It's Cold Out There Somewhere

Go ahead...call me a lazy knitter, I can take it.

Yarn - Plymouth Sunsette, Color 111, 5 3/4 balls
Needle - US Size 8 KnitPicks Harmony Wood needles

I'm not ashamed to admit that I cast on this 4th Clapotis for two primary reasons

1 - I can now almost knit this pattern in my sleep (and what with the benefit of that particular kind of multitasking I find such an idea very appealing)

2 - The yarn spoke to me and said that it wanted to be a buttery soft, drapey, subtle but stylish elongated wrap for multi-season wear.

Mods: Removed 1 increase repeat, 2 straight repeats, and 1 decrease repeat
The "Rule of Fifths" post on Ravelry was a huge help in re-sizing this

Okay. So it didn't actually SAY that. But it did shout a resounding "H-E-double-hockey-sticks NO!" to the other 17 things I cast on with it. So my go-to pattern of choice won by default.

I'm not too mad about that...

Mother of Pearl Shawl Pin from SnokistFarmGirl on Etsy

Besides...according to my Ravelry trolling, this is nowhere near pattern addiction. The wonderful Kimberly (aka somebunnyslove) just finished her 14th Clapotis earlier this year. [ravelry link]. I'm not sure I'll squeeze that many out of my own stash...but then again...


Summer is here in all it's blaze and glory (and bug biting splendor). I hope you're finding time to get your daily dose!

A bientot!

Oops, I Knit it Again

May I present, the Clapotis v. 3.0:

Pattern - Clapotis by Kate Gilbert (I'm sure you find it funny that I even bothered to link that)
Yarn - KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Chisholm;
Needles - KnitPicks Harmony, Size 8 (5mm)
Shelf life - Started 4.26.08; Bound off 05.30.08

Pattern Modifications:
I knit 2 additional repeats in the straight section (that's 24 more rows, about 4" added)
To compensate, I knit an extra repeat in the decrease section as well.

Notes:
Do yourself a favor and get some of this yarn. Hand-dyed, RICH color at $1.99 per 110yd ball. Who doesn't love a bargain?
Also, if you're thinking about making a Clapotis and would like to have the row by row chart I used (with or without stitch counts), send me an email and I'll be glad to share that.
And the needles?? Like BUTTAH...I find any excuse to knit something on 8's now. I have managed to fight temptation so far, so I only have this one set of size 8 Harmony tips to try them out. Santa will undoubtedly bring me the rest of them though since he apparently knows my credit card number by heart.

This is the second time I'm that I'm knitting this wrap as a gift. My mother-in-law always compliments my knitting and asked about it while I was working on it at our Memorial Day lunch (yes I was knitting wool outside in the afternoon in Florida - hush!). She said she loved the colors, and could really use something like that when it gets cold here (hush!). Something to warm her when she's outside waiting for the bus. What more motivation could I need?? After all, considering the gift of a lifetime partner she gave me - this is but a small token. She'll get it this fall just as soon as the temperature starts to dip, or maybe I can hold out until Christmas to gift it to her. Handknit love makes the world go 'round :)

No question that I love this pattern. The only real question is....what yarn will I knit it in next?

v 1.0 - Auracania Atacama Alpaca


v 2.0 - Cascade 220 Paints


v3.0 - KnitPicks Wool of the Andes

Many humble thanks to hubby, my oh-so patient photographer who never lets this FO showcase thing get old.

May I Present: Clapotis (Encore)

It worked! It seems that writing about a knit goal out here really does do wonders for the potential (and success) to actually finish it. Your comments and encouragement did wonders because I knew how good it would feel to finally be able to show you this...

Aunty's Clapotis!

Cast on Nov. 22, Ends weaved in Dec.1 (no blocking)

Yarn = Cascade 220 Handdyed Paints in "Indiana Summer"

Needles - KnitPicks circular, US Size 8 (5mm), 24" cable

Mods - Added 1 extra increase repeat , 1 extra straight row repeat, 1 extra decrease repeat

She loves it, I love it, I love her, she loves me - it is a veritable love fest all wrapped up in some stockinette and dropped stitches.

