Presenting...

One last look at Clapotis no. 1 - It's now on my office chair, waiting in the wings to keep me warm come winter -

And introducing...Clapotis No. 2!!
This one knitted up a whole lot easier. I made it only 83 stitches wide, to be more of a big scarf than a wrap. I used ribbon yarn rather than anything more wool-like. And I added a fringe at the end, hides any lumpiness and makes it more swishy when you flip it over your shoulder.

So this is all packed away for Mum for her birthday. Which is today...Hopefully I'll get it out tomorrow. Dad's birthday is in 2 days time* so I can pack all the loot together. Lessen the sticker shock you always get when mailing stuff to Ireland from the US. Dad was meant to be getting socks for his birthday...em...well I did unwind the skein into a ball...maybe for Christmas?

*Mum and Dad met October 12 - the day between their birthdays! awww.

Fringey goodness

Look what I got done during 2 hours of conference calls. It's actually lovely and warm. yay me :)

My second claptois

Any hoo - not to be deterred by my clap blanket I invested* in enough ribbon yarn for three more clapotis. Am kind of a glutton for punishment - or maybe I learn by my mistakes? So here's #2.

Thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine for holding down the curly bit.

Up close...oooh. ahhhh. Looks pinker than the two far-off pics would suggest (And just one dyelot!)

Here are my next 2 projects...Because, yanno, this is the xmas I will finally economize by making my own gifts. Ahem.

Pretty yes? They are for my MIL and SIL, who live in the South and hopefully will be happy to wear such summery colors. Or maybe they'd be happy with a nice white paper bag with 6 balls of lovely yarn in it :P





*an appropriate term given the cost of the stuff...

My first clapotis!

The only place I had to block the clapotis was on the bench on the deck. Paddy the Boston Terrier kept guard - or maybe he was just eyeing the cans of Pedigree.

Here it is, being modeled by my chair. You can still see where the dyelot changes...

...and at one point I got distracted by one of the aforementioned dogs/children and this was the result...
I ripped out the wrong column of stitches - there are meant to be 5 columns of stitches between every "ladder" but here I have 6 and 4...ah well. Like I said this will be gracing my office chair and was good practice. I think I will add those tassels to use up the remaining yarn - so watch this space :)

Finished!

Well - I finished my (first) clapotis Saturday night. With almost a whole ball of Magenta mix left over - it may get incorporated into tassels - think that would work with a clapotis?? It is currently being blocked on a bench in the back garden (overseen by Jamie-see below), and was covered with a nice coat of dew this morning when I went to check on it. The thing is, it's more of a blanket than a shawl/throw. Definitely not a scarf. So I don't think I'll wear it. While I may not be the trendiest of girls, I am not yet channeling Peig. I am going to keep it for myself though (that whole dye-lot debacle, remember?), maybe I can keep it at the office to throw over my legs in the winter when it's cold...just like Peig

(Pics to follow - watch this space :)

Clapping downunder

I managed to smuggle the needles on to the plane no problem and did three repeats on the flight from London to HK. I made even more progress during the week. I was completely unadventurous and spent evenings in the hotel having room service and knitting away to BBC world.

I haven't done much this week in Brissie but Mum is knitting a scarf so we have had a few companionable times sitting knitting and chatting.

When I was taking this photo Mum said "What Posie would do is.....". Alicia is Mum's favourite blogger (after me that is, but I don't post regulary enough apparently).

Its weird to have too much light for photos here but I'm certainly not complaining.

Ah good ole e-bay. My 2 balls of the elusive Magenta mix were tucked into the mailbox today (I only ordered them Friday!) waiting for me to finish!

Except now I have started a very cute pair of red and black socks...and am on the toe of the first one - I know if I don't go ahead and make the second straight away they'll never be a matched pair - I do like Flib's way of making them both at the same time - but I don't have the needles, hmm.

So - watch this space for - hopefully - v gorgeous v heavy clap :)

My poor wee clapotis

Hello from Maryland!

