Pattern Release—Á Chloris

Is it really time to do this? I almost can’t believe it; but here we are. It’s time to release the last pattern from Mélodies: please welcome Á Chloris!

Pattern and giveaway information are towards the bottom of the post, as are more details regarding the Mélodies KAL which starts in just a few weeks; so feel free to skip ahead. I’m going to wax a bit lyrical (pun intended), since this design is the last.

The Story

This particular design has been through more than one iteration over the last couple of years; the first version dates to November of 2018, when I improvised the design on the fly as a Christmas gift. That original shawl was knit in laceweight silk, and it was a much more complicated design back then—the eyelet body was the same, but I used a different, symmetrical lace panel as the edging, with an added picot border. There was also a strip of chevron lace between the body and the edging. I still love that shawl; in all likelihood I’ll be recycling the elements that didn’t make it into Á Chloris at a later date.

So in this case the essential elements of the design came before the name, but once inspiration struck for the Mélodies collection, it was hard not to connect it with Á Chloris by Reynaldo Hahn, possibly my favorite French art song of all time. Á Chloris (the song, not my design) is actually a bit of an outlier in its genre; many mélodies were avant-garde, experimental compositions—playgrounds for cutting-edge composers to push the boundaries of what had been done before in music. Granted, most of them never quite pushed the envelope as far as some of their contemporaries who were writing symphonies and tone-poems, but all you have to do is check out some Debussy or Duparc to hear what I’m talking about. My Nuit d’etoiles shawl was inspired by one of these more daring compositions. Á Chloris, however, has a distinctly old-fashioned vibe. Hahn was reportedly inspired by Baroque music from the early 1700s, nearly 200 years before. In fact, many have derided Á Chloris as nothing more than a pastiche of elements lifted from Bach and Rameau. Hahn doesn’t play with off-center rhythms or odd harmonic cadences, which gives the song a traditional feel. (I should also note that he wrote it when he was 13…talk about your early bloomer.) Edit: I was actually thinking of one of Hahn’s other songs, Si mes vers avaient des ailes, which is well worth listening to. I recommend Ruth Ann Swenson’s recording.

With all that in mind, I set out to strip my shawl design down to the essentials. I saw it as something of a return to center from Nuit d’etoiles and Clair de Lune, both of which are fairly modern designs, as opposed to the first design in the collection, Le Soir, which is in much more familiar territory. Since the design itself was going to be somewhat predictable already, I hunted down a less common edging than the one I originally used, and with the wide band of faggoting already included in it, I decided to eliminate the chevron lace. Another thing that cropped up in my mind numerous times was the comforting aspects of the aforementioned predictability—if it’s possible for a French mélodie to be like chicken noodle soup, it’s Á Chloris. With that, it seemed only fitting to have two versions of the shawl: a small, elegant piece like my original improvised design, and a deep, snuggly one in heavy yarn. Having worn both, now I can’t decide which one I like better!

The Details

The shawl is cast on at the top edge, with the same number of stitches for either size. Then the body eyelet pattern is worked downwards and shaped with short rows; the short rows are longer for the shallow shawl and shorter for the deep shawl. There’s a simple band of texture before transitioning to the knitted-on leaf lace edging.

My samples used 300 yards of SweetGeorgia Cashsilk Lace and 585 yards of SweetGeorgia Flaxen Silk DK, respectively. Some of my testers made their shawls according to one of these two options, but some got adventurous and used laceweight for the deeper shawl, or fingering weight for the shallow shawl, or something else. Of course any shawl design can be knit in a different weight than the pattern calls for, but some designs weather the switch better than others; and I must say, the change goes over quite nicely for this one.

Á Chloris is available for $6 as an individual pdf download, via Ravelry and Lovecrafts as with all my self-published designs. It’s also available in ebook form on both channels (links here and here) for $20.

The Giveaway

The very last Mélodies giveaway! From March 31 to 7:00 PM EST on Saturday, April 3, I’ll be running a giveaway for a free pdf copy of Á Chloris. To enter, simply comment below and let me know your favorite thing about Á Chloris, and what color of Cashsilk Lace or Flaxen Silk DK you’d like to make it in. (To see available colors in Cashsilk Lace, go the the “Colours” tab on the SweetGeorgia website.) For a bonus entry, post about Á Chloris on your blog or social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Ravelry forums, and the like) and link to your post/pin in a separate comment.

The winner will be drawn using a random number generator and will be announced April 5 in my next blog post, so check back then to find out who won! After the announcement has been posted, I will use the email address provided with the comment to contact the winner. If you’re interested in winning a copy of the pattern, be sure to leave your comment before 7:00 PM EST on April 3!

The giveaway is now closed; thank you to everyone who commented!

The Music

And the companion recording—actually, there are three of them this time; I love them all! (I did say this was my favorite song, didn’t I?) The first, by Susan Graham and Roger Vignoles, is the most traditional and one of the best-loved recordings of this song.

Á Chloris by Reynaldo Hahn

Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano) and Roger Vignoles (piano)

Jakub Józef Orliński (counter-tenor) and Michał Biel (piano)

Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano) and the Aarhus Symfoniorkester

The Knitalong

I did say that today’s giveaway is the last one, didn’t I? Technically it is; but it’s not the last chance to win prizes. Don’t forget the Mélodies KAL starting April 14! We’ll be knitting along in my Ravelry group, and there will be games and prizes along the way as well as a big prize draw at the end. Links to all relevant threads are below; and I’ll have more info to share with you next week. See you then!

Main Chat Thread

Pre-Chat Thread

Prize Thread