I have been reminded recently of why I started designing and
the events that influenced my love of color, pattern, and yarn…a reminder that has sparked
the return to a past trip to the islands of Scotland.
You see, several years ago, a freelance job resulted in a
reasonable sum of money burning a hole in my pocket. I decided to take a trip
and selected a tour organized by the Rowan Yarn Company. At that time in my life, I had only picked
up my knitting sporadically. I had always
loved knitting and thought a trip like this would be fun.
There were several tours to select from…each going to
different locations with different instructors (two each) on different dates. I
chose my tour from the dates I was available, not knowing much about any of the
instructors.
First stop was Shetland, a group of wonderfully remote islands off the
north coast of Scotland.
The group consisted of eighteen individuals, if I remember correctly,
from all over the US. Included was a child advocate lawyer, a botanist working
in South America, a writer who would become an editor of Interweave Knits, and
a music legend’s mom.
Our first instructor (and incredible designer) was Kaffe
Fassett who
was accompanied by his assistant, Brandon
Mably, who would become a designer in his own right.
Kaffe and Brandon were introduced...and we all trooped
into the very posh, four star, dining room for our evening meal. The restaurant
seated us in an alcove a little distance from the local diners. Diners who
thought they were going to have a nice quiet, four star meal on a Saturday
night.
The turning point was a version of the title song from
Oklahoma! delivered at theater level volume by eighteen Americans who were
having a really good time!
My recollection is that the food arrived rather quickly
after that.
Kaffe’s workshop was fabulous, as you might expect. Colorful yarn was dumped on the floor and we all scrambled to find just the right shade to make our masterpiece for the master.
Knowing nothing at the time about Intarsia, my swatch embarrassingly fell completely apart. Kaffe was gracious enough to say something complementary about it…as he did for everyone.
Kaffe later branched out to designing fabrics for quilting among other glorious things.
Brandon followed suit and both men are known these days as the Color Guys.
A few years ago, I ran into both of the “guys” on their “return to
knitting” tour. They didn't remember me…I really didn't expect them to…but they did
remember the dinner in Shetland.
Note how Kaffe addressed his autograph in my copy of his book…
Kaffe's use of color... and just the way he talked about color... was an inspiration to me. Would that I could have a fraction of his talent.
Note: These pictures were taken long before the use of digital photography...or at least before I had any access to a digital camera.
What a great experience! I had no idea that Kaffe did knitting - his name is so highly associated with his fabric lines now. I do love his love and use of rich colors. Your pictures are so wonderful, the graininess of them adds a little something - makes you feel the history to them. It looks like it was a wonderful and inspiring trip!
ReplyDelete