I Have Learned that Blogger Does Not Like to Link to Clapotis

Seriously, yesterday, I had a link to the Clapotis pattern page in my post, and Blogger refused to publish it. Instead it cut off the Clapotis link and everything below it. I have no idea why. It also refused to publish my pictures last night. Again, I have no idea why. Tonight, I will try to post those pictures again, although I did see that there is a scheduled outage today so, maybe tomorrow? Whenever things are up and running again. However, because of these technical difficulties I’m not going to bother linking directly to the Clapotis page, I will just link to Knitty. Besides, I think everyone reading this blog for the knitting content has already made Clapotis and knows where to find the pattern, so it should be fine.

Anyway, I finished one Lily last night and continued working on the other. Project Stats:

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in pink and dusty pink (for the flowers,) and yellow (for the stamen,) and Baby Ull in spring green (for the stems)
Needles: Size 3 dpns
Pattern: Lilies from Knitty
Mods: None (unless you count using different yarn)

I’m using baby cashmerino because I have several odd skeins of it in my stash, and it’s working out really well. I did not check gauge, because it’s not something that needs to fit. I like the pattern. Before I actually read the pattern I assumed that the stem, blossom and stamen were worked separately and then sewn together. I’m pleased to tell you that this is not the case. Instead the entire flower is worked in one piece, starting with an I-cord stem, then the blossom is worked, ending with an I-cord stamen.

I really like how the pattern is worked. Since it’s all in one piece there is no sewing necessary. Basically you work the stem, then join the yarn for the blossom. From there you create a wide cone shape. Then short rows are used to first knit up to a point (for the pointy tip of the blossom) and used to reduce back down to form the inner blossom fabric. Once you’re done with the short rows you then reduce the number of stitches gradually until there are only a few left, and then knit an I-cord stamen. When you’re all done with the knitting, the fabric of the inner blossom is pulled down inside and secured in place by pulling all of the yarn ends (the main color end, the start and end of the yarn for the stamen) down and out at the point where the stem meets with the blossom. It’s clever construction, it’s fast and easy, the instructions are well written and simple to follow. I’m really digging this pattern. In fact, I’m thinking of making one for myself when I’m done knitting for the grandmothers.

With any luck I will post pictures of the finished Lily and the unfinished Lily tonight. Incidentally, the pattern actually calls for a bit of floral wire to be inserted into the Lily so that it will hold it’s shape. I have not done this yet and I don’t think that it’s absolutely necessary. However, I may go looking for floral wire because I think that if I make one for myself I would like to wear it in my hair (if said hair will cooperate) and I think the addition of the wire would make that work a lot better.