More about Kaffe Fassett Day

Hi Lulu,

Like you, I've had to set my K.F. project aside and focus on knitting for Christmas and birthdays. But while it rests, I've more to tell about the day with Brandon Mabley and Kaffe Fassett.

1. You asked about knots in the yarn ball we made for the Persian Poppy samplers in Brandon's class. It really didn't matter for our little demo pieces, since the point was to experiment with color. The yarn ball was surprisingly freeing. Perhaps my response was unique, but just picking up one color and tying it on to another didn't throw me into paralysis over the choice. Whereas if I'd been in the middle of the knitting, and THEN gone hunting for the next color, always in juxtaposition with the contrasing color, I think I'd STILL be there trying to decide on the perfect combination.

2. That being said, Brandon encouraged us to weave in the ends as we knit. So that meant making the knots loose, untying them as we came to them, catching in the tail of the NEW yarn for several stitches, and then after switching colors, weaving in the tail of the old yarn.

3. Brandon worked diligently to teach us the EASY way to catch the unused yarn as it's carried along the back of fair isle knitting. But he was working with pickers and throwers, and beginners and experienced, and some on a knit row and some on a purl row -- so even though I followed him around and listened over and over to his explanations, the most I "got" that day was that the possibility existed -- of an easy and effective way to fair-isle knit, that doesn't require setting down one color and picking up the other underneath, forever twisting and untwisting the strands of yarn. (There's an excellent how-to video at the Philopher's Yarn website.)

(And might I say, right here, that I am TRULY EXCITED about learning this technique. It's always invigorating to learn new things. But this isn't just new (to me); it's fabulously easy and practical and EASY and functional and FAST. Niftiest thing since ... since giving up long straight needles for circular needles. Since superwash merino. Since Ravelry and blogging. Since leaving aluminum for steel turbos. Since abundant hand-painted yarn. Have I raved enough?)

4. This is just a hunch, but I think Brandon might be more of a neatnik than Kaffe, or more interested in technique -- but whichever, it seems to have rubbed off. After Kaffe autographed my copy of Glorious Color, I came back at the end of the line with the coat and a permanent marking pen, asking if he'd autograph the lavender circle of the bodice, on the inside. No, he doesn't do that since it would give the impression that he made the garment. (I expected this, but figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.)

Then he looked at the tangled mess of the inside on the bodice.

And here's the stunner: he said, "You really ought to weave in all those ends."

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? After all the chatter on Ravelry about this, and the quotes from his books about not bothering with such things, he now thinks that weaving in ends might be better. I swear it's Brandon's influence. Of course, I have absolutely nothing to base that on, except for spending a day while Brandon tried to teach 20 knitters how to weave in their ends as they knit...

Here's a photo (a little out of focus), just to keep everyone's red-coat juices flowing. My next post will be about the big sleeve debate. Hugs, Buffy