We have all grown up hearing fairy tales of different varieties – some from our parents and grandparents, some in school, some in books and some that have been turned into films. Fairy tales come in many forms, but the one thing they have in common is that they capture our imagination and try to teach us something about life.
I have always been fond of fairy tales, and my favourite versions have never been the happy, bubbly Disney stories, but the darker, older fairy tales where the wicked get their comeuppance. These fairy tales are best told in the evenings in front of a warm fire, while the icy winds howl outside. And couldn’t you just imagine yourself in front of that fire, listening to the fairy tales while knitting?
With that in mind, I decided to design a series of three lace shawls on the theme of Fairy Tales that will be released during the winter months as a KAL (knitalong). I choose three fairy tales from different parts of the world. In the first month, I thought we should visit Russia. The first story is about Marushka (the entire fairy tale can be read here).
Inspired by Marushka’s story, I designed a triangular lace shawl in a pale green colour called Silver Pine that reminds me of frozen pine trees in the deep of winter. The central motif on the shawl shows Marushka’s wispy tracks through the snow, as she’s trudging back and forth between her evil stepsister and the twelve kings. The edging around the shawl alternates between the spring flowers/violets that Marushka was asked to bring, and clusters of wild strawberries. The strawberries are also clustered in such a way that from a distance the clusters look like ripe apples.
The shawl is triangular and knit from side to side. The size is adjustable in the pattern, and the shawl could be knit in either lace weight or fingering weight yarn.
The pattern is available as part of the Winter portion of Seasons of Lace – the Fairy Tale KAL.
I find that when I work on projects I tend to work on three or so in parallel. And they often finish all around the same time. True to form, I have finished several projects in the past few days, and I just don’t have enough space to block them. One at a time, one at a time.
And then this phase of finishing projects is of course followed by a period of planning new ones and casting on like mad. The last of the batch for the wips that are being finished is a lace shawl in Nimbus Cloud from Slackford Studio. This one has actually been with me for a lot longer than usual. You see, sometimes designs just flow, and the yarn knits up into something amazing right away. And sometimes it doesn’t work that way. I think I originally cast on with this yarn in September. At the time I was planning on making a sister-shawl to my Eyjafjallajökull shawl, so I was calling it Katla for one of the smaller Icelandic volcanos. The True Blood coloruway could have been lava streams, and I was envisioning the lava flowing down towards the edge of the shawl. I knit a bit more than half the new design and decided I just didn’t like the way it turned out. So I frogged.
Then I decided to change the theme entirely and started working on a Raspberry Patch. Ripe raspberry vines peaking out through a diamond patterned fence. Because the True Blood colourway could also be sun-ripened raspberries on a warm summer day. I knit about three quarters of that design and…. well…. I’m picky. I didn’t like it. So I frogged.
And *then* I had a stroke of genius. Or something. 
In any case, I charted my new design, cast on for the third time on the very last day of November, and now I only have about 3 rows left to knit. I like it. Blocking should commence as soon as the current shawl being blocked is dry.
I also cast on for a square shawl using LouLou from Land O Lace. Square shawls are fun to make, but I have to admit that I find the first few rows very fiddly. Still, I’m past that now, and that means that I actually have a project that is at the beginning stages of the knitting again. I expect I’ll start a couple more within a week, and then I’ll have another blocking extravaganza in January sometime.
LouLou is a laceweight yarn in alpaca/cashmere/silk blend, and the colour I’m using is a pale lilac called Royalton. Coincidentally both LouLou and Nimbus Cloud are 70% alpaca, 10% cashmere, 20% silk, but of course the two yarns are different weights. Nimbus Cloud is a fingering weight, and LouLou a 2/24 laceweight. Both lovely yarns though – soft, and with a halo.
One of the things I did at Rhinebeck in October was to help the lovely Sanguine Gryphon and Sarah to set up their booth. They were only notified that they scored a booth at Rhinebeck a couple of days before the festival started, so I imagine the preparation was a blur for them. In any case, I was delighted that they would be able to come. It was also a treat to get to help them set up, even if I had to run back and forth between the booth and the workshop I was in.
This is what it looked like prior to the set-up. Their booth was slated to be in the far back left corner. The weather in NY in October can be unpredictable, and it was rather chilly on the Friday before Rhinebeck. I’m not sure the plastic helped a lot. Sure – it cut the wind a bit, but I wouldn’t call it warm at all.
