The Questions I Love to Answer

25AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

At Knitters Fantasy the other weekend, a customer was looking through the bundles of gorgeous, adorable mini-skeins that we’d brought to introduce people to the Mini-Skein Club. She was completely lost in them, studying each one intently as she moved her hand from bundle to bundle, looking for exactly the right colours.

The mini-skeins have sold like hot-cakes at every show we’ve taken them to. There’s something irresistible about hundreds of miniature skeins of SpaceCadet yarn all piled up together!

And even though we normally sell the mini-skeins exclusively through the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, I love taking them to shows. Why? Because it’s so much fun to watch people suddenly spot them, come rushing over to look more closely, and then — just like the customer at the show the other weekend — get totally lost in finding their perfect combination of colours.

And the mini-skeins start so many conversations. “What do you use them for?” (answer: here) “What could I make with them?” (answer: here) And my favourite, “So, what is this club you do?” I love that one because it gives me the opportunity to explain how the club works. Each month, club members receive a parcel of mini-skeins in colours that I’ve chosen for them (as a complete surprise!). The mini-skeins are made up of a variety of SpaceCadet fingering yarns, so you get a chance to try the different yarn types. And that the best thing is that you can cancel your subscription as soon as you have enough Mini-Skeins for your project. See what I mean? It’s a great club!

After looking carefully every single bundle, my customer finally chose a favourite. And, as she walked over to me to pay for it, she clutched it in front of her chest with both hands. She had a huge grin on her face and light in her eyes that told me she had just found herself some treasure.

“So,” she said, as she reached into her bag for her credit card, “what made you start this club?” She had set the bundle of mini-skeins down on the table, but one hand rested lightly on them — protecting them, laying claim to them. I smiled to myself. If she could see herself in a mirror, the answer to her question would be obvious.

The shine in her eyes… her hand on the yarns… the little moment of joy they’ve already brought her and all the joy her new mini-skein project will bring her when she gets home…

That is why I started the Mini-Skein Club.

Developing a Colourway… and Starting a Collection

20AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you the SpaceCadet collections — groups of colourways designed to go together and to make it easier to choose coordinating yarns for your projects. And one of the groups I showed you was the Submerge collection. Remember it?…

I started this collection by playing with colour, until I created a variegated colourway that just made me gasp as I pulled it out of the dyepot. That colourway was Submerge, a rich combination of blues, teals, greens, and gold. I fell completely in love with it, and so I developed an entire collection around the colours in that skein. And that wonderful gold, I named Honey. See how well they work together?

And the it’s not just the variegation of Submerge that pulls the collection together. This lovely rust-red is called Pride. See how it works with Honey as well?

Now, I’m not a yellow person — not at all. It always makes me look washed out and tired,so I never find myself drawn to yellows or golds much at all. But there was something about the depth and richness of Honey that I just couldn’t pull away from. I kept going back to again and again, turning it over in my hands, just loving the colour.

And so when I was in studio, I found myself going into every new experimental colourway by starting with the recipe for Honey. Every single one. And I thought to myself, This is never going to work. You can’t base every new colourway on Honey! Not everyone likes yellows. And everything will come out looking like Submerge…

Just goes to show how much I know. Because try as I might, I couldn’t stop myself from starting with Honey and, as I laid on layer after layer of dye, the whole colourscape began to change, until I finally pulled this out of the dyepot…

This blew my mind. This is gorgeous! And this is nothing like Submerge — it doesn’t go with the collection at all. It looks completely different. And yet, it started with Honey. And, looking at it on its own, you might not even think this goes with Honey at all. Until you put the two of them together… and you fall in love all over again…

I’ve called this new colourway Diaphanous. And I think, if it plays its cards right, it might be the start of a whole new colourway collection come the Autumn. I’ll keep playing with it, and we’ll see… (In fact, I’ve already started. Here’s what happened when I laid more colour onto Diaphanous.)

In the meantime, there’s a whole bunch of gorgeous Diaphanous and Honey that I’ve just put in the shop. It’s in Izarra, a wonderful BFL-nylon yarn that Ruth Garcia-Alcantud of Rock & Purl used to design her elegant Medianoche gloves.

Click here to see the new yarns!

(Oh, and two of those yarns in the Diaphanous photo up there aren’t in the shop yet. One is a lovely delicate laceweight and the other is an exquisite new yarn that is so luxurious it’s almost scary. And because they’re so special, I’ll be putting them first into a Yarn Adventurer’s email — if you’re on the Yarn Adventurer’s mailing list, look for that in the next few days. And if you’re not, keep an eye on the shop for them in about ten days).

