Letter From The Editor
The scoop from the Editor
photo: AmyCelebrating our biggest-deal pattern
Without reading further, did you know I meant Clapotis? It had a huge impact on Knitty and on the new community of knitters forming on the internet when it went live back in Fall 2004. Before Ravelry, before almost anything we know of the internet today was created, Clapotis (clap-o-tee) got knitters excited and since then, almost 24,000 have been knit and logged on Ravelry – and who knows how many more exist?
I decided to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Clapotis with Clapotisfest! A huge feature showcasing the work of indie dyers, and a massive contest where readers can win yarn if they knit a Clapotis and take a super-great picture of it! All the details are here, and we hope you'll participate!
I want to thank a few people for making this happen. First, Kate Gilbert – Kate, your genius made a pattern so perfect that people have loved it for 20 years, and it helped Knitty take off in our early days. I am forever grateful to you. Felicia Lo of Sweet Georgia for the spontaneous brainstorming on the trade show floor in May that was the beginning of Clapotisfest. Jamie AKA Scout of finchmod for helping me work out the fine details of something that became ten times as big as I imagined it would be! And of course a massive thanks to the 63 indie dyers who read my very long email in June, got excited about this project too, and knit like the wind to make it happen. Each dyer is providing their prize themselves as well as footing the postage to their winner, and I'm so grateful they were willing to give my big idea a shot!
This issue's theme is Seaside Indigo, and I cannot tell you how this much deep blue has made me happy. We got more submissions for this issue than any in recent memory, so clearly it hit a chord with a lot of people.
We ended up with an assortment of classics with serious longevity chops, and some of our favorite Knitty-style twists! You'll find everything here, including Clapotis updated to our 2024 standards with added construction tips we found helpful thanks to other knitters on the internet.
To stay up to date with every new issue and Surprise, sign up for our little Newsletter and we'll write you about every 6 weeks, so you don't miss a thing.
Wanna see the new stuff? Of course you do. Off you go, then.
Money talk: You might not know that we are a business that pays their staff, the designers and writers that contribute patterns and articles, and me – the only full-time employee of Knitty.
The majority of our financial support comes from our Knitty Patrons and Members. These folk, about 3000ish people right now, support Knitty in whatever amount they are able to, once per issue. The money comes in a month after a new issue goes live, and it goes to cover our operating costs like our server and all the other online services that make Knitty run, our payroll, and my salary.
We lose Patrons and Members each issue, because life happens to people. So that means we always need new Patrons and Members to keep us operational and able to pay our bills. Otherwise, without exaggeration, we'd have to close.
Click the links above to get rewards and help Knitty stay strong! Thank you from all of us at Knitty!
We're very happy to welcome Kate Atherley back as our Wiseknit™ columnist. This time she helps you tackle intarsia. It ain't so scary!
And we are also introducing something new this issue: one of our patterns is offered in knitCompanion Designs format, totally free of charge, thanks to Sally Holt of knitCompanion. If you haven't yet experimented with knitCompanion – a great app that helps you easily track all the different things happening in patterns like patterning, shaping, casting on and binding off – we're going to be hosting a live event, Sally and I, to give you an overview of how the free part of the app works, and how it works with pre-formatted kCDesigns patterns as well.
Bonus: knitty+ and knitCompanion are super friendly and each offers features the other doesn't have. They're great partners that taste great together! Watch our socials (links below) or sign up for our little Newsletter to get an email when the event is scheduled. We'll also make it available after the event so you can watch it even if you missed the live version.
Here's how you can keep in touch with us:
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Amy Sadler
[editor, Knitty]