The setup started with fancy carpets, a tent, and of course racks and racks for the yarn. Here is a sampling of what was available before the show started.
This would be the fully stocked Bugga! rack. All sorts of colours and lots of them too. I know there was even more Bugga! hiding in plastic tubs so that the second day shoppers would have a chance as well.
One of my personal favourites is actually Sappho and Sappho II, so I had to take a picture of that rack as well. And…. ummm…. I think some might have followed me home.
There were a number of samples for the Sanguine Gryphon patterns on display. The purple cardigan in the top left is my Cayuga Cardigan. The dress is Lily Marlene from the summer collection and the blue skirt on the bottom right is Emily Prefers to Flounce from the Steampunk collection.
There was also this lovely shawl from the Steampunk collection. As well as a myriad of socks, some gloves, more shawls, sweaters….. really, just looking at all the lovely samples was a lot of fun. Now remember: these pictures were all taken before the festival started. Once Rhinebeck was open for business it was a lot harder to get any pictures at all of the Sanguine Gryphon booth. I’ll just regale you with this one – I’m sure you can imagine what it looked like for the rest of the weekend too.
The cash is just to the left of the yarn. I know, I know, you can’t see it at all. But you CAN see a few of the many shoppers. The line snaked back past several other booths, but people were happy, chatting while standing in line. I ran into a couple of people from the NYC bus (including Pinneguri who had come all the way from Norway), and chatted with a number of other shoppers.
I picked up a couple of skeins of Sappho II which I’m planning to use this winter (the two skeins on the right). Can’t wait to get started.
The project occupying my needles at the moment is one of the Fairy Tale shawls. I had planned the design a few months ago, but I just couldn’t find the right yarn until Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden came up with this amazing new colour of Serenity Silk III. The colour is called woodsy and it really is EXACTLY what I had in mind. She somehow read my mind and came up with the perfect colour for this Fairy Tale. She also created mossy oak and olive tree to go with the theme, and both of those are really good matches for this fairy tale too.
This particular fairy tale (no spoilers just yet) is near and dear to my heart, and I can’t wait to share it with you. It will be the January shawl in the Fairy Tale KAL.
And for something completely different: I received a lovely package in the mail today. Here we have a skein of Sundara Silk Lace in Trip to India, two skeins of JulieSpins Silky 435 in Polar Night and a skein of Luscious Silk from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Thraven. All this yarn came to me from a swap on Ravelry, where I ended up swapping some yarn that I didn’t really have a plan for, as well as some addy needles that I had in duplicate sizes for this collection of silky yarn from three different dyers. Swaps can be great.
Last week I just finished knitting up a new design that I’m calling Orchid View in gorgeous yarn from Saffron Dyeworks. Dee sent me a skein of Tush a while back – and I have to say that she certainly has a knack for picking (and of course creating) colour. This red is called “Sumac Red” and it’s a very deep red that just makes my heart sing. After playing around with the yarn for a little while, I settled on an Orchid theme for the shawl and this is what I came up with.
The pattern is currently being test-knit, and when the test-knitting phase is over it will be available at Saffron Dyeworks.
As for me, I simply could not wait to start wearing my new shawl – so it’s already accompanied me to the arena a few times this weekend (for the kids hockey games/practices) as well as out for dinner on Saturday. Since it’s knit in fingering weight yarn, it makes for a slightly warmer shawl, which is perfect this time of year when the temperatures start to drop and there is an icy wind whipping by.
Jelling Rune Stones scarf is the third shawl in a series of three shawls on the theme of World Heritage Sites.
Jelling is located in Denmark, and is famous for its rune stones, grave mounds and for being the place in which Denmark became a Christian country. The larger rune stone was erected in the 10th century by King Harald Bluetooth in memory of his father, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity. This scarf contains the first few words of the inscription. The complete (translated) inscription reads “King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrve, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian”
The inscription is made in Younger Futhark runes – a runic alphabet used in Scandinavia in the 9th to 11th century.
The first pattern in the upcoming Seasons of Lace – Winter KAL is based on the following Russian Fairy Tale. This shawl will be knit out of 1.5 skeins of Nimbus Lace from Slackford Studio in the colourway Silver Pine.
