Full-Skeins of March’s Mini-Skein Colourways!

10AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

A customer recently emailed to tell us that she loved all our Mini-Skein bundles but wanted to tell us that “some months they are outstanding”. We put so much enthusiasm into each month’s dyeing that I just can’t tell you how much that meant to me. And I have to say, I think March’s Mini-Skeins fall right into that category of “outstanding”. Check them out:

Are you drooling over any of them? I am particularly drawn to the Gradient Mix this month (on the left). There is just something about those intense jewel tones mixed with subtle grays and blacks that get my fingers itching to cast on! And if you’re feeling the same, here’s some great news…

Full Skeins and Sweater Kits of SpaceCadet^®‘s March Mini-Skein Colourways!

Each month, we pick our favourite colourways from both the Multicolour and Gradient Mixes, and offer them to you as full skeins and sweater kits on a selection of SpaceCadet bases. Some are exclusive to the Club members and some available to everyone, so you can order one skein or a sweater’s quantity — it’s up to you — to make a gorgeous, full-sized project with those fantastic Mini-Skein colourways!

Ready to see this month’s full skein picks? Here they are!

Blueshift — from the Gradient Mix

A Blueshift is a shift in the lines of an object’s spectrum toward the blue end, indicating that an object is moving toward the observer.

Blueshift is a stunning combination of blues, grays, and blacks that swirl and shift across the skein. Reminiscent of the deep night sky and available on three different bases, it creates a dramatic look for anything from shawls to cardigans to capes.

Spring Tide — Members’ Only Multicolour

The Spring Tide occurs only when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are in a straight line

Dyed in sublime shades of soft grays spiked with sunbeam golds and oranges, which blend together to create touches of beautiful sea-greens. Available on three different bases.

(Where’s the order button? This colourway is exclusive to March Club members. If that’s you, look for an email arriving shortly with your members-only link!)

Aurora Polaris — A March Multicolour

The Aurora Polaris is the aurora of the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the Northern Lights

Drenched with the luminous greeny-blues and vibrant yellows of the Northern Lights, Aurora Polaris creates a colourplay that welcomes spring with abandon. Available on three different bases.

Blackberry Winter Gradient Sweater Kit

Blackberry winter refers to a cold snap that often occurs in late spring when the blackberries are in bloom.

This colourway moves from a deep lavender through vibrant raspberry before descending into a deep grays and blacks. Available on three different bases, it would be stunning in a full sweater, and equally beautiful paired with a contrasting colour for gradient stripes.

(Where’s the order button? This kit is exclusive to February Club members. If that’s you, look for an email arriving shortly with your members-only link!)

Here’s how it works:

If you are a member of the Club that month, you have access to all the colourways we are dyeing that month, including exclusive access to

The Full Gradient Mix as a Sweater Kit!
Each month, our gorgeous Gradient Mix is available as a full sweater kit exclusively to the Club members who received a bundle that month. If you’re in love with the Gradient Mix’s wonderful colour shift and are itching to use it in a larger project, you can order it as a breathtaking five-skein sweater kit.

One Multicolour Mix Colourway as a Club Member Exclusive
You know the Multicolour Mix is an explosion of colour! Each month, we pick our very favourite Multicolour Mix colourwayand make it available exclusively to our Club members who received a bundle that month.

If you’re not a member of the Club that month, you’re still in for a treat!

One Gradient Mix Colour in Full Skeins There’s always one colour out of the Gradient Mix that we pull out of the dyepots, gasp, and think, “I want a whole sweater in this colour!” Great news: we pick our favourite and offer it in full skeins to everyone!

One Multicolour Mix Colourway as Full Skeins Each month, the Multicolour Mix is an adventure in colour and we never know how many of its colourways we’re going fall head over heels for. We pick one that we really enjoyed dyeing and offer to dye you some more!

But you’ve gotta be fast! They’re available for two weeks only!

Because we’re always getting ready for the next month’s dyeing, these full skeins will be available for a very limited time — two weeks only — to allow us to get them dyed, prepped, and out to you as quickly as possible. So make sure you’re watching the blog or — even better — get on our mailing list so you never miss the release of new colourways!

What to get access to all the colourways next month? Join the Club!

Working with mini-skeins is like drawing with yarn, and each little bundle of colour becomes a new and exciting addition to your palette! The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club is a wonderful way to discover all the amazing, creative things you can make with these gorgeous little skeins — delivered straight to your door! Click here to learn all about it.

