Chaos, Order, and Dancing Stars
YARNS
Csilla Cowl: Shorn
Csilla Hat: Inish Olann
Csilla Jacket: LITLG
Earlier in the year, my pattern the Csilla Jacket was published in Issue 8 of Life in the Long Grass Magazine. Since then I’ve been asked on a regular basis if and when I plan to publish it independently. I am grateful this design has struck a cord with so many of you, and the plan is to make it available in January.
In the meanwhile, I don’t think that most of you are aware: There are two other patterns in the Csilla collection. Much simpler than the jacket, you might consider them as handy projects to practice the stitch motif in preparation for the main event, as it were. Because really, that star-like smocked stitch is what it is all about.
The Csilla collection began in 2018, as part of a project with Melissa of Knitting the Stash, using the inaugural batch of her now famous Shorn Yarn. We first released just the cowl; then the hat - each as single skein projects. And I fell so in love with the stitch motif that I hoped to eventually build it into a garment. It was only years later that my skills finally allowed that.
But the origin of the design, and why it is called Csilla… dates back to a decade prior to that. I lived in Austria, and had a friend named Csilla. We shared an interest in expressionist art, and also in vintage bicycles, and were the sort of easy friends who would meet occasionally to do activities together in a lighthearted sort of way. One weekend Csilla invited me to her mother’s house, which happened to be along our cycling route on the outskirts of town. And as we sat in the kitchen having tea and strudel, I noticed a framed embroidery on the wall. It depicted what looked to be a hybrid between snowflakes and edelweiss flowers, scattered throughout the canvas. And sort of weaving through them in fine script, the words:
Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können
Noticing me studying the embroidery, Csilla explained that she was named after the Nitsche quote. Her father was a professor of philosophy in Hungary. And Csilla happens to mean ‘dancing star’ in Hungarian.
Having later looked this up (goodness knows why, but I get inspired by such things), I discovered that names such as Csilla, Celia, Sheila, Síle, Stella, and Celeste, can all be traced to the Lain words for stellar and celestial. (No mention of dancing, though, I think a bit of artistic licence is permitted.)
Years went by, and I left Austria. And eventually ended up in Ireland. Where one evening my husband and I were watching The Fall where the Nitsche dancing star quote played an unexpectedly prominent role.
On a whim I messaged Csilla-the-person, whom I hadn’t spoken to in years. She was not at all startled to hear from me. And in fact it turned out she had recently watched this same series as well. We had a lovely, light conversation as if no time had lapsed at all since the days of our carefree bicycle rides and visits to the Secession Building. The next day, I found myself browsing knitting catalogues for stitch motifs that resembled stars.
When pregnant with my daughter not long after, I toyed with the idea of giving her one of these ‘starry’ names. But then I decided she needed her own story. And instead I channelled the Csilla energy into the Shorn yarn which happened to arrive at that exact time.
And that is how Csilla-the-design came about. As an explanation the story makes no sense, I know ...Except it sort of does, with its own brand of logic that is unique to the creative process.
Turning this memory into a stitch motif was perhaps my way of bringing cohesion to segments of my life that feel chaotically disconnected. To show that a pattern exists if we connect the dots in our own intuitive way. And also? Perhaps simply to make something pretty as an ode to a friendship and series of memories that I value in retrospect more than I realised at the time.
Thank you Csilla. And I hope you are amused by your knitterly namesakes.
The Csilla Jacket pattern will be available on ravelry in January 2025.
The Csilla Hat pattern has just been updated.
The original Csilla Cowl is available as ever.
Thank you for your interest in my work, and enjoy!
