My local Stitch ‘n Bitch group had an informal Clapotis KAL a month or two back. It was fun knitting along with everyone, seeing all the different yarns and sizes, and the progress everyone was at each week. I finished mine awhile back (April?), but never got around to taking pictures until recently.

Pre-blocking shot:

Post-blocking shot (close-up):

Me wearing it: (P.S. the plants behind me are the corn plants from our veggie garden!)

Pattern: Clapotis, by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Sweaterkits Handpainted Silk, in Purpleberry (+1000 yards?)
Needles: US #5
Size: Full shawl, 62″ long (blocked)
Notes:

Pattern
Very simple and easy, mindless knit. Perfect for social knitting nights. Very addicting! I added one more repeat in the increase section, and did the straight section until I wanted it to a desired length (taking into consideration that silk WILL grow when blocked).

Yarn
I was gifted this beautiful hand painted 100% silk yarn from Lacy for my 30th birthday. It was part of a Sweaterkits kit for the Fiona Ellis Shawl. I saved the pattern for a rainy day, but wanted to use the yarn for this Clapotis; I figured the silk would drape wonderfully and I definitely had plenty of it. I’ve never knitted with silk before - this particular one is soft, and it has a slightly slippery/squeaky quality to it (due to the silk content). Dropping stitches was not a problem. However, because it is silk, it draped wonderfully, but it is “slippery”, so wearing this Clapotis is a tad difficult because it won’t stay put as well as other non-silk ones would have. Also, because this yarn is DK weight, I chose to use a smaller needle size. I didn’t worry too much about it being too small for a full-sized shawl, as I knew that silk will grow when blocked. Variegated colors in this yarn range from dusty roses to mauves, indigo blues to varied purples throughout. Very pretty! One downsize was that this yarn bled onto my fingers. When I blocked it, I had to rinse it through several times to get the extra dye out.

***

I had originally intended to wear this Clapotis to a nice outing, like a wedding. I went to a wedding this past wedding, but decided at the last minute to abandon the idea of wearing this Clapotis because I became a last minute ceremony coordinator for the bride and groom, and I figured I needed an outfit that was comfortable and not fiddly, as I was going to be running around a bit. Despite some behind-the-scenes snafus, the wedding was beautiful, touching, successful, and lots of fun. I got to see the bridesmaids wear some of the jewelry I made for them (requested by the bride). They wore this bracelet and this very simple drop earring:

***

This is completely unrelated to my post, but today is my 6th anniversary! It’s so crazy how time flies so fast. I look back at our relationship, and yes, it has changed over time, and truthfully, our love has changed too - its roots have grown deeper and matured. I know we have so much more to grow from, but we have plenty of time for that, right? I hear about the “seven-year itch” thing, and I worry about what that is all about, because it feels like we are far from anything like that, and we’re starting our 7th year together as a married couple. I was told to disregard it, because we are paving our own way. So that’s what I’m doing for now. Hubby and I are going out to celebrate tonight. Can’t wait! =)