Letters
Can’t Hurry, Love
Dear Ann,
I am so ready for the big reveal of my Kaffe Fassett Big Flower Jacket, but even with powerful motivation and hours of steady work, I’m not quite there. I’ve made progress though, with the help of kind friends, and I’m now officially at the point of feeling a touch of pre-nostalgia for the experience of making this giant, challenging, rewarding project.
One unexpected and delightful bit of motivation is so incredible that I still don’t quite believe it. Last Tuesday, two days before you and I were supposed to be driving up to Saugerties for Indie Untangled, I got on a plane headed in the opposite direction. I went to Nashville to join you, Elizabeth Doherty of Free Spirit Fabrics, and Anna Maria Horner for dinner with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably, who were in town to teach their famous quilt workshops at Anna Maria’s shop, Craft South.
I know! I still can’t believe it! I’m so so grateful to Anna Maria for her generous invitation. Your Nashville has quite a craft community.
In preparation for this mountaintop moment, I sewed in ends on my jacket even faster than before, but deep down I knew all along that I wouldn’t make it. Luckily I had another Kaffe FO in reserve, my Smoulder from years ago. I wore it. Kaffe noticed. All was well. I told him about Clara Parkes’s gift of the vintage Big Flower kit, and what an adventure it has been. We had a great natter about the illustrious, lustrous Rowan Chunky Chenille, which happens to be the yarn that brought Kaffe together with Stephen Sheard, founder of Rowan, fifty years ago.
There are some things that can only be shared between knitters who have worked with chunky chenille yarn on a very deep level. Like Kaffe and me.
Thanks to this experience, I am now slightly less mad at chenille yarn. Slightly. (It’s difficult stuff. Not gonna lie.)
People have been telling me that Kaffe himself does not weave in ends, and advising me to knot them like he does. I’m weaving them anyway (or getting other people to do it), because otherwise the edifice of this garment is at risk of coming undone. Weaving really seems to be stabilizing my loose and loopy chenille-tarsia. I don’t mind weaving in ends, but it does take time, daylight, and eyesight, which are not always available at the same time.
Here’s the state of play:
Back. (I’ve left the tails a bit longer than I usually do, and will assess whether to trim them after blocking.)
Left front. Halfway up the flower.
Right front. Chenille peeking through the tangle.
Right side view of the back, the mint glowing against the deep blues and browns. Can’t wait to see what blocking does to it.
The vessel that preserves the ends for the historical record. (Yes it’s a Southwest Airlines barf bag. Not used or anything!)
The trouble with chenille is that it does not want to slide very easily into position.
This detail shot shows why I decided that weaving was my best bet. See the background stitches between the green chenille petals of the flower? According to the pattern, these in-between stitches change according to the background stripes surrounding the flower. I didn’t realize until halfway through the flower that this was not a good plan, as it was making spots where only a single stitch of a color was hanging there in the chenille, without support. One yank on either end of that stitch, and a big hole could form.
You can see in the top right of the flower where I decided to work one color up the background rows, without regard to the frequent color changes of the side stripes. Things got a lot more stable then.
That wobbly bottom half of the big flower is the main reason I’m weaving in the ends. The other reason: habit. I always weave in ends. That’s how I was raised.
When Oh When?
The new and improved, now with more realistic-ness goalpost for this project: Vogue Knitting Live in New York in January 2019, which will be here in barely a minute. Watch me walk the Rowan fashion show runway, flinging and flapping my swing coat-modified Big Flower Jacket. Swoosh!
Our Friend Annie
Yesterday I got the awful news that Annie Modesitt’s husband Gerry Landy died this past weekend. Gerry had been ill for many years with a blood cancer, but his death on Sunday was unexpected. Annie herself is undergoing grueling treatment right now for a recently diagnosed and serious case of lymphoma. What a deep and shocking loss for Annie and their two grown kids, Andy and Max. I am worried for her. This is so much to bear.
Like so many knitters, I have learned a ton from from Annie over the years. I always find myself laughing in her big-hearted company. I will never forget that she showed up for me after Peter died. I’m in awe when I think how hard it must have been to sit with me when her own husband was terribly sick. She came over for lunch, toting gluten-free food so that I wouldn’t fuss for her. She tolerated Olive’s “welcome” (barking and snarling) with serenity. Somehow we ended up on a bench on the High Line, talking about something beautiful with tears in our eyes. Good times.
I’m rooting for Annie. Money can’t ease sorrow, but it’s good for relieving anxiety about necessities. Annie’s donation button is here.
Love,
Kay
I am so sorry to hear about Gerry. I joined the bone marrow donor registry years ago in his honor as a show of moral support to Annie and her family. Thank you for sharing Annie’s donation site. It’s the least I can do for this wonderful big-hearted woman. My heart aches for her.
Hi Kay,
I made that sweater…I have that sweater in my cedar chest! If I get to VKL, I will wear it and look for you. Mine is the non modified, original version that I made back in the 80’s from the pattern in his book. Don’t think I used a kit, just lots of KF yarn. Remember I kept it in a laundry basket while I was working on it.
