Finished!

I can't believe it, but I finished while watching the closing ceremonies Sunday evening! The details are posted on my blog, but it was such a wonderful experience. I'm still on a high from finishing.

gold, gold, gold!!!

so i emailed the yarn harlot and asked her if i qualified for gold since i cast on during the televising of the opening ceremonies and finishing during the televising of the closing ceremonies, and she said YES!!! i am ridiculously pleased by this. thanks to chris for the idea and to susan for the support of it--y'all are why i investigated. :)

I did it!!!

I won Gold!!!

Pictures and details on my blog.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement here. They were great Olympic games, weren't they?

whew!

i knitted literally all weekend trying to make it, and still failed to get the gold. however, i DID finish knitting while the closing ceremonies were being televised here, which i thought was a nice parallel to casting on when the opening ceremonies were televised. i may not have walked away with a gold medal, but i sure do feel olympian about this whole thing. this is the largest thing i have ever knitted, and also the second most complex (the most complex being the beaded bodice on crumpets). i started with 7 droppped stitches on saturday morning, finished the straight rows at 2:32am, and completed the knitting at around 9pm on sunday night. i knitted all night, except for a little involuntary nap at 5am. (i fell asleep in the middle of a purl row and slept for almost two hours with the needles in my hands!) i wasn't planning to block this, but i think now that i will--i love the ridges, and i think they will get more pronounced if i block. and since i can't stop taking pictures of it, i will probably post one more after blocking. i had more yarn left than i expected, probably 60-70 yards--if i had it to do over, i would knit a couple more straight sections and use up more of the yarn. and i have to say, this yarn is a joy just to handle and it knits VERY smoothly. this is the finest gauge (and quality!) yarn i have used for anyting bigger than a hat, and i love it. it's so even, and the fabric is beautifully drapey. unraveling the stitches was no picnic, but i think it was worth it!

i am sure i will be cross-posting about this whole experience over on my blog if you're interested. and in the meatime, i have a little gallery of start-to-finish pics on flickr here.

There's always Beijing in 2008.

Well, I didn't make it, despite a really strong push in the last few days. This is a massive project, and to those who crossed the finish line, congrats. As for me, I'm really thrilled with the way my shawl is coming out. The striping is more subtle, but more beautiful than I expected. And I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it onto the podium. But there's always Beijing in 2008.

My Clapotis is Done

I will post pictures on Tuesday as I will be away until then.
Thanks for all the support.
KAtie

Stumbled across

So I finished the Clap. But I'm not happy with it. The extra yarn I got for the "design feature" is the perfect color, but the gauge on the size 7s I was knitting with is too stiff. That means my shawl is all beautiful and drapey until you get to one end which is all stiff and pointy.

I know there are no do-overs in the Olympics. And I vowed to wear the mess at least once this week to make it officially done. Then I may have to rip it, rip it. If I just would have listened to that scared little voice inside my head when I started those two extra pattern repeats way back in section 2. The shawl would have been plenty wide without them and I'm sure I would have had enough yarn for a proper finish. Oh well. Lessons learned, I guess.

For a picture, go here.

DNF

Time ran out and I still had eleven stitches on the needle. Very sad. But I'll finish up today and have a lovely clapotis to show for all the time spent. Photo to come later.

Thanks to everyone who posted and shared photos and comments. This was great fun!

filled with disappointment

in spite of knitting all day yesterday, pulling an all-nighter, and knitting until my fingertips are literally numb, i am not going to make it. it's 2pm EST, the closing ceremonies are beginning in turin, and i am still decreasing. i am SO CLOSE, but i don't think i am going to get to completion in the next hour. blah. i am still going to finish today, and i will post pictures at the bitter end. :(

Skating in under the wire!

Well I have finally finished. Work has been so crazy during this olympics that I was really worried I wouldn't make it but after I got through the first set of decreases it really sped up. I'm very happy with how it turned out and with the colors. I was planning to give it to my sister but now I'm going to have to struggle and figure out what to do. Here is a photo. I've loved seeing everyone's progress and all the different clapotis (clapotee?) and the different yarns everyone has chosen. I'm hoping Songbird publishes a photo as she used the same colorway as me but in a silk blend. I'd love to see how that looks different. Thanks to the organizers of this blog - it has made the olympic knitting even more fun. Wishing everyone happy clapotis wearing!!