Meet Alasdair Post-Quinn, Double-Knitting Master!

26MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This weekend is the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival — always fantastic fiber-filled fun! — and one of the things I’m most excited about is hosting festival headliner, Alasdair Post-Quinn, for book-signings in our booth.

Alasdair is a knitter, teacher, Craftsy instructor, author (Extreme Double-Knitting from Coop Press), and a world-expert on double-knitting, a technique which can be used to make knitted fabric with no wrong side. I sat him down this week to get to know him better but, before I share our conversation, I want to let you know why you should make a bee-line for our booth at the festival (and if you can’t get to the festival, do scroll down and read the interview — Alasdair’s an interesting guy!).

Head Straight for the SpaceCadet Booth at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet

We’re bringing amazing get-it-while-you-can stuff to this festival and, for the best selection, you’ll want to stop by our booth as early as you can. Here’s what we’ll have at the show:

A Whole WALL of One-of-a-Kind Colourways — We’ve been doing a lot of experimentation and playing with colour in the last few months, and have hundreds of skeins in eye-popping colourways that we may never repeat again — a whole wall of amazing colour. Stop in and see them before anyone else grabs your skein!

Our Show Exclusive Colourway (picture above) — This year’s colourway is stunning! Layer upon layer of colour, the more you look at it, the more colours start to reveal themselves. Knitting or crocheting with this will be amazing — an adventure in colour that changes with every stitch. Available only at our spring shows, we tried to dye enough for everyone — we hope we have — but we sell out every single year…

Sweater Kits in Semi-Solids and Gorgeous Gradients — Want to knit a whole sweater but hate having to dig out enough skeins in a crowded booth? We’ve put together our favourite colourways and our favourite yarns in beautiful Sweater Kits to make it easy for you. Best of all, lots of them are in Lyra, our fantastic sport-weight that everyone raves about for its beautiful stitch definition and smooshy sproingy-ness.

Mauna Kea in Person — If you love the beautiful Mauna Kea pattern, come and see it in person! We’ll have a sample in our blockbuster “Tickled” colourway — and our Sweater Kits are the perfect way to cast it on.

Join the Yarn Alliance — This weekend is your last chance to join the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, the SpaceCadet’s premier yarn club. If you haven’t had a chance to sign up or you’ve got questions about the club, talk to us at the festival and we’ll be happy to take care of everything right in our booth!

Book-Signings with Alasdair Post-Quinn — We’re thrilled to have festival headliner Alasdair in our booth to sign copies of his amazing book Extreme Double-Knitting. Come and meet him in person, get his take on knitting, and find out why he thinks double-knitting is where it’s at. Alasdair will be in our booth Friday from 1.30-2.30pm, and Saturday from 1-2pm.

And speaking of Alasdair, join me as I get the chance to chat and get know him better…

An Interview with Alasdair Post-Quinn, Master of Double-Knitting

What got you into knitting? Where did you learn and how did that then turn into design?

Knitting was always “around” while I was growing up in Vermont — my mother knitted, my grandmother knitted, but despite the fact that I was a crafty child, they never taught me. Something about pointy sticks, I assume. I ended up learning in college, when I went to a craft-sharing event to teach origami — something I’ve been doing since I was very young. Nobody came to my origami session so I wandered around to see what else was being taught. I sat in on a knitting class and was immediately hooked. However, I was still more or less on my own — I picked up yarn and needles at the local shop but mostly taught myself how to purl and tackle other techniques. Because I didn’t know about all the resources available — and of course this was pre-Ravelry — I was designing my own stuff from the very beginning. Many knitters get stuck working from other people’s patterns; I rarely did so I don’t have the mental block attached to designing that some knitters do.

I have to admit, when I look at double-knitting on the needles, I’m a little frightened! What draws you to double-knitting? And how do you make it less intimidating for your students?

Some of the first things I designed were Moebius scarves — just short scarves in a reversible stitch pattern, joined end-to-end with a twist. I think that early tendency toward reversibility primed me for double-knitting. When I found it in the back of an out-of-print book in the local library, I knew I could have some fun with it. I love the reversibility, of course, but I also love the fact that it allows for colorwork patterns that aren’t limited by strand length or number of color changes in a row. And the more I work in it, the more possibilities I find — so I’m also drawn to the element of discovery. However, at its heart it’s just a knit-purl technique. The basic technique is hardly more difficult than 1×1 ribbing. There are details that make it more challenging, but you don’t need to learn them all at once. I make it less intimidating, I think, the same way any good teacher makes any new material less intimidating: by starting with the basics and building on them slowly, by remaining patient, and by adapting my teaching style to various learning styles.

