I’ve been so enjoying the entries to the Valentine’s contest – remember – I’m going to close comments at 11:59PM tonight – so you’ve got time to tell me a good story! I’m thinking of doing this more often – not necessarily a contest – but asking for stories from you all. We’ve all got so much to share and I think it helps everyone to hear other people’s stories. NO ONE is alone out there. NO ONE.
Okay – on to the last of my vacation posts! Before I left, I was talking to Margene, and she told me that while I was in Big Sur I should make sure to stop by Nepenthe – the former home of knitting legend Kaffe Fassett! Who knew? I thought the guy was invented by Rowan! Turns out, we were just down the road from Nepenthe, which is a rustic restaurant, cafe and gift shop that overlooks the Pacific from swooning sweeping cliffs. It’s got quite the view!
The gift shop specializes in crafty spiritual stuff from all over the world, and one famous knitter. I looked all around the first floor and couldn’t find anything specifically Kaffe-esque, but then I went downstairs. As soon as you turn the landing, there’s the shrine, in all its glory! (Don’t forget – as always, click on the pictures for a bigger view!)
A woman came over and asked me if I needed help and I asked her if it was okay if I took some pictures of the Kaffe shrine because I had a friend who ADORES Kaffe and I wouldn’t be allowed home if I didn’t get lots of pictures and she said of course! Would I like her to take a picture of me with the shrine in the background? Sure! Why not? That’s sure to make Kay even more jealous!
So here are the goodies in the Kaffe shrine:
We’ve got some books – not for sale – although some of them are for sale upstairs.
We’ve got one of Kaffe’s mosaic tables and a painting:
The card reads:
Kaffe Fassett —— raised in Big Sur and is known around the world for exquisite knitting, magical tapestries, and wearable art as well as brilliant mosaics and painting. The son of Lolly and Bill Fassett, founders of the legendary Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur, Kaffe won the Salamagundi Prize for Painting, studied art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, then ventured to England where he found his muse in textiles.
On a train to Scotland, traveling with the late clothing designer Bill Gibb, Kaffe became enamored with the colors of the country-side, bought 20 odd colors of heathery wools, and asked a woman on the train to teach him to how to knit. The rest is textile history as Fassett has written and published eleven books on various knitting and textile subjects, and tours the world teaching the joys of colorful creative work.
Oh the LEGEND! (FYI: Here’s an article on Kaffe from the Nepenthe website.)
Then there are the sweaters! (And vests. And tables. And tapestries. And quilts. And other crafty delights.)
The labels on those babies all read ROWAN in big letters and I only checked the price tag on one: $800. Yeah. I didn’t buy it. The masterpiece, though, was a couture looking bustier QUILTED dress!
WOW! It was truly beautiful! (Hope you like the pictures Kay!) A couple funny things: first of all – they sold Denise Schmidt quilts upstairs. I thought that was pretty funny. Secondly, when G and I were on a walking tour of the property we stayed at (Ventana Inn – HIGHLY recommended) our guide mentioned Nepenthe and I mentioned Kaffe and how he was literally a ROCK STAR in my insular world and this guy was like Kaffe? Kaffe Fassett? Lolly and Bill’s kid? He seemed to get quite the chuckle out of that. Which just goes to show you, you can’t take the kid out of ANYONE!
Hope you enjoyed my little adventure! Now we can get back to some knitting. I’m working on the hood of my CPH – the sleeves are done and I think I’m going to do a little wet block today. Nona suggested I sew them up first before I attach them to the body – I’ve never set-in a sleeve before so I’m a bit nervous. So finish the hood, do the button bands, sew on the sleeves and VOILA! I’m done. I can taste it really. I think it’s going to be great. Fingers crossed until the last button is sewn on!
Have a great day today – my honey left me a heart note on the computer this morning, then I reciprocated by driving him to the train in the ice and snow. Now that’s love!
“Lolly and Bill’s kid?” I love it! What great stuff, thanks!
Fantastic pics as always! I have a friend who is also my knitting guru (hi Tracy A.) and her first venture into intarsia was a Kaffe bolero! Brave girl!
Oh MY!!!! The gown is just exquisite and the sweaters – I’m speechless – AMAZING!!!
The shrine hasn’t change much since I was there in the early 80s! Only a few more items have been added…Kaffe wasn’t a quilter back then. The pictures are fabulous and I want one of his tables!
