spring cleaning

Today is devoted to cleaning out and making some space. Dresser drawers, and the pile of unfinished knitted objects that have been lingering for too long. Of primary importance, I needed to finish the Clapotis scarf that I started on Oscar night. I'd done some of the decrease section, but was really worried about running out of yarn. So foolishly, I just left the project in a bag for weeks.

The yarn is Handmaiden Silk Maiden, a wool and silk blend. I only found one other match for this colorway on Ravelry (surprising!), so my running-out woes were only compounded by the lack of availability. There was no colorway name, and I've decided that it's most appropriately called Bruise. After one particularly ouchy volleyball game this year, my left knee was all of the colors in the yarn: brown, black, blue, and purple. Maybe that's why it wasn't too popular?

I bought the yarn for the wrong reason: I'd just had the first thesis project meeting for grad school, and I could tell that things weren't going to go well. It was pure retail therapy, and a substitute, because Downtown Yarns didn't have an Sea Silk in stock. So I bought this (relatively) small and expensive skein of yarn. However, I did get a fairly nice gift out of it for some lucky person.

There's not much left! I wasn't kidding.

clapotis fini!

For all of you wondering souls, here's my finished Clapotis, taken out for a spin at the New York Botanical Gardens this afternoon. I love it. It's soft and warm, and there's only two little bits of color pooling, which I can totally live with. I got to use a pattern that I've been holding and yarn that has been marinating since 2004. While it won't serve the original purpose of wedding shawl, I'm really happy with how it turned out. A woman complimented me on it while we were in the Orchid Show. I was pleased as punch.

What was I doing out when there's so much school work to be done? I had a little breakdown/panic attack this morning, and declared myself unfit to write. My equilibrium restored, I'm going to read for a while... which should segue very nicely into a much-needed nap. And hey: spring is here!

clapotis update

It's really close to being done, so I didn't want to display Clapotis in its full glory yet. But it's a very addicting knit. I am a bit concerned about the length, but I'm not ripping the entire thing either, so I'll make do with what I've got. Scarves always stretch, right? In any case, I think that this won't be the wedding shawl for 2007. It went so fast that I should have time to work up the Shetland Triangle before June 9. Fingers crossed...

How's that Masters' thesis project going, you ask? Shush, say I.

a clapotis grows...

Here's the start of my Clapotis! Thanks to Kristie's instructions on how to do a smaller Clap, it seems that doing the rows 1-6 at the end of section 2 are really important. They are specifically included in the mini version, so they must be vital in a way that I can't yet see. Therefore, I'll do them.

The yarn is from Oak Ridge Yarns in Putney, VT. I found it at Rhinebeck some years ago. I originally bought it for a scarf pattern they displayed, but then decided it was too highly variegated for my taste in that design. After I saw the Clapotis pattern, I thought that the two were meant for each other. In the summer of 2005 we were going to be passing through Putney during vacation, so I called to see if I could swing by and buy two more skeins. Oak Ridge was going to be away, so I got two more skeins mailed to me.

Once, when I was at the Point NYC in the Village, I heard some knitters talking about how to modify the pattern for different yarns. Someone recommended splitting your yarn into four lots: one for increasing, two for length, one for decreasing. It looks like that will work out perfectly for me. I should be able to eek out the last six increase rows from the first skein. The only question that remains is the consistency of yardage in small-producer yarns. I've not had great experiences in the past, but might pull out the digital kitchen scale tonight to weigh and see what I've got.

All in all, a very fun pattern, and certainly will be finished for the June 9 wedding! Why didn't I do this earlier?