If someone picked up a copy of your book, Extreme Double-Knitting, and decided to dive right in and try double-knitting for the first time, what advice would give them to make their first attempt as smooth as possible? Is there a part of the book they definitely should not miss?

One thing to remember about Extreme Double-Knitting is that the title is a description of the eventual result — not of the entire content. It starts with the basics, and each chapter gives you a new technique or two and then a pattern or two so you can put your new knowledge into practice. Most of the projects are small pieces; I don’t want to force someone to do a sweater just so they can learn increases and decreases. The largest projects are actually the two most basic. The reason for this is that part of learning a new technique is building muscle memory. If you’ve done a whole double-knit scarf or baby blanket, you’re much better suited to going to the next level, wherever that may be. Your fingers will remember the basic technique and adding new concepts is just that much easier.

I’m not sure if I could pick a single section that everyone should see — since everyone is different and will probably get something different out of this book. I guess the important thing is that you’ll probably find something to learn in almost every section — even if you assume you know it already. So even if you’re a seasoned double-knitter, maybe check out the intro chapters before moving into the new stuff you really want to learn. And if you find I really don’t have anything to teach you in those sections, I hope you’ll at least glean a better understanding of how I think about double-knitting and won’t find your time wasted.

Your parallax patterns are absolutely eye-popping! I think it takes a special kind of mind to create 2-dimensional optical illusions like that. How did you come up with them? Do you have a specialist background (such as graphic design) that helped you create them, or do they just come naturally to you?

Like most artists, I don’t work in a vacuum. The Parallax patterns are inspired by the op-art of the 60s and 70s, by overshot weaving patterns, and by my high school art teacher, Mr. Eddy. As a child, I was given op-art coloring books, and played with cartesian grid puzzles. In art class, I remember an exercise where we warped pictures by transposing them square-by-square onto a warped grid. But even in textiles, quilting and weaving often use optical illusions similar to these designs — it’s just not all that common in knitting.

You’re going to have a busy weekend at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival! You’re teaching classes, doing book-signings in the SpaceCadet booth, and judging the fashion show. What are you looking forward to the most?

Honestly, I’m looking forward most to meeting new people and making new converts to the esoteric art of double-knitting — which can happen anywhere. I’ve never judged a fashion show before, so that’ll be new and interesting, even if I feel a little out of my depth.

Don’t worry, you’ll be fine — we’re friendly in Pittsburgh! So, what are you working on next? Are you taking double-knitting in new directions?

I am working on a new book, tentatively entitled “Double or Nothing”, where I’ll start as I left off in EDK, further expanding the boundaries of the double-knitting universe. I’ve got to cover double-knit cables, double-knit lace, double-knit entrelac, double-knit intarsia, and more. I’m working on new patterns for all of these, and a few will be released beforehand but many patterns will end up only in the book. I expect it to come out in 2016 if all goes well.

I so enjoyed talking with Alasdair — and I hope you will come to the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival and meet him (and say hi to us too!). But if you can’t make it, that’s ok, here’s where you can find Alasdair in person and on the web:

Live Events:

April 17-19, Loveland, CO: Interweave Yarn Fest
April 23-25, Nashville, TN: Stitches South
August 6-8, Schaumburg, IL: Stitches Midwest
September 17-20, Irving, TX: Stitches Texas

Website: http://www.double-knitting.com
Blog: http://www.fallingblox.com
Ravelry group: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/fallingblox-designs
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/fallingblox
Twitter: @fallingblox
Email list: http://eepurl.com/mXjdf

A Sublime Yarn Alliance Colourway for the Changing Season

25MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Little by little, I am starting to believe that Spring is on its way but, two weeks ago, our corner of the world was buried under a blanket of snow. And I want to share with you the colourway that winter wonderland inspired!

(Spoiler Alert!: If you’ve been in the Yarn Alliance and haven’t yet received your March parcel, close your eyes now to save the surprise)

“Winter’s Fade, Spring’s Rise,” The Yarn Alliance Colourway for March 2015

There is a big, bay window in the SpaceCadet studio, which looks out to where the road follows the horseshoe bend of a babbling creek as it travels through the woods, and I love to look through that window and watch the world go by as I’m busy dyeing. And last week, the view was particularly inspiring – there had been a heavy snow, flakes falling silent and slow, followed by an amazing iridescent mist. The world was transformed.