Done, done, done!

13 hours left and I have officially crossed the finish line. I am so happy to have this done. I'm also glad I did it, even though it was a lot of heartache at the end. I enjoyed the process of watching this Clapotis come to life. I'm even more happy to be able to give it to my mother-in-law. And I'm proud to be a gold medalist for Team Clapotis! Thanks for all your support gals! I couldn't have done it without you cheering me on!

Finis!

Whew! I'm glad that's over. Didn't think I would make it, with my daughter vomiting today and me fighting a sinus infection. Spent the last 3 hours battling the last of the dropped stitches - had to manually separate every last bar, grrrrrrrr. Now I'm just lightly blocking the corners to get rid of some of the rolling edges. Pics in the am when there's better lighting!

Done

I actually made it. It was close, and I had VERY little yarn left, but it is done and I'm glad. Good luck to everyone left knitting this evening! ;}

Literally down to the wire. . .

. . . with 20 some hours to go I have finished knitting and weaving in the ends. Now it lay to rest to dry. And if I have to I will get out the blow dryer to get it dry on time. Most of you probably already know that I ran out of yarn with only a few decreases left to knit. I managed to get another ball of yarn and begged the lady to get it out to me that day. So when I went to check my mail yesterday and found no package but just an extremely high gas bill, I almost cried (not because of the $270 gas bill but because there was no yarn to finish my Clapotis). I've managed to hold it together as well as possible, but this was the last straw. Why were the Knitting gods against me so? What did I do to deserve this? But alas it showed up today and I managed to get all that I can done. Now it is up to the Knitting gods to cut me some slack. My house is a wreck, the dishes are piled a mile high, my laundry is overflowing, the dust is growing to be an inch thick, my cupboards are bare, BUT my Clapotis is done and I can rest knowing that I am an Olympian Knitter!

Finished!

I finished my Clapotis on Thursday, but am just now able to get in my report. I washed and blocked it that night and it was ready to wear by Friday. Here are some pics...

Close-up shot...

Winging it

Like many of you, I ran out of yarn, only just a little sooner. I didn't use L&L. In fact, I have no idea what I used (could be Interlacements something). I do know it's wool. And I know it's not enough to make a Clapotis to the measurements called for in the pattern.

Luckily, I live close to the bestest, sweetest LYS, where the staff came to my rescue yesterday and helped me come up with a plan to complete my quest for gold. They helped me find some Cascade 220 that exactly matches one of the color variations of my variegated yarn. I'm going to finish most of it off with that (I've dropped a total of four stitches in the decrease section so far), then use the teensy bit of MC I have left for the tippy tip. Wish me luck!

Je suis fini!

I finished yesterday at work, uh, "during my lunch break." See pics here.

The Brooks Farm Harmony (wool/silk/mohair) looks and feels great now, but dropping those stitches was a pain in the ass. Every single ladder rung required a stiff finger jab, with every tenth requiring scissors (scary!). Also, I only had 500 yards, and Knithole's incomplete scarf scared me so much, I started decreasing before I had to. I now have enough left for at least two more straight section repeats. Oh well. I have my gold medal and a rockin' scarf!

Almost done

I got alot of knitting done last night and I have now completed 1 1/2 repeats of the decrease rows and I should finish and block tonight.
Yippee. . . . .
My camera is still dead. :-(

progressing slowly and still hoping for the gold

i finally made some good progress last night! i watched (which really means listened to) all of the extended version of the two towers and most of the return of the king, and i knitted the whole time. i am about 2/3 of the way through the straight rows now, and totally regretting making this more stitches wide than the pattern says. i promised myself i wasn't posting another pic until this section is done. but i am still hopeful--i should get in about 3 good hours tonight, and i have set all of tomorrow aside for knitting. still crossing my fingers that i make it. and for everyone else still knitting, i am rooting for you guys!!!

Final Pic

I had planned to get this out to share sooner, but I've had a rough week. My daughter came home from her dad's sick and we found out someone else in her class had strep so we had to get her in and get tested. Of course, I'm still not cleared to drive, so I had to find someone to drive us to the doctor's office.

