Welcome back for September's free pattern Friday review and its a very special free pattern this month! This is my series of reviews of free knitting patterns which are available off Ravelry. Ravelry is a great source of free patterns but its much harder to find good, free patterns via a general google search. All Free Pattern Friday reviews can be found here. 

Clapotis

Clapotis was designed by Kate Gilbert and originally published in the Fall 2004 issue of Knitty.com, a brilliant, free, online knitting magazine which has published 89 issues and hundreds of great, tech edited, free patterns.

Clapotis became the must-knit pattern for a while after it was published and to date Ravelry has 24,000 projects for this pattern! This makes it probably the first ever viral knitting pattern. To mark its 20th anniversary Knitty.com have launched Clapotisfest as a celebration of this iconic pattern and the many different ways it can be made to look with hand dyed yarn.

I was so pleased to be able to take part in this and you will see my version in the flickbook on the Clapotisfest page. I didn't knit one when it was first published but I do remember it coming out - the dropped stitches always scared me a little as a very new knitter at the time tho - and I've been a huge fan of Knitty.com since at least 2004.

Knit your version and submit a photo by 1st December 2024 and you could be in with a chance to win some lovely Indie Hand Dyed Yarn.

Details

The pattern is for a rectangular scarf with a biased dropped stitch pattern. The original used a now discontinued aran weight merino silk singles yarn but the updated pattern has details for adjusting for different yarn weights. I used Selkino which is our merino silk singles yarn.

The pattern starts at one corner and increases until the desired width is reached and then knit straight until the decreases to the finish corner. The drop stitch pattern is created by dropping the stitch when it reaches the edge so it unravels across to the other side. Don't panic! It doesn't unravel completely. Because of this construction its easy to make it wider or narrower as you prefer by knitting more or less repeats of the increase section.

My Clapotis

Rather than using Aran weight and 5mm needles I used Selkino and 3.25mm needles. I went for Lulworth Cove as the theme of this issue of Knitty was Indigo and Seasides.

Advantages of this pattern

• Looks good on both sides
• Easily adaptable for different yarn weights
• Fun to drop the stitches
• Can be made any size you wish
• If you knit one before 1st December 2024 you might win some lovely yarn!

Do let me know if you make this pattern and I'd love to hear your recommendations for patterns to review in the future. The comments are open.
 

Link to original pattern Clapotis
Link to updated pattern Clapotis
Link to Clapotisfest page

Link to Knitty.com