Setting in a sleeve for the first time? My advice is to make sure the center top of the sleeve cap is firmly pinned to the shoulder seam so it doesn’t drift off-center as you seam towards it. If you mattress stitch it might be easier to sew the sleeve to the body before you do the long seam because you can more or less lay it flat.
And all this time I just thought Nepenthe was the house Orson Welles bought for Rita Hayworth! I had no idea it also had a ‘knitting connection.’ Too cool. About a week after my first visit there, this came up on my ‘word-a-day’ calendar…Nepenthe:something capable of making one forget grief or suffering. With those views, how true. I still have the definition posted on my fridge.
i once had a dream about kaffe fassett in which he was an engineer. i mean, you know, train conductor. it was an incredibly silly dream.
valentine’s update (to my contest entry): it was awesommmmme! (we celebrated last night.)
I love Nepenthe!
Every time DH and I have been to the region, we go there for lunch (okay, once for dinner).
Were the Stellar Jays out? aren’t they wonderful?
And I’ve always enjoyed the Kaffe shrine as well. I’d managed to forget about it…but memories flooded back. Thanks..
sigh.
I wanna go eat at Nepenthe. I don’t want to shovel any more snow…
Here’s my tragic VD story for you…. years ago, I had to have surgery on my wrist for a torn ligament. I was still in a cast and recuperating when I started having pains in my stomach. My fiance at the time rushed me to the hospital where some stupid intern told me that I had a sexually transmitted disease and gave me some antibiotics. The whole trip home from the hospital I’m thinking..”ok, I’m not sleeping around, so where did I get this disease?” And I’m glaring at my fiance with suspition. That night, I got worse and worse. So we drove to a different hospital where they found that my appendix had ruptured. I was rushed into surgery and had my appendix removed. The surgeon told me I was very lucky I hadn’t died. And that’s how I spent my Valentine’s Day so many years ago!
Okay. After reading this post I called my husband to suggest we leave the kids home with Granny and drive up to Big Sur for our tenth anniversary this April. It will kind of be like paying homage to our honeymoon. Back then we took Highway 1 up the coast to Carmel staying at B&B’s along the way. (We’re from San Diego.) We’re going to look at our schedules and book as soon as we can. WooHooo 🙂
Who knew, indeed! I visited Big Sur and Nepenthe c. 1972 — probably long before KF *was* KF. Happy to add this bit of lore to my Californiana. Your pictures are terrific.
if i can do the sleeves, YOU so can. haha, can’t wait to see it all finished, I’m wearing mine right now… it’s too cold not to! (sans buttons, i’m such a bum)
beautiful pics, i would not have wanted to come back!
Well, this has been one of the most memorable Valentine’s Days that I’ve ever had. Hubby is overseas visiting elderly parents, which makes me feel sad that he’s not here. Son’s away at college so I miss his wonderful smile and oftentimes not so great off the wall comments!!! Then, on to today. My two wonderful daughters and I decided that we’d “celebrate” valentine’s day this afternoon, just the 3 of us. So much for best laid plans, my handicapped child choked on her medicine this morning, almost had to call 911 – but thank goodness it all turned out allright. Just we have to go to the doctor’s in a few minutes to see if her throat is ok, she’s very hoarse. Needless to say I’m home from work and spending the day in gratitude for what I do have and so grateful that things didn’t turn out any worse. Now…about that yarn?? I really could use it 🙂
Wow, I have to read your blog to find out the treasures 100 miles from my house? Way cool.
Awwww, Nepenthe. We stayed at Ventana after Hubbo finished his bar exam. He was in a stupor for the first three days, then we had the loveliest foggy supper at Nepenthe.
I wasn’t a knitter at that point. I’m so surprised to hear all this about The Man. Worlds collide!
Ventana was just lovely. We were there in August, when all the grasses were dry and the air smelled so warm and sweet. I’m there right now . . . sitting on that patio eating shrimp salad and doing nothing.
xoxoxox
What an awesome trip! I just love driving down the 1.
As for a contest entry — I would have to say that today is my best Valentine’s ever. My husband and I aren’t going anywhere fancy for dinner (he’s a very good cook, and he’s making me one of his specialties — asparagus risotto). We aren’t giving each other anything particularly extraordinary as gifts. But this morning, we went to my 28th-week prenatal appointment, and heard our son-to-be’s heartbeat (briefly interrupted when he decided to give the doctor a good kick.) Nothing’s more exciting than preparing to be parents together for the first time — and I know Jason will be as great of a dad as he is a husband.
