Well, I have a new pattern out, and it's a freebie! It's called Halia, and is (at this time) exclusively available through Ravelry.
These photos were submitted by one of my testers and are used with her permission. She can be found as Naelana on Ravelry. At the risk of possibly having to locate a different tester when I need one, I highly recommend her. :) She provides excellent feedback and communicates very clearly. Also, as you can see from the photos, she does an excellent job.
I have to say that I am completely overwhelmed by the positive response I've had to this pattern. In just the few days since it was uploaded, over 60 people have added it to their favorites. Several have left comments on it, and even more people have queued.
The idea for the stole came from a Japanese stitch dictionary. I've removed a couple of extraneous stitches and worked the design from the center outward, but otherwise it's worked as it appeared in my dictionary.
I like finding names of literary authors or figures or elements to use as names for my design, and had posted on one of my favorite groups about name suggestions. Syracuse suggested Halia as a name, and I have to admit, I was originally a little disturbed by the backstory.
Then I started thinking about all the strong women I knew who are survivors of various forms of abuse, and thought that this pattern would be a good way to honor those women, and direct people to charities that they might not know about, such as Threads of Compassion. It's an "on your honor" sort of thing, but I've requested that people donate scarves/shawls to a local women's shelter or to Threads of Compassion if you choose to use the pattern. I'm more interested in the spirit of this request being honored than the letter. Thanks for listening!
And without further ado, here is the direct link to Halia on Ravelry!
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