Clapotis

Ladies and gentlemen, and robots, I present to you my Grey Scarf.
A while back I decided that a)I needed a grey scarf, and b)everybody was knitting Clapotis, so the obvious conclusion was to knit a grey Clapotis.

Some reflections on the matter:
- the plural of Clapotis is, I have decided, Clapotis, like sheep
- it's difficult to find non-wooly grey yarn that won't look like a slab of endless and boring grey when you knit it. This is when Debbie Bliss Cathay came to my rescue.
- knitted with n balls of Cathay and 3.75 mm strait needles.

Clapotis was very easy to knit, and I can see why so many people have done it: it's just a great pattern. Mixes well TV-knitting with a bit of entertainment (all the tbls), so for me it was the perfect mix to knit over Christmas, while I was in family duty (ugh!).

And dropping stitches, and being able to unravel them is soooo much fun. It's so much fun I'm pretty sure it's not legal in some countries.

Without further ado, some pics. Because you've all been doubting my word¹ (click for larger versions)

It all started with a little swatch, to check how the yarn responded to the droppings. In retrospect, I should not have bought 5 balls before testing this, but it all worked out alright.


This is how it was looking after the Ravelry trip to Get Knitted:


Aaaand, the finished product!


(the Clapotis looks lovely in this picture, but I don't, so look at the shiny scarf, not at me)

Long Clapotis is loooooooooooong


And a close up. I really like this picture, for no particular reason, so here it the slightly larger size:



All this info can be found in my Clapotis' ravelry page


¹ Pics or it never happened.

In which I honour the full title of my blog

The Knit...
I finished Clapotis yesterday. Will take some pictures when I feel better and teh boyfriend is home. It looks really pretty. I will post more details when I have the pics, because I doubt I'll make it justice now.
After the big scarf and the on-going healing jacket, I'm going to do a couple of littleler projects: a stuffed mouse (for the kitten of one of teh boyfriend's co-workers, because I can), the katamari (I learned to crochet yesterday) and an iPod cosy (see bellow).


...the Geek...
I have an iPod! Partly because I wanted something to carry all my music at all times, but partly also because it's cool and shiney and I wanted one! I have managed to fill 4 of the 80 gigs with the music I had lying around, and I'm on a downloading binge (suggestions welcome!). And this is why I need to knit an iPod cosy! I also put into it all my kitten pictures, so I can have a look at them anywhere when I'm feeling down.


...and the Therapy.
So, I had a doctor's appointment today. It might not have been the best day ever to have it, as I had a really crap day yesterday, so any possible progress was not looking bright. My doctor is really hopeful for me, and he appears to truly believe that I will get better, mainly, he said, because I have hope that I won't always stay like this.
I am now taking about 3/4 of the medication I was talking a while ago (*1 1/2* repeat), but he doesn't' think that I should decrease it any further, at least for now. I am starting therapy on Thursday, so hopefully that would help.
Sadly, he didn't have anything for my physical ailments (not sleeping well, back popping, cold and sleepy), as he thinks that they are a side effect of my depression. So maybe if/when I get better, they will get better to. I am also getting a full blood test just to check that there isn't anything noticeably physical (mainly my thyroid) that is making me depressed.
I don't think I have gotten any better for the last year or so, since I re-reached basic functionality. Sure, I can function, but I'm not well, nor stable, nor can do complicated things. Yesterday I wanted to phone my landlord to renew my contract, and I just couldn't, panic horribly when I tried to do it.
However, I forgot to mention to him that my jaw (the bit that connect the jaw to the rest of my brain) really hurts when I open my mouth. It's not my wisdom teeth, because I can poke at them and they don't hurt, and it just feels in a slightly different area, more inside, but it's rather uncomfortable.

Ravelry to Get Knitted

This past Saturday, a bunch of us from Ravelry descended mercilessly upon Get Knitted, set up camp there, and raided their supplies (both yarn and food). It was awesome.
I was really excited by the prospect. I was too excited to be panicking about meeting new people. So I went in there, to the unknown, not afraid. I knitted, bought lots of yarn and talked to lots of people, and I didn't panic, nor had to run away and hid, nor was more ill the following day. It was one of the best things ever.

