I read Knitty's piece about the Clapotisfest, and had the immediate urge to cast on for one. I did. I have. The Clapotis pattern came out a bit before I had the sudden urge to knit again.
I always say again, because I had learned as a kid, but at the time I only learned the knit stitch and also didn't know how to bind off, and so I knit some rows on a pink scarf for a while, and then moved on to something else.
Anyway, I discovered Knitty in my search for patterns. It's wild to describe the nascent search engine days of the Internet, the pre-Ravelry days, of trying to figure out a pattern or a technique.
Anyway, once Ravelry had started, some local knitters and I did a knit swap, where we would each buy something lovely for each other at Maryland Sheep and Wool. My swapper gave me Brooks Farm yarn, in a lovely cherry red color that was both perfect, and a color I never would have picked for myself, which is the joy of swaps like that.
Again, in the nascent days of search engines, even the nascent days of Ravelry, being at Sheep and Wool was wild. Almost every booth had a Clapotis as a sample. It's a pattern that is easy to knit up, makes most yarns look great. I saw one person ask a staffer what pattern it was, and the staffer said, "Oh, we'll give it to you if you buy the yarn." I did, um, find that person and explain it was a free pattern. (In defense of this nameless staffer, they may have been thinking of another pattern, there were multiple samples hanging up.)
Nowadays you see a wide variety of samples. And I certainly have discovered other patterns through samples, I even bought a pattern book due to a sample.
I had the chance to meet Kate Gilbert years later at a writing event. We talked knitting, and other things too. I have only met a few pattern designers, but being knit famous must be a wild experience.
I am very much a person who loves a new challenge so mostly enjoy knitting new patterns. But some patterns are great enough to knit again.
The Clapotis is such a perfect blend of interesting enough to not be boring knitting, not so much you can't chat or watch TV, and also still looks interesting once you are done, that non-knitters are impressed you made that yourself.
Someone in one of my Ravelry groups once said someone has knit a Clapotis in every yarn you can think of, including fun fur. It may not still hold quite as true. But it is a great pattern. And I thank both Knitty and Kate Gilbert for bringing it to us.