Le châle est fini.

In other words, La Clapotis is finished.

I liked the shimmer yarn (Knitpicks; Stained Glass Colorway) The finished product is SO VERY SOFT. Huggable. Not much pooling of color at all -- only one area of pink that is visible in the top picture. Doubling the yarn must prevent a lot of the pooling.

I should mention that I used about 1340 yards of shimmer -- this is, of course, about 20 yards more than three skeins. I might have made it in three, except for the dreaded knotting incident, which was solved by removing the knots with scissors. I actually didn't sacrifice too much yarn, so I don't know (???). Three skeins or four? I used US size 8 needles.

Finished clapotis. Note one area of pink pooling. 

Finished Clapotis 

Almost done

I am on the decrease section of the clapotis. She is almost done. Each row that I knit is one stitch shorter than the last, because each row now has a decrease at the end. AND when I drop stitches, I get to drop two rows of stitches at a time. ALMOST DONE.

I've included two photos. One is clapotis in my husband's desk chair -- not that great, but I wanted a dark background on which to spread her out. The second is a stitch detail photo.

I'll take another photo when she is done -- maybe outside in nice light, although the color is pretty true in these photos.

Clapotis stitch detail 

Work so far on clapotis 

Knots Knots Knots

Steve has gone on retreat with the Emmaus Walk for the weekend. I miss him terribly.

I’m still working on the clapotis, but unlucky for me, the two balls of yarn have become tangled – a mess. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to untangle the nastiness. Just as I was about to see the light of day, figuratively speaking, I ran upstairs to check on the boys, and Molly – our goat-beagle, got a hold of one of the yarn balls. She didn’t do much damage, but she did greatly increase the tanglement of the yarn. ARGH. Clapotis is on hold until I can untangle the yarn, and then I’ll need to wind the next two hanks into balls to use them.

She is growing...

La Claptosis is growing. I am now on repeat number five. I was being very careful to click my row counter after I completed each set of repeats in the straight sections until I realized (duh) that I only need to count the ladders of dropped stitches to know how many straight repeats I've done. I have found that this pattern almost counts itself. I am using stitch markers -- yes, I know that I can purl the dropped stitches instead of knitting them and avoid the counters, but I REALLY need these little plastic rings to say, "Here, dummy, ktb here, then k, then ktb." I also think that "reading my knitting" would be more difficult with this Shimmer yarn. It is MUCH thinner than worsted, even doubled, and it doesn't speak as loudly as worsted when you try to read it. I like my markers, even if they do slow me down, and I plan to keep them. They are very well trained in their job, which is to say, "Now NOW NOW. Stop just knitting and do something different!"

I read "Yarn Harlot" this morning, and have added it to my list of blogs to regularly read. Try this one; you'll like it! I must try to find her new book on Amazon.

My next goal with the blog is to try to figure out how to add buttons to the sidebar. I would like to try to join the Knitter's Review blog ring, but I've got to figure this problem out first.

We went to Lexington for a family retreat this past weekend. I'll write about that trip in my next entry. Our adventure did include (for me) a trip to a yarn store and a (yippee) purchase.

Three new images

I've posted three new images this evening. The first is one of some impulse yarn that I bought. It is a cotton fleece yarn (80% cotton, 20% wool) put out by Brown Sheep -- handpainted. I just loved the colors in the yarn shop and bought it. I have no idea what I will do with it.

The second photo is of the finished (yea!) felted purse. It felted beautifully! Just wonderful.

The third is of my first attempt at a clapotis. The colors are working well, but in the last increase that I've finished, I'm getting some pooling of the pink. I hope this disappears as I continue with the next increase and on into the straight section. I've joined an email group called Clapotis Knit along 2005 and am getting lots of good info from the group.

Clapotis using Shimmer -- almost done increasing 

Finishing and Flowers

The purse is finished. It took less than a week to knit, and then I felted it. It was my first felting project. I was so surprised how easy it was. It felted into a purse shape (which sounds obvious, but I was surprised). Thanks to comments from Knitters Review, I purchased a Clover Wonder Knitter at AC Moore to make the I-cord for the handle. I thought it would be something that the boys would think was "cool." They did, and I liked how it worked. They cord felted just as easily as the purse. Thanks again to Knitters Review, I knew not to felt them together. What a great forum.

Summary:

Pattern: Fibertrends pattern AC-9
Yarn: Miss Priss in Eleanor Roosevelt colorway; Schaefer Yarn Company. I used one skein and some left over.
Needles: Circular, Size 10 1/2
Handle: I-cord made with Clover Wonder Knitter

I started now on a clapotis using the Shimmer yarn that I have pictured below. So far, I like it. The colors are falling well in the fabric. I using two strands together which had me a little worried. The fabric is very soft and airy; it should be nice in warmer weather. The purl front and back; knit front and back; and knit in back gave me a few fits, but I went to Knitting Help. As always, it was helpful. I started last night, and I am on the second repeat for the increasing section.

Thursday is my birthday. Steve (dh) sent me flowers at work today, and they are wonderful -- beautiful. But not nearly as wonderful as he is. He'll be out of town on Thursday, and I miss him.

Grant has started running track. Yesterday he found out that he is on the "B-team," which, apparently, is good. He's running in his first meet on Thursday -- hurdles.

KnitPicks Shimmer in Stained Glass colorway.

More projects on the Needles

I've finished one sock and have started on the other. The heel is almost done. What once was string is now a sock. Amazing.

We went to Lexington, KY this weekend and stopped at The Stitch Niche. Great store. I bought a pattern from Fiber Trends for a felted purse and yarn from Schaefer yarn Company called Miss Priss in the Eleanor Roosevelt colorway -- lots of blues, teals and greens. It looks like the ocean and so far the fabric look great.

My yarn arrived from Knit Picks. I ordered Shimmer in Stained Glass. This is 70% alpaca and 30% silk. I'm going to try to double it (it's laceweight) and knit a clapotis from it. I was reading a post on Knitters Review -- yarns to use for spring/summer versions of this popular scarf. Someone (Morgan) suggested shimmer. Here is her photo of her shimmer version: Morgan's clapotis. The yarn is so soft and beautiful. Love it.

I'll try to grab the camera tonight and post photos.