Clapotis

Did you know 10,499 registered users of Ravelry have made or are making a Clapotis? Till this morning. This morning I became Clapotis maker 10,500 on Ravelry. Is that cool or what?Clapotis was big news when I first really began to knit some 2 and a bit years ago. Since the inception of Ravelry, its gotten bigger. I often wondered why so many people liked this pattern, what makes it so great that 10,000 users of one single online entity like it.

And now I know. It's mesmerising. There are only 3 stitches in a row that you do the same thing to, lots to focus your attention on and repeats on a row are across only 6 stitches, so its not hard to get a really strong knitting rhythm going. Top that off with a pattern repeat ending by dropping one stitch all the way down your knitting and you have mesmerising.

Then there is the incomparable drape that comes from the bias orientation of the stitches and the drop stitch rows when it is done. A single Clapotis can be a scarf to keep the chill off your neck on a cold winter day. It can be a large wrap to snuggle in with a cup of cocoa and a good book when pajamas are your fashion statement. It can be a lacy little something to top off the elegant and ubiquitous little black dress. In the right yarn, this shawl could be your everything shawl.

Mine is more of a scarf, maybe a really small wrap. I'm looking for things to wear to work, that don't get in the way. They need to be shorter and a little smaller than the long luscious scarves to wrap a couple of times around your neck. They need to be cool for summer and able to keep off the chill of all the big windows on a cold windy winter day. I can't say enough about how suited Bonsai is for this design. The yarn shines in exactly the right way. The long strands of the dropped stitches show off the particular elegance of a flat tape yarns. The colour moves along, never too firmly placed, lightened and shifted by the magical drop stitch. I would love to do another one, bigger though, to be more of a shawl than a scarf. A special yarn, something soft that just hugs your shoulders, something that caresses you and makes you feel beautiful.

An everything shawl for me is going to have to be cream or a not quite white. Berocco has some very warm creams and whites in the Bonsai and Seduce lines. There is a marvelous new yarn from the Mirasol collection, Nuna and the Punta Mericash, both with warm light creams. There is a soft oatmeal Drops Alpaca, and a true marvel of softn white in Misti Alpacas Suri Silk. There is a warm baby camel fibre, more camel coloured than white, but it would be stunning. I have a lot of choices, but its not one I have to rush on. A real Clapotis shawl is going to be a down the road project, for winter perhaps, when I need a little something simple to knit, but not dull, not boring, just easy, and comfortable.

Clapotis knits up fast. I'll finish tonight, block tomorrow, and wear on Wednesday.

All my knitting should be so well behaved.