Fend off the paparazzi

Buffy, I love, love, love those sleeves!  Kaffe's Romeo and Juliet Coat is sooooo romantic. When you have it finished, where will you wear it first?  Fend off the paparazzi!

The big sleeve debate

Hi Lulu,

Just to refresh our readers' memories, Kaffe Fassett attended a performance of the ballet, "Romeo & Juliet," and he was quite taken by the enormous sleeves of the dancers' costumes. So the sleeves of his coat are 180 stitches around, on size 10 needles. I knit the first sleeve with 120 stitches, and I omitted some rows (since I'm short).

But then I began to wonder if that sleeve might lack something -- just sit like a barrel on my arm, rather that undulating in an out as the larger sleeve might do. So I knit the second sleeve full size.

I worked till 3 in the morning of "Kaffe Fassett Day" (the day of the workshop and evening slide show), grafting the bodice to the skirt sections, sewing the skirt seams, and sewing in the sleeves. I was on the ferry to Vashon Island bright and early so I wouldn't be late, and was still sewing in sleeves as I sat in the parking lot before class. I was so sure the 180-stitch sleeve would be the final choice, I sewed it in carefully, while I sewed in the 120-stitch sleeve with long, loose basting stitches.

To my surprise, when I asked Brandon and class members their opinions, there was no hesitation or disagreement: the smaller sleeve was better.

And after posing with Kaffe for the photo (see my post, "Kaffe Fassett Comes to Town," October 2010), I pointed out the difference in the sleeves. and asked the Master whether it was acceptable to use the smaller sleeve.

He nodded, "Yes," also without hesitation.

So the HUGE sleeve has been frogged, and I'm knitting a mate to the smaller sleeve. Good friends took photos on a lovely October day so we'd have a permanent record of the two sleeve sizes. What do you think? (The big sleeve is on my left arm.)

Buffy

P.S. My only regret? The bigger sleeve was not only 50% wider than the smaller; I also made it the full length called for in the pattern. It was so long that when I dropped my arm, it drooped down and half-covered the forearm ribbing. Now I wonder whether full circumference but shorter might have worked? Ah well, it's too late now! (Oh...and if you'd taught middle school math, as I did, you'd know that 120 is 33% less than 180, but 180 is 50% greater than 120. :)

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

An amazing connection

Lulu, when I learned, nearly 20 years ago, that you, TOO, had been a weaver, I knew our children were meant for one another. We both had looms folded up, awaiting a calmer season in our lives.
And just as you've set up your Glimakra counterbalance, I'm contemplating trading my all-refurbished Bergman counterbalance for an 8-harness Bergman countermarch loom.
Last summer, I took my loom apart, sanded and refinished all the maple and beautiful clear fir, and reassembled it, replacing all the string heddles and hardware and most of the tie-up. All that remains is to replace the canvas apron on the cloth beam.

For a Northwest native like I, it's extra special to have a Bergman loom. Margaret Bergman was born in Sweden and came to the United States in 1901, when she was 30, to marry a man who had come seven years before. They settled with other Scandinavians near the town of Poulsbo (across Puget Sound from Seattle), built a home, cleared land for farming, and raised six children. She wove all the years she was raising her family, and then began teaching all around the Pacific Northwest. Her husband started building looms to meet student demand, and she improved on the design, developing several looms that would fold up, even while warped. She's the only woman in the US to receive a loom patent. She was honored at the National Weavers' Conference in 1947 for her contribution to American weavers. Eventually her son Arthur Bergman took over the family business, building Bergman looms until the early 1970s.

My loom was surplused from a high school art classroom. My father-in-law purchased it, but it sat in their basement, unused, until I married into the family. When my son (your son-in-law) was newborn, I got all the books our library had on weaving, and would go to their house each day. And while he napped beside me in his infant seat, I worked on my very first placemats. They weren't pretty, but I learned a lot and was ready (humbled) for classes from a pro. We spent that summer at a Boy Scout camp at the foot of Mt. St. Helens (this was 13 years before it erupted). The only way into the camp was a 5-mile hike or a mile by boat across Spirit Lake, so loom and baby made the first of three annual voyages to spend summer in the woods while dad ran the camp.

