Once the muse of singing, Melpomene’s name derives from the Greek melpô or melpomai meaning “to celebrate with dance and song.” Over time, she became the muse of tragedy - particularly tragic theater - and today is often portrayed with a tragic mask in her hand: the opposite of her sister, Thalia, the muse of comedy. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and even in the day of Shakespeare, a tragic play was one with a sad or thought-provoking ending, a comedy would have a happy ending. The ancients asked Melpomene to inspire them in the creation of beautiful and lyric poetry and phrasing.

Mel’s cowl is a more casual knit than the sister Melpomene shawl. But like the shawl, she is knit side to side, and her calming textures soothe frayed nerves in times of stress. The repeating charts have the interest and the simplicity to enhance the healing nature of knitting. Melpomene is a perfect meditation for both the mindful knitter and the knitter in search of solace.

Welcome to year two! The idea for my first ebook subscription (year one: the pleiades) was born in 2010 while reading posts on Ravelry: people knitting 10 shawls in 2010. This year, they are doing 11 in 2011, so I really must join in the fun!

I am still addicted to small shawls using sock yarn and my sock yarn stash is still growing. And growing. It seems to be be bigger every day! So I’m jumping in again!
This time, because of life happening, the deadline of designing and knitting all of the 7 shawls for this subscription in 2011 is, I’m afraid, not possible. (Though I am still on track to design and knit 11 shawls in 2011!!) But the patterns for this eBook subscription will be delivered to subscribers within the subscription period of a year: ending June 30, 2012. As this is a challenge to myself to design, knit and release 7 shawls in the period of a year, I did not set a specific delivery time for each pattern.

All patterns will have charts and written instructions, and you will be able to make them out of one skein of sock yarn or an amount of sock yarn comparable to that needed for a pair of socks. There will be a few little extras sprinkled throughout and all patterns will be available to purchase separately.
The Muses will be the theme for year two. Yes, there are 9 muses, not 7! This means that not every muse will have a shawl. But each muse will have a pattern in the book.

Are you ready? Happy knitting!

Note that purchasing the eBook represents a significant discount over purchasing each pattern separately. No refunds can be given for buying the patterns separately and then, at a later date, purchasing the complete eBook. If you have made a single pattern purchase in error and wished to purchase the book instead, please contact me within a week to resolve the issue. Thank you!

Thank you for knitting my patterns and supporting indie pattern design! Subscribe to my newsletter here and get 15% off your first pattern order; find me on Instagram at @RomiDesigns and on YouTube here; come by and say hello in my Ravelry group, @Romi’s Studio, where you can find friendship, pattern help, and community! Use hashtags #romihill #romiphyle and #romidesigns to connect on social media.