So, the actual meeting. About 30-35 people were there, some coming from as far as London¹. Everybody was really friendly and on the same wavelength. Everybody from my knitting group was there, but I didn't just talk to them: I was sociable with most people.
We had an author with us, woolly wormhead, and wyesue had brought her spinning wheel, so I was hypnotised by that for a while. I really can't remember most people's names, but one lady recommended to knit through the back loop when picking up stitches along the sock's heel gusset, to minimise the holes, so I will try that next time.
Here are some pictures of the gathering, in thumbnail version, click for full size:



²


I did quite some buying, especially because of the 10% discount, but at least I bought for 3 specific projects, rather than randomly for a stash, so it's not too bad at all.

I finally found yarn for my Jayne hat. I had been looking for non-woolly yarn in the recommended thickness (12 st/10 cm), but that is nearly impossible to find. So now I have thinner yarn which I will just use doubled. This same yarn, with a bit of blue thrown in, should allow me to do the Katamari, although I still need to learn how to crochet.

I also got yarn for my healing jacket (I've decided that that will be its role, as well as keeping me warm). I got some Rowan Summer Tweed, which looks tweedy, but it's made out of cotton and silk. It looks kind of "rough", but it is really soft. I have started the tummy stripes, but for now I can only show the yarn.


And an update on my Clapotis, which everybody liked and admired and some people have started queueing it after seeing me knit one. Go me!


I do hope Ravelry meets again. It was great.


¹ Although, that said, I *have* gone down to London before just for a pub lunch.
² I'm not very good at naming pics.

And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids

Get Knitted didn't have chunky yarn of the non-wool variety for my Jayne hat *is upset*
I managed to find yarn for my Clapotis, but all the non-wooly yarns in grey are just so dull and flat, I had trouble finding one that would look a bit pretty. I settled for Debbie Bliss Cathay, and I'm knitting now a swatch. It will include a dropped stitch like in the shawl to check how it will look. There were much prettier yarns around, but I didn't think that dropped stitch would look good on a non-smooth yarn.

In other news, my mum's socks are done, although I'm not terribly excited by then, and I'm nearly done with the hat. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get camera-happy and post some pictures!

Plans

I am feeling very ambitious¹ today, so I have been drafting up some knitting plans.

I have, at the moment, two² WIP: my mum's purple magic socks and my peasant cap. My mum's socks are nearly done: I only have left 5 normal rows, 14 decrease toe rows and then the grafting. My cap is a bit more behind. It has about 1.5 inches of plain stockinette left, the decreases (for the love of me I can't remember how many) and then the band. For the band I am planning to interchange the blue and the black for a while, possibly using the Fibonacci generator. I should have mixed the colours for the rim, but I really thought I was not going to have enough yarn, which I do (took the last balls of yarn from the shop!).

The sock should be finished within one or two days (this evening and saturday), and the cap shouldn't take too long either, so I am ready to cast on for two new projects! (never mind the socks, I like following other's patterns first and for now).

The first thing I'm going to start is a Jayne hat. A cunning hat. A hat that, when I walk down the street with it, tells people I'm not afraid of anything. And the lost people really should go watch Firefly. All of it. It's less than 14 hours, so no excuses. Drop that mouse and go watch.
If I'm really lucky, I'll have yarn to spare to knit two, and I can graciously donate one to the ICSF library, and earn their love forever (even more). And, if I'm doubly lucky, I can tell them ahead of time and use it as a hat for the house game.
Come to Picocon, 23^rd February. You know you don't have anything better do to on that day. I certainly don't.

The second thing is a Clapotis. I don't have a warm grey or black scarf, so I think I need to make myself one. I am thinking on using some more of the South West trading company, either soy or bamboo, because they are nice, soft and pretty, and, just as important, Get Knitted has it on sale. The pattern has a colour changing yarn, which makes it look very pretty, so I might have to look for something similar to spice it up. I might start with grey, because it will look better with my black coat. Thinking of scarves, my red scarf is looking orangey now, so maybe I can start thinking about knitting a red one. If I do it in a light yarn, I'll keep using it during the rest of the year. I like scarves. I wear them year round, hot or cold, which it is precisely the spirit of Clapotis. Shouldn't do it red, hon, remember you wanted a gery/black one, remember.

So, these are my knitting plans for now. I also received today Last Minute Knitted Gifts, as well as three self-therapy books to help me on my med-free, get-well life. So I might have to list on some project from that. I have liked so far what I have seen, and they are conveniently grouped by hours on a time estimate, so I can use them as fast knits in between big projects.


¹ I also don't have a lot of work to do. At all. Can you tell?

² The rest of the started projects are currently sleeping quite placidly, so I'm not even going to wake them up to take them into account.