Very behind.

I'm just starting the Kittyville Hat that is also in Stitch N Bitch.

How darn behind is that? I'm making it out of Black Cotton Ease. Another "behind the times".

Maybe I should put in Flashdance to watch as I knit ;)

An experiment in speed and concentration

For the past couple of days I couldn't make up my mind. With Ella done and the Knitting Olympics right around the corner I had a window of opportunity to start, and finish, something. I've started River, Essential Stripe, a baby vest, a hat and a curly scarf. I've finished the curly scarf and the hat...LOL! Nothing else held my attention for some reason. I think I've finally decided on cozy.

I'd say it's considered 'behind the times' and I already had the yarn (Lavold Silky Wool) in my stash so why not? Question is, can I finish it before the 10th of February? We shall see. I just (as in 10 minutes ago) cast on. Wish me luck!

Clapotis - another dimension

For some reason, my clapotis is able to ignore the laws of physics and create extra stitches for reasons that are beyond me. I just finished row where I dropped a stitch, and I had to end up purling 2 stitches together right at the start. And I am sure that I purled 2 tog at the end of the previous row!!

This happened to me just before I dropped my first stitch, and it caused me to spend an hour or 2 looking at various KAL and knittyboard postings to figure out what happened.

I think part of the problem may have been that said row was knitted while on an airplane - my blood oxygen level would have been lower because of the low atmospheric pressure, and I didn't realize what I was doing. But I still prefer my theory that the clapotis exists in a dimension outside our own.

Crapi Clapi Pic

Yuck! Can I just say that I am NOT a fan of the phone in my camera? The walls of my office are off-white, toward cream. They are not a screaming chartreuse. And the yarn for the Clapotis is Brooks Farm FourPlay, colorway "classy," not colorway "crappy" or colorway "muddy." But, hey, this is the only picture I've had the chance to take of it, so here it is. I promise to try and take more tout de suite. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this (and go away starving, please . . .).

Look Ma, no stitch markers!!

Allow me to present the catpotis
She can't find the stitch markers

I switched to purling the stitch that will be dropped instead of using stitch markers. The markers were popping off of the needle from time to time, and since I plan to be knitting on an airplane, I thought I would try going without. It's working out well; the purled stitches make a bit of a ridge in the knit that is a milder version of the effect you get with the dropped stitch.
Mental note if I ever knit something with ribbon yarn again: it drops stitches easily.
Very easily.
Some might say too easily.

Hello!

Thanks for the invite - another behind the times gal joining in the fun! My name is Felicia and I'm currently knitting ChicKami (as a lead in to Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics when I'll be working to get Sitcom Chic done in 16 days). Both are in a minty shade of Lion Brand CottonEase.

I love looking at everyone's Clapotis'. I've made two less than full size versions and have some Schaefer Marjaana for a full size one and matching hat. Here's one done in a handpainted wool/mohair blend.









I'm not used to blogging on a regular basis (as you can see from the blog here created in 2003), but I will check in periodically with updates.

D-O-N-E

Done. My Clapotis is done. D. O. N. E. done. And it's pretty impressive, too. I currently have it dry-blocking (yes, that's a term I just made up) on my wall at work. I'm trying to get the two corners that keep pulling in not to do that -- I'd like it to be a rectangle rather than a parallelagram (OK, I'd like it to be a parallelagram with 90-degree corners). It's probably about six feet long (I'm 5'6" and cannot stretch it to its full length just by holding the ends in my hands and pulling) and three-ish feet wide. In other words, it's huge. And I love it. I wore it this morning in the cold and the snow and it kept me so very cozy and warm.

As I put it on this morning, I showed it off to Girl Warrior and Destructo Girl (my kids, ages 5 and 3 respectively). Girl Warrior's first reaction was quite gratifying: "Can I have it?" I said no, but offered to make her a smaller one. So perhaps I am now on my way to being one of those people who makes a zillion Clapotises. I wouldn't mind. It's a fun knit.

Next: socks for me (not so behind-the-times I know, as socks are always current, but I plan to follow along here and I WILL be back when I start working on my Ribby Cardi or on a Moebius or on Samus or . . .).

ribbon clapotis - behind the times and on the edge!

