knits, notes, etc.

It's really thanks to Hilary that I started knitting this charming scarf. I was enchanted as she knitted it one afternoon at Samovar and after seeing the finished scarf (which I hope Hilary will write about soon--Here it is: Hilary's clapotis), I knew I had to make one. So, after another afternoon at Samovar, we stopped in Imagiknit right before closing time, and I bought the Manos Silk Blend yarn to make my own Clapotis.

After dropping the stitches and though I've yet to block it, it's more rectangular than parallelogram-ish, so I thought this picture would suit:

Clapotis... unblocked. ends dangling. typical. haha

Pattern Clapotis, by Kate Gilbert.
Source Knitty Fall 2004.
Yarn Manos Silk Blend, Color 3043, 3 skeins.
Needles Sizes 8 (5.0 mm).
FInished Size After blocking, this became a very long scarf with a length of 9.5' and width of 7" (unstretched) to at least 9" (stretched).
Modifications Modified from shawl width to scarf. I knitted only two repeats of the increase pattern. Even before blocking it was quite long, at least 7' in length and about 7-8" wide.

the pattern

When I first saw this pattern, I mistakenly thought it was much more complicated than it actually is. Granted, that was at least 3 years ago when I was not as confident with my knitting and couldn't tell a twisted stitch from a regular stitch just by looking. And really, the thought of dropping stitches... I didn't trust that it wouldn't just unravel the entire scarf/shawl.

In reality, this pattern is very easy to memorize once you get used to it. And once you memorize the pattern, the stitch markers just get in the way. I used 7 or 8 stitch markers, after I finished the increases. But, then removed them after knitting one repeat of the body of the scarf.

And boy was I mistaken about dropping the stitches. I kept dropping them as I knitted the scarf. Too much fun. And, I kept imagining cool ways to use dropped stitches in other patterns... haha

After two skeins. So bright and shiny!

the yarn

One thing I have to say, though: This yarn was made for Clapotis. I mean it. The yarn was very smooth to knit. The stitches held together nicely.

I have always loved Manos del Uruguay yarns, but recently, I started paying more attention to Malabrigo. Malabrigo wools tends to be softer and less scratchy. When I bought this yarn, naturally I couldn't help but compare it to Malabrigo Silky Merino, of which I've only knitted a small swatch. (I can't believe that I haven't touched it since.) I guess, just for that reason, hand's down, Manos Silk Blend wins. The sheen of the silk. The softness of the wool... It knits up unbelievable smoothly into a beautiful fabric. I knitted an entire skein in one day. (Granted, the other two skeins took the rest of the three weeks...) And really, when I wasn't knitting it, I was thinking about knitting it.

Of course, now that I have another scarf that I want to wear everywhere everyday, it's too warm in San Francisco. (Not that I'm complaining about the lovely sunshine!) More project notes to come!

Update 07 May 2008 Wow. After soaking (in Aqua scented wool wash, which seamed appropriate for this) and blocking a bit into a rectangular shape, this scarf is approximately 9.5 feet long. That’s almost twice my height! It's even softer after the wash!