La Clapotis

May I present a finally finished Clapotis?

This took me forever. Forever. But it flew towards the end (funny thing about decreasing) and I'm really happy with the results.

Project Stats: Clapotis

Yarn: 100% merino, from Handpainted Wool (eBay). I think this yarn is single-ply and might pill like crazy, but for a scarf it's great. Very soft and cushy, and you can't beat the price. I used three skeins, or about 640 yards, with very little left. I was actually quite worried about running out of yarn but the panic was unwarranted.

Needles: Size 8 bamboo straights

Time: Hehe...April 15-Sept. 11, 2006. I'm not sure why it took so long, I worked on it quite a bit really, although it did occasionally get shoved aside whenever anything else took my fancy. That middle straight section is a time suck if there ever was one.

Impressions: I love my clapotis. Everyone and their mother and sister has made one of these, and the reason is clear. The pattern is brilliantly written and the end result lovely, although I have to admit it just dawned on me in the middle of the decreases that I was indeed making a rectangle. Not that I didn't know that going in, but there was so much fabric jammed on my needles that it was difficult to tell what I was really making.The dropped stitches were great fun to unravel. And I can't say enough about how much I love this yarn. I have more of it, in purple and white, that I bought at the same time as this because I couldn't decide which I preferred. I haven't decided what that will be yet (but not another clapotis, most likely).

What now you ask? I'm almost done with the lotus blossom tank. I'm at the short rows on the back/shoulder region, and I'm a bit lost in the directions and awaiting Rachel's sage guidance. Just realized I should've gotten that today since she's going out of town for the weekend...I've also been working a bit on the Funky Scarf Swap. I dyed the yarn for my pal's scarf on Monday, and here's a sneak peak:

I love this yarn. It's 100% wool, thick and thin. I bought it ages ago to make a plain ribbed scarf for myself (planning to let the interesting spinning do the talking), but I thought it would be perfect to dye for this swap. Of course now I really love it and don't want to send it away! What I plan to do is knit this with big needles for speed and airiness (is that a word?). I also intend to string funky star-shaped beads on it as I knit, but I'm not sure how that's going to look so I reserve the right to change my mind. It has to be done the first week of October, so I'd best get crackin'!

PS: I covet this...it's early, but we got our Land's End Christmas catalog (yes, in September) today, so...