Kaffe's colors rock!

Hi LuLu, I'm back to stripes and loving it. Of course, after the intarsia of the bodice, this is nearly mindless knitting. But the texture (mohair added here and there) and the colors are quite lovely.

For some reason, the stripes this time seem much prettier. (Remember that the right-front and left-back are knitted in the stripe sequence given in the pattern. Then the left-front and right-back, which I'm knitting now, reverse the order of the stripes.) I think it's because I haven't yet come to the only color combination I really dislike, an olive green with red, that occurred early on, coming from the other direction.

Since I have to eliminate a certain number of rows to get the correct length, guess which stripes will get short shrift!

Homage to Romeo & Juliet Coat

Buffy, what a coat! I am amazed that you can purchase a "kit" and then completely make it your own. Nip here, tuck there. Add some rows, change some needles. You are one of those people who can have a big box of crayons, use every one in the box, and always color outside of the lines. You, my friend, are an artist.

And that big red coat is a work of art! Don't you just love it?

Another Romeo & Juliet Coat milestone!

LuLu, this is a very exciting day! I've FINISHED THE BACK BODICE. (Drum roll, please):

(Now that you've admired it, would you like to know all the...let's not call them "errors," let's call them "mods"? [modifications, in Ravelry-speak]

1. Part way up, I discovered I was knitting on size 9 needles, rather than the size 10 needles I used on the skirt panels and sleeves. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

2. No problem: the width is just about right for my shoulders, so I'll continue on.

3. Ah -- but the smaller needles have caused the design to squish a bit. The bottom of the circle isn't quite as charmingly round as the pattern. Oh well, in the photo in Glorious Color, the circles are a bit ovoid so I'm not turning back. But I CAN make the top a little more round. So here's the confession: I added about three rows in the top third of the big circles -- and of course, had to improvise with the little side circles.

4. I think, with a little imaginative use of duplicate stitch, I can also round up the bottoms of the big circles.

Now be honest, if I hadn't told you, would you EVER have noticed?

Just for fun, I photographed the bodice with one of the skirt panels. Ignore the stitch holders and blue waste yarn at the bottom of the bodice.

I've cast on for the last two panels, only 79 stitches each, this time. (See my last post and earlier photos about the tapering panels.) Off we go!
Hugs, Buffy

Long Leaf Coat--off the needles, into the garden!

Buffy, here I am doing a little gardening in my Kaffe Long Leaf Coat — well, knitting in the garden. One must "make progress daily" on a Kaffe project!

This image is my updated Ravelry avitar. You'll recognize me anywhere!

Kaffe Blue & White Chinese Jug Coat update

Buffy, here's an update on my Kaffe Blue & White Jug Coat:  I'm starting over.

I've learned so much from the Kaffe Long Leaf Coat. So I am going back to the "really big" original pattern size of the Jug Coat and no longer deleting some of the squares (well, rectangles.) And I'm going to put it back on circular needles and knit it all in one big piece, or perhaps separate the fronts from the back, then put those together and add the sleeves. And I will use a bit smaller needle and lighten the strands of yarn for the new guage, much like the Long Leaf Coat.

It didn't help when my dear daughter said that I would look like I was wearing a quilt, but I've gotten over that! I love this Kaffe Jug Coat, and I would wear it proudly anywhere. She, however, just might not inherit this one....  ;-)

Kaffe's Long Leaf Coat is on the wall!

Buffy, I've been given a gift!  Raveler knit22love has sent it. She had a  hard-to-read copy of the pattern for the Kaffe's Long Leaf Coat, so she used her computer to redraw it with Microsoft's Excel. You can see the pattern pieces on her Long Leaf Coat project page.

Her envelope was stuffed. She printed out many sheets of her hand done pattern and taped them together in sections: 3 for the back, 3 for the fronts, 2 for the arms, and two which made up the total length of the border strips.

I wanted cut out the parts and join them together in a paper coat! If I resized the spreadsheet cells to the guage size I would get full-sized pieces to make into a full-sized paper coat! If I printed them out on transfer paper, I could iron the pattern onto fabric and make a full-sized cloth model and try it on!