And though initially it seemed everything was just white, I came to realise that the blending of the snow and the leafless trees and the soft mist and the dark, cold water all came together to create a beautiful soft gray that washed across the landscape – darker and more intense in some places, softening and pale in others. And yet, this was no monochromatic gray, because it also included the gentle brown of the tree trunks, the blue of the sky, the deep green of an occasional lone fir tree, and, here and there, the soft lavender of the first few crocuses who knew, despite all the signs to the contrary, that Winter would indeed soon Fade, and Spring is on the Rise.

Winter's Fade, Spring's Rise -- the Yarn Alliance colourway for March 2015 4b 580

The Yarn that Won’t Sell…

And we dyed it on Aurora, a stunning soft yarn spun from 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. This is hands down one of my favourite SpaceCadet yarns — it’s just so incredibly luxurious and soft — but can I let you in on a little secret? I can’t sell Aurora online. Seriously. We sell tons of it at shows because as soon as customers pick it up, they realise how amazing that extra cashmere feels, but that’s something that can’t really be conveyed through a computer screen. And so this gorgeous yarn sits quietly on the shelf all year long, like the las kid picked for the kickball team …until we go to shows, where it promptly sells like hotcakes. So it makes me incredibly happy when I get to use it for the Yarn Alliance, because I know our club members are in for an truly unexpected treat!

Winter's Fade, Spring's Rise -- the Yarn Alliance colourway for March 2015 3b 580

The Fabulous Yarn Alliance Gift

I’m so in love with these adorable little yarn snips put together for us by Sarah Wilson, The Sexy Knitter, because I am forever losing my scissors. These are small enough to stash anywhere and give a super-quick, super-clean cut. And who can resist the SpaceCadet’s cheeky grin?

The Yarn Alliance gift for March 2015 1b 580

And just for fun, Sarah and I included a Sexy Knitter pattern that we both knew would be a great choice for this yarn and colourway. The Mashrabiya Vest & Shawl takes a beautiful lace shawl design and adds the innovative option of armholes to create a wide variety of styling options; wear it open, pinned or tied shut, ends thrown over your shoulders, or even as a wrap blouse! Knit up in the subtle colours of “Winter’s Fade, Spring’s Rise”, the result would be a sublime and luxurious wrap for cool spring evenings.

The Yarn Alliance is Open for Subscriptions

Like what you see here? Want to join the fun? The Yarn Alliance is currently open for subscriptions, so click here to grab your spot before it closes this Sunday, March 29th!

The SpaceCadet's premiere yarn club, the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, is open for subscriptions until March 29 only. Click to learn more!

Six Ways to Get the Most of Yarn Shows and Festivals

17MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

As we are prepping madly for HomeSpun Yarn Party this weekend (March 22 in Savage MD) and the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival next weekend (March 27-29 in Pittsburgh PA), I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how to make a yarn show or festival really spectacular — for us as vendors but also for you as an attendee. And while you might think that’s pretty straightforward — just walk around and look at all the lovely yarn, right? — there are actually some specific things you can do to get the most out of the yarn shows and festivals you attend this year. Here are six of the best:

Tip #1: First, GO!!!

This one is crazy, right? I mean, of course you go! But it’s surprising the number of knitters and crocheters I meet at trunk shows or other events who tell me they’ve never been to a yarn festival. And I totally get it — there are crowds and parking issues, and maybe a distance to drive (or… heh heh… maybe some self-control issues…?) — but the experience is totally worth it. This is your opportunity to not only take classes and meet other like-minded folks, but also to spot new design and colour trends, and to “meet” in person the yarns you would otherwise be able to see only online.

So take this opportunity to explore every booth and snorgle all that lovely yarn. At SpaceCadet, some of our most delicious yarns just don’t sell online. It makes me crazy that our customers can’t tell how incredibly soft that extra cashmere makes Aurora (at 20% cashmere, it is amazingly softer than yarns with just 10%!). They can’t see how subtle and beautiful Lucina’s sparkles are through a computer monitor. And though I’ve managed to capture the sheen of Maia in photographs, how can that also show its incredible softness and drape? As wonderful as these yarns are, their best qualities come alive only when you see them in person. If you’re looking online, you’re getting only half the story. So come to the show and meet in person the yarns you’ve been curious about — it’s a completely different experience!