The good Flibbertygibbet turned me on to this whole "clapotis" thing at Purl Soho last June, and when I read the enticing description on knitty.com I was intrigued. Not a day later one of the local Michael's (there are 3 within 10 miles of here, plus the biggest Joann's in the country, and 2 awesome lys. Am very spoiled.) had some lovely Caron Black Magic yarn in Magenta mix on sale. Two strands woven together, one black and the other alternating pink and green, my current favourite colour mix. And seven balls of it, $2 a ball?! Sure you couldn't beat it with a big stick. I bought it, brought it home, introduced it to its brothers and sisters in the stash, and didn't pick it up again till a couple of weeks ago.

It was at this point I picked up the pattern again. "Hmm, Lorna's lace recommended, don't have that...sure this worsted weight stuff will do fine. And 7 balls is loads. Size 8 needles...nope...ah these size 10s will be fine, sure I am a tight knitter anyway."

And off I go. Very excited. Saw Flib's beautiful creation, and all the others you've been working on. Yay can't wait to wear mine and attain that aura of French chicness.

Brought it, still on first ball, along to the local Borders (book store), to join the Wednesday night knitting group. Great fun, so nice to knit without dogs (2) children (1) and men (1) demanding attention. When I got home, however, and remembered to take a picture - here was the result...

See that? That's not the lighting/camera-angle/glaucoma. That's what happens when you don't check your dye lots...

I dislike frogging carefully (ahem) crafted knitting as much as the next tense-shouldered girl and so upon reflection I decided to carry on. It turns out I had bought 3 dye-lot 74, and 4 dye -lot 68. So I would alternate them, in a "yea I know the colours are a little odd its meant to be like that" kind of way. Come on now, you'd have done the same.

So, having a trip to West Virginia (that's what I love about my job, the glamour) I took the clapotis along with me, intending to unveil it upon my return. Well. Again, so here's what I'm working with...

Kind of blurry - but see how the pink and green are unravelling?? Grr...Could be why the stuff was on such a great sale...

And here's as far as I got...

(Note lovely hotel-room bedspread.) This is a little over halfway done. Why stop there? you ask. Because (and I know you saw this coming) I. ran. out. of. yarn.

AAAAAAAAhhhh

So back I went to Michaels. Hey I am nothing if not hopeful. And would you believe - they had one ball left. It was one of those sad little balls with no label on it, collecting dustbunnies in the clearance bin. probably another dye-lot, but who cares.

I decided to cut my losses, and "turn" the clapotis at this point, rationalizing that as it's worsted weight yarn instead of the (wisely) suggested lace weight, it'll be plenty warm, anything bigger could rightly be called a blanket, etc.

And I still ran out.

God bless e-bay, I bought 2 balls of it (the fourth dye-lot thank you very much) and when they get here I will finally finish it.

What have I got myself into!?

And she's coming round the straight

Haven't been able to do much of my clap for a while because I lost a ball of the Colinette yarn. It was hiding in the bag of yarn which I keep next to my side of the bed. Why, I hear you ask... To stand guard over me and protect me whilst I sleep of course! And I like gazing at some of my favourite yarn as my eyelids droop shut. So! Here's a photo of the yummy clap for your delectation...



I also have to confess that I had a Clapotis-related dream... in it, I stumbled upon a bookshop which was having a sale and I found a basket of DB pure silk for £1.60 a skein. I was so chuffed with my little find and was happily counting the number of skeins in a single color so that I could make a clap... then I woke up. Boo,... and yes, I am a little yarn nerd but most of you know that already...

One down...

I finished the Pure Silk one, got my head around the pattern, and I'm back on the angora. Hurrah for Christmas present knitting in September! These will take care of one grandmother and my aunt. Photos of the angora one soon.

Slow hand clap...

Sigh, I am falling behind seriously here with my clap. I've only done 2.5 repeats of the straights so far, and yes, it's my first one. At least it's turning out big.

I'm enjoying it but my available knitting time on the clap has been limited these last few weeks, even though I've been doing it whilst on the phone to my mum, whilst drunk going home on the tube the other night (not a bad idea as I didn't spot the annoying knot in my Noro three-quarters of the way along the row, which I'd have got really irritated about and ripped back had I spotted it at the time, but now I just don't care and it's not that visible anyway). And now I am about to cease to clap for over a week as I'm going somewhere far too hot for shawl knitting.