Thanks for the info on Annie and her husband….this post made me smile with memory of my sweater and sad with memory of things learned from Annie.
I made that sweater too! During July and August, ages ago. NOT summer knitt8ng…. but I loved it so much, I Could.Not.Stop! Kaffe Love!
For as long as I’ve been reading the MDK blog I have been hoping that you guys would meet the Kaffe. I was so happy and excited for you when I read about it on IG last week and those feelings still remain.
I was so sorry to hear about the passing of your friend’s husband. I understand what it is to have a loved one who has passed, especially after a long illness.
Yes, you can’t hurry love; and, true love will last a lifetime and beyond.
Yep, the people who can show up and just sit with you are very special and should be cherished. And by the way, I’ve been wondering about this sweater ever since I thought I saw a glimpse of it in the Rhinebeck photos. Glad to see it is near the top of the WIP pile.
I’m so sorry to read about Annie’s illness & her husband’s death. I took a class with her at my LYS quite a few years ago & learned a lot from her. I wish her well as she fights on.
Kay, I’m delighted to hear about your dinner with Kaffe. So HAPPY for you! My dream would be to replicate this by having dinner with you and Ann!!!
Giving Annie lots of positive health vibes and wishing her much strength at this time.
Thank you for posting the sad news about Annie’s husband Gerry. I worked on some blanket squares in her honor and have been following her journey online. Such a hard burden to bear.
I thank you for your “ramblings” –like a good longtime friend.
Oh, mercy, so sorry for the passing and diagnosis. There but for the grace of God go I.
I would love to make just the front design of your sweater. I’d pop it onto the front of any of our antique console tube radios as a grill cloth……but, hubby wouldn’t let me!!
Oh, that barf bag…..have used one…..can’t remember being as sick before or after. ((;
I am not the most experienced knitter but I may have a tip for you…I tie half a knot with two yarn ends that are close together, weave both ends in and cut ends. I then put a dot of Alene’s OK To Was It under each end…not too much! Let dry and so far I have had succcess. Of course I hand wash these items and dry flat. I hope you see this and try this in the future.
Lucky you for meeting Kaffe! and the jacket is beautiful. Thanks for sharing about Gerry. I had read that on her blog. Gerry’s SSDI was their sole source of income so that donation link means the world. thank you, thank you.
oh gosh. So much good and also sad news here. Meeting Kaffe! Almost completing a big Kaffe project! Such amazing good stuff.
I am sorry about Annie’s husband – I don’t know them personally, but I love her work. Thank you for including the donation button. I remain in the donor registry for stem cells since I got myself tested due to my brother’s diagnosis of leukemia last year. I was 100% match for him (even for full siblings, this only happens 25% of the time), so we were thrilled. He passed away suddenly (chemo complications), just before we got the chance to attempt a transplant from me, which made accepting his death even more difficult. We felt so close to possibly changing his outcome…
I am glad to be in the registry though, so that if any relative or stranger in need finds me to be a match for them, I will happily donate in my brother’s memory. He’d be glad.
[A twist in my story of my brother: we only met last year (he was 55 and I was 50) as he was the oldest sibling in my family and adopted out (my parents were young, unmarried and poor at the time – no option but adoption). My brothers with whom I grew up and I knew about an older brother adopted out. He was raised by loving parents; he knew he was adopted but never felt a pull to seek biological family until his medical team encouraged him to do so after the leukemia diagnosis. Imagine his surprise when he finally searched last year (through submission of DNA sample on ancestry.com, where he matched a cousin of ours) and found a passel of several siblings!! He and his wife lived 40 min from me, and we had worked at offices less than a mile from each other for a few years. Those thoughts still give me chills. We all had an absolutely wonderful time meeting last year, and I had several incredible talks and visits with him before his passing. Our mother, also ill, finally had the chance to also meet him 9 days before he passed.]
Sorry – a long post – but seemed apropos about how life’s joys and sorrows are so often entwined.
What a story, Wanda. So bittersweet. So glad you got to meet your brother, and he you. xo
May Gerry (And Peter’s) memories be a blessing.
So sorry to hear about Annie and Gerry. She was one of the first designers I encountered on my knitting journey and I had heard about her husband’s cancer struggle. There are so many new effective treatments such as immunotherapy. Hope they can help Annie, although apparently were too late for her husband….Took a class with Kaffe decades ago and was struck by his forceful and very focused personality. So different from his dreamy-eyed photos, He was very inspiring.
I am so sorry to hear about Annie’s illness and Gerry’s death. I became a widow at age 46, so I know how important the friends who come and sit are. On the Kaffe Fassett side, I can’t wait to see your sweater! I knit a similar Kaffe Fassett jacket back in the 1980s, maybe the Turkish carnation cardigan, which I gave to my artsy mom. She is 89 now and I am pretty sure she still has it.