Anyway, this came out wonderfully. I've worn it out and it is soft and warm. I'm really pleased with the result!

shout out

I have to give a little shout out to Little Knits in Seattle. I just order my extra skein of Lion and Lamb from them and begged them to ship it today so I could get it tomorrow. And lo' and behold they are. I am ever so grateful because 1: they are in Seattle and I am in Bellingham, so it's only about 90 some miles, but I didn't want to have to drive down for the Knitting Olympics; but I would and 2: it is still on sale so, yeah for that. So thank you Little Knits! And maybe I still have a chance at finishing. The bummer part is I only have like two inches to knit and needed to buy another skein of yarn. That really burns me up. But its all a part of being an Olympian Knitter I guess!

Done - washed and blocked!

Here 'tis! I like the way the stripes go across the back.

well that's it. . .

I officially ran out of yarn. I have no more words that I can say right now. So here is a picture to show how close it was. . . 24 measly rows to go!

down to the wire and running out of yarn

yep, that's right people. I am not going to make it with the yarn I have. seriously i have like 20 some rows to go and I don't think my yarn will last. and I am using Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb what it originally calls for. my gauge was right. why is this happening to me? has anybody else had this problem? can somebody reassure me that I am going to make it? because I am too afraid to keep knitting to find out. I am hoping that this pattern called for every last inch of yarn or I am in some serious trouble. Now excuse me while I go off to cry some. . . .

Feeling Confident

Here it is!!! I think I'm going to make it!!! GOLD.....Ahhh just imagine....I'm in the decreases and those rows just keep getting smaller and smaller......



Oh and see what else arrived in my letter box this morning. FUN FUN FUN!!!

Down to the decreases...

Here is my Clappy so far. I laid it out on my daughter's bed because the light is better in there. This is a closer view of the decreasing end. I have knitted 3 of them so far.
This is the beginning end. See how the end still wants to roll up. It won't be long before I get to weave in ends and block! Yippee!

Will I make it? I'm not sure

Here is my progress or lack there of.



I will try to finish but I'm not sure I will. It is nice to see everyone's great work.

Done.

Rather than crossposting, let me just say that a photo can be found here. Lovely project. Cheers to all and best of luck to those still drop-laddering.

ETA: It took almost exactly three skeins of my bamboo yarn (I made it two repeats wider and three repeats longer than the pattern called for, unswatched {because it's a SCARF, that's why!}). I bought four skeins. Anyone got any good ideas for a single skein of bamboo yarn?

Here's a little taste of my Clapotis..
I've progressed a little since then...
I just finished Section Two

Not real sure at this point if I will get the gold.
It's going slower than I thought it would.

I wish this picture showed the yarn better.
It is Autumn House Farms Handpainted Merino in teal, hunter and burgundy, with a tweedy little fleck..It's called Finnean's Rainbow...I don't remember the colorway. I bought it last year to make Clapotis. It's NICE STUFF.

still going...

i haven't taken a progress picture, even though i HAVE made some progress. however, i am stuck in the endless straight rows, and it's taking me some major effort to unravel my ladders--cashmere is a little fuzzier than i thought! this weekend was a bit less productive than hoped for, but i guess that's to be expected when you have a house full of visiting people. so--this week, i have let my hippie know that i am going to be utterly useless to him and our house as i will be knitting as much as a physically can. here's hoping i can still get through this pattern in time! how embarrassed am i going to be if i started this whole blog only to fail myself!? you guys think good thoughts for me!!!

You have to choose between being a Knitting Olympian and a Regular Olympian.

I just got back from a week's vacation, learning to snowboard in Vermont. I thought I'd get a ton of knitting done, but somehow I just didn't. I didn't even snowboard that much, since I fell on my bum so many times that it just hurt too much after a while. But I had a wonderful time anyway and now it's time to get back to my real sport: knitting. I did make some progress however... I've dropped three stitches so far. It's so exciting to see this project come to life. I've also starting a subtle striping pattern, but you can't see it in this pic. I'll post again when you can see it better, or take a look on my blog.

I've crossed the finish line!