Tip #2: Head to your Favourite Vendors’ Booths First

Though it may seem easiest to just wander around the festival and look at the booths as you come to them, there’s a real advantage to checking out the show map and head to the your favourite vendors’ booths first. We often debut fantastic new yarns and products at our shows, and they can sell out fast. This year, we have an amazing Show Exclusive Colourway that I think you’re going to love — it’s just wonderful, with layers and layers of colour that seem to reveal themselves afresh every time you look at it. We’ve dyed what we hope is plenty — but shows are so unpredictable that it’s always worth getting to our booth early so you’re not disappointed.

So take five minutes when you first arrive at a festival to sit down with the show map and quickly work out which booths you really want to see, and head for those first. Or, even better, look at the map online before you even get there — it makes the anticipation that much more fun and, I promise, you’ll be so glad when you snag the sell-out yarn of the show before anyone else even sees it!

Tip #3: Check Out the Show’s Special Events

Many shows have more than just classes and a market — giveaways, designer talks, and fashion shows all add to the fun. You don’t want to miss any of those — and some of them are last minute additions — so make sure you check not only the show’s programme, but also your favourite vendors’ websites.

At this year’s Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, we’ll be hosting book signings by festival headliner Alasdair Post-Quinn, Craftsy instructor and author of Extreme Double-Knitting. It’s a collaboration directly between SpaceCadet and his publisher, Coop Press, so it’s not in the festival programme, but we’re so excited to have Alasdair on hand to chat with our customers about his designs and double-knitting — and you’ll only find out about that by keeping up with our blog. Yarn shows are full of wonderful surprises but to make sure you don’t miss the best stuff, check out the special events on both the show’s and the vendors’ websites.

Tip #4: Start at the Back of the Show

Ok, you’ve been waiting for the show to start, the doors have opened at last, and there, right in front of you, is a sea of amazing yarny goodness so beautiful that you want to dive into the first big pile you see. Resist that urge! Because right behind you is a sea of other knitters and crocheters who want to do the exact same thing, and those first booths are going to get crazy crowded really fast. But at the other end of the show — far away from the doors and all the other festival-goers — are a bunch of booths that are completely empty. And having been a vendor, in one of those booths, I can tell you that the other end of the show stays fairly quiet and empty for quite a while before the crowd finally makes it down there. That means that if you head there first, you can have 30 minutes of peaceful shopping (and first dibs on the best stuff!) before those booths get crowded.

Work your way from the back of the show to the front and you’ll still get to see everything, but you won’t be fighting the crowds every single step of the way. And you’ll get a whole different experience of the show!

Tip #5: Get the Class Schedule to Know When to Shop

Every show I’ve ever done has had times when the booth is a crush of people and other times when it’s completely quiet, and the two usually correspond to the class times. When all the classes are going on, the market floor is usually quiet — and a real pleasure to shop — but the minute classes let out (and they all seem to let out at the same time), it’s suddenly so crowded that you can’t even get into some booths. Take that time to go and find some lunch, or just knit and chill with some new friends you made in class. Then, if there’s a time when the classes start up again but you haven’t got one booked, that’s the time to head to the market. You’ll be able to shop in peace, to really look at what’s on offer, and chat to the dyers and vendors you’ve been wanting to meet. Shopping during class times rather than when they’re out is the difference between a festival that is fun and relaxed and one that is needlessly stressful. Check that schedule and then swim against the tide!

Tip #6: Remember that We’ve Come to Meet YOU!

This is probably the most important tip for making most of your festival or show. Crazy as it sounds (to me, at least), we’ve had long-time customers email after a show to say they were right there in front of our booth, but they never came up to say hello because they didn’t want to “bother” us. And that makes me so sad, because the very best part of going to a show is getting to meet our customers face to face!

We’re there to talk to you, so please do come and say hi to us. If you’ve got questions about our yarn, ask us (it’s one of our favourite subjects!). Or show us the pattern you want to make and let us help you choose a yarn. Now, you’ll get our best attention if you follow some of my earlier suggestions and visit the booth when things are a little quieter (such as when the show first opens or during class times). But no matter when you come and see us, just remember that we’re there to meet you, so please do come and say hi!

The Yarn Alliance is Open until March 29th

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance opened on Friday and subscriptions have just been flying! It’s so exciting to welcome all the new and returning members — because it’s a fantastic club and I know we’re going to have a great time together. Want to join in the fun? We’d love to have you aboard! Click here to find out more — but hurry, subscriptions are open only until March 29.

