Should have seen it coming

I am someone who likes to have multiple projects going at once. I firmly believe in the idea of having a project to suit your situation; it isn’t unusual for me to work on a multitude of projects through the course of the week/weekend. Often I will have my to go project (99% of the time it’s socks) and I will have my long term projects (the lace shawl, and my besties blanket.) I also have those in between projects, the ones that I cast on either for a deadline, or because it strikes my fancy. I would like to think each project gets its fair share of my time, which is fine by me (and the knitwear doesn’t seem to be complaining.) It is a happy little existence, for me and my knitting.

Of course this was all abandoned when a hot little number, called Clapotis came into my life. Things changed and they changed quickly, instead of working on that sock for my husband, I would find myself picking up the clapotis. At first I would keep the sock out in plain view, trying to convince myself that I should really work on something else. A day or two later I abandoned this strategy and simply “forgot” to take the sock out. It came to the point where I was like, “what socks?” I knew that clapotis had cast her spell on me, when I brought her to my monthly knitting group. I often try to bring something small to work on when I am out in a group because I want something easy enough to allow me to continue conversation, as well as not requiring tons of extra accessories (aka charts, stitch markers, row counters..ect.) Not this time, no this time fully under the clapotis spell, I packed it all up and took it with me. ( I was knitting the scarf on my straights, which I almost never take out of the house because they are long and kind of unwieldy.So that should have been a sign.) I knit on the project happily, even as more people joined us, which was not a problem, except my own tiny space began to shrink. The straight needles became awkward and I feared poking myself or my neighbors with them. As I tried to maintain my delicate balancing act, it became very apparent that I needed to  abandon the project in favor of something smaller. But I did not at first. I knit and knit and knit losing myself in the delicate stitches, the fun way the yarn changed colors (because apparently it takes so little to amuse me.) When I kept bumping into my neighbor and almost getting my pant leg caught in the nearby wheel I resigned myself to switching projects. So I begrudgingly put the precious away and picked up a pair of boring old socks. Despite the ooing and aaing over the colors, I couldn’t help but feel like a sullen teenager who is taken away from their significant other in favor of forced-family-fun-time.

Returning home the project and I spent the rest of the weekend together. (Well despite my time spent in urgent care, because apparently I can’t go more than a week without something going on.) We were together until Monday, when I finished. Oh it was glorious, I was proud of the FO, even though it wasn’t blocked, and despite the fact that I completely misjudged the amount of yarn I had left (this time it was too much, which I suppose is better than the alternative) I was smitten. I showed the cats, who remained unimpressed and slightly disgruntled for having been woken up. I may or may not have danced a tiny little bit (but come on who hasn’t done that on a project or two)

I gave it a quick bath (and returned to the doctor, where I learned a fun fact, apparently at 25 you can get the Shingles.) After coming back home, the blocking began,and despite having to fend off the cats, who suddenly become interested in any and all items being blocked (well for one it’s the pins, he loves to pull them up with his teeth, whereas the other just wants to lay on the wet wool.) Which yielded this:

The dropped stitches opened up beautifully, and the gradient is lovely. The only downside was the fact that about 3/4 into the ball I noticed a very odd color change. Instead of it transitioning to the lightest green, the yarn took on an almost turquoise look, before continuing on again like nothing happened. I didn’t notice it until I was quite a few rows past, and my husband (and the mysterious spell from clapotis herself) convinced me that it still looked okay.

Clapotis 1. Knit Picks Chroma Fingering- Elfin

I am very pleased with it. The pattern was simple once I started to recognize it and the yarn is really well suited. Of course I have the same complaint almost everyone who works with the Knit Picks Chroma yarn has, the dropped stitches required a bit of work.  I definitely like this pattern and I can see why it became such a big hit. At my knitting meet up this weekend, almost all the participants discussed how much they enjoyed the pattern, and casually mentioned how many they have created. Lost in the throes of this project I nodded along, not thinking much of it. I had heard a few other people say the same thing about this project. So you would think, as I cast off the project, or as I soaked and blocked the scarf, or even as I made my way through the stash, that I would have seen it coming.

Clapotis Number 2. KP Stroll Sock Multi- Tuscany

 

 

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