It's done, just needs a wash and block, which I'll do today. Himself, Mr. Poco, tested the shawl for me. More pictures on my blog.

And the bad mommy award goes to......

Me!!! Saturday night, my son asked me several times to read him a story and it was "not right now, honey, mommy's knitting!" Today, I had the audacity to get a sitter for a few hours so I could go out for lunch and knit. My poor family - the house is a disaster, and every time they ask for something, it's "just let me finish this row." I feel guilty, but don't call CPS yet. I did take yesterday off to take the kiddos to Curious George (only 3 rows knit all day), and I did read several stories to ds Saturday night. The good news is that I only have one more increase section, and I think I'll actually be able to finish on time. I'd take pics, but there is virtually no clean surface in my house at the moment, lol!

Almost there...

I went on a road trip this weekend- on the way up I knit a Kate and on the way down I worked on my Clapotis. It was so awesome to get online tonight and see the finished scarves! I've got a ways to go, but my wrists are feeling better and I've only got two more section repeats before I start decreasing (I'm not doing a full sized Clapotis).

Showboating

Here's what confidence gets you: An error you make for five dropped stitches before you realize it. Also, a clapotis that will probably have the "style design" of a color change late in the pattern due to the knitter brashly picking a fat patty of yarn from the stash for the project that was missing its label so she knows not how many yards she has. I will tell you this, the skein is feeling mighty light just now and I'm just over half way through.

And the error? When it says in the pattern to ktbl the bar you pick up after you drop a stitch as well as the next stitch, yours truly added in a mental "k2tog" for no good reason. In my confidence, I didn't take a closer look at the pattern until after I dropped my 6th stitch.

Because I believe in the galloping horse theory (the mistake doesn't exist unless you can see it while galloping by the knitted item on a horse) (or is it when you're on the horse galloping by the people staring at the error-laden clapotis you're wearing?), I chose not to rip back. Yes, I'll be finishing injured (if I finish at all). It's like the bobbles that always keep the figure skaters from the gold.

For pictures, click here.

Knitting is Done!!!!

I have finished my knitting. I'm unraveling the ladder stitches now and hope to have a picture up tonight. It came out very nice, I really like it.

Olympic Disaster

This afternoon I went to pick up my knitting, planning a relaxing hour or so while my two girls were resting and despite it appearing to be in exactly the same position I left it. (foolishly within reach of inquisitive 18 month old) I discovered to my shock and horror (!!!) that THERE WERE NO NEEDLES IN IT!!! They had been removed and neatly replaced but not in the stitches......See those live stitches languishing near the culprit's calling card fish???


I do believe this munchkin is the culprit!!


Luckily I was able to spend my 'peaceful' hour rectifying the damage - All appears to be fixed. It could have been waaaayyy worse. Phew!! I'm back on track. Knitting is put out of reach- again! I think I'm on track to finish it. I will be amazed and thrilled if I manage it. I'm only one straight repeat away from the decrease section. I'm looking forward to the bit where I get to drop the stitches at each end of the row!!

Well done you guys who are finished your claps look fantastic!!! And Go Go GO you guys who are still knitting keep up the pace - You can do it!! !!
:-) The Stripey Tiger

It's here!!!

My lovely, lovely Knitpicks yarn that the lovely Heather ordered and sent on to me finally arrived today- and it's more beautiful than I had imagined- look!


Isn't it lovely? That's four skeins of KP Shimmer in Stained Glass.


And an extreme close-up of the lusciousness.

I'm so excited!

Except that now I have 4 pull skeins to wind by hand.

But still! Excited!

So now I can finally start on my Clapotis. Hey, I got a few days of the Olympics left! Oh well, I'm aiming to at least get the set up and increases done. I'm just going to enjoy the process.

*dies of yarn lust*

Accck!

Am I the only one still knitting? My gosh, you all are finisihing so quickly. I guess I really picked something that challenges me, because I have only dropped 8 stitches so far. Granted I did have to drive 200 miles this weekend to go to a baby shower, and in order to do that I had to finish knitting the gift, but golly, I feel so behind. I still have faith though. Good luck to all of you still in progress and for those of you who have finished, your claps look great!