So, progress will be suspended, much like London's transport network, for the immediate future... Back in a week and a bit!

Clap-a-gone

Yes, the rumours are true.

I left my silver clap-in-progress on the bus, never to be seen again. The yarn is discontinued, so it's not going to happen at all. I'm trying to be grown-up about this but IT"S NOT FAIR!

The sound of one cat clapping

Here is the lovely Sophie modeling my first clapotis (scarf version). It's a gift for my grandmother, so hopefully she won't mind millions of ditzy white hairs. I'm really pleased with the way the variegatedness came out--at first I was afraid it was going to be excessively stripy, but it's kind of a cool deco pattern. The yarn is Berocco Soft Twist, and is the devil.
Here is another picture of it laid out flat, blocking:

It's coming along

I'm really pleased I restarted in the silk because I've been able to spot (two out of three of) the mistakes I've made and rectify them. Though when I was in a hurry to get to the next drop stitch row, I messed up the end of a Row 6, and forgot to do the pm/yo bit and so was a stitch short on the next knit row (didn't notice it on the purl row). Rather than tink it, because I couldn't see how I'd get the stitches the right way around, I just made one stitch where I needed it. I hope it won't be too obvious - though every little thing does show up in this beautiful yarn...

Another day, another clap

Late last night I started another clap. As you do.

I've had this strange pumpkin-colored yarn in my stash for a long time. It's a little too shocking a color, I think, for a cardigan (for me).....but with accessories, I think you can get away with crazy colors. (I bought the pumpkin on purpose in an effort to get away from my green fetish. I guess I was trying to be something I'm not.)

Anyway, it's 100% alpaca, sport weight, from Blue Sky Alpacas. I have 500 grams of it and intend to make a nice long clap and matching tam-----with a big pom-pom. We'll see how it goes......

Clap Blues...

...woke up this morning, no clap happenin' here...
Fellow clappers I am in despair. I clapped along at Flib's the other afternoon - got to grips with the stitches on my practice yarn. In JL yesterday I stood at the yarn section for like ... ever. The variagated stuff was the nicest, but having tried the 'cheek test' as advised, it was too scratchy. The softer stuff seemed only to come in plains. I couldn't decide. The final nail in the coffin came when I went to buy stitch counters (please, I'm too green to understand the purl a stitch concept yet) and they were sold out!
I left JL empty handed.
And logged onto Loop where I can at least dither in the privacy of my own home. Is there some sort of advanced astro physics logarithm involved in working out how much yarn I need? I realise there is a sort of weight to length ratio but...
I logged off empty handed.

Can someone please point me in the direction of some soft variagated yarn (iceberg grey/white would be good) and tell me how many balls I need?

Jen - I am so envious, you've finished yours!

Section 2 done!

So OK, I'm firmly in the slow camp compared to some people (Jen, you are overachieving!)... but the result of two solid knitting sessions (Sunday on the tube to and from Heathrow on a baggage search mission and all this evening whilst Paul is away surveying bats, yes really) I have finished the increases!

In fact, I have done one more set of increases than called for as I like big shawls.  Mine now measures 20" along each side of the triangle.  The pattern says 21" but I assume that's with the dropped stitches so hopefully mine will be bigger.  Can any of you who have finished tell me approximately by what proportion it grows widthwise with the dropped stitches?  Double or less?

It took me just over one ball of the Noro cash iroha to get this far - one ball would have been perfect if not for the extra increases.  So that bodes well for the five balls I have for this.  Anyone know if you can spit-splice this stuff?

I may have to leave the clap for a little bit as I now have a new deadline-knit, but it's only a quick hat so I should be back onto this soon.

In the meantime, some pictures, with Ginger the Cat (as opposed to Ginger Lucy) provided for scale...




Which was fine until she wanted to roll on it...

Come and clap at my house?

