Saturday, August 22, 2009

My Clapotis Journey!

The Almost Finished Clapotis

This week marked a milestone in my knitting. I finally finished my Clapotis!

I love my Clapotis but it was a bittersweet project that took forever to finish. I started it on February 23, 2008 and finished it on August 21, 2009. (Yes, you read that right!)

You could say that it was love at first sight for me and the Clapotis. Since I love everything French, I fell for the Clapotis the moment I saw it's adorable French cafe photo on Knitty.com.

Kate Gilbert is the talented designer that designed the Clapotis. She had lived in Paris and discovered the French women's flair for wearing scarves. She designed the Clapotis as a diagonal drop stitch scarf. It can cleverly be worn as a scarf or as a shoulder shawl. It was published online on Knitty.com./Fall 2004 Issue.

I was late to jump on the Clapotis bandwagon. (Over 12,000 have been made and posted on Ravlery.) I did not discover the Clapotis until February 2008. That is when I started knitting lessons at my LYS Knitique and signed up for the Clapotis class. My Clapotis was modified to be a larger shawl version. It is knit in two skeins of Blue Heron's Rayon Metallic, color Deep Water.

By now you are probably wondering why it took me a year and half to complete my Clapotis. Well along the way I became what I call a "flitter knitter". I do a lot of flitting about knitting and don't always knit! I also became a blogger about knitting. And, I also knit a lot of other things during my Clapotis journey.

I recently reunited with my Clapotis and remained a faithful knitter to it. I couldn't wait to finish it. Then the worst of things happened...I ran out of yarn! I only needed a small amount to finish it. It hardly warranted buying an entire skein (at $44.00) to complete it. So Knitique and I put a knitter's "call for help" out for more Deep Water yarn.

Lucky for me, the call for help was answered. Nancy a knitter at Knitique had a small ball left of Deep Water she saved from another project. She graciously brought it in to me at Knitique so I could finish my Clapotis. My Clapotis is now finally finished thanks to Nancy.

My Clapotis Finished!

Lessons I have learned from my Clapotis:

I am a flitter knitter.

I get bored easily with large projects.

Hand dyed yarn dye lots don't always match.

I do persevere and finally finish what I start.

I can knit a large project!

Knitters are the nicest people!

Save your yarn leftovers!
(You never know who may need it!)

Like many others...I will knit another Clapotis....
only next time the original size!


Have you knit a Clapotis?

6 comments:

John said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Knitique Girl said...

I love your Clapotis, and I'm glad you finished it with a little help from your friends. I've knit 3 Clapotis this year, and I'm on the search for the perfect black yarn to make a traditional size Clapotis. I wear one of mine all the time and honestly I just the versatility of the project. J'adore le Clapotis

Sheila said...

OMG! What a journey!

I think it is gorgeous! And I can't wait to see it on you!

Unknown said...

Thanks Sheila! I am so glad it is finally finished!

Unknown said...

Thanks Knitique Girl!

I could not have started or finished my Clapotis without your help! Merci!

The Knitting Nest said...

Wow! Looks beautiful... I wanna make one :)

And it will most definitely take ME a year and a half to finish (at least)!!