Wednesday, October 31, 2012

"What's a Clapotis?"

At Rhinebeck, Colleen was shopping while I was waiting in line to pay, and she overheard the question, "What's a Clapotis?!"  The speaker pronounced it kluh-po-tiss, and the combo of the tone of voice and the pronunciation cracked Colleen up.  The woman speaking was probably referring to the Clapotis Shawl (pronounced Klap-oh-tee) by Kate Gilbert.

So, no matter how you say it, what is a Clapotis?  It's a French word for a stable wave pattern, such as you might see on the top of water at the edge of a pool.  There's a longer, very science-y explanation on Wikipedia, if you're so inclined.  As a knitted garment, it's a shawl with an undulating stitch pattern that moves in a fluid way.  Very pretty.

I mention this because there's a wonderful tutorial about how to perform this stitch on the Needles & Hooks blog, which I've linked here.  If you're as seduced as I and so many others are by this lovely pattern, take a look at this article.  It reminds how to handle estimating yardage, performing and modifying the stitch, and even has a companion hat pattern!  Enjoy!

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