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Just the other day, I finished my clapotis, a wonderful scarf/wrap pattern by Kate Gilbert available as a free download on knitty. Clapotis is a wrap that makes use of dropped stitches for a great finished texture. It’s a very popular pattern (over 14,000 people on ravelry have made it), and no wonder! The pattern is easy to remember and it’s fun to do!

After a successful Clapotis attempt, I learned a couple tips and tricks to share. These tips will be most useful once you’ve familiarized yourself with the pattern.

• selecting a yarn Keep in mind that you’ll need to drop lots of stitches (on purpose) for this pattern. That will be easier to do if your yarn isn’t fuzzy or sticky. I used a 50% wool 50% silk for mine, which I loved, but dropping the stitches took a bit of effort because it clung to itself. If a yarn is hard to unravel, then it’s going to be hard to drop stitches.
• switching yarns If you’re using multiple balls of yarn, you’ll have to change yarns at some point. Some folks are ‘switch yarns at the end of the row’ people, but I’m a ‘switch yarns in the middle of the row’ sort. If you’re like me, it’ important to switch yarns in the middle of a k3 sequence. This will ensure that your change isn’t near a stitch that will be dropped, and also give you solid surroundings to weave in your ends.
• customizing Don’t forget that you can change the size from what is called for in the pattern (either by changing the number of increase repeats- to alter width- or the number of straight repeats- to change length)! Mine is much longer than what is called for, so I can wrap it around me oodles of times! If you’re looking for a quick project, you can do a skinny scarf version.
• knitting through the back loop Don’t forget to knit through the back loop… especially the row after you’ve done your yarn overs! If you forget on this particular row, it will look very sad when you drop the stitches. And, the saddest part is… you will have knitted lots of rows before you find out!
• instead of stitch markers If you’re low on stitch markers, you can purl the stitch that you’re going to drop. This will remind you when to knit through the back loop without oodles of little rings. (thanks, Ravlery, for that tip!)

If you’re interested, you can check out the full details of my clapotis project. I loved it so much, I’ve already started a second one!