It’s Open at Last! Grab Your Spot in the Yarn Alliance!

13MarSeptember 4, 2015 By Stephanie

As you know, we open our premiere yarn club to new subscriptions for two weeks only twice a year, and our customers bide their time and wait to grab their spots in the club. We love watching the subscriptions fly and getting to meet all our new members, so we are absolutely thrilled to announce that…

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is Open for Subscriptions!

If you like SpaceCadet^®colourways, then
you’ll love being in the Yarn Alliance!

What do you get when you join?

…beautiful yarns, colourways you might never have dared try but suddenly realise you love, and some seriously fabulous gifts!

Members of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance receive fabulous parcels delivered to their door every other month, containing:

SpaceCadet^® yarn (light to medium weight) in an exclusive Yarn Alliance colourway (guaranteed not to be offered on the SpaceCadet^® website for at least 6 months)
A great Yarn Alliance gift tucked into every parcel!
The SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway.
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance newsletter with periodic special offers exclusively for members.
A 15% off coupon every six months

Plus, Sweater Quantities!

One gorgeous skein just isn’t enough? You also have an exclusive opportunity to order more skeins custom-dyed in the latest club colourway. You’ll receive an email with all the details about a week after your parcel goes out — and then all you have to do is pick your project!

A 6 month subscription (3 parcels) is $135
and a 12 month subscription (6 parcels) is $249.

Ready to join the fun? Yeah, let’s do this!

Click below to choose your subscription:

12 Month Subscription

6 Month Subscription

Six month subscriptions include 3 parcels; twelve month subscriptions include 6 parcels. Parcels will be sent out in early January, March, May, July, September, and November.

Shipping within the United States is included in the price; extra charges apply for shipping outside the US. Normal subscription openings for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance are for two weeks only during March and September of each year.

Got questions? We’re happy to help! info(at)spacecadetcreations(dot)com

From Skein to Swatch: How a Variegated Colourway Changes

11MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I was chatting with my assistant Jade last week about the process of turning full-sized skeins into Mini-Skeins, and she commented that she had been really surprised by how much a variegated colourway could change when the skein was rewound into mini size. And of course they don’t actually change but, the thing is, breaking the larger skeins down into mini-skeins redistributes the colours, mixes them up, so our minds perceive that the skein has changed colour. And that has a big impact not only on the skein itself, but what you eventually make with it. Jade wrote a post about it in the SpaceCadet Ravelry group and it was so interesting, I thought I’d share it here too.

Spoiler Alert: March Mini-Skeins

Now, before we move onto Jade’s post, let me warn you that it does contain images of one of March’s Mini-Skein colourways. If you’re in the club and you want to be surprised when your bundle arrives, don’t scroll any farther. But DO save this post to read later — it’s a really interesting topic. Ok, now, let’s turn it over to Jade…

Stephanie and I have been talking about exciting new things for Mini-Skein Club members, and an offshoot of that discussion revolved around how different full skeins and mini skeins look. Until I started really working with yarn (not just knitting, but seeing the whole process from dyeing to twisting, and especially making Mini-Skeins), I noticed but didn’t understand why the colors of the variegated yarns I loved never quite came out the way I thought they would.

I’d see lovely patches of color, and it would knit up as stripes. Pretty, but where were those beautiful pools? Or, I’d see yarn that looked like a soft, even blend of colors and, out of nowhere, there were the pools, but not where I wanted them. It was a mystery, and I wondered how the same skein managed to look so different.

Here’s where the spoiler alert comes in: One of the March Gradient skeins illustrates this perfectly, and I just had to show you. So, consider this a sneak peek at this month’s Minis…

In the pictures above, you can see the whole skein loose at the top, another skein of the same color that’s been twisted in the middle, and (still) the same color re-skeined as a mini. Each looks so different!

The loose skein at the top looks like two colors flowing evenly into each other. Twisting that skein makes the colors pool into beautiful bands, and the gradient effect is hidden. And in the mini skein, the colors are redistributed so that the skein almost looks striped (which is a big clue as to how it’s might knit up).

And, here’s how this color looks knitted in a swatch:

At this size (28 sts of stockinette with a 2 st garter border), it’s very nearly self-striping. From the whole skein, it looks like it should have been a smooth transition from blue-purple to deep pink, while the twisted skein made it look like it would have pools of purple, blue, and pink. Instead, the mini skein gave the best preview: nearly striped.

