This Post Is Not For You

29DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This blog post is not for you. Unless you are my mother or my sister. If you’re not, that’s ok — you can still read it — but it’s not for you.

It’s for my sister, firstly. Are you there, meine kleine Schwester? It’s for you because, while you were staying with us over Christmas, and we were sitting at the table and enjoying that wonderful holiday feast and a few glasses of wine, you mentioned something that that showed me just how much work there is to do. Hang on, let me explain for everyone else…

My sister is not a knitter or a crocheter — if you handed her a pair of needles, I’m certain she’d hold them like chopsticks. But she’s been really supportive of SpaceCadet Creations. She’s proud of the work I do, she comes into my studio to see the dyeing in action, and she promotes the fiber arts on her Facebook stream… in her own particular way. A few weeks ago, she posted this:

Knitting is not just a hobby which reduces stress and improves manual dexterity, but it’s also an eco-friendly way to buy your clothes.

And a few days before that, this:

All the cool kids buy their clothes from knitters, because sweatshops are so uncool.

And also this:

The Knitteratti are ready for Christmas. Are you?

She’s a kook, yeah, but she’s a supportive kook. And then, there we were, sitting at the table and drinking the last of the wine and sneaking a few extra bites of spice cake, when she mentioned that she’d had some good feedback on my yarn from a couple of friends, but that they hadn’t bought anything because they don’t knit socks.

For a moment, I was taken aback. “Well… erm… you know, they don’t have to knit socks with it,” I said.

“They don’t?” She was genuinely shocked by the revelation. “But it’s sock yarn! You called it sock yarn!”

“Um, well… yeah, it’s sock yarn if you’re going to knit socks with it. But… it’s just yarn. You can knit anything with it.”

“You can?!? Like what?!?”

“Like hats, or scarves, or mittens, or sweaters, or… well, anything you want. It’s… y’know, it’s yarn.”

“You never told me!” And she actually jumped up a little in her seat as she said it. “I thought it was just for socks! I’ve been telling everyone that it’s only for socks!”

So, for my sister — my lovely, kooky sister who has been so supportive but totally doesn’t get knitting — (and for you, just in case you might be similarly confused), let me just clarify: sock yarn is not just for socks. It’s only called sock yarn because it’s the right weight to be used for socks, but you can use it to make whatever your heart desires. Don’t let that label hold you back!

In fact, that’s really important. Let me say it again, with Center and Bold this time:

Sock Yarn is Not Just for Socks!

The rest of this post is for my mum, who really wants to knit something with my yarn but, so far, neither of us have had a chance to sit down and pick her a colourway and a pattern. I suspect she is thinking of a scarf, because that’s her comfort zone, but (ignoring everything I’ve just said above!) I’d love to see her try a pair of socks. I think it would really stretch her knitting skills and, more than that, she’d have a lot of fun in the process. And I know she finds that prospect of socks a little daunting, so this is the bit that’s for her (and for you too, if you’re feeling a little intimidated at the thought of knitting socks):

Mum, go ahead and choose your colourway, pick up your needles and knit your gauge swatch. There’s nothing to worry about. Because we’ve got some blog posts coming up in the next couple of months that are going to take you by the hand and guide through starting off as a sock knitter. It’ll be good — trust me.

And, Mum… you are going to love sock knitting!

A Christmas Wish

25DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There are so many things going at this time of year that it is easy to get all lost in it all — lost amidst the shopping and the rushing and the spending and the wrapping. It’s so easy to focus on what we feel we ought to do and we must do that we can lose sight of the best that season brings.

The best part of Christmas is the time we spend with family and friends, and when we open ourselves up enough to treat strangers as friends. It’s the gifts that come not from our credit cards, but from our hearts. And it’s the traditions that we keep — the old ones passed down through the generations, that link us to all those who celebrated the season in times before, and the new ones we create with our own families.

Yesterday, we celebrated our traditions. We baked gingerbread men and decorated our tree, which had been standing patiently and bare until its big moment on Christmas Eve. We gathered around the table and ate a feast. We laid out brownies and wee dram for Father Christmas. And we took some time to stop and remember what the season and holiday is really all about.

And on this bright and snowy Christmas morning, I want to send to all of you my wishes for very happy holidays and for all the best things that the season brings. Merry Christmas, everyone!

I Can’t Show You This Yarn

21DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I’ve dyed two skeins of my lovely sparkly Lucina yarn in the colourway Southeasterly. It’s an amazing blend of deep purples and seaweed greens. The sparkles in the yarn shimmer in the light, and it is absolutely gorgeous.

And my camera simply won’t photograph it.

My camera has always struggled with purples. Time and time again, they come out more blue than they really are. I’ve tried adjusting all sorts of things on the camera — the white balance, the colour settings, the exposure compensation — but to no avail. I’ve tried manipulating the colours after I download the picture to make them more realistic, but they refuse to play. Purples come out blue, and a horrid garish blue at that. And so I have no way to show you what this yarn really looks like.

Which is a real shame, because it’s beautiful. It took my breath away when I pulled it out of the dyepot. The colourway is Southeasterly and is much like the yarn I dyed in this colourway before…

But this time, it’s so much more intense, so much more striking. And then with the sparkles too…

I wish I could show it to you, I really do. But you’re just going to have to believe me when I say it doesn’t look like this. It really doesn’t look like this — it is so, so, soooo much better.

