Dear Ann,
Happy Fourth of July! Every year, after our hamburgers and hot dogs, we read the Declaration of Independence. We pass it around the table and everyone who can read, reads a bit. It’s been a while since we’ve had someone at the table who can’t read. I know this is probably silly, but having seen Hamilton and listened to the cast recording dozens of times this past year made reading the Declaration much more meaningful. (We celebrated on July 3, Independence Day Eve.) King George! We will not come crawling back to you, especially not with all this Brexit business. (Queenie: no offense. We still love you and the Corgis.)
When not grilling things and loading and unloading the dishwasher this weekend, I’ve been dedicating my life, my fortune and my sacred honor to my Kaffe Fassett Big Flower Jacket.
This is not what knitting is all about, for me. It’s not relaxing, it does not center the chi or calm the mind. It’s the opposite of relaxing. I have to think, the whole time I’m doing it. Maybe thinking is relaxing for some folks, but for me it takes a lot of energy. I have to shush people when they are talking to me while I knit on this thing. If I chat, there is no hope of keeping everything straight in my mind. Yesterday, working on the right front of the jacket only, I made it from row 74 through row 85 in about an hour and a half. It’s work.
(The WS: yeesh!)
I’m not complaining. I’m loving knitting this thing and getting into Kaffe Fassett’s view of the world. As I knit, I wonder if he intended this level of difficulty. If he were making it, would he just let the background stripes flow, without keeping track of the color sequence? I think he would. It can’t possibly matter, but somehow, because the stripe sequence is written out so precisely, I feel obliged to follow it. With all the tails generated, I’m anxious about running out of one or more of the colors.
I don’t want to be That Guy, but here’s a friendly reminder: it’s July, people! If you want a new Rhinebeck Sweater this year, it’s time to giddyup. Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s about three months away.
Love,
Kay
I totally understand what you mean about Kaffe’s kind of knitting not being relaxing. I love the appearance of such designs but do not relish the thought of tackling one. However, I also think that such knitting is probably not difficult the designer, who is in fact, superhuman.
Sometimes I need what I call “mindless/meditative knitting”. Sometimes, I need to knit something that takes all of my concentration and focus, so that I need to be alone (with only the television going) to be able to work on it. Each type of project carries me to another place where I am rejuvinated in some way. The trick is to have a ready project that fits the mood. Once it becomes “work” (such as having to meet a deadline), it can become a type of mish-mosh for me where all bets are off. These are usually my times of greatest knitting procrastination.
Jest keep on truckin’, Kay. Rhinebeck will be so much sweeter in your Kaffe.
Even television breaks my concentration. I need only music in the background and not the kind of music that makes me want to sing along.
Agree!
I agree with you completely. I have the same approach to knitting which is why I’m often behind closed doors watching the 1st episodes of Colombo from 1968 on Netflix. Doesn’t mattet if I need to concentrate or if I’m simply appreciating the flow of soothing garter stitch.
Oh, piffle. He knit the jacket using whatever yarn he felt like using next, and then some poor underling had to go back and count what many rows of A, how many of B, and is that J or VH? I say knit it to the spirit, not the letter, of the pattern. (Easy for me to say; it’s been twenty-plus years since I knit a Fassett pattern.)
I agree with you! He also doesn’t care about ends.
I met Kaffe once and asked him if he plans colors, or just goes with it. He was decidedly a “just go with it” guy. That said, if I were ever to knit one of his patterns, I’d probably be a slave to it too.
I love that you read the Declaration of Independence on the 4th.
It is going to be beautiful.
I admire your dedication to his pattern. I would never attempt one. There is enough stress in my life, knitting is my refuge. All those ends would overwhelm me and I’ve been knitting for 60 years.
I think it’s like a recipe. Some people follow them slavishly. Others use them as a suggestion.
I agree with you completely about the Declaration seeming so much more alive in the context of Hamilton and Brexit. I like stemmed to the Declaration on NPR this morning and the words really came alive and resonated through time for me.
