… released and published in 2017, in Italian, under the name La Scalinata. For three years it was available exclusively via Unfilodi and the Italian version still remains an Unfilodi exclusive pattern. Below, you can see me wearing the prototype I made using the gorgeous TréLiz yarn that Unfilodi provided for the pattern, as well as several pictures of the projects made by the Italian knitters who created beautiful, colorful shawls after selecting their own color combo.

As I was saying back in 2017, this is a shawl inspired by the beauty of the Mediterranean summers; a large, airy shawl that transmits the happiness of living near the sea and nature of a Mediterranean country, such as Italy (the homeland of UNFILODI) and Greece (my own homeland) among many others. Sunlight is brighter than anywhere else and life rhythms seem to slow down to let us enjoy ourselves. Bursting colors surround us and these colors do mix and match under the bright sunlight in a very natural way.

English-speaking knitters had been asking for the English version of the pattern for some time now and it seemed only right that it gets its own name, as it is published in 2020 under different circumstances for the whole world. Italy, Spain, France, the UK, the USA, my own homeland, Greece, are going through tragic times and people are confined at home worldwide in an attempt to stop Covid-19 from expanding even further.Last spring, I found myself numb and incapable of designing at the beginning of the lockdown in Greece, as the bad news from all around the world kept coming in. Feeling unable to do something really important to help, I turned to my knitting for solace and comfort. I needed my knitting to help me rise up and stand on my feet again, because this feels exactly what we have to do to make it through these hard times! I developed my pattern and added instructions to help knitters modify the shawl to taste. I also rewrote and retested it to make sure this is a really enriched version of the pattern! So, let me present you The Rise up Wrap!

New color combos were created by the same yarn dyer (yes, Lise from TréLiz and I are both covered by that first vibrant prototype in the picture above) and you can obviously see how different the new “proto” is compared to the old one. We decided to name this combo the combo of “Hope” and I think the soft, quiet yet happy palette I used is aspiring hope for a better future. It certainly worked for me, bringing back my knitting mojo and I do hope it works for you, too! Let us give each other a hand to Rise Up and be able to live, love and stay safe!