The things you learn when you start learning to dye yarn and make mini-skeins…!

So How Does a Variegated Skein Work Up?

This is a question we get asked all the time. A customer will pick up a skein of beautiful, variegated yarn at a show and say to me, “Now, how will this look when I knit it?” It’s an easy question to ask, but it’s got a far more complicated answer than you might think.

The reason is that there is no one way that a variegated yarn will work up in a project. Just as that same skein looked completely different loose, twisted, and reskeined (as in the three pictures above), so it will look completely different again depending on whether you knit or crochet with it; whether you choose plain stockinette, garter, slipped stitches, or openwork; whether you work a small circumference in the round or cast on a huge piece on straight needles. All of those factors (and more) will impact where and how the colours will move on your fabric. So it’s next to impossible for me to look at the skein in your hands and easily answer question.

But the good news? With a little forethought, you are in complete control of the colours!

The Impact of Different Stitch Types

Let me demonstrate. After Jade knit that initial inch or so of stockinette, I asked her change it up a bit, to do some different types of stitches.

You can see from the picture above that, after the stockinette at the bottom, she moved on to slipped stitches, then a simple yarn-over lace, and finally, a 2×2 rib at the top. And what do we see?

First, the striping that was so evident in the plain stockette almost completely disappears in the slipped stitch section. Moving the yarn out of the straight back-and-forth rhythm blends the colours much more evenly, so that almost every stitch appears to be a different colour to its neighbour. And if you knit a whole sweater that way, the overall visual impact would be of a fabric that appears to be a single colour.

In the yarn-over section above that, we see that the colourway’s appearance has changed yet again. The stretched out stitches act to highlight the individual hues of the variegated yarn, giving each one a solo moment in the spotlight. And even more interestingly, there’s even a kind of very subtle pooling happening on the left, where all the purple stitches have joined together. Beautiful!

Finally, we have the rib stitch at the top. Like the stockinette, rib is primarily a side-to-side stitch, so there is striping but this time it’s broken up — and made more subtle — by the stitch texture. Showing that even a very simple stitch pattern can have a big impact on the look of a variegated yarn.

But How Do You Know?!?

There are many more ways that your choices can impact the way your yarn colour will behave. Be it your choice to knit or crochet, your pattern selection, stitch type, needle size, or any number of other things, one skein of variegated yarn can come out looking incredibly different depending on what you choose to do with it.

But how do you know? Well, I have great news: there are ways to decode an untwisted skein just by looking at it, so that you can accurately predict how it will behave and which choices will bring out its beauty best. And I’m going to be putting together a series of blog posts (and perhaps some videos) to help walk you thought that process. They’ll be coming in the next few months, so click here to get on the mailing list and make sure you don’t miss them!

But That Won’t Be Until…

…until after these great Spring Events that we’ve got coming up!

Fri March 13 — The SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance opens for Subscriptions!
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is the SpaceCadet’s premiere yarn club, known for its amazing colourways and fantastic gifts. It’s open for subscriptions twice a year for two weeks only — from March 13 to 29 — and spaces always go fast. Set your alarm and then click here to grab your spot first!

Sun March 22 — HomeSpun Yarn Party, Savage MD
Possibly our favourite-est yarn show of the year, this super-fast, super-furious event is always pure crazy and intense fun for anyone who craves hand-dyed and hand-made yarny goodness. A one day show that features only small and indie makers, it’s so worth the trip to the beautiful Savage Mill — if you live in the DC-Baltimore area, please come and see us!

HomeSpun Yarn Party

Sunday, March 22 from 12-5pm
Historic Savage Mill 8600 Foundry Street, Savage, MD 20763 Just off I-95, plenty of parking!
Admission is FREE!

Fri-Sun March 27-29 — Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, Pittsburgh PA
Our hometown festival just gets better and better each year! Having rapidly outgrown all its previous venues, we are super excited that this year’s festival will be at the Westin Convention Center hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Three glorious days of yarn and fiber fun, plus we are thrilled to be hosting festival headliner Alasdair Post-Quinn (author of “Extreme Double Knitting” from Coop Press) for book-signings in our booth. If you’re in the western PA area, we’d love to see you!

The Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

Fri-Sun, March 27-29
Westin Convention Center hotel, next to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh

Full Skeins and Sweater Kits of SpaceCadet® ‘s March Mini-Skein Colourways!