After much time and energy spent on trying to figure out what yarn I should use, I decided to use Crystal Palace "Party". Here's how the dropped stitches look with ribbon:



I've just dropped my 5th stitch, so I am not quite halfway through. Realized that I horribly underestimated my yarn requirements - bought 4 skeins, and I am just about finished my 3rd one now. Luckily when I went to my LYS, there were still 3 of them remaining.

I am going on a trip next week, and am taking clapotis along with me to knit on the plane. I suspect that I will finish it on the trip down, or shortly thereafter (6 hours of flying time plus 2 hours waiting to connect), so I am trying to decide what other project I should take with me. Current frontrunners are: checkerboard patterned tank which is 60-75% done; cardigan in bulky yarn, or a halter top from a Schachenmeyer book in Crazy Cotton (I bought the yarn and book last January - come to think of it, I bought some yarn at a clearance sale this spring for another top from that book). I haven't swatched for the cardigan or either halter yet...

Outdoor Clapotis Pictures

Here are the long-promised pictures of my progress as of Friday:







Enjoy!

Clapotis update

I've started the decrease section! This one is fun: you get to drop TWO stitches (one at each end of the row) for every twelve-row repeat. But I have a question: Why, when I am knitting something in stockinette and I /accidentally/ drop a stitch, does it immediately run 12 rows down, but when I drop a Clapotis stitch /intentionally/ I have to fight with it to get it to go three or four rows? (I exagerate a little here -- it's not all that hard to get the stitch to drop, but it does seem to be more effort than it should be, given how much effort I have to put into keeping an unintentional drop from dropping further).

Today was warm and sunny here, so I took some outdoor pictures of the Clapotis, which I will try to post tonight.

New here!

I just joined today! I'm so behind the times it isn't funny! Ask my family.....LOL I still like leg warmers and like to wear stretch pants with my socks outside the cuffs....LOL YES I DO!!! Besides that my knitting.....I've recently started my hourglass that I've been puting off many many times....then the soilel is still on the needles as well as some under unemntionables right now. This KAL is so fitting!
Thanks for inviting me! Looking forward to completing some things this year as well as seeing what others have done

I Finished the Hourglass Sweater

It's finished and I love it! I think that I will get a ton of wear out of this sweater. I might start my clapotis soon!

Moving right along

Well so far I've done section 2 once. This is the section where I only do the repeats for as wide as I want to go...so who knows. I am thinking I'll need about 3 or more repeats of the section. According to the kpixie pattern it was only once plus rows 1-6 again. So far it is not too hard...remember I said so far...hehe... one of those dropped stitches....update w/pic tomorrow :)

UPDATE 1/15: On section 2 for 2nd time, progress so far. The SG is nice to knit with. That's all I need to do, get addicted to another fiber :)

I finally started mine!

And with this post I am at last officially participating in one of the KALs I have joined over the past months.

Can anyone say 'Flake'? ;-)

I am being cheap with this first one and using Woolease in the Pine colorway. I live in the middle of Illinois where it gets cooold - at least it is supposed to be cold at this time of the year - and this should be warm and able to survive my hubby's laundry days. Plus, I saw a shawl being made out of this at my SnB and loved the color so much that I bought 5 skeins at the Michael's next door to our meeting...lol!

Went through the Section 1 and the first of the 13 repeats of Section 2 quickly, stopping for a soda break before I knit some more. Hubby is working tonight and we are all watching the Bears play tomorrow, so I foresee a great deal of Clapotis Progress this weekend. I'll post a pic when I drop some stitches.

Debi

Clapotis cast on

Finally, I made myself do this. I really wanted to knit with that silk garden staring at me :). I got through section one, that is after I researched how the heck to do a pfb. Started with my Denise needles, but was too slippery, so switched to bamboo, did a few rows then back to the Denise's. I like the sharp point on them, and with doing a lot of pfb's/kfb's I knew I would need them. I have the next 5 days off and hope to get a few more repeats done then I'll post a pic.
Dropping stitches someday...will I ever??

Making Progress

I've dropped 2 stitches now. On purpose! Whee! I did have a problem when I dropped the first one. I misinterpreted the instructions for picking up the bar and knitting it and the next through the back legs. I did just that. Meaning, I knit them each separately through their back legs and kept on. I didn't do a K2togbl. When I got to the next knit row and realized my mistake, I tinked back to the purl side, purled 2tog, put that stitch back on the left needle and p2tog again. It looks alright. But I'll know better next time. Geez.