And if there are any photographers out there who can tell me what I am doing wrong, I’d be incredibly grateful for any suggestions. …Or, better yet, if there are any knitting photographers who want to come round and give me a lesson on capturing better purples, there might be a skein or two of yarn in it for you..!

A Bad Week with a Good Ending

15DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I like to do my shop updates for Monday or Tuesday, and start your week with a little fibery eye-candy. But this past week was completely hijacked by a terrible winter cold that has hit the whole family. Everything has come to a complete halt.

And rather than my days being filled with steaming dyepots, they were filled with steaming cups of tea…

Well, actually more like this. When I’m not feeling well, I want a lot of tea…

We-e-e-ell…. ok… When I’m really ill (and I’ve been really ill), I always turn to my mother’s never-fail cough medicine: warmed honey with a (generous) splash of Scotch. Taken by the teaspoonful and poured down the back of the throat, absolutely nothing soothes a scratchy and nagging cough so well.

So… ok… ok! Maybe my week looked a bit more like this…

Tea, honey, Scotch, a box of tissues, me under the duvet… and no shop update.

But something wonderful happened this week too — something really exciting that’s saved the whole miserable, cold-filled week… SpaceCadet Creations made its 100th sale! And that makes me want to celebrate. So this week, instead of a shop update, I’m giving you a wee treat: every order placed between now and midnight on Thursday will get 10% off. It’s just a little thing, a little gift from me to you to say thank you for all of your support. Just enter the code “100Sales” at checkout to claim your discount.

And if you happen to have a bit of a cold too… Well, come over here and sit next to me. I’ve got a box of tissues, and we can share a nice pot of tea. …And maybe some of Mum’s cough medicine too — it really is lovely.

Small print: Offer ends Friday 17 December 2010 at 12.00am (EST). Discount excludes shipping and any applicable tax. Discount cannot be redeemed for cash.

A First Day, Knitting

10DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I remember the moment I decided I wanted to learn how to knit. I remember the very moment — and I have no explanation whatsoever. It was the weirdest thing. It was Thanksgiving morning, I was 19 and home for the weekend from university, and when I woke up — even before I sat up in bed — the first thought that entered my mind was, “I want to learn to knit.” I have no idea why — this was long before knitting hit its recent popularity and long before the internet existed. I knew no one who knit, I had no knitting influence whatsoever… and yet, when I woke up that morning, I just knew in my bones that I wanted to knit.

I padded down to the kitchen in my bare feet and PJs. The Macy’s parade was on television in the other room, and my mother already had the turkey in the oven and seemed to have fifteen other dishes on the go at once. If I’d have had any sense, I’d have got stuck in helping her, but I can remember standing there, at the corner of the kitchen island, next to a bowl of stuffing and an uncooked pumpkin pie and announcing as if it were the most important thing in the world, “I want to learn to knit.”

My mother probably wanted to throw a wooden spoon at my head and demand to know why I wasn’t helping her, but she didn’t. She first promised she would teach me — later. And then she ordered me to help with dinner. Quite right too.

After Thanksgiving dinner, my mother and I sat down with some mismatched metal needles she’d found in cupboard and some cheap acrylic yarn. I can remember my excitement even now. But it had been years since my mum had knit and it turned out that she could hardly remember how… She couldn’t work out how to cast on and then, when she did, she realised she could knit but couldn’t remember how to purl! And she had no recollection of binding off at all. But, none of that mattered to me: I had stitches on the needles and, as I discovered that lovely rhythm of making knit stitch after knit stitch, something magical began to happen… That special magical thing that knitting does, that all knitters know. And so that day — my first glorious day of knitting — I worked acrylic yarn into endless rows of garter stitch, and I was happy. Deeply, meditatively, knitterly happy.

I think the moment that any knitter or crocheter first picks up needles or hooks and learns how to turn yarn into fabric is something special. No one ever realises it at the time — they’re just “trying it out” — but they have started on a journey… One that goes from cheap yarn and simple scarves and eventually moves onto more challenging projects, more beautiful yarn, sometimes works of art and, most importantly, that need to create — at least a little — every single day. It’s a wonderful thing …and no one ever realises on that first day.

When was your first day?

The Perfect Yarn for the Season

07DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This is the season of twinkling stars on cold, cold nights, of candles that glow cheerfully, and holiday lights on trees inside and out… This is the season of virgin snow glistening in the silver moonlight, of shimmering icicles, of perfect crystalline snowflakes that catch the light in their icy lace. This is the season for Sparkles.

Introducing Lucina, a beautiful fingering yarn that sparkles with all the magic of the season and turns every colourway into something stunning. This is the kind of yarn that catches your eye instantly — that you pick up and don’t want to put down. This is a yarn perfect for the season of Sparkles!

Lucina Yarn in Midnight Swim

The best light for photography is always natural light, outdoors. And even though it was freezing today, I wanted to be sure to capture the way this yarn shimmers so gorgeously, so I braved the bitter wind and the icy temperatures and took the whole batch of Lucina outside for a photoshoot. And just as my finger froze to the bone and I began cursing the winter, a gentle snow began to fall — big, fat, beautiful flakes that landed softly on everything and then… just stayed there, almost too perfect to be believed.

And so, the sparkles in these photos are the beauty of the yarn, but the snowflakes are courtesy of Mother Nature. And as I was trying so hard to show off my lovely new yarn, didn’t she just go and steal the show?!?

Snowflake on Ripe

Snowflake on Evening Fog

Snowflakes on Nightfall

Snowflakes on Midnight Swim

Snowflakes on Mermaid’s Tail