This and that
I fear I have a minority report on the Clapotis: I’m bored with it! Please don’t shoot me. I’ve started dropping the stitches (this merino yarn needs a lot of coaxing with them) and established a rhythm, but it’s just a little blah. No doubt the finished product will be worth it (she said, hopefully), but as of now, I’m having an anticlimactic moment with it. I think it’s the twisted stitches. Ktbl was never my favourite.
Ah well. I frequently eat my words down the road so don’t be surprised if you see me casting on for another sometime later.
In the meantime, I discovered a great spinner and dyer online: Manasi, aka Yarnahoy. She has some great stuff on her Etsy shop, and today I bought some of her handspun and handdyed yarn:
Do check out Manasi’s store! She has great cotton/lycra sock yarns right now.
The multicoloured yarn is approx 440 yards of merino wool sock yarn, which she called "Jewels of Leh" (it’s the names of all her skeins that made me curious about her in the first place!). I wouldn’t usually put these shades and colours together myself, so I am curious to see how the knitted fabric looks.
And the red one I simply had to buy: it’s called "Sholay!" Heh. Sholay means "embers" in Hindi/Urdu, but having watched arguably the best ever Hindi film in Bollywood at least 15 times if not more, I simply *had* to buy it. It was our generation’s film par excellence; my serious crush on Amitabh Bachchan has long since faded, but I hope I never tire of watching Sholay.
This gorgeous yarn is about 220 yards of worsted wool, so maybe I’ll make a cap out of it while watching Sholay yet another time.
Okay, frankly speaking, I’m a bit bored with my Clapotis, too… I know that when I knit one row, it grows considerably, because I knit across the whole shawl, but 107 stitches take so long to knit! And I thought dropping the stitches will happen more often, it’s fun!… ^^ I cannot wait to finish and block it, I want to see the final result, that’s what keeps me knitting!
Good luck to you with your Clapotis!
I’m glad I’m not the only one, Joanna. Maybe we’ll start a whole confessional revolution. I too cannot wait to finish. Good luck to you too!
Gorgeous stuff! I love the Jewels of Leh skein. Really pretty.
The Clapotis – I had to coax the dropped stitches which was annoying. Just do a couple of rows a day and you’ll finish someday without getting too bored with it.
I love Manasi’s yarns. Her color choices come from her native India and there is something so romantic and mysterious when I look at her yarns. I have several skeins waiting to be created into something gorgeous. A few of my items are listed on her blog as well. And best of all — she is the nicest person you could ever hope to meet. That’s what I like about knitting, meeting new people.
Alison, that’s what I decided to do: work on in on my commute. I have to finish it by the end of May for a friend, so I think I’ll have ample time for it. I actually looked at the Knittyboard Clapotis discussion and lots of people seem to have felt this way.
Lisa, thanks for stopping by! Look forward to seeing what you make out of the rest of Manasi’s skeins. The pink bag is very pretty.
I haven’t made Clapotis but I have to admit it does seem to have that “boring” potential. I love the way they look when they are complete though, so it is worth slogging through (I think).
Funny you should bring up “Sholay”. Wjen we were visiting Greg’s sister in Italy, we hung out with one of her co-workers who is from India. After we mentioned our interest in Bollywood movies, she showed us a little bit of “Sholay” on her computer and it looked awesome! Definitely must rent!
I liked to think of the ktbl as something to break up the monotony ;o)
Lobstah, there are bits in the film that I now cringe at, but some sequences – the raid on the train, the world of the chief villain – many of them are still very thrilling. Once when I was in college a local theatre showed the film only for a week and everyone who went to see it knew it almost by heart and it was like a Sound of Music singalong, only this was speakalong. I guess it’s as much memories of the film as the film itself.
Jess, thanks for stopping by! I just visited your blog, it is hilarious!! Punishing WIPs. I love that.