Ok, you know what I’m about to say and I am just sooooo excited it’s here at last! So many of you have been emailing me and sending me messages about it, that I can’t wait to say…
The Yarn Alliance is the SpaceCadet’s fantastic yarn club, and Spring subscriptions are available from March 8 to March 24 only.
And why am I so excited? Because, probably more than anything else I do in this job, I love creating the yarn and coming up with the gifts for this club. This is my chance to really connect with you guys, to get to know you in the forum and through your projects. And when I dye the exclusive club colourways and come up with those fabulous SpaceCadet gifts, I’m doing it all with real people — with you guys! — in my mind.
Members of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance receive fabulous parcels delivered to their door every other month, containing:
SpaceCadet® Creations yarn (fingering 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
A 6 month subscription (3 parcels) is $135
and a 12 month subscription (6 parcels) is $249.
Ready to join the fun? Spring subscriptions close in two weeks and spaces are limited so grab yours quick!
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. Subscription openings will be available in March and September. 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 two weeks only in March and September of each year. Got questions? We’re happy to help! info(at)spacecadetcreations(dot)com
In all the rush of last week, I totally forgot to make an announcement that a lot of you have told me you’re waiting for…
So I’m just slipping in this quick mid-week reminder for you. This is one seriously fun club — gorgeous yarns and fabulous gifts — and spaces go fast. All the details are here, and subscriptions are open from March 8 only until March 24.
So quick! Go mark it on your calendar so you can grab your space on Friday!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been hinting for a little while about something special that I’ve been cooking up with Laura Nelkin. She’s a Craftsy instructor and the designer behind some of the most beautiful beaded lacework patterns out there (as well as the lovely Mythos). And a few months ago, she rang me up with an idea for a little collaboration…
I was over the moon when she asked me to dye the yarn for Juego, her newest Mystery KAL. What fun! Lacework, beads, and beautiful kits of SpaceCadet Celeste yarn in three coordinating colour combinations — Translucence & Plume, Diaphanous & Honey, and Five Rings & Feather — all hand-selected by Laura for a design that only she had seen… I could not wait for this to go live!
Laura and I discussed how many kits we thought would sell, and agreed to have about half already dyed, with the other half prepped and ready to go as soon as they were needed. She went live with the KAL yesterday, and I planned to let you all know about it in my blog post today.
And then… then… it just went NUTS! Within a couple of hours, she had pages of sign-ups on her Ravelry thread. Juego was flying up the ‘Hot Right Now’ pattern list. And the orders started coming in…
Every. single. one. of the dyed kits sold out by mid-day. I couldn’t believe it! I released kits for pre-order… They sold out within hours. As I was having dinner, people were emailing to ask if there were more, actually jostling for reserve kits. I released still more pre-orders… and they flew! By the end of the first day, we’d sold more kits than we had expected to sell for the entire run up to the KAL. Laura and I were both stunned!
So, I had planned on announcing this to all of you this morning, and hoped a few of you would go grab a kit and join in the KAL fun. And I still hope you will but, crickey, it’s going to be a lot harder to nab one of those kits than I’d thought! There are a few kits left at the moment, if you run over there quick.
And then I’m going to get to dyeing, and Laura and I are going to regroup, and we’ll release more pre-orders as we assess how much can be dyed and delivered before the KAL starts.
But there is one thing that this has shown me beyond any shadow of a doubt: that knitters and crocheters are an amazing force when they they know what they want, and that is an awesome thing to witness. Yesterday was just so wild… so exciting… absolutely mind-blowing!
Thank you all for giving me this job — honestly, I can’t imagine any job I could love more.
We are in flat out dyeing mode right now to get ready for the upcoming shows and KALs in March. And I’ve got lots to tell you about them — new kits, new project ideas, and some really exciting exclusive colourways. But all that in good time. For now, I have some lovely images to share with you, and one small but very important announcement.
First, the images. Here’s a little glimpse of the studio this week…
You can see why I love dyeing, right? And now, the announcement…
SpaceCadet Yarns Now Dyed to Order
I made a small but very significant change to the shop this week. You didn’t notice? Yeah, that’s ok — it is very small. But it kind of changes everything.
As things have grown and gotten busier here at the SpaceCadet studio, one thing that just hasn’t happened is regular shop updates. I love dyeing the yarns, love coming up with new colourways, but when it comes to sitting down and photographing them, then uploading the photos to the shop, then typing in all the details… well, I always find myself drawn back to the dyepots and the shop update just doesn’t get done.
But that’s no good for you, is it?!? You can’t buy what’s not in the shop! So, I’ve decided to give you the best of both worlds. You can buy what’s in the shop — and shop updates will still happen — but when when a colourway or a yarn that you are just itching to work with is not in stock, you can now go ahead and order it to be custom dyed!
When we receive your order, we’ll get to work dyeing your custom yarn. Now, because each yarn is created by hand, we do ask you to allow 4-6 week for your order to be completed but, in truth, we always aim to beat that and get your yarn out to you as quickly as possible. That timescale is really there to allow for busier times of year and the more complicated orders. The best thing about the whole dyeing process? Packing those lovely bundles of yarny goodness in their boxes and sending them off to become exciting new projects!
