am i mad?

[warthog]

i feel like embarking on knitting a kaffe fassett jersey with 14 different colours (that is assuming, of course, that i'll find a wool shop that actually stocks 14 different colours in cotton.... see ideal wool shop thread!). will probably take me 2 years.

am i off my rocker?

[suedonim]

Yup. I think you should go and lie down until the feeling goes away!

[Fubsy]

Going by the number of unfinished knitting projects in this house, I would say yes

[warthog]

i don't have any unfinished knitting projects , although i have a mountain of unfinished beading projects.

so has anyone knitted one? or will i really be biting off more than i can chew?

[ChippyMinton]

i've had KF knitting book for about 20 years and never had the nerve to start a project. I did one of his needlepoint cushions once, it took forever, so fiddly.

[exbury]

That reminds me - I have a KF needlepoint kit that was 75% finished about 12 years ago - and still is - I wonder where it is?

[Tamum]

I did a sleeveless jacket-y thing years ago. The different colours did drive me a bit mad, but actually it was better than intarsia (the one I did) because it was mostly fairisle and colour changes between rows. I'm sure it would be beautiful

[warthog]

tamum.

i've decided that i am going to do it. i bought the kf book when i was 17 (a very long time ago) because i loved this pattern and i STILL really like it. now that i've had a bit of experience with intarsia / fairisle i'd really like to give it a go.

the crunch will be whether i manage to get 14 different colours that are vaguely similar to what kf stipulates...

did you use a kit tamum, or were you able to get hold of the yarns that he suggested?

[Tamum]

Hello warty No, I didn't use a kit, it was one of those ones where you just need a whole load of yarns in lots of different weights, even, as long as they are in the same colourway. Mine was all blues and purples- I used some stuff I already had and then just bought a few more balls to eke it out. I should revisit that whole idea actually, might be able to use some of my stash!

[warthog]

that's a good idea! a lot of his stuff involves textures. well i'm off tomorrow to see if i can find some wool. don't know if i have the strength to wade through my wool stash. i'm scared i'll be buried under the rubble.

[Tamum]

At least it would be soft rubble

[Marina]

I find Kaffe Fassett's use of colour absolutely mesmerising. I too have stabbed my way through one of his needlepoint designs for Ehrman and it was the last needlepoint I ever did!
I've got Glorious Knitting and also the almost insanely loud Kaffe Fassett's Family Knitting.
I think you should go for it warty on behalf of all us cowards sticking dutifully to pink cotton squares at the mo do it!
But I am the woman who started a Patricia Roberts Ovaltinie fair isle slipover in 1981 as her first ever garment project and lived to tell the tale. I had finished with the guy I was knitting it for before I got the neckline done...in 1984...

[Fillyjonk]

am kf refusenik

I find his stuff scarily 80s

I'll get my coat

[Tamum]

Ah, I just found my book- it's also Glorious Knitting, and the thing I made is just inside the front cover and on the frontispiece (?). I might revisit the book actually.... (I could do with another project on the go, I'm only in the middle of 6 things).

[Marina]

The jumpers in the books are all boxy with puffed sleeves even for the blokes I grant you. But the colour thing I love.

[Tamum]

That's because you're young, filly (no offence to warty who is probably also young) (or Marina, who is younger than me)

[Marina]

Not by much I think tamum - but yes, filly won't even remember what the eighties replaced

[Fillyjonk]

i do!

i was 2 1/4 when the seventoes ended

so there

[Tamum]

[warthog]

i'm no spring chicken... the book i've got is kaffe's classics. the style isn't too bad - looks like a standard man's jersey, but i don't expect the finished product to ever see the light of day.. i mean, you don't actually WEAR anything you make, do you???

[Fillyjonk]

I do

but I am weird

and wear flares

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

I just had a look at the KF website and this is really nice!! not sure about the rest thugh.

[warthog]

harrrrumph
spent 2 hours in jl and liberty trying to get the right wool. no chance! ended up buying a new pattern and some wool.

so... about dyeing wool - how easy is it???

[Fillyjonk]

oooh oooh ooooh



dying wool is LOTS of fun

you can do it with food dye

does need to be actually wool, or at least something that has once come from an animal. Or soy. Or nylon.

[warthog]

so not cotton at all?

i had a craftily conceived plan... worked out i only needed to dye two batches, but if i can't use cotton, plan is scuppered...

[Fillyjonk]

you can use dylon for it, but it will stain everything and is also quite nasty. I wouldn't dye with dylon (except in washing machine) with kids in the house, personally.

why don't you get a load of wool from texere and dye that?

oh if you want 14 colours you might struggle with supercook dyes but there are others. kool aid (ebay from US) is apparently quite fun.

one thing I must warn you-you will struggle to get a completely even result. If thats what you want there are some tricks to improve the even-ness a great deal but-it won't look all of a colour.