Jumping on The Bandwagon

I finished my Clapotis just like 13,157 other people. I resisted the urge when it first came out in 2004. I actually thought it looked stupid and boring. Then I saw a few in person and they were pretty cool.

This September everywhere I looked people were knitting them. 3 were being knitted at the knitting guild meeting, one was being knit at my knitting group, and they all looked so nice. When I saw this sock yarn but I didn't want to make socks I knew right away what I did want to make. I bought the yarn and sat down on the LYS couch and asked for a print out of the pattern. The knitter sitting next to me just whipped hers out of her bag and handed it to me.

I started knitting it and I showed it off at my spinning group and the next thing I know they are showing up at show and tell there too. The bandwagon is making its second turn around.
These are perhaps my worst photos ever. It's so hard to capture the purple/green color of the yarn. Cameras have a hard time with red and, apparently, purple/green.
Look at the ripples. According to my French to English dictionary clapotis means lapping. The lapping waves of the sea.

Just look at it.

So I thought it would be fun to pull out my other bandwagon knits. This is fitting since the Swallowtail of the last post is very much a bandwagon knit. I have a few more on the needles right now.


FLS (February Lady Sweater, so popular that it's no longer spelled out). What a sweet knit. It's in time out because this is an easy sweater to make too big. I knew that and I think I over compensated and made it too small. I'm not ready to deal with that.
Monkey socks. This is my second pair. Bandwagon knits are usually popular for being charming. Monkey fall directly in that category. Fast to knit, hard to put down, and just difficult enough to make a knitter feel cleaver without actually stressing any brain cells. Perfect. Perfect enough to knit twice. The yarn, however, is not perfect. These are in time out for splitty kinky yarn that is fiddly to handle. This yarn is for the epitome of the bandwagon knitting, Rouge. One of these days I'll cast on.

The Best Knit Ever

Girasol is finally big enough to go on circular needles.
To get those needles I had to finish this.
Swallowtail Shawl out of my hand spun silk.

I kept on running out of yarn and having to spin more. That lead to the variation in the color and the reason that it took a year and a half to knit. The actually knitting took very few days. It's impossible to put down.
It's so soft. It's not very lustrous because the base fibers are bleached tussah, but the shawl flows around my body like water. There's nothing like silk.
Every time I look at it or touch it my insides fizz with happiness. It's that good.

Random Acts of Kindness

Look what surprised me in the mail today!
Someone I barely know, that has never met me, but knows I'm having a hard time right now sent me yarn and some smiles. Right out of the blue! I'm amazed and touched she took time to make up a package so nice and pretty for me.

Thank you, bluecanary. Blessings to you and yours. (((hugs)))

that's 1600 yrds of laceweight merino dyed with onion skins