My Accountant is Not a Knitter

18AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Today’s post was supposed to be the one I’ve been looking forward to writing for a long time — a little guided tour of the development of a brand-new colourway called Diaphonous, (which I just love!), and then a shop update with some lovely yarns in that colourway. But somehow, as I’m looking at the photos I took today, they just aren’t quite right… the colours are just off. And I can’t be showing you the development of a colourway if the photos don’t show the colours. So the pictures will be retaken tomorrow and the blog post written later this week. Watch for it, ok? This colourway is worth it!

But… that leaves me sitting here at my computer blog-post-less, no idea what I’m going to write. The past few weeks have been insanely busy and I’ve barely been able to catch my breath: my husband (and head skeinwinder) has been in England for three weeks, I’ve been taking care of the family on my own, while tying and dyeing and winding like mad to build up stock again after we got mobbed at HomeSpun (what a day!), getting ready for Knitters Fantasy (last Saturday and wow, what a great day!) and… and… there was something else… What was it?

Oh, yeah, taxes. I was trying to do my taxes. And, I’ll tell you, with everything else that was going on, it was a real struggle to make myself sit down and work on the numbers. So, y’know, I tore into the accountant’s office late last week, my hair sticking out all over the place and a wild look in my eye, and dumped a stack of papers on her desk. “It’s all here,” I said. “…I think.”

She picked up the papers and cast her eyes over the first few sheets, and we quickly went over the main stuff. W-2zzz… 1099zzzz… 401kzzzzzzzz….

Things My Non-Knitting Accountant Says

But I’ve got to tell you this, because you’ll love it. After she looked through all that stuff, she came to the SpaceCadet spreadsheets. And as she looked over the numbers for the business, she said almost unconsiously, “Yarn! …Yarn!”

Now, the business is healthy, but the numbers are hardly mind-blowing, not by any means. But my accountant is not a knitter and, when first I told her I dye yarn for knitters and crocheters, I am quite sure she was under the impression that there were only a handful of you guys out there, and that you probably buy only a skein or two of yarn per year. (I mean, you only knit booties, right? Only when you’re pregnant. Of course.)

She remembered I was in the room and looked up again. “I… I wouldn’t even know what to do with it,” she said, still clearly flummoxed by the whole yarn-concept. “What do they do with it?”

“They knit with it,” I said, grinning. I couldn’t help it, her obvious confusion was too entertaining. “Here, look… ” and I pulled out my knitting, the Walnut Grove shawl in the Yarn Alliance’s Selfish colourway.

She squinted at it, then reached out and touched it gingerly with her fingertips. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “It’s really thin!” And then… “You could make something normal with it!” Why, yes. Yes, you could. My grin spilled into a chuckle.

I love dyeing yarn for you guys. And, she loves crunching numbers. It’s all good.

SpaceCadet Colourway Collections …and a Shop Update!

04AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

You know that moment when you suddenly realise something that should have been blindingly obvious to you? You roll your eyes, maybe slap your own forehead, right? Yeah, I had one of those moments the other day.

A few weeks ago, I updated my wholesale information for local yarn shops that carry SpaceCadet yarn, and when I did the colourway images, I naturally grouped them by collection. Collection?, you say. Yeah, I know I do a lot of crazy, experimental dyeing — and that’s what a lot of you love about SpaceCadet yarn — but I also develop and dye set collections of colourways. They’re colourways that go together, that mix-and-match, that will work beautifully in the same project.

I love these collections. Love developing them, love how one colour leads me to the next, love looking at them all together when they’re done. And my head-slapping moment came when I realised… I’d never shown them to you!

Here, let’s fix that. Now, the first one you’ve seen before — it’s the Quilt Collection and I wrote a post showing you the picture that inspired it, but I didn’t really show you the whole collection together…

The thing I love about this collection is that the semi-solid blue, greens, pink, and red work together on their own, but when you add the varigated yarn, Quilt on a Green Bed, suddenly, they are all perfectly coordinated. I see a cardigan knit in one of the semi-solid colours, with the details such as collar or cuffs knit in the variegated yarn. You may see it done the other way around. Either way, I love how they all come together.

Ok, so here’s another collection, one I don’t think I’ve shown you as a group before…

This one I love — it’s so rich, so dark and yet colourful, playful. And that Honey — oh, how it pops! And again, all the semi-solids pull together with Submerge, the variegated yarn, for a completely coordinated look. Can you see a project in there? Is it one colour and gentle, or is it popping with wild colour?

And just quickly, another soft and springlike collection…

That middle colourway there, it’s one of my favourites ever ever ever. And from it, I pulled out Gentle, the pink on the right. They’re gorgeous together.

