Clapotis!

It’s done! Here, folded twice lengthwise:

Project: Clapotis
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Silk & Merino DK, color: Green Mountain Madness, 2 balls. (8 yards, 21 inches left over)
Needles: Size 5
Finished size, blocked: 14″ x 63″
Duration: March 2006 – December 2006

I ordered the yarn as a celebration of my job offer at Microsoft — such a splurge. Although I had it in hand at the end of January, I didn’t start knitting until March, due to the Olympic exertions in February. Throughout, this was a particularly on-again, off-again project for me. Posts here and here attest. At the beginning, especially, I had to actually watch my knitting, which made it hard even for knitting group, let alone for an accompaniment for tv or reading. It was difficult to mind, when each stitch was a different color — this was my first time knitting with variegated yarn, and the colors are gorgeous. By the second ball, my fingers had finally caught on and I could knit this without paying too much attention. I had to take a break in the summer, because it was too hot to have in my lap. And now, I’m done! I’ll enjoy wearing it to work — the office is always so cold. Maybe I’ll use the leftovers as an accent on an otherwise solid pair of fingerless gloves? Perhaps I’ll even try intarsia? I’m glad to not quite be done with this yarn.

I was interested to see what the edge would look like, since the pictures never seem to show it. Even better that after zooming it, I finally got a shot that shows the true colors — most of the time, my camera washes them out.

I used a purl stitch instead of stitch markers to indicate the columns of stitches to drop, after seeing so many people from my knitting group do it that way. So much less fidgety! And after reading the summary here, I decided to use twisted stitches (knit 1 back, or purl 1 back on the reverse side) on each side of the dropped stitch. I like the way that it came out.

Final lessons:

• If I knit this again (unlikely, but life is long), I will not use a wool blend. The stitches were too sticky, and it was a pain to drop them down. I suspect that with slicker, non-haloed yarn, this would have gone a lot faster and been more enjoyable. (Not to say that I didn’t really enjoy the pattern — it is interesting to knit, and every time I reached the drop stitch I felt such a sense of progress. It’s just that after ten months, I’m ready for new horizons.)
• I really am not a fast knitter. This wasn’t the only thing I was working on, either in terms of the knitting, apartment improvement, or life in general, but even so. Ten months for a pattern many people seem to complete in a few weeks. It’s definitely important, then, to choose things that I will enjoy working on, and wear after I’m done. This, post-blocking, fits both requirements — a good project.
• It’s fun to spend more on yarn sometimes. While I’m still not a three-skeins-of-koigu-for-one-pair-of-socks girl, there really is such a big difference between some of the cheaper yarns and those in the luxury category. Cascade 220 is still my standby, but if a project is going to last a steady near-year, it’s worth paying a bit more and enjoying the process.