Pretty! And I want that Dress! Setting in sleeves is so much easier if you use a craochet hook and chain stitch them together with the body. I’ve done so many this way, and I never have any trouble easing anything in. Give it a whirl.
So glad that you and G had a wonderful time at Ventana and Big Sur. It’s beautiful and serene out there, I live directly behind Big Sur and the Ventana wilderness. I thought for sure you were going to the Pro Am. You and G were in a much nicer place ( I heard a pine tree fell near the spectators!)Anyway, you should try and participate in the Big Sur marathon next time you’re here!
I absolutely love your blog! And thank you for letting me join in this contest! My Valentine’s Day entry: My husband & I have been married for 33 years. [In May, it’ll be 33 1/3 years. My brother said that makes it our “Vinyl” year. Ha, ha] We met when I was a museum tour guide & he was a tourist. I still have the first Valentine he ever gave me: a pop-up Charlie Brown Valentine Book! He’s definitely “a keeper”, because while I was struggling to teach myself to knit socks, last year, he turned to me & asked, “So, where’s my pair?” I eventually produced his pair, & he wears them all the time! Happy Valentine’s Day!
I met my Valentine in a bar, of all places! Now before you start picturing body shots and other shenanigans, we both worked for the same company, just in different bars. I was waiting for a friend to finish her shift, and this handsome stranger from the midwest offered to keep me company. I was definitely interested, and he claims love at first sight, but we didn’t see each other for a few months after that… until he transferred to the bar I was working in. We got to know each other, and he asked me out, but I have a strict ‘no dating co-workers’ policy. So he quit! A few weeks later, and once again gainfully employed, he came back to my bar and asked me once more to go out… I of course said yes! We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Bill’s brother actually lives in New Jersey and my most crafty friend Ann’s daughter married the brother’s son at this NJ house. Ann & I were a twitter that Uncle Kaffe might be at the wedding. I even debated the merits of buying an autograph book that would only hold one signatute. But no. He was a no show — too busy creating beautiful things in England to go to his nephew’s wedding, I guess. Thank heavens I didn’t buy that autograph book.
My romantic Valentine’s story is actually about my parents. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last September, and they are both 71. My dad had planned a Valentine’s getaway to a little inn they like in Vermont (from NJ) when the threat of a big snowstorm came up. Did they consider cancelling or postponing the trip? No way – they left a day early so they could get snowed in in Vermont!
No Valentines Day story from me, but when you set in your sleeves, pin liberally. I start at the center of the sleeve cap and the side, then pin half the distance between the two, and more pins halving the distance between each set, easing the curves to fit until I have a smooth edge, then I sew. My mom taught me to do it that way with sewing and it’s worked with my knitting, too.
Pretty cool. Oh yeah, the tables? I’ll take two. If I go west, I’ll definitely check that out!
Here’s my Valentine theory-
The day has always been a disappointing one for me. I always had hopes and high expectations of surprises, romance, and cleverness. It never happened. Not once. You would think that after being married for 10 years and together with the same guy for 16 years, I would have learned quicker.
My man is the best. He is supportive, loving, wicked smart and damn fine looking. He just is not a planner and not a romantic. (Small things when looking at the big picture)
This year, I decided not to have expectations. I decided I was going to show my love for my family, my kids and my hubby, and I was going to have fun doing it.
Late last night I set the table for breakfast for the kids and put little stuffed animals in their cereal bowls. The looks on their faces this morning was priceless.
Tonight, I’m going to dress myself and the kids up, set a fancy table using my grandma’s china. The kids are getting wine glasses (with milk), and we are going to have lots of candles. I have truffles for dessert (Reese’s Puffs for the kiddos) and cards expressing my love for everyone.
Today has been the best Valentine’s day so far and dinner hasn’t even started.
I’m having much more fun showing my love than expecting to get showered with love.
Today is definitely a lesson learned.
Today is my birthday!
I’ve always thought it fun to share my birthday with Valentine’s Day. It makes it feel extra-special. Also, I get to tell people I’m a love child. However, I have to admit that, traditionally, people inclined to give me presents for either occasion (boyfriends, for example) have always seemed to say that the gift, whatever it is, is both a birthday and a Valentine’s Day present. So, in that sense, it’s kind of like having a birthday on or near Christmas.
Now for my Valentine’s Day story… For my 30th birthday, which was difficult because I felt like I was getting old, old, old and my biological clock was clanging (not just ticking), my long-distance boyfriend wrote me a Dear Jane letter. He dated it February 14. I waited for his phone call that night, since he’d promised on Feb. 12 (his birthday, when I’d called him) that he’d call. I waited, but the phone never rang. I waited and waited. And waited. Pathetic, isn’t it. I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer.
