Sheila Meyer traveled to Armenia in 1995 as a consultant to the Armenian Crafts Enterprise Cooperative. Her assignment was to design sweaters incorporating traditional Armenian motifs and techniques. One embroidery style, called marash, once considered a “secret” technique passed from mother to daughter particularly intrigued her. In the years since her return, Sheila has wanted to use marash on a sweater and, now here it is, on a playful striped pullover combined with daisy stitches and French Knots. The marash stitch Sheila employes is called heusvadz gar. The embroiderer first works two rows of herringbone (also known as fishbone) stitches, one superimposed over the other. The resulting diamond figures serve as a base for wrapping addtional yarn over, around, and under the stitches to create a beautifull scroll pattern. Whereas traditional Armenian marash is worked with fine thread and tiny stitches, Sheila has used bulky yarn and big stitches to create a modern, youthful effect. She’s intentionally kept the knitting simple, only occasionally working more than one color in a row, so that the project is accesible to beginning knitters, especially new, young ones whom she’s eager to inspire.

Yarn colors
M140 Aran - 2 balls
M97 Rust - 2 balls
M14 Sunburst Gold - 2 balls
M125 Imperial Yellow - 1 ball
M52 Spruce - 1 ball
M135 April Green - 1 ball
M05 Onyx - 1 ball
M110 Orange you Glad - 1 ball