Five stitches dropped

I've completed five of the thirteen middle section repeats, and am starting to lose interest (don't worry; this always happens; it's a transient thing -- I just have to (1) come up with what my next project will be so as to motivate me to finish this one, and then (2) power through the middle part doldrums of this one until I get to the point that (3) the fact of being close to completion provides motivation enough). I'm thinking the next big project (I've decided socks, mittens, hats, scarves, wine cozies, etc. don't count) might be a Moebius scarf. (WaitAMinute, did I just say scarves don't count? I take it back).

Anyone interested in a Moebius behind-the-times? Of course, the fact that I am contemplating it now probably means I won't be starting it until June or so, so feel free to take your time responding.

Someone please revoke my knitting license.

When I picked up my Clap last night to continue on with the increases, I started knitting...on the purlside. Did two rows wrong and had to tink back. I am a certifiable idiot. But I got through one more increase section finally.

Here's another question for y'all. If I'm planning on making this a shawl, and it says increase until it's as wide as you want (looking at the right side of the right side), don't the dropped stitches end up widening it as well? How do I figure out how wide it's really gonna be?

Cast on last night...

Hello all! I finally joined y'all in this KAL. I started Clapotis last night, this one's a gift. Had a bit of a shaky start, but once my brain woke up and remembered SSK it's been good.

Question, is everyone slipping their stitches purlwise?

Dropped a stitch last night

And, miracle of miracles, the world did not stop turning on its axis. More to the point, I intentionally dropped the stitch, and still the sun rose in the east again this morning (well, this being New England in wintertime, we could debate whether I actually saw the sun at all today, but I have faith that it was there, behind those nasty grey clouds).

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the Clapotis right before the stitch-drop moment; I was afraid I'd wind up having to frog the entire thing (or a substantial portion of it) and wanted photographic proof that I actually had made some progress.

Here is the knit side of it.

And here is a close-up of the purl side. You can see where the twist-knit-twist triad of stitches creates a little crease in the fabric. It's actually kinda neat.

I'm making it out of the Brooks Farm Four Play yarn, in the "classy" colorway (which, looking at their site, seems no longer to be available). The yarn is fabulous, and has a wonderful sheen to it. The colors are probably a little more drab than I would like -- except that the purpose of this particular Clapotis is for me to wear at work on those days when the heat just cannot keep up with the cold of the New England winter (or in the summer, when the air conditioning is winning its race with our summers). Consequently, it has to go well with most/all of my work clothes, many of which are somewhat drab neutral.

And, in other news, I took a little time this evening and made a button for us so that if you have a blog you can add the button. Please be sure, though, to save the image to your own hosting site or account and link to it there. Thanks!

My First Full Length Sweater

The pattern from the past that I decided to do is the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The yarn I'm using is 100% alpaca Puno by Filatura Lanaroto that I picked up at the Smiley's yarn riot in Manhattan last month. It's going well and I can't wait to wear it!

I'm going to Branch Out!

I started my Clapotis ages ago, but it's an "I'm in the car, waiting for one of my kids to get out of practice" project. I'm finally to the point where I've dropped one stitch. It was very exciting!

So I've decided to knit an also very Behind The Times classic, Branching Out. I have some Harris Tweed Textiles Shetland 4 Ply in Jalapeno from Elann that I'm going to use. I've never knitted lace before, so wish me luck!

Question on Section 2

Just to confirm, on Section 2: Where it says repeat rows 1-12 six more times, this means I'll end up with a total of seven repeats, right?

Carolyn, I think ulimtately it unravels all the way down, but that you just need to let it unravel a bit so you can pick up the bar and continue on your merry way. I must admit that my trepidation when I get to that point won't be that I'm not going to be able to be precise enough in my unraveling, but rather that maybe somewhere in there I forgot to knit through the BACK loop, and the whole darned thing is going to start unraveling. It'll be a scary, scary moment for me. But for now, I'm still knitting along in the comfort of Section 2. I've completed four of the seven repeats, and am taking my daughter for a snowboard lesson tomorrow (during which I will sit in the lodge and knit to my heart's content).