Once upon a time there was a woman who had two daughters. Helena was her own daughter, and Marushka was her stepdaughter. She was very fond of Helena, but she hated Marushka, because the stepdaughter was both more beautiful and more intelligent than Helena.
While Helena relaxed every day, Marushka had to do all the work in the house by herself. But she liked to work and never complained. And even though she never got any new clothes, and often had to go hungry, she only grew more and more beautiful.
This made the mother and sister very angry, and they finally decided they had to get rid of Marushka. One day in the middle of winter, Helena said to her sister “Go out in the forest and fetch me some violets! I would like to add them to my belt and enjoy their fragrance.” “But dear sister” said Marushka, “there are no violets in the forest in the middle of winter.” “How dare you contradict me, you lazy wench!” yelled Helena. “Go immediately, or and if you come home without them, I will kill you!” And she grabbed Marushka by the arm, shoved her out the door and closed it.
Poor Maruska was crying as she trudged through the snow towards the forest. The snow was so deep that she couldn’t even see the path, but she didn’t dare to turn around and continued through the deep snow. When she was almost about to collapse from exhaustion she saw a bright light ahead. She gathered her last remaining strength and continued towards the light. She came to a hill, and there was a fire burning. Around the fire were twelve stones, and on the stones sat twelve kings with crowns upon their heads. These kings each ruled over a month of the year. Three were old and had long beards, three were middle aged, three were young and strong, and three were handsome youths. All sat quiet and gazed into the fire.
King December was sitting on the largest stone, which was like a throne. His hair and beard were white as snow, and in his hand he was holding a spire.
Marushka approached the kings and asked “Your Grace, please let me warm myself by your fire. I am so very cold.” King December nodded at her kindly. When she had warmed up he asked her “Why have you come here?” “My sister ordered me to go and get violets, and if I come home without them, she will kill me. Please tell me, kind King, do you know where I can find violets?”
King December rose from his seat and walked over to the youngest month and handed him the spire. “Brother March, please sit on the throne.” King March sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. The flames spread and grew taller. The snow melted away, buds opened on the trees. The flowers started to bloom, and there were so many violets growing that the ground looked blue. “Hurry Marushka, and pick your flowers” said King March. Marushka picked a whole bouquet. Then she thanked the twelve kings and hurried home with a light heart.
Imagine Helena’s surprise when Marushka came home with the violets. Helena put the flowers on her belt, but she didn’t let Marushka have a single violet.
The next day, Helena and the mother sent Marushka into the forest to pick wild strawberries. She trudged through the snow for hours, until she suddenly reached the same hill as last time. The twelve kings received her kindly again, and when they discovered her quest for wild strawberries, King December left his throne and handed the spire to the month sitting across from him. “Brother June, please sit on the throne.” King June sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. Immediately the flames rose to the sky, the snow melted, the leaves sprung out on the trees. Birds began so sing, and the most beautiful flowers covered the ground. Marushka saw how the white flowers turned into red, ripe strawberries, and picked as many as she could carry and hurried home.
Helena took the strawberries and ate as many as she could, until she was completely satisfied. Then she gave the rest to the mother, but Marushka didn’t get to taste a single berry.
The next day, Helena wanted apples, and again she sent Marushka out to fetch some. The poor girl walked towards the forest in the bitter cold. More snow had fallen, and she walked through deep drifts of snow. But finally she arrived at the hill where the twelve kings sat. When she told them of her new predicament, King December handed the spire to his brother September. King September sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. The fire grew, the snow disappeared, and a strong wind whipped through the area. The grass turned yellow and the leaves fell off the trees. No flowers could be seen, but a large apple tree was standing there, its branches laden with beautiful, ripe apples. “Hurry and shake the tree” said King September. Marushka shook the tree and one apple fell to the ground. She shook the tree again, and a second apple fell to the ground. “That’s enough” said King September. “Now hurry home.”
When Helena saw that Marushka had only brought two apples she yelled at her. “Why did you not take more apples? You have probably eaten them on the way!” “No, I was only allowed to shake the tree twice” answered Marushka. “May lightning strike and kill you!” screamed Helena. Then she said to the mother “Let us go to the forest ourselves. If that evil Marushka goes again, I am certain she will eat all the apples on the way home. I will shake down every apple from the tree, whether they let me or not.”