The Clap is done

I was told about this team last week and sent off an email and joined. Over the weekend I knitted my fingers off and have finished my Clapotis. So all you others in the team, good luck and I look forward to reading about your Claps.

I couldn't believe it, I actually finished the clap in 19 days, on Friday I wasn't sure I would even finish it, but with a lot of stress in my life the past 2 weeks, well what else could I do but knit.

Sunday I was just into section 4 and I was on my last 2 balls of wool, I was about 3/4 through section 4 and down to 1 ball, I started to panic as the shop I bought the yarn from last year has closed down. I just kept on knitting through the damn heat of the day and last night around 10.30pm I finished it, I ended up with about 2 metres of yarn left. Boy was I happy.

The wool I used was Heirloom Heatherwood 8ply 100% Wool, it is an Australian Wool

Decreasing!!

I'm into the decrease rows. With any luck I'll finish tonight while I watch the ice dancing! This is after 18 x 12row straight sections. The stripes worked, and I now have a shawl rather than a scarf!!! Picture will be up when it's finished.

Ready!

I finished my Clapotis today!
I´m so proud of myself :)
This was my first pattern ever on foreign language and I got it done!

Now I need my medal coffees!
Feeling is so fabulous that I can´t even describe! \o/ 

Checking in...

Here are a few shots of my progress. I have dropped 7 times and I am almost to the 8th. I have finished up half of the Section 3 repeats. Think I will make it in time?
I do have Monday in addition to the rest of the weekend 'cause school is out on that day. I might just make it, but it's going to be close. I just don't have a lot of knitting time during the week.

By the way, everyone's yarns are so pretty! I love the variety of things we are using. I am definitely going to do this one again. Next time a ribbon yarn, I think. I will try to post again tomorrow night with the next day's progress.

Still feeling pretty confident

Not as much progress today as I would have liked, but I still feel very much in the KO. Plus, I still have tomorrow and Monday for a big push.

I must say how totally impressed I am by my fellow Olympians. Congrats to all of you who have already finished!

Feeling the pain ;}

So I'm feeling the pain - my butt hurts, from sitting on it all day; my left wrist hurts; my right thumb, at the wrist joint hurts. But, I'm sure pain is all part of being an Olympic athlete, right? I have enjoyed lots of movies today, and it's been incredibly cold, dreary, rainy and snowy. We were @ 72 yesterday and much, much colder today. Makes the perfect knitting weekend.

I'm about to drop my sixth stitch. I must say I am so incredibly thankful for this blog! It was this blog that showed me a better way - - no more stitch markers! You can see the point where I dumped the markers - talk about pain, man they caused a lot of hand/finger pain.

Ok, back to it now. I'll post more progress sometime next week - right now it's all about the knitting! Good luck to everyone! ;}

We interrupt this Clapotis...

After such a successful start, I had a bad week. How bad? So bad that I only have been able to knit a couple of rows! A close friend's father passed away, and my FIL really needs a custom-made hat ASAP because the cancer keeps him constantly feeling cold. I have more details about the issues with the hat on my blog, and promise not to bore you with them now. There may be some good news: my friend's mom (the widow), loves pink; I am thinking about making her a Clapotis using Kerzer's Marble.

So could I say my current CTH Clapotis is Kwan and the other Marble Clapotis is Hughes?

In for the Bronze!

I'm done too! I just finished, yay!! I had to do a hard push today because I will be traveling for work next week and this thing has gotten well beyond the portable stage ;)

For anyone thinking about using Noro Silk Garden. I HATED having to work at dropping the stiches, absolutely hated it! My next Clapotis will be out of teflon yarn so I can experinece the joy of pulling and watching the dropped stich just zip down the ladder :) It is also heavier yarn so this is more like a shawl rather than a scarf.

I haven't had time to comment individually on everyone's posts but all of the various yarns and colorways are just gorgeous! I have a bad habit of getting the yarn/colorway shown in a pattern's picture stuck in my head and sometimes find it impossible to picture the item in anything else. Being able to see all the variations here has made me braver about what to pick for my next Clapotis.

Team Clapotis ROCKS!

C'est Finis!

I finished this morning. I love the finished wrap and want to wear it next week, but will wait till the 27th. Firstly because I want to wear mine with the rest of the team, and second, my company just moved to a new building and I'll be unpacking and getting all messy and I can just see a hanging folder snagging a dropped stitch. So I will wait.

