Knitty is Celebrating the Clapotis

If you were around at the beginning of the knitting Internet, you might remember the Clapotis (pronounced, apparently, clap-o-tee; I’ve been saying it wrong in my head for 20 years!). Originally published in the fall 2004 issue of Knitty, it could be argued it was the first viral knitting pattern of the Internet age.

It’s easy to see why it took off: it’s fun to knit, pretty easy, stylish, you can use wild or more subdued yarn and it looks great. Plus, dropping stitches on purpose is just fun.

I have still yet to knit one, even though I’ve wanted to a few times.

Now I have no excuse, because to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the pattern, Knitty has reissued it and has declared Clapotis Fest. They produced a digital look book with the pattern worked in yarn from 63 different indie dyers (which is just a drop in the dye bucket compared to the nearly 24,000 versions that have been posted on Ravelry).

They’re also hosting a contest where you can win some of that gorgeous yarn by submitting a photo of your (newly knit since Sept. 17, 2024) Clapotis. Entries must be submitted by Dec. 1 and will be included in a similar flip book style presentation, which will be part of the Knitty winter surprise early next year. People who look at the book can vote for their favorites, and the top 50 vote-getters will get some lovely yarn (folks with the most votes will get to pick their prizes first).

Part of the point of this celebration, in addition to getting people excited about the pattern again and sharing the work of some great indie dyers, is to also honor the designer, Kate Gilbert. She was paid $50 for the pattern in 2004, and of course Knitty is free so no one has profited much from the huge popularity of this design, but Kate definitely should. If you knit a Clapotis, or have in the past, you can send her a few bucks through her Ko-fi.

I’d love to hear your Clapotis stories. Have you made one or several before? Had you ever heard of it before now? Thinking about making one? I think it might just be time for me to do it!

[Photo via Knitty]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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