Clapo-Ktus

Jul 22, 2015


Pattern: Clapo-Ktus by Loredana Gianferri (free Ravelry download!)
Yarn: madelinetosh tosh merino light (420 yards, I used the entire skein)
Needles: size US 7 / 4.5 mm circular

I've been on a shawl knitting kick lately, haven't I?! In truth, this is largely due to my OWL for the HPKCHC group on Ravelry - I committed to finishing two shawls in three months, something I have never done before this summer. This is the second of these two shawls (the first was my Dotted Rays shawl).

I would probably not have knit either of these two shawls if not for the recommendations of fellow knitters, based on a few criteria - the shawls had to NOT be triangular, and they had to be knit on the same size needle.

I saved Clapo-Ktus for second because I wasn't sure how long the Dotted Rays shawl would take, and knew this would be the more simple of the two shawls, which it definitely was! I will openly admit the starting of this shawl had me completely frustrated, but once the pattern was established (maybe 20 rows for me to catch on and not need the pattern any longer), I breezed through it, with visions of all those dropped stitches dancing around in my dreams until I got to the halfway point, when you can actually start dropping stitches and the fun begins.

Fun, that is, until you think you might run out of yarn - then things got dicey. I didn't end up running out of yarn, finishing with just barely enough left to weave in my ends, and I've never been so nervous in my life! The whole point of this shawl is that you increase until you are halfway done with your yarn, which should be easy to figure out with a scale, and then you decrease. I have a scale, and weighed the yarn on repeat, and somehow went from having way more than half a skein left to having enough less than half a skein left that I was worried for the entire second half of the shawl. A smarter knitter would have tinked back a few rows to ensure there would be enough yarn, but I powered into the decreases like a maniac, forgetting that once you start dropping stitches, there's really no turning back.

It all worked out perfectly, but it was a good lesson. I am so used to knitting hats, which hardly ever use up the full skein of yarn, that I got cocky and didn't knit safely. Never again, I say!! NEVER AGAIN!

While I love the finished product of this shawl, I'm also positive it will end up in the almost-full bag I've got going for Syrian refugees. I have the Dotted Rays shawl I know I'll wear this winter, and while this one is wonderful, I also know that I will hardly ever wear a bright red shawl. It's just the truth of me. However, I know someone will surely find it just perfect for them, and I'd rather someone use and love it than it waste away unloved and unused in my closet, or at the bottom of a drawer (which would be its most likely resting place if kept).

I've got a huge list of hats to work up next, so this may well be the last shawl off these needles for some time. However, it was amazingly fun to make a few shawls, so who knows - I just may become an irregular shawl knitter yet!

1 comment :

  1. Robyn, it is just lovely. I am sure will will be very treasured by a Syrian refugee. I placed the pattern in my Ravelry library.

    ReplyDelete

Instagram