 But instead I pinned the gift pattern onto the wall.

This pattern is 36 inches wide and 56 inches high. And, amazingly, she did the front as a continuation of the back so that she wouldn't have to read the pattern "upside down" as she knits from the shoulders down to the bottom hem. You can see that clearly in this image.

Check out her project page. It's full of good ideas and and amazing preparation. Her colorways are fabulous.
Interestingly, we are both using Size 9 needles to get guage.

Buffy, I can tell you will finish your coat before the big Kaffe meet-up in October. Absolutely, you need to get another Kaffe project into the planning stage.

Too little gold (yarn, that is)

Hi LuLu,
I've been very remiss in not saying how excited I am about your Long Leaf Coat (LLC). It is absolutely gorgeous! The colors are wonderful, and we'll knock 'em dead, striding the streets of Rekyavik, Trondheim, Moscow (in winter, not now!), and Fairbanks in our fabulous 7-pound wool coats.

I'll have photos to post tomorrow: I've nearly finished the back bodice, and fear I'll not have enough gold-colored yarn for the front. It makes no sense that the instructions in Glorious Color call for 50 grams of medium green but only 25 grams of gold -- when the pattern clearly needs very much the reverse. Ah well, another little challenge.

I've also decided to make the next pair of panels narrower at the bottom. Let's see if I can explain this: The pattern calls for casting on 88 stitches at the bottom, which I did and then tapered down to the requisite number of stitches at the top. But I made the panels about 7" shorter than the pattern (to suit my 5'2" height)--which means the panels flare out disproportionately more than the original design. So I'm going to "steek" the sides of the two panels I've already knit--machine stitch and trim off the excess. (That'll also take care of all those yarn ends!) And I'll cast on fewer stitches for the next pair of panels.

Sitting in continuing education class today, I daydreamed about my next coat. How about skirt panels in slightly flaring vertical stripes (rather than horizontal), knitted intarisa style, with the bodice from of one of Kaffe's classic designs (stars, blocks, circles, poppies)?
Buffy

Kaffe Fassett autograph quest

Buffy, I know you want Kaffe to autograph your Romeo & Juliet Coat at the presentation in October, so here's a story about a Kaffe autograph you'll love!

It has all elements I love in it: Kaffe jackets, needlepoint, pansies (I had a Boxer named Pansy, the best dog ever!), and Moms! It's from Raveler KayTheArky, who sold the Kaffe jacket off her back in the St. Louis airport, and I'd give this Big Pansy Jacket two big red hearts if I could!

My mother designed and began this in the early 1990s - she used Kaffe’s Damask Flower jacket pattern, but for the flower she used one of the pansies in Kaffe’s needlepoint pillow (Glorious Needlepoint) of pansies and adapted it to a much larger scale. She was in her middle 80s at the time, and she worked quite slowly - it’s a large project and each line has so many colors in it.

In 1996 when Kaffe was doing a book tour for his Glorious Quilts, he did a presentation at a library in Ohio where I was working, and I got to set up the whole event. (Thrill! Thrill!) For decorations, I “did” the library branch in finished Kaffe-designed sweaters, both my own and borrowed from friends. From mom I got the partly finished jacket, still on a big circular needle, and her graphs; I did a display of them with the needlepoint book showing the original pansy. A “process” photo, you know?

Kaffe was delighted, and wrote lovely compliments on the edges of the graph! Mom was tickled; but she never got to finish the sweater - age and health problems intervened. She worked on it a bit at a time till she died at 92, and she made me promise that I would finish it. What a job. It’s now up to about where the sleeves start.

There are probably five, six or more Kaffe Long Leaf Coats on or near the needles now and quiet a few have been completed, but your Romeo and Juliet Coat might be the first in decades. No other Raveler has posted it as a project. So do ask Kaffe to sign your fabulous project, and break a leg!

Kaffe coat spotted in airport

Buffy, did you hear the one about the Jet Blue flight attendant who blew his cool, barked at a passenger, grabbed a beer or two, and exited the plane via the escape chute? It's all over the news today.

