paired with a matching solid colour.
FINISHED (BLOCKED) SIZE
Small: Wingspan: 59 in (150 cm), Height: 24.5 in (62 cm)
Large: Wingspan: 79 in (200 cm), Height: 31.5 in (80 cm)
The size of the shawl can be further adjusted in the pattern by changing the number of striped sections.
The Pied Piper Shawl pattern is a part of the Fairy Tale Lace collection. The collection is published as an ebook containing 7 shawl patterns. The subsequent patterns will be added over time, during the period August 2013-March 2014. You will receive an email notice each time an update is available. Please click on the link and download the latest version of the ebook. Each update will include all the patterns released to date.
The ebook is available for $20.
There is a new collection under way. The Fairy Tale Lace ebook.
The Fairy Tale Lace ebook contains 7 shawl patterns. The first pattern is available immediately, and subsequent patterns will be added over time, during the period August 2013-March 2014. You will receive an email notice each time an update is available. Please click on the link and download the latest version of the ebook. Each update will include all the patterns released to date.
The first pattern in the collection is the Cheshire Cat Shawl.
The Cheshire Cat first appeared in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tounge (1788) by Francis Grose, but was popularized as a fictional cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was originally used in the phrase “he grins like a Cheshire cat” which meant someone who shows his teeth and gums in laughing.
The body of the shawl shows the stripes of the cat, and the overall shape is his grin.
The patterns uses 2 skeins of sock yarn, one each in two contrasting colours. I used indigodragonfly Merino Sock.
The ebook is available for $20.
Come visit my books at the Cooperative Press/Cephalopod Yarns booth (booth 216) at Stitches Midwest this weekend.
I wish I could’ve been there, but I’ll have to live vicariously through the books instead. 😉
The Cayuga Cardigan is a half-length lacy cardigan, featuring a cathedral lace edging along the bottom edge and on the sleeve cuffs. I originally designed this cardigan back in 2010, when it was Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga!
The cathedral lace motif is reminiscent of the clock tower at Cornell University, where I went to university. The Cornell campus, and the clock tower, lies on the top of a great hill overlooking Cayuga Lake. The view is absolutely gorgeous, and is, believe it or not, one of the reasons I chose to go to Cornell. Yup, the view. And the beautiful campus. Good thing it happens to be a good school. 😉
This re-knit version of the Cayuga Cardigan is knit in Verdant Gryphon Eidos in the colour Fenrir. I love this colour, and it is quite appropriate, as its gray is reminiscent of the stone clock tower.
In honour of this reknit version, I’m having a 25% off sale for this pattern from now until Aug 13, 2013. To get the coupon code, please visit the Knit & Knag facebook page. There will be more special sales posted there in the future, so I’d encourage you to like the page too.
Beautiful yarn can be almost hypnotic. I’m particularly drawn to the mulitcoloured kettle dyed yarns – there is so much depth and richness in colour. Of course it’s great to knit with such lovely colours, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the knitting and wind some yarn by hand. I have to admit that I don’t do that often anymore. I mean, I knit a LOT, and yarn winders are awfully handy. But I used to really enjoy the small break between projects when I wound the yarn for the next.
I’d watch the ball grow and allow myself to be mesmerized by the colours. Pretty soon, my mind would relax and roam free.
Winding a skein of fingering weight yarn – around 400 yds – is really quite a perfect way to relax.
…..although I have to admit that winding 2,400 m of laceweight is not relaxing at all. Not. At. All. In fact, that’s what made me break down and buy a ball winder.
Many thanks to Vogue Knitting for this spectacular review of my two books. It appeared in the Early Fall issue, which should be available in the stands right now.
While the blog has been remarkably quiet, it doesn’t mean that my hands have been idle….. It will likely take a few blog posts to catch up, so expect to hear more from me in the near future.
First of all, the biggest non-knitting thing I’ve been doing is to get a black belt in Jiujitsu. I’ve been working on it for a long time, but the actual testing period has been spread over three months (April-June). It’s been a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun. And now I’m a black belt. Yay!
The picture is a detail from my mother’s day card from my youngest son. Luckily for me, I’m supposed to be the kicker in the picture, rather than the kickee……
I’ve also designed and knit a brand new shawl which will kick off my new collection. 
More details to follow soon, but the yarn is this fabulous Merino Sock! from indigodragonfly. As always, it was a delight to work with, and I’m rather pleased with the result. Can’t wait to share with you.
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