With a history like that, it tugs at my heartstrings to think of trading the loom away. And now, I just got the phone call: the 8-harness loom's been sold to someone else. So at least THAT decision's made. Besides, who needs so many harnesses? Think of the amazing things we've woven with four.

Weave on! Buffy

One for the Road!

Buffy, a Kaffe Fassett Long Leaf Coat has been finished in England and now is in Australia!  Talented chris4252, from Sheffield, UK has finished a Long Leaf Coat for her talented daughter, who has taken the coat to school in Australia. Chris has called it her "Leaving Present," and this link to her Ravelry page gives you the whole story. Click on the link and enjoy the story with many fabulous photos.

Well, not the whole story:  Chris started the coat once, knitted about a yard and then quit and changed out her colors.  And she did all this work in a few month's time. She's a total wonder, and her Long Leaf Coat is a WOWZER! I'd give her two "hearts" if I could!

Congratulations, Chris, on a phenomenal job. What a mom!

Knot to be, or not?

So, Buffy, this is the question!

In Brandon's Poppy class, you mentioned that you tied up a "magic ball" from one- and two-yard pieces of yarn. How do you handle those knots when you are knitting along?

I love the idea! It's so thrifty and so now to "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Just tugs at my heartstrings. But, oh, those knots!

The magic ball reference above has lots of great comments, some having to do with the knot problem. And this is one of the best:

"About 20 years ago I used this technique to make a sweater-coat. The background was all pinks and the flower motif (from Kaffe Fasset) all blues. I started off with my own stash, but as the sweater grew I needed more yarn so asked the women in my knitting group if they had pinks or blues. Sure enough the did, and now my finished sweater is a reminder of my friends the knitters. I still wear it; still get comments on the street and shopping. One point: in knotting, I left about 3" tails and knitted them in as I worked." uletas, 9/29/03

Old Glimakra is the new new

Buffy, what a thrill you must have had -- "Twirl about!!"

I'd do a double-take if I were Kaffe Fassett. What a thrill it must have been for him, too, to see the grand coat appear in front of him. I know you worked feverishly to get your Romeo and Juliet Coat to the point of being able to wear it as a garment, and the finishing work can take a long time, too.  But the pressure is off, now, and the pleasure is back.

And you have the added pleasure of contemplating your next Kaffe. What will it be? Something with poppies?

I've bitten off a lot and am chewing hard!  The Long Leaf Coat is halted while I start birthday and Christmas projects, and finish several started earlier. Christmas comes early as I visit our mutual grandson for his fifth birthday. I leave here early in December so all must be ready and wrapped. His is the first of the birthdays and the only one I can attend. His mom and dad both have birthdays after his and before Christmas, and so their birthday/holiday season is packed with many parties and celebrations, food and libations, and gifts galore.

And if Christmas and birthday projects were not enough, I've completely emptied a small room in the house of its couch, chairs, chest, table, and wall art,  and filled it with  the Glimakra loom I bought in the late sixties--oh, my-- and have retrieved from it's various piles of sticks and bits stuffed into closets, boxes, and bags. It was last together about 20 years ago and, amazingly, only one of the grey "shoes" had been lost between teardown then, moving to a new house a decade ago, and the setup now. The shoe was easily replaced from GlimakraUSA.

The impetus for this frenetic activity was the discovery of what might just be fabulous weaving material at the local recycle shop where the college kids donate their unwanted belongings which other students quickly snap up at a bargain to furnish new digs.  I found these large balls of what I thought was the selvedge edge of blue denim cut from yards and yards of material. But instead it was narrow gimp, finished to never ravel or shed. The skein, once a large ball, measures 75 yards, so there is plenty for almost any project.

The cost:  $4. Who could resist?

My better half is being a bit stubborn. He says he will not help me beam a warp onto the loom because he harbors bad memories from earlier times. He is, instead, sending me to Vavstuga, the Swedish weaving school in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts for my birthday less than two weeks from now. There's a two day class on dressing the loom that he says I must take. So I must!

I see the gimp woven into fabric for the front and back of a coat, lightened with mohair, with striped puffy sleeves knitted from pastel pinks, yellows, blues and greens: Kaffe sleeves! Or maybe I see a simple rag rug.

It's really great to have the loom set up and ready to use, and most of my yarn, needlepoint, books and equipment gathered together. But the Kaffe Long Leaf Coat has suffered from neglect. I'm soon back at it.