Thanks for being along for this ride. Who knew I could let the yarn fly like that?! I won't let it go to my head though...nothing wrong with a slow knit to balance it out once in a while. And in that spirit, I've already cast on for this. Turns out that hubby's the only one in the house without a hand-knit sweater...we can't allow that to continue any longer.

You Can Thank Me Later...Go Go Go

Knitting Daily is having a Contest for a Shopping Spree at your favorite Local Yarn Store. Go enter. I hope you win!!

Clapotis update...I'm in the decrease rows and the light is quite visible at the end of this tunnel. What is it about that segment of a pattern that just makes you fall back in love with the knitting? It must be that sense of "Oh yeah. I can totally do this."

ETA: Zeee Clapotis is FINI (ends weaved in at 4pm on Saturday...with time to spare)

Have a fantastic weekend darlings!

Travel Tales & Clapotis Countdown

Just a quick update to say that all is well in the (not-so) frozen north. In an event that can only be attributed to the power of a child's wish we landed safely on Thursday right in the midst of the first snow of the season. As we sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half waiting for things to be de-iced and cleared, my two little munchkins were the only ones on the plane clapping and squealing at the white powdery wonderland. Apparently the first snow fall brings about other feelings for residents here.

A view from the plane just before landing
Knowing that this first snow wouldn't hang around long, we did all we could to take advantage of it. A quick thrift store stop produced ski pants for the girls to wear so that sledding and snow angels filled the major part of our first 2 days.



That can certainly wear out even the heartiest cold weather adventurer.


As for me - I'm fighting the urge to hibernate by committing to a very tight gift deadline. I cast on for my second Clapotis while traveling here last Thursday, and I intend to have it finished by the time we're packing up to leave on this coming Sunday. Why the rush you ask? Well, I want my darling aunty who is feeding us and putting us up all week to have something warm and woolly to remind her of our stay (and hopefully bribe her away from her plan to keep the girls here with her after we're gone, which she has already threatened to do). My calculations say I need to knit 39 rows on it per day for the next 5 days to reach this goal. Knit mojo don't fail me now!


Clapotis #2 in Cascade 220 HandDyed Yarn, Color is Indiana Summer
Knit on KnitPicks Circular US Size 8(5mm)
I hope your week is going well too! No need to send warm thoughts our way, we're quite cozy and comfortable wrapped in hand knit goodness and enjoying the blessing of uninterrupted family fun time. Well ok, some warm thoughts would be nice - if it's not too much trouble.

More pictures later this week or when we return!

Look! Islanders in the snow!

May I Present: Zee Clapotis

Within the knitting community there are definite sub-communities. Groups of us who knit certain projects, or repeatedly use certain techniques and patterns. Sock knitters, lace knitters, felting fanatics...and Those Who Have Knit the Clapotis. Since Kate Gilbert's Clapotis pattern came out in 2004, I'm going to guess that it has been knit tens of thousands of times in any yarn you can imagine. I didn't even try to resist the call.
My good friend Sean confirmed my guess that the Atacama alpaca I had in my stash would work well for this pattern, and he was so right. (All photos enlarge on click)

Needles: Knit Picks Options US 7 (4.5mm), 32" cableCast on 7/10/07 - Cast off 8/30/07

73" long x 25.5" wide when slightly stretchedI knit 5 extra increase and decrease repeats.I knit the straight rows as in the pattern.

Auracania Atacama Alpaca - 100% Alpaca (110yds per 50g skein); Color #506Dropping the stitches took extra work because the alpaca fibers are anything but slippery. To create the ladders I had to manually take each stitch down row-by-row. It was worth it.


I love the length on this. I can have my ears, arms and most of my back covered all at once.
These photos show the Clapotis unblocked, and I think it will stay that way.


I used a row by row spreadsheet of the pattern to keep on track. I used the suggestion to purl the stitches that were to be dropped, which worked great, but I still used stitch markers all the way across -just in case.

