SWAN, the feathered kind.

SO the project as mentioned is to be called SWAN, after the acronym for syndrome without a name, can't think of a more perfect title really. I've always had a fascination for the creatures too, when I was little I read and re-read the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, The Wild Swans many times, on many levels it's quite a horrific tale for kids as most traditional fairy tales are. The cursed brothers turned to swans, the mute heroine who is to be burned at the stake but the flames turn to flowers, so much powerful imagery but the part that struck me was that to save her brothers and return them to human form she must gather nettles and knit them into shirts.Nettles were something I was stung by a lot as kid playing in the Scottish highlands and knitting was something my Granny taught me. She kept a basket in her house and when we would visit her on Sunday, my sisters and cousins and I, were expected to get our wool and needles out and knit, I suppose it was a way to keep 7 wee girls quiet and occupied, feels rather fairytale like itself in the telling some 40 years later but the word Swan triggered a powerful memory for me of sitting on a stool knitting scrappy squares but imagining I was fusing nettles together to transform the swan princes back into boys. If only I could knit the right pattern now to unravel the mystery of M's difficulties, the nettle stings would surely be worth it.