A few days later the Dear Jane letter came.
The letter was especially damning because (1) he knew that I was dreading my 30th birthday; (2) he knew the 14th was the exact date of my birthday; (3) he knew it was Valentine’s Day; and (4) he didn’t have the courage or the decency to tell me orally. Instead he said it in a letter.
During a phone call a few days later (and, yes, I had to call him), we fought about his sense of timing. I said it was really mean to write the letter and date it on my birthday. He coldly stated that his timing, and his dating of the letter, were purely coincidental and had absolutely no significance or meaning.
I still think it had everything to do with it.
Grrrrr.
There was a Kaffe Fassett sweater at the Elizabeth Zimmermann show I saw in Madison not long ago, too!
That quilted dress is exquisite!
Hi, my love story is about when my husband asked me to marry him. He is NOT romantic, and one of his nicknames for me is “Ho”. I had told him that he did not have to do anything fancy when he proposed, but that he was NOT allowed to toss a paper bag on my lap with the ring box inside and say “hey Ho, let’s get married.” So one friday night, it was pouring down rain, and he kept calling me on my way home from work asking when I was gonna get home. He said it was cause he was really hungry. So when I arrived home, he was in his car, driving around our condo parking lot waiting for me. So I parked my car and got into his and we went to a restaurant. After we sat in our booth, he gave me his old palm pilot (as we had planned, he had upgraded to a new one.) So he was sending me games and contacts from his, and he kept smiling. I commented on it, and he said “what, don’t you want me to be happy?” and I said “of course I do!” and he said “are you SURE you want me to be happy?!” and I said yes again. And then he reached to the seat beside him and placed a box with a huge bow on the table and said “I love you, will you marry me?” So I started to cry and said “YES!!!”
I lived down there for 7 years and never knew that place existed! sigh. I will have to go check it out next I visit. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!
Lolly and Bill’s kid is currently a huuuge influence for me. Awesome, awesome use of color and pattern. If you get into quilting, Cara (and you just might), get Passionate Patchwork, which is a fantastic book.
I really hesitated to send in an entry to the Valentine’s Day Contest. I don’t post to other people’s knitting blogs much. I get all tied-up in the coming late to the game. Not too late to blogging, just late to the knit blogs. Whatever, eh?
My husband is a hopeless romantic. The day he dreamed about the woman he would marry, he started to look for her. He was sixteen. The search lasted six years, until he was 22. He found her – me. I ran like hell. I was 18, not interested in a permanent relationship, kids and besides, he’s short. 18 year olds are not necessarily deep but I digress.
Let’s just say the best man won (and he really is one of the best) but we were very young and very under employed. Our first valentine’s day was not marked by flowers or dinner or much of anything at all. Hell, I spelled his last name incorrectly on the card I mailed because I’d never actually seen it spelled. He felt bad because there were no flowers. I felt bad about the card but really, who knew it was spelled Hough, not Huff? 19 year olds are not necessarily deep either. But we both agreed that spending too much money on faux romance was stupid when we had the real thing. We could live on love alone and did the first five years of our relationship.
So, while we don’t do flowers, there are other little things that we do. Most years I make his valentine. They’ve been confections of doilies, beaded and frilled. They’ve been stuffed brocade hearts and knitted hearts.
But my stand-out Valentine’s day featured a pizza. A heart-shaped pizza with hand-cut heart shaped pepperoni delivered to my office by the man I love. Yep, because when you’ve agreed to not send flowers, candy or go to dinner in honor of St. Valentine’s day, and you are a hopeless romantic like my husband, you have to get creative.
To this day, almost 20 years later, my co-workers still talk about that pizza and how sentimental and romantic my husband is. I bask a little in their envy. Then I think that maybe, just maybe, I was deeper at 19 than I originally thought. I know he is.
So can I add to my story?
I think this could classify as in the worst section.
