The Clapotis

If you are an Internet knitter (and you know who you are!), you no doubt are familiar with the Clapotis. You may have even knit one (or two, or three, or....)

This shawal/scarf from Kate Gilbert, available for free on Knitty.com, has been very popular in the blogosphere for the past couple of years. So, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to knit as a gift for my friend Rosine, this chic, multi-faceted, French-inspired pattern was the perfect fit. Finding yarn was not so easy. I finally settled on some while visiting Oklahoma City, though I immediately began questioning my choice. I'm not used to such colorful yarn, and I found it hard to reconcile my eyes to the variety. (Even though this is really not that colorful compared to some out there). In the end, she says she really loved it and the colorway was perfect and she was taking it with her to Paris over the winter break. I hope it's true, because I am STILL not sure how I feel about this yarn. It's Fiesta Yarn's Ballet, and with 50% superfine alpaca and 50% tencel, the feel was amazingly soft and warm with a nice subtle sheen to it.

The thing is, I'm not thrilled with the brown bits marking the transitions from the pink and green, since there is also black in it, and mixing those two is just against my style religion. And the color dispersement was inconsistent with this pattern, at least, resulting in some striping and some pooling of color at other points. Here's a shot where this discrepancy is notable: (That big gaping hole smack in the middle of the picture was taken care of, by the way). But all that counts is that she likes it and she at least said she does. The pattern does create a fabulous texture:And the dropped stitches look really cool and make this look harder to knit than it was.
Seeing as I gave this to her right before she jetted off to Paris, I only have photos of me in it for the moment.