Here it is in all it's glory!

Here I am!

Clapotis in No No Kitty Yarn's Monty Wool, colourway "Snow Day" with the crappiest row counter on the face of the earth on top. What good is a lock if it doesn't stop the counter from changing while rustling around in your Fred felted basket?!

Hi Team!

I don't believe I've posted yet. I'm working away, slowly but surely. And rather than confuse myself my repeating myself, I'll just post a link to my blog with a short, amusing real-life story of my Clapotis experience so far. Read about it here first!

Keep in keepin' on, my fellow Olympians!!!!

Some Pictures

I'm not sure if these pictures do the yarn justice. It's just gorgeous. Since it has some fuzziness to it, the ladders have to be manually unravelled. I decided to wait until I finish to completely unravel it. I wish the picture could show how soft this is, but I guess you'll have to take my word for it. Two more repeats of section 3 and I will be starting my decreasing.

So a little Olympic question: What's your favorite sport to watch while knitting. For me, this year, I've gotten into the curling and snowboarding events.

Scarf version

A few folks asked about the scarf version. Here it is. Also, I am using Red Heart TLC yarn which has a bit of a shimmer. Since this is my first clapotis, I didn't want to use a high-end yarn yet. I do plan to make one for my Mom with a nicer (read more expensive) yarn.

temporarily sidelined

Everyone's projects are looking fantatstic. I love to see all the beautiful yarns you have chosen. Mine was coming along very well, in fact much better than I expected until....I ran out of yarn. I had a feeling it would happen, even though my gauge worked perfectly and I'm using the same yarn used in the pattern (colorway-Motherlode). I made it to the second set of decreases in section 4 before I ran out. Luckily, I calculated this a couple of days ago and ordered another skein. Now I just have to wait for the mail and pray that the dye lot is not too far off. I'm posting a picture of what it looked like on Wednesday. Keep up the good work!!

progress at last, and one little dropped stitch

FINALLY--i dropped a stitch. one measley stitch when jocelyn is already finished!!! oh well--i am still determined to get through this whole pattern by the 26th! thank goodness the weekend is here! i am loving how this pattern is coming out, although it's definitely a challenge for me. i have had to back up more times than i care to admit. however, i have also learned quite a lot so far. i was even able to fix an accidentally twisted stitch that had occurred about 8 rows before without having to go back--i just backed up to that column of stitches, then kind of unzipped the fabric, fixed it, and zipped it back up. THAT was a first! so--even though i am slow, i am still proud of my progress so far. hopefully this weekend will bring some speed to the games.

Almost through Section 3

I haven't posted much since the Olympics started. I had a setback in my recovery and wasn't on the computer much. But I've been knitting! I have just 3 more repeats in section 3 left. The colors are gorgeous and I'll try to get a picture up soon. Like the mohair, my yarn is a little fuzzy so I've had to manually go through and unravel the drop stitches. But overall it's working well.

Done, done, done

It was a mad sprint to the finish last night, but I actually finished the Clapotis at about 10:30. I barely had the energy to drop those last stitches. BTW, I found that stretching the column and wiggling it got things started. Then I went in with a DPN and pulled them out as I needed to. I'm really happy with it. Just wish Spring would come back. It's going to be cold and rainy tomorrow, so I can't even wear it to Stitches. Can't wait to see how everyone's projects turn out. That's one great thing about a Clapotis. The yarn changes everything!

No progress at all...

.. but I wanted to post something to look for, so here´s photo from our backyard...

My baby has got bad flue, the 3 month old, so my Clapotis is just waiting...
I think today I can do some of it cos the medication is helping...
I have made four drops so far, but hopefully during this weekend I´ll have all drops done!

Cheers from freezing Finland
tuitu

Back on the slopes!

After much whinning and wailing about my horrible pfb performance and a zillion froggings, I finally found a pfb video (scroll all the way down the page) that shows how to do a pf and a pb on the same stitch! Now I am back in action! I know that I have a ton of catching up to do so I will be knitting day, night and sideways next week. Luckily I am only knitting the scarf version.