Mother and Helena had to walk for a long time, but finally they reached the twelve kings. Without greeting them or asking permission, Helena walked straight towards the fire to warm up.
“What do you want? Why have you come here?” asked king December with a stern voice. “Why is that your business, old man?” said Helena and turned to continue on her way to find the apples. King December furrowed his brow angrily, and raised his spire. At the same time the fire burned out, the sky turned dark, and heavy snow came down. An ice cold wind howled through the trees. Helena and her mother could not see one step ahead of them, and their limbs got stiff from the cold. They fell to the ground and cursed Marushka bitterly, but they could not get up and finally they were buried in the snow. They never returned home to Marushka again.
The next shawl in the World Heritage KAL is the Jelling Rune Stones Scarf. The scarf is knit using 1 skein of Turtlepurl Satin Toes in the colour Starlight.
Jelling is located in Denmark, and is famous for its rune stones, grave mounds and the Jelling Church. The rune stones were erected in the 10th century by King Gorm the Old and his son King Harald Bluetooth.
The larger rune stone was erected by King Harald I in memory of his father, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity.
The complete (translated) inscription reads “King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrve, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian”
The inscription is made in Younger Futhark runes – a runic alphabet used in Scandinavia in the 9th to 11th century. There are only 16 characters in the alphabet.
I had the opportunity to take a class on Orenburg Lace with Galina Khmeleva when I went to the Rhinebeck Wool & Sheep festival. It was a whole day class that covered the basics of Orenburg lace. Galina took us through a bit of the history of the lace knitting cottage industry that the region has has been famous for for a couple of hundred years.
Orenburg lace is created from 10 motifs, in endless combinations. From simple cat’s paw motifs to heart chains, fish eyes and accordions, amazingly complex shawl patterns are created. It is garter stitch based, so not a single purl stitch is used on these shawls. Since the 1940s Orenburg lace shawls have had lovely edgings incorporated in the patterns. Before that they were only finished with a fringed edge.
Nupps were apparently banned in Orenburg, because they used up too much yarn. It’s cheaper to make a shawl without nupps (=more shawl for the same amount of yarn), and while they have appeared from time to time, nupps are not traditionally part of Orenburg lace.
In the class, we got a chance to try some of the motifs, and I knit two small swatches – on the right side is a sampler with strawberries, cat’s paw, diagonals, peas, honey comb and some fish eyees.
On the left (and still on the needles) is a border with two turned corners. I really like this construction of knitting the borders with the shawl – similar to what I used on Mystic Earth. The entire shawl is enclosed in borders and there is no cast-on or bound-off edge. It makes the entire shawl nice and stretchy, with no possibility of puckered cast-on/bound-off edges.
Galina also had copies of her book on Orenburg Lace Shawls, and I bought a copy from her. She even signed it for me. It’s really a wonderful book with a lot of history and background, as well as a number of pictures of Orenburg Shawls, and a stitch and border dictionary at the end. This book is a great addition to my knitting library, and I’m glad to finally have a copy of it.
If you ever get a chance to take a class with Galina, I highly recommend it. She was a very engaging teacher, and managed to cover a lot in the day that we spent together. Thanks for a good class.
After two fun-filled Seasons of Lace, I have decided to continue into the Winter and Spring with more lace patterns published as part of the Seasons of Lace knitalong. Each month you will receive a brand new pattern for a lace shawl designed based on the current theme. The lace subscription can be ordered for the winter (3 months), or winter & spring (6 months) – Winter (December-February), and Spring (March-May).
We have all grown up hearing fairy tales of different varieties – some from our parents and grandparents, some in school, some in books and some that have been turned into films. Fairy tales come in many forms, but the one thing they have in common is that they capture our imagination and try to teach us something about life. During the winter months, let’s snuggle up by the fire and read fairy tales from different parts of the world. And once the story is over, we can turn it into beautiful lace shawls that will remind us of the stories. Each pattern will be accompanied by a (short) version of the fairy tale that inspired the shawl design. The Fairy Tale shawls will be published in December, January, and February.
In the spring, the inspiration will come from folk songs. Each shawl will be designed around a folk song from different places in the world. These shawls will be published in March, April and May (2011).
The cost for 3 months is $20 CDN. And the cost for 6 months is $38 CDN. Each month you will receive a brand new shawl pattern. The yarn requirements vary from shawl to shawl.
Please place you order here.
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