We have been one of the lucky ones that got the rain, ice, sleet yesterday. That is when it all began. From all the ice build up trees started to fall, limbs couldn’t bare the weight and the wind. Our power went out at 7 last night. No power means no heat. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just hubby and I, but we have a 2 year old that we have to make sure stays warm as well. So we took shifts last night sleeping. DH took the first sleeping shift while I rigged up a bunch of candles and tried to get as much light going that I could so I could do some sort of knitting. I did accomplish a dish cloth before I went to wake up DH so I could sleep. This was after 3am and still no power. About 4:30am the power came on then went back out. 9am the power came back on and was on until 12pm. It was out until 5pm and to top it off the phone was out and so were our cell phones. It was a quiet day, but a stressful one to say the least. We are currently with power, but aren’t holding our breath that it will stay on. There is so much ice on the trees that there is something falling from them all the time. What a scary time. I did get to get in some good bird watching though. 🙂
Today for Valentine’s Day, my darling husband took my turn cleaning cat puke off of the rug. Seriously, that was love.
🙂
hehe- What a good sport, she must be totally used to weird knitters haunting the shrine. 🙂 Um, not that you are weird or anything. haha
Holy crap, that quilted dress is AWESOME. I had no idea there was a Kaffe Fasset shrine around here. I sense a knitterly field trip in my future!
The quilted dress is gorgeous, and I love the mosaic table (I’m a sucker for mosaic tables, though, I must say). I was just in a costume factory yesterday and these pictures remind me of it. God, I love creating things!
I don’t know anything about Kaffe Fassett, but I’ll definitely check him out–I love to read as much as I can about knitting, crafts, etc.
I`m sure my comment isn`t good enough to win but what the heck… My valentines day was both my best and my worst… It is my worst because I am spending it apart from my honey but my best because I am in Buenos Aires, just having finished a cruise of antartica. That was amazing and wonderful. I`ve never seen anything as beautiful. I`m traveling with mom. She needs someone with her. My wife is home, working. I`ll be home on the 16th and we will have a late Valentine`s Day celebration. I can`t wait to see her…
WOW~WOW~WOW!! What more can you say? I’m green with envy!
I LOVED that blog entry! Too awesome! And really funny that to the locals, he’s just “Kaffe, Lolly and Bill’s kid.”
I love the idea of everyone sharing stories!!!! I’m also super-thrilled with your pictures of Kaffe goodness, epsecially that dress, honestly, that was the first thing I spotted in the first picture and I thinnk I might have literally had my fingers crossed that you had a close-up or two of it (I’m a pathetically needy little thing sometimes. Sorry about that!)
I’m totally late for your contest, but I had the best Valentine’s Day ever yesterday. I spent years hating it, and I don’t think I can say that ever again. Stop by the blog to read about it if you like. It’s not terribly romantic, but it totally rocked my world!
how funny! i was just in california in january, and we stopped at nepenthe as well! what drew us there (aside from the spectacular view) was the fact that the building was designed by a student of frank lloyd wright (my dad’s hero).
unfortunately, we neglected to visit the gift store BEFORE we ate, so it was closed by the time we finished dinner :(. we only had a couple of minutes to look around, so i missed the shrine!
The Gin Blossoms have nothing on me.
Dumbass question of the day: did you happen to see “I’ve Got a Secret” last night? I know you are thinking “no one with half a brain would watch that.” Last night at least half my brain was taken over by the snot of an evil cold, so I got to see this young woman (by which I mean recent high school graduate) who had made her and her boyfriend’s prom outfits out of duct tape. After they stumped the panel, there was a fashion show of 6 more outfits she had made. They were unbelievable. I had no idea duct tape came in that many colors. Talk about creative use of materials.
I love Kaffe’s knitting. I bought his books way back in the old days, before knitting was cool.
Last year, I checked out one of his quilting books from the library. I was soooo disappointed to read that he doesn’t actually quilt. He designs quilts, but his partner in the quilting biz actually does all the sewing. He finds the sewing tedious. He said so in his book. Can you imagine? Did Kaffe even sew that amazing quilted dress? I wonder.
And here me the goombah thought love was when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. That’s kinda how I felt seeing that Straw Sea Silk.
Wow. Blast from the past. I grew up in Monterey and we went to Nepenthe a lot. I had no idea, until this moment, that Kaffe was a Nepenthe dude. Can I even call myself a knitter??
okay, i once tried to explain to a boyfriend (a non-knitter) just how mind-blowing kaffe fasset’s designs are. and i started off with: “with a knitting pattern, the designer uses the letters of the alphabet to designate the colours, A for background colour and B, maybe C… well this Kaffe guy, he uses all the letters in the alphabet and has to start over again with AA, AB, AC, (you get the idea…)” needless to say, i had lost him at ‘knitting pattern.’ eyez glazed over, checking his watch… *sigh.* oh, how romantic would it be to have a boyfriend who compared cast-on methods with me?