It’s official… my Patterns web page is not updated yet, but I have new patterns for sale. There are three patterns not on my sales page… Bags to Go!, which actually has been in the shops for a month or two; Sassy Summer Handbag, which I released a couple of weeks ago (but only one shop had a sample at that time, more are complete as I type this); and finally the Perfect Hug Shawl. Perfect.

I tell you what, between Diana and Priscilla and I we have knit eleven of these shawls (and six Sassy bags). Well, two shawls are still in process… So we have made nine complete ones and two are very close. Whew! I love wearing these and they are not hard to knit, but I must say I’m tired of knitting them for a while.

The shawl came from my need to have something on stage, playing my bass, that stayed on my shoulders. This one is shaped like a rainbow so that it stays on.

The first version I knit (many times) is what I call the Capelet style. It covers shoulders and back without much bulk and doesn’t cover up the pretty dresses I wear on stage. I realize now it’s also perfect as a portable hug for a loved one in a wheelchair, it won’t get caught up in the wheels or lumpy in the back. It’s pretty practical just in that one size. However, I was inspired just over a week ago to add two more sizes to the pattern. I’m glad I did.

The middle size (sounds like the momma bear, doesn’t it?) is called Bear Hug. (Hmm, momma bear. Right.) Anyway it’s the same length as the capelet but it sort of hugs further around the body. These rainbows are constructed like slices of pie, and the Bear Hug has two more slices, to make it more generous and warm. (For the record, it’s knit from the neck down so you can use every last scrap of yarn, not in short rows… so you start from the tips of all pie pieces at once and they grow on the way down.)

The final size is called the Goddess size. It will fit up to a size 5X woman, with a fit and a flatter.

However, I put one on Rae today (she’s just a touch curvier than me, not Goddess-sized by any measure) and we just wrapped her up like a warm cloak. A smaller woman has to wear it differently, it needs to wrap over one shoulder, but my goodness did that look comfy! It might be perfect for those turning down the thermostat in the dead of winter, who knows?

So here is the elusive and wonderful Diana flirting with you over her Goddess version of the Perfect Hug Shawl. Diana is my brother Eric’s wife, and a talented artful person… knitting, quilting, dyeing, cooking and gardening among other things. And she has knit about half of my store samples in the last six weeks. I loved her before. I love her even more deeply now, even if she stopped knitting for me tomorrow.

Diana, you’re adorable here… thanks for the photo and the knitting. Oh, yeah… you get this shawl back after it makes the rounds in Lansing…

I’m going to be hard to catch here for 3 days, I’ll be working for Altu’s food booth at the Great Lakes Folk Festival from noon Friday until late Sunday. However, if you send me an email or Paypal payment to Lynn *at* Colorjoy.com I can get patterns out to you when I’m home after the festival.

Or you can get the patterns at the shops where I teach. I’ll be delivering Sassy bag and Hug Shawl patterns to Rae and Threadbear on Friday before I go to the festival. I’ll probably deliver the shawl patterns to Little Red Schoolhouse Monday, she has the other patterns already in stock.

Photos: 1) Diana with Goddess shawl in Artful Yarns Reality. 2) Capelet style in Debbie Bliss Soho, store sample at Rae’s. 3) Striped Sassy bag in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted yarn, store sample at Little Red Schoolhouse. 4) Sassy Summer bag in solid blue with a polymer clay handle and button I made myself. 5) Bag to Go! for water bottle made with Paintbox, store sample at Threadbear.