It reminds me of the "airport" stories I've heard about Kaffe sweaters. There's the one about the person wearing a Foolish Virgins sweater flying from Boston to London. When he asked to be upgraded to first class, he was told that that could not be done "but I will upgrade that sweater to first class!"

And best is the story about Raveler KayTheArky's Kaffe dotted diamond jacket:

I don’t even have the sweater any more! In the middle 90s while I was waiting to change planes in the St Louis airport, a total stranger asked where I got it because his wife would love it. I explained it was an original one-of-a-kind. Would I make another for her? Well, no, I didn’t think I could duplicate it. He came back a few minutes later and asked if he could buy the one I was wearing, and how much? So I asked an amount so big he would leave me alone -- $850 -- and he said OK and went to the money exchange desk and got cash “because you would never take a check from a stranger.”

Well, I was kind of stunned! A few minutes after that he came back again and said “I left you without a jacket!” and gave me a St. Louis sweatshirt from the gift shop! 

Give that jacket a big red heart!

Sticka med Kaffe Long Leaf Coat

Buffy, what a surprise.  Ravetar marrieb from the Netherlands — check out her Kaffe "Jack's Back" waistcoat — sent me the pattern for the Long Leaf Coat from the Swedish Book Sticka med Kaffe, and just like your Romeo and Juliet Coat, this particular Long Leaf Coat is knitted holding three differently colored strands — two of 4-ply and one of dk weight.

It's also notable for the pleated shoulders, which no double give this massive coat a better fit. The colors change from very rich and dark on the bottom to lighter in tone at the top, which I find very dramatic and interesting. It takes advantage of those Rowan Scottish Tweed yarns, now discontinued, that I am using, too, in my older Rowan version of the pattern.

I have only studied the color combinations in the pictures, and not yet on the pattern charts, but I do like the less dramatic, simpler overall combinations of the older pattern, even though my coat will have many of the actual colors of this Sticka med Kaffe Long Leaf Coat. The older Rowan coat in the free download just looks more like Autumn in Vermont.

I guess I shouldn't complain about using the extra metal thread — what's four strands from time to time when one is just a wisp?

Yes, Nature's Las Vegas!

Buffy, have you seen the fall color of New England in the rain? The leaves shimmer.

I love the leaves in the rain. The colors are extra vibrant on a cloudy wet day.

I found these Sulky Holoshimmer threads on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts. I will tuck a single thread in with coordinated yarns from time to time. I've tried it out, and I like the look. It adds a very small sparkle and movement in night light.

Since—according to my daughter—autumn is nature's Las Vegas, it's best to gild the lily, don't you think?

Yarn Handling 101

Buffy, knitting from the tangle is the solution for me. First I tried the method of Raveler chris4252 who keeps her yarns in tubs "taking my time to ensure that I don't get into a tangle; the pairs of yarns for the leaves are in order on the sofa and the background pair is in a card box on the floor at my feet."  I tried that and, frankly, it drove me batty unwinding the tubs. But then chris4252 is a phenom -- she can knit a sweater in a day!

No, I opt for the Kaffe method of knitting short strands and pulling the ends from the tangle that always results. But there is one upside: I can use much smaller balls of yarn. I have organized my yarns used thus far into a simple container I found in the fishing supplies at WalMart. This $6 solution comes with 10 plastic dividers so you can configure the box as you like. I made more dividers from plastic milk jugs, using one as a pattern as I need all divisions possible to hold the 34 coat colors. You can see that I need to drink another gallon of milk to finish the box.

This makes a neat 9" x 14" x 4" package and will hold "every crayon in the box." It will be easy to resupply from the larger skeins. Best, it is easy to move from room to room.  The small balls can stack two high,  so this kit holds enough for a visit to my sister in the midwest as long as I take extra of the two workhorse yarns, D and m.

And I supposed you noticed ... there will be pink in my Long Leaf Coat.

The hunt for boots

Buffy, are these the perfect boots for my Long Leaf Coat?  Will rubber wellies work in Paris? They're perfect for New England!

They were featured in the new September issue of Country Living. I checked zappos.com, but they are not yet listed.

Name dropping ...

Buffy,  just ask him!!

You need a dual label for that beautiful Romeo & Juliet:

                                 Designed by Kaffe
                           & Fabricated by Buffy! 