You inspired me to start my own. Although, due to gardening, it’s currently in time out. It’s my first Kaffe. Try to go with it & don’t fight it. I’ve found it’s best to work on it when no one is around & take it a stitch at a time. It can be come meditative–no room for anything else in my brain. I’ve done a few (very) difficult projects over the years & the elation that comes with completion is like none other. Sort of “Is the fool that is me do this?”. We, too, have a family tradition of reading the Declaration on July 4th. Some years, I’m moved to tears. I always wonder would I have had the courage to sign & put my neck on the line? I think it was Maggie Thather who said we, the USA, are the only country founded on an IDEA. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Lovely tradition. I look forward to the Gray Lady printing a copy of the Declaration. Listening to Studio 360’s “American Icons.”
Wow that back … but “art isn’t easy …” (I know, not “Hamilton” but Sondheim/”Sunday in the Park with George.” The musical whose first act ending brings tears to my eyes).
I haven’t knit a Kaffe in years but you are an inspiration. In honor of your Big Flower I think I’ll rededicate myself to my Kieran Foley Renaissance Stripes while I contemplate which Kaffe pattern to try next. Happy Fourth of July and thanks for all the inspiration and all the Hamilton.
No wonder you’re having issues knitting the Big Floral Thing. You’re listening to the wrong music! Try something by Wham! or Wang Chung, instead. . .;-)
I agree! Or the B-52’s. I wanted to try a Kaffe sweater, so long ago I went to my LYS, and almost all of the required yarns were out of production. She worked with a list provided by the designer of substitutes, and I spent more than I have ever spent in my life to date on yarn. I got home and found it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to arrive at the combinations of yarn from what I had in front of me. I still have all those yarns. I don’t know what to do now. Time has not solved this problem at all. I think, if I really still want to make that sweater, I have to get different yarns in colors I like that do not require that yarn A1 be combined with a strand of C3 to arrive at color D12, etc. One strand of fiber at a time, and I might be able to manage it.
What a project but what a reward at the end of it all. It will be beautiful! I have projects going that have to be followed every single row with marker sets on those rows. I keep those for when I have alone time and can sit at my desk with music in the background while I lose myself in the pattern. I always have a “mindless knitting” project though. I got so inspired from Arne and Carlos’s video about a garter stitch afghan last night that I went through my giant 1 skein stash and cast on to make something of what they suggest. I made myself go to bed at 2:30 this morning, I was so into this. It’s supposed to be a super hot week coming up here in Florida and I cast on a wool afghan project……. I can’t help it. Enjoy this time with your lovely sweater!
I knit outside at that exact same metal mesh table. Not good when dpn’s and stitch markers fall through and then disappear in the cracks of the deck below. After 30 plus years of doing this, there must be full sets of needles under the deck.
I too have that very same patio table. Mine stands on a concrete patio, so no worries about losing any small items that fall through, although a few dp tips may have been blunted when they struck the pavement tip first . . .
Some years I’ve managed to be in the car during NPR’s reading of the Declaration, and every time it chokes me up. I would love to be part of a group reading it aloud! What a thrill. Brilliant family tradition.
I am in awe of your Big Flower power. Artsy it may be, but an undertaking like that one requires Grit, plain and simple. If I was wearing a hat right now, I would be taking it off to salute you.
Here in the land of Fisher-Price-level colorwork, I am trying not to panic as the need to choose the third stripe color on my maybe-a-summer-top knitting project comes ever closer. It’s really close, this decision. Like the next time I pick up the needles.
Gulp.
I starten with Kaffe Fasset sweaters and now I knit socks…so, respect for your effort! I am pretty sure he does not plan the colord. Quote: when in doubt, add another color…
I bought the yarn for a KF sweater many many years ago and loved the colours so much that I used it as a decoration by the hearth; beautiful, until I began to knit and discovered the moths had got to it before I did. That yarn went out very quickly and I have never tried another KF; they are just so daunting. I did do one cardigan from Alice Starmore that was all celtic cables, etc. Started the darn thing four times and finally had to write the pattern out stitch by stitch, and work on it in a completely quiet house, not even a radio or tv. I am very proud of that sweater!! Happy July 4th!!
Happy knitting on a Happy 4th of July! What a thoughtful tradition to read that document… Really neat. We have been traveling over this holiday the past few years (this time in Portugal) so we miss out on the fireworks and USA stuff. But at least I have some knitting with me! Enjoy that KF sweater… I’ll never make one so it’s fun living vicariously through you!
Looking forward to seeing your completed Flower. That’s dedication. Happy Fourth!
Outstanding, Kay! Outstanding and beautiful! Carry on, girl. You got this thing now.