Ok, late notice - anyone want to come for tea and knitting tomorrow? Ting, Caroline, Abi and Jen are already in, any more takers.... xx

The clap is finished!

It's finished, after nine days of knitting. What a fun knit! Not too easy, not too difficult. Just right. Now, all I have left to do is aggressively block it.

:-o

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands

Finally, I've started the clap. Thankfully, I learned from all y'all about the purl trick. Thanks for sharing that. Truthfully, I was a little timid and slow re. the actual knitting of the clap-----after having read about Gail's clap. Oh no. Meanwhile, I am knitting on the clap every day, and hope to finish it soon. It really is an addictive knit. And I've already planned my second clap. As you do.

The sound of one hand wringing as the clap gets ripped back 25 rows

Yes, I am competing with Ting for the longest post title. Let's stop that right now.

Thanks to Pauline, the Clap is back on line. She masterfully ripped back loads of it and then taught me the purl instead of placing markers rule. When I understand it fully I'll share it. Actually, Lucy or Helen can probably explain it now!

It will look like this (except correct) at some point again soon...


Oh yeah, rather than the Debbie Bliss silk, I decided to use the Louisa Harding Kimono Angora that I got on sale at Loop. Because I have to assuage some of the guilt for spending so much on yarn last month...so this is officially the first of the Christmas presents. Yes, that's right. I knit so slowly that I have to start now...

Too thick to clap....? Gail, please stop these jokes about people with special neeeds it's not very PC you know...

Help.... Will the pattern still work with a thick yarn? Want quite a big wrap - this is some 7mm Colinette Zanzibar I'm thinking of using...



or i could use some of the purple Noro Cash Iroha I bought at Loop... hmmmmm decisions, decisions...

Reward

I've spent the day cleaning and re-organising our bedroom, so this evening I'm going to choose my yarn and start my (5th) clap.

The sound of one hand clapping?

Hi. I haven't actually bought any yarn yet.
But watch this space ;-)

Section 3

This is my commuting project at the moment. It still just fits in my handbag. I'm using the same Blue Sky Alpacca & Silk in Sapphire as my first version. The gauge (not that I've actually measured it) is quite a bit smaller than the pattern so I added about 4 extra repeats in section 2 to make it wider. I'm not yet bored of the yarn or pattern despite the repetition.

I'm purling between the two ktb stitches to avoid using stitch markers thanks to the tip from P. I was doing a knit on the purl row until Lucy pointed out I could do a purl on the knit row which means I'm now sailing through the purl rows and don't have to think about anything on the bus to work at all if I time it right.

Section 1!

So I have made a start on this as a welcome distraction from my shrug (stocking stitch round and round and round) and grandpa's socks (more stocking stitch round and round and round). Here is section 1 and miraculously I do have 17 stitches.

I am using Noro Cash Iroha on 4.5mm's which gives me about the same gauge as the pattern. I am going to have to go and get some Addi lace needles for this though, these straights just aren't pointy or long enough. Dear god, that means I'm going to have to go near Loop again... help me...

Welcome!

Here's the deal - this is a knitalong* for the Clapotis from Knitty.com, designed by Kate Gilbert. I don't have any pics to show yet, but here's what you'll need:


MATERIALS

• Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb [50% silk, 50% wool; 205yd/184m per 100g skein]; 4 skeins
• 1 set US #8/5mm straight needles, 18 stitch markers, tapestry needle
  

or yarn to obtain GAUGE, 19 sts/25 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

I'm using Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in orange.

If you would like to join in, please email me - boutique {at} flibbertgibbet {dot} co {dot} uk and I'll whizz you over an invite! Then post on here to introduce yourself.

I have to say that my goal is to get a couple of these knitted for Christmas - yes, I'm starting early...do join me.


Width: 21 inches, Length: 55 inches

* knitalong - where a number of knitters work on their own version of a project at the same time, in their own choice of materials. I'm setting this up because of pestering from some of my knitting group, hah, plus although the new ravelry site allegedly allows you to do knitalongs, it seems to be taking months to get on to it and I'm not sure that I can allow yet another internet obsession into my life...