Kaffe's coming to town!

LuLu, do you remember my fantasy, back when this project was still a gleam in our eyes, that I met Kaffe Fassett and he autographed my coat? Well, guess what! In October he's coming to the Pacific Northwest! And (oh dear--right before the October 15 tax deadline, how awful is that?) he'll be only a ferry-ride away!

No more lolly-gagging--I've got work to do! Finish up those tax returns and GET KNITTING!

I've started the bodice. Isn't it gorgeous? I knew this would be the best part.

It's quite a mess on the back, as you can see. I'm using about half butterflies and half just letting the yarn dangle. Kaffe's instructions say to carry the navy background across, but I'm also carrying the turquoise since it's recurring constantly.


Do you think he'll sign it? What if he thinks his signature is worth too much? Maybe he doesn't sign what he doesn't knit himself. Why, oh why. did I shorten the pattern? What kind of contract could you write for me, LuLu, that would appeal to him, entice him to autograph my coat? That neither I nor my/our heirs will sell this signed wonder for at least XX years? Could I offer to pay him a royalty if I ever sell?
Wait--what am I saying? I'm never, ever going to sell this coat! Knit on!

Completed R&J sleeve

LuLu, while you were taking care of our shared kids and grandboy, I was taking care of grumpy clients ("Haven't you finished my tax return YET???") ...and doing some knitting for therapy. Here's the completed #1 leg o' mutton sleeve! This photo shows the full breadth of the sleeve compared to the very, very tight cuff. (And remember, I made it only 2/3 of Kaffe's specifications, 120 stitches rather than 180!) You can also see that the final row, at the shoulder, consisted of serious decreases -- which will help accentuate the PUFF of the sleeve!


Maybe that photo says it all, but here I folded some of the sleeve back so I could get more in the picture and show all the glorious colors, peeking out between the raised bands.

Waiting for the mailman

Buffy, this Long Leaf Coat will be the "full-blown" affair -- almost. Kaffe's coats suffer some criticism for being too big and unwearable. You've addressed that issue with Juliet, and so have I with the Jug Coat. Now I meet it again, and this time I'm opting to knit this LLC just as the pattern is written.

Yes, it will be big, and I know that the size of this coat has caused some knitters problems -- or not!  Mette uses her coat as a blanket from time to time! And Rraveler RoulaV said she "... went merrily along knitting and not checking. By the time I realized the coat would fit a six footer(I’m 5’5”) it was too late. I now have a beautiful expensive throw with sleeves...."


And check out this Ravelry thread on changing the shape of Kaffe's patterns. I might take my own suggestion and gather the shoulders in as shown in the Swedish Book Sticka Med Kaffe.


I swatched this project in various ways, and I'm using one strand of Rowan Scottish Tweed DK and one strand of Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply together on size nine needles to give me the width-wise gauge, which also shortens the length-wise guage a small bit. That will give me a big, swinging coat that might work on my 5'5" frame. And if the coat is too long, I'll wear boots. If it's altogether a miss, I, too, will have a lovely couch throw that can be used as a snuggly.


I did find that when using 2 3-ply strands of Paternayan needlepoint wool together that the guage expanded a bit, so when using this particular combination, I cut back to five strands.


I'm knitting from "the tangle." I found that I like to use about 4-foot lengths of yarn and just pull the combinations from the tangle that is the mark of an intarsia project.

The knitting stopped this morning. I'm now ready to add color "2" and luckily I found 4 skeins of vintage Rowan Kaffe Kid Silk in gold that is perfect for this orange-tipped leaf.  I'm waiting for them to come in the mail. It will make a interesting texture change, and maybe a slight gauge change across the  leaf.


And the wait will also give me a chance to get an enlarged paper copy of the pattern. Right now I have been using an blown-up image on my computer screen. I get up and  move to the computer room from the knitting spot to count small squares on the screen to determine the location of  of the next color change--all too slow.

A printed copy is being sent to me by the folks at Rowan in Great Britian, and I will take it to the copy shop for enlargement immediately. Then I will be able to color in the pattern, mark off rows, and speed along.