Fun
Shelley and Brad Come to Town
Dear everybody,
Last week was kind of a whirlwind. Shelley Brander and Brad Knull rolled into town to shoot the class we’re teaching for Knit Stars, Season 10.
Aren’t they adorable? They are the definition of chipper, and we loved the chance to hang out at my house the day before filming to discuss all the important topics: dog adoption, Gulf coast lifestyles, the fortunes of the New York Liberty WNBA team, and why I have a mountainous pile of bags that contain bags of other bags filled with yarn. Needless to say, the appearance of Shelley’s furry friend Charles Barkley, the knitting world’s most famous Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, sent Kay into a reverie of wishyness about getting a new pooch of her own.
Our reunion was very tender with Brad, who had filmed our first Knit Stars class back in 1934. He is the Martin Scorsese of textile cinematographers—though he modestly let us know of some pretty splashy projects on his calendar that apparently have nothing to do with knitting, crochet, or even Tunisian crochet.
We began the day feeling like Dolly Parton. The higher the hair, the closer to God! Reinforced to survive an F5 tornado.
Note that the MDK team basically fled the place in terror that they might hear us talk about log cabin knitting. Again. Or end up on camera.
Shelley and Brad, however, gave the appearance of being endlessly fascinated by two women talking in molecular detail about log cabin knitting.
We had our term paper ready to turn in, margins all neat and tidy, but we didn’t have time to AI the thing so we made up all kinds of malarkey about the history of log cabin knitting beginning in Abraham Lincoln’s childhood home or whatever and the probiotic benefits of log cabin knitting and the way log cabin knitting can reduce osteopenia, I mean: Brad and Shelley had no idea what they were about to unleash when they turned on that camera.
It was comprehensive.
Brad was masterful.
Shelley was unfailingly generous.
The whole thing left us feeling very grateful to have the chance to sing our song of log cabin for Knit Stars. Hats off to this amazing pair who have traveled to three or four continents at this point, capturing the classes for the upcoming Season 10 of this beautiful series. It will all launch in November—15 masterclasses in all—so if you’ve already signed up, thank you! And if you’re curious, enrollment will open again in October.
Love,
Ann and Kay
What an enjoyable read ! I am so looking forward to season 10 and the log cabin knitting course.
I am *SO* looking forward to immersing myself in your made up malarkey, from neatly set margins no less!
To be honest, log cabin knitting prob has more probiotic benefit as the stuff being marketed to me constantly!
Thanks for these fun behind-the-scenes photos. Shelley’s unfailing buoyancy has always amazed me. Can’t wait to see your enthusiastic smiles.
I’m so looking forward to Season 10. I may have been curating a kit purchased more than a few years ago with Rowan Denim. Now I have grandsons who will appreciate it.
1934? Really? You don’t look that old and neither does Brad!!!
This typo had me LOL —
…Brad, who had filmed our first Knit Stars class back in 1934…
Yes, we know it is an historic technique.
WAIT, whaaat??? No picture of Charles Barkley????
Sorry to rain on your parade, but it seems everyone in the knitting world is effusively demonstrating their support of Knit Stars. I know it’s because there is incentive. But for a while it was a constant barrage from every knitting person I follow or bought patterns from.
As more and more things in the knitting world become monetized, it leaves out a significant portion of knitters who can’t afford it. Cruises, retreats … when some of us merely endeavor to buy decent yarn and patterns and support our LYS.
I’m so very very tired of all the over exposure. Best wishes to all, but I stopped reading the emails a while ago.
I’m with you, Gail. I used to devour every MDK email, but now I try to avoid those that seem to be basically ads, which seem to come in more and more. No offense; to each their own. I really enjoy those postings from contributors and from Ann and Kay when they’re instructive – or entertaining!
I’m not interested in Knit Stars for a variety of reasons. But as far as the general complaint goes, I think it’s important to remember that people have bills to pay. MDK must keep their servers running, pay rent for their Nashville setup, and, of course, pay their employees. Many of the employees are contributors.
If you enjoy MDK, remember that they don’t have a paywall. You don’t have to pay, yet somebody needs to pay. I hope you are supporting them in some monetary way- with a yarn purchase, a class purchase, or by being a member of the MDK Society. Same with Knitty. Or PBS or NPR. Things are “free” because someone is paying. If it’s not advertisers, its members.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with MDK in any way. I just want to remind everyone, gently, that nothing is ever free.
I’ve made many a purchase from here and that too is a form of support.
I work in the arts and totally understand how difficult it is to get paid a wage your work ‘deserves.’
We all have bills to pay and support what we can how we can.
Thanks, Deepa. Well said. I might add to the list the Internet Archive, where I’ve found many lost patterns and books.
So true and spoken eloquently.
Hearing that you two, Franklin Habit and Clara Parks are in season 10 pushed me over the edge to sign up. And possible probiotic effect and improved osteopenia? Its a no brainer. Looking forward to this!
To quote Bart Scott: “Can’t wait.”
I loved your first Knit Stars class and can’t wait for this one to be released!
No Cavalier is as cute as my Cavie, Addy! But—-I’m biased.
You guys are hilarious! And ” to AI” is now a verb? That didn’t take long to reach our everyday language. Here’s to all us knitters who love digging into it in molecular detail.
I’m sure your term paper malarkey was more accurate/ believable (sounds perfectly sane to me!) than anything AI would have come up with and as always, I can’t wait to sit and knit (virtually) with you gals again.
It’s essential to only pad out your paper with home-grown, authentic HUMAN malarkey. AI malarkey just doesn’t have the same feel!
So true, you can spot that AI malarkey a mile away!
I found a funny mistake in an AI summary of the King’s Singers record called Kids’ Stuff. It said that despite the title it was not for children.
Then I read the publisher’s blurb for the CD, which said it was “for kids of all ages.” So I guess that idiom confused AI. Meanwhile, the songs include the Teddy Bear’s Picnic, which I guess AI thinks was by Jack White or the Clash or something?
I’ve signed up. And hope that many will. These kind of educational programs are great and many people are involved to make it happen. This is their job and they are trying to make a living doing this. Education is never free. Happy Knitting to all.
This looks so fab and fun – can’t wait to see!!!
Thank you for a fun and entertaining look behind the scenes of your upcoming Knit Stars class. I’m looking forward to Season 10!
It just makes my day to read as you two carry on as only the two of you can!! Thanks for the boost!
Although I complain about what technology has done to our society and how much I miss the days when the phone was on the kitchen wall and you didn’t carry it with you at all times, there are some wonderful things about this new world of technology that I love. Being able to learn something new is so cool and fun that I can’t complain. Never in a million years did I ever think that knitting and connecting with other knitters would be so much better than it is now