Happy Anniversary, Clapotis!

It is rare that a week goes by without some whammy popping up to remind me how old I am. Do you know what I’m talking about?

The memes that poke you and tell you your high school graduation year is as close to the date of the discovery of water as it is to today? The pictures of pencils and cassette tapes along with the assertion that only the ancient know the relationship between the two? Or how about when you’re listening to your favorite rebellious rock anthems and discover the radio station is playing “oldies?”

I had another one of those jolts the other day when I saw Knitty announcing the 20th Aniversary of the publication of the pattern Clapotis by Kate Gilbert in their online magazine.

I discovered Knitty when it was pretty new. I was a pretty new knitter myself when I stumbled upon it, looking for what kinds of knitting patterns were available online. It’s been a favortie site since, not least because it publishes really creative and interesting patterns and offers them to the knitting community for free. I’m not 100% sure that Clapotis was the first Knitty pattern that I knit years ago, but if not THE first, it was one of the first.

I’ve knit several versions of this incredibly popular scarf. I’ve always enjoyed the rhythm of the pattern along with the delicious intentional stitch-dropping. I don’t, however, happen to possess any of those versions, as I think I must have given them all away! So, after I got over my “Wow, I’m that old?” moment and digested it’s been 20 years since the pattern was first offered, I quickly decided to participate in what I’m seeing labelled as “Clapotisfest.” There are even prizes!

Want to join me?

The pattern is a simple one, great for beginners who are comfortable with the knit and purl stitch, ssk and k2tog, and performing yarnovers. It’s clever and fun to watch progress from one tip to the other, and is very flexible with the kind of yarn that can be used. Although the pattern was written for worsted weight yarn, I’ve more often made it with fingering weight yarn. I’m doing the same for this version, and using Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir that I picked up at Rhinebeck this year. I think the gradient effect will be fun to watch play against the dropped stitch stripes.

Need some inspiration for your Clapotis? Here are seven thoughts (plus one tip!) to encourage you to join in the celebration of this wonderful pattern that has been made over 40,000 times.

Consider a different weight Of yarn

The pattern calls for 820 yards of worsted weight yarn, but it’s absolutely not necessary to stick with that weight. If you’ve got similar yardage of another weight, use it!

You might want to play with your gauge (I’m using a size 6 circular needle with my fingering weight, for example) or expand or reduce the width of the scarf, but one of the beautiful features of this pattern is that it’s very customizable!

Are you a spinner? Use your handspun!

If you have relatively smooth handspun yarn that is just waiting for a project to showcase it, this may be the one. While the pattern isn’t suited to art yarn, it would look lovely in handspun, even if the weight varies from lace to heavy worsted within the skein.

I’d suggest knitting a test swatch to be sure you like the effect, but a looser gauge would allow the differences in an inconsistent weight of handspun yarn to flow nicely together as cohesive fabric, setting up those fun streaks of dropped stitches.

Consider designing your own palette

I’ve seen some gorgeous examples of this scarf where people have alternated 2 skeins of sock yarn in a wide stripe as they’ve knit the pattern.

You could take this opportunity to gather several of those partial balls of yarn you’ve been saving and place them how you like. I’m doing something similar, but cheating as the fabulous dyers of Fiber Optic Yarns made a beautiful gradient with fingering weight mini skeins.

You could make your own gradient, alternate stripes in your favorite team colors, or simply use up the leftovers from other beloved projects and knit a sort of memory/record scarf.

Knit it With undyed yarn and dye your Clapotis afterwards

I did this with another excellent Knitty pattern, Shipwreck Shawl. You can achieve some pretty cool effects by dyeing your garment after the knitting is complete. Dip dyeing can give you an ombre effect. Kettle dyeing without much agitation can give you a weathered or aged look, complete with spots. Agitating the dye pot will gove you a more even dye.

Use the tip to mark the stitches to be dropped with purl stitches rather than stitch markers

I love fun stitch markers. I really do, and somewhere I have a half bazillion of them. I couldn’t get my hands on them before getting started, so I decided to try out the suggestion of using a purl stitch on the wrong side where the stitch will eventually be dropped. It’s a brilliant suggestion. It’s going to save a lot of time fiddling around with stitch markers. I just need to pay attention!

Think outside the scarf!

Clapotis makes such an interesting piece of fabric. If done according to pattern, it makes a parallelogram shape, which means it could be whipped into a cowl, laid out as a table runner, or hung on the wall as decoration, among other applications. Then there’s always the option to widen the piece, which would make an interesting throw blanket for sure. I made one version that was thinner than designed, and used it as a headscarf.

Gather some pals

Whether through your local yarn shop, your family, friends, virtually or in-person, consider having your own Clapotisfest! This would be a great pattern to use in helping someone become more comfortable with basic knitting techniques. It’s also perfect for binge-watching or knitting while following the game. Once the foundation is laid, it’s smooth sailing, so it’s perfect for social knitting.

Make some Notes!

Unless your mind is an absolute steel trap and you never forget where you are in a pattern, do yourself a favor and make some notes as you go.

I’ve moved away from printing out and marking up every single pattern I knit, and when I can, I just jot down notes in my notebook to keep track of where I am in a pattern.

It may take a while to catch on to the rhythm of Clapotis and become less dependent on the written instructions, so do yourself a favor and keep track of what row and section you’re on. There’s enough repetition that it would be easy to get a little lost trying to reconstruct where you are, especially if you’re the kind of knitter that contracts amnesia the instant you put down a project, or if your projects tend to spend significant time waiting in the wings to be brought out again.

Ready to get started?

I’d love to see your Clapotis if you knit one!