Yarn Sources: 6 balls at Knit New York (January 2007); 4 balls from EBay (June 2007)Used 9 balls total (990 yards)


Silver & Wood Elephant Shawl Pin
Source: Stitches Midwest (I have misplaced the vendor's name)



There are a few other photos available in a slideshow here. As always, if you're planning to make one and I can help in any way, let me know. I've got the row by row instructions available for sharing.

Once again, a huge thank you to my wonderful hubby for not only taking photos of this project, but for going that extra step by complementing this project profusely and actually asking me if I was ready to have some pictures taken of it this morning. I'm a lucky lucky girl.

Keep On Keepin' On

Just back from a week in New Jersey - my regular monthly face time visit at HQ. "Hi! How are you? Fantastic!! Glad to hear it. Please keep sending the paychecks. Thanks!" It usually goes something like that, with a lot of other fun stuff in between.

Highlights on this trip include a night out in New York city; a belly busting dinner at a Brazilian BBQ restaurant; four hours of club dancing (yes, mommies can still do that once or twice a year); seeing My Kelli again after a long while; and knit night with KR, Maureen and Deborah. Meeting Deborah in person was an extra special treat because not only is she a talented blogger, knitter and supermom, she is someone I just knew I would love hanging out with, and I did! She's got some great stories too, so I look forward to the next time we get to take over the Barnes & Noble cafe.

Bookstore Knit Night with Deborah
With all the hub-bub of the week, I actually managed to do some finishing. Harry Potter #7 is now under my belt. Mau described it best - "Epic". It's been a long time since a book made me cry (in 3 places!) and laugh, and feel full at the end. It was just enough. I admire Ms. Rowling immensely for finishing out this series in such an excellent manner. If you haven't made it through this one yet - I advise you to hang on through the first half, because the second half is well worth the details in the beginning.

I also finished these


Yarn: Lane Cervinia Forever Jacquard
Pattern: Simple Stockinette, CO 64sts for size 8; slip stitch heelNeedles: KnitPicks Size 1 (2.5mm)Techniques: 2 circ & magic loop methods
In other news - I'm nearing the finish line on the Clapotis. Let's hope the pattern finishes before my yarn does, yikes! You can see the difference in dye lots in this shot, but I think that will be somewhat less obvious when I have it on. I look forward to having this with me on those plane rides to Jersey this fall.





Many, many thanks to all of you who chimed in at the last Round Table discussion. More topics to come, so invite a friend over to contribute. I'm headed to Fort Worth, TX Monday morning, so I'm off to dig for my next travel project. I've got the itch for another raglan pullover, or maybe another pair of socks. It seems I'm never short on options, just sadly short on time.

Have a great weekend!

Startitis*

*n. /start eyetis'/: A common condition affecting those involved with handcrafting, specifically the fiber arts. Primary symptom is an overwhelming need to begin multiple projects, usually before other projects have been completed.

That's right. What you see there is a picture of what I assume must be the 9,000th Clapotis cast-on and in progress. Was I expected to resist it though, really? I mean with sites like this one showing proof that you truly can make this scarf/wrap in just about any yarn, and with pictures of finished objects posted everywhere on the net - did I ever really stand a chance? Obviously not.

Stats:
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert (uh huh, you have this one bookmarked too, right?)
Yarn: Auracania Atacama Alpaca in Color 506, 10 skeins to make a large wrap
Needles: started on US 7 (4.5mm), but dropped down to a 6 (4.0mm) for a firmer fabric
Gauge: 5.5 sts/inch in the stockinette areas

Have you made one yet? I sure would love to have links to see some finished by you. If not, let me know if this is in your queue...perhaps we could knit along on it together? Good times.

I can't finish up without saying, simply - YOU ROCK! Our last round table discussion was a good one, just as I hoped. As you could see, we share some common hesitations with our pointy stick passion. Mostly I was impressed with the positive attitude that still comes through when you write about what you do plan to tackle when the time is right. Love, love, love the conversation. We'll have more of them too. Why not write and tell me what you would like to chat about and hear about from your fellow handcrafters? I'm always willing to take Round Table suggestions, so speak up!

Sending you sunshine and good thoughts from blistering summery New Jersey this week. Stay cool!