So there you go — one tiny little alteration that brings enormous change and wonderful news!
And here, before we go, one last image from the studio. I just love these greens against that rust, don’t you?
Whatcha up to this weekend? For me, the spring yarn show season will be starting whilst there’s still snow on the ground, with a lovely little show on Sunday called Indie Knit & Spin Boutique.
I’m so looking forward to it! It’s going to be a small, really intimate event — just five local fiber artists coming together to share with you the very best of their recent work. I’ll be bringing lots of yarns that have never been in the shop (and may never get in the shop either!). Tons of one-of-a-kind and fun experimental colourways.
I was absolutely tickled pink several weeks ago when Jaala Spiro asked if she could interview for KnitCircus. I’ve known her for a few years now, and always enjoyed her work, so I said yes immediately — chatting with Jaala is always so much fun!
And I think you can tell we enjoyed doing the interview. I got to talk about how I started dyeing, my upcoming projects, and how much fun I have dyeing for our customers. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, click here to read the whole thing.
The Love Actually KAL Casts On this Thursday
Valentine’s Day is on its way and this year we’re bypassing the chocolates and mushy cards and going straight for what really matters: casting on a fabulous new project in gorgeous yarns. The Love Actually KAL starts on Feb 14 and I simply cannot believe the response — so many people have signed up!
If you’ve not joined yet, there’s still time. And just a few of those fabulous Love Actually KAL Kits left in the shop! Click here to read all the details about the KAL and click here to grab one of the last kits!
I’ve been dyeing(!) to tell you about this… and hinting about it on Twitter and Facebook… and now, at last, it’s February 1. Today is the day!
This is knit-designer, and my lovely friend, Sara Bench. And that fantastic cowl is Love Actually, her new pattern that was released on Knitty last week.
Isn’t it gorgeous? Double-knit, so it’s thick and warm, and totally reversible — the hearts that you see on one side appear (with the colours reversed) on the other side. How cool is that?
So I was thinking… a pattern like that deserves celebrating! And what better way to celebrate a knitting pattern than a Knitalong?
The Love Actually KAL
With Valentine’s Day coming up, this is the perfect quick (yet interesting) knit to keep your fingers flying through those cold February days.
And here’s the best bit: Sara is going to do the KAL with us, and guide us every step of the way. So even if you’re unsure about colourwork, or have never done double-knitting before, you can join with confidence. Not only will you have all your fellow knitters there to help you, you’ll also have the designer knitting right alongside you!
Oh! And there are giveaways! Each week of the KAL, everyone who posts a picture of their progress will be entered in a random drawing to win some really great swag. That’s right — free stuff… just for knitting!
C’mon! Wouldn’t you love to make one with us?!?
The Details
Here’s everything you need to know:
The cast-on date is Valentine’s Day, February 14, and the KAL will run through March 14.
To join the KAL, just click here and leave a message telling us you’re in! Please, no chit-chat in that thread, so that it’s easy for us to keep track of who has joined — just give us your name and your Rav name, and we’ll make sure we’ve got you in.
The KAL will be coordinated by Natalie (peacethrufiber). If you’ve ever come to see us at a show, then you’ve met Natalie: she’s the one whose hands are always knitting — she knits while she chats, answers questions, helps you choose your yarn… She’s an amazing knitter! So if you have any questions during the KAL, either about how it runs or about the knitting, she’s another great resource to go to.
Click here and meet your fellow KALers! Tell us about yourself… who you’re making your project for, what yarn you’re going to use, what you’re looking forward to about the pattern. Don’t forget to include where you’re from and if you’ve ever done double knitting before. And, hey, while we’re at it, tell us what the world looks like outside your window right now (it’s snowing here and looks ever so wintery!).
Make sure you tag your project on Ravelry with “LoveActuallyKAL” so all your fellow KALers can find it.
Spread the word! Let others know about the Love Actually KAL by sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, and maybe posting about it on Ravelry. The more we have in the KAL, the merrier it will be! Tweet #LoveActuallyKAL
Choose your yarn! You’ll need two skeins of DK yarn in two colours. You can buy fresh yarn, choose from your stash or… or….
SpaceCadet’s Love Actually KAL Kits
…Or you can choose the yarn we’ve dyed especially for this KAL, in the most perfect-for-Valentine’s-Day colours. And as a special thank you for joining the KAL, we’re even knocking 10% off the price!
There’s Tainted Love, a gorgeous grey and red combination, where the grey is gentle and the red is bold. But look closely, there’s a lot of depth of shade there — see how the colours move and change through both skeins? These ain’t no flat colourways! And life in those colours are going to look amazing in Love Actually.
Or go for the Chocolate & Roses combination! These are the colours from our popular Beguile colourway, pulled out into two separate skeins specifically for this KAL. The first shade is the deep rich brown — Valentine chocolates, anyone? And the second is a beautiful vibrant pink that would make the most perfect rose. Together, they are simply stunning.
For now, I’ve dyed only 20 kits. If they sell out, I may dye more, but time is short so there are no guarantees. If these colours are calling to you, click here to grab yours — at 10% off and before they’re all gone!