The last group of yarns isn’t a collection, so I shouldn’t really include it here, but it’s in the wholesale information and I love these colourways so much, I can’t help but show you! They’re colours that make you just want to dive headfirst into the computer screen, aren’t they?

My goal in creating these collections is to make it so that you can look at the yarns and just see your project — see the colours working together in the patterns you’ve been thinking about starting. I wanted to make it easier to jump into variegated yarns by creating other colours that work with them, so that you can choose whether those variegated yarns are going to dominate your project or just act as a highlight.

And then a few days ago, I suddenly realised I’d never shown them to you! I’ve only ever put them in the shop — individually, even — and not really done anything to tie them together for you. Headslap!

So now that you’ve seen them as they’re meant to be seen, what do you think? Can you see your project? Tell me — because I’d love to know — would it be made of the wildly variegateds, or are you partial to the semi-solids?

Shop Update!

Speaking of going in the shop, I’ve just done a shop update. Great yarns with lovely cashmere, in some of the colourways straight from these collections. Oh, and one eye-popping colourway that I may never be able to repeat again!

Come check ’em out!

Tatting You Up!

30MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

HomeSpun Yarn Party was amazing! So much fun, so many people, and a near mob-scene at one point!

But first, let me just remind you that there are only two days left to join the SpaceCadet’s yarn club, the InterStellar Yarn Alliance. I’ve already been working on the yarn and goodies for the first parcel and it’s going to be fabulous, so if you’ve been thinking about joining and haven’t had a chance yet, don’t wait! The Yarn Alliance closes for subscriptions on March 31.

Ok, now, back to HomeSpun… The place was hoppin’, absolutely crazy. It was wall-to-wall indie spinners and dyers and, the minute the doors opened, it was wall-to-wall fiber-loving customers too. At one point, I actually found myself pushed out the booth on the other side of the aisle, and physically unable to get back into our booth! It. was. wild!!!

And I’m tickled pink to tell you that part of the reason for the madness was… everybody loved the SpaceCadet tattoos! I was hoping people would like them — they loved them. I was running around the booth just trying to get one on everyone who wanted one. Customers waving and gesturing, calling out, waiting for me to put a tattoo on them — or even taking a couple and putting them on each other. Before I knew it, there was little SpaceCadet all over the place. I was thrilled!!!

I stuck one on my cheek, of course (but you’ve already seen that). And then I got a bit risqué and stuck one just below my neckline…

But then, some of my customers thought that was the perfect spot too!

And the thing about the tattoos is that they were the perfect icebreaker. Suddenly, all the customers waiting in line were helping each other put them on, discussing whether they should go for shoulders, wrists, or biceps… It was so cool to see so many people getting into the spirit! Oh, and then… they started comparing yarn. Of course they did! It’s what fiber people do!

Lots and lots of customers sticking SpaceCadets right there on their cheeks. Including my two lovely assistants…

(Don’t they look fabulous?!?)

We came home feeling on fire — happy, exhilarated, exhausted. HomeSpun lived up to everything we hoped, and our customers were so much fun. Our next show is Knitters Fantasy on April 14 and it’s going to be a crunch to get ready for another show so soon but… I can’t wait!

Hey, don’t forget — only two days left to sign up!

Written All Over My Face

23MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The last couple of days have been crazy busy — I’ve been running around doing last minute things to prepare for HomeSpun Yarn Party this Sunday in Savage MD. But yesterday and I had to stop everything and play for wee bit.

Just stop and play, like a kid.

Because something wonderful arrived in the post. Something I’d ordered completely on a whim, and just hoped it’d turn out all right, thought I’d probably love it but wasn’t really sure…

When I ripped open the package I found this…

And I immediately let out a squeeeeee!!!!

And then, I immediately did this…

(Disclaimer: My nose is not that big. Somehow, I seem totally incapable of taking a close up that does not involve either enlarging my nose to alarming proportions or causing it to become misshapen in a startlingly Gérard Depardieu-esqe fashion. Seriously. I have no idea why. Also, the crazy amount of out of focus area? That hides wrinkles. Yeah, I can see some of you nodding.)

But back to the tattoos. Ok, now, I admit I’m probably a lot more excited about this than you are. The thing is, I love my little SpaceCadet. He hangs out with me all day long — on labels, on my project bag, and on the original drawing I made of him, stuck on the corkboard over my desk. So to see him suddenly appear on a bunch of temporary tattoos just made me feel downright giddy. I mean, a SpaceCadet tattoo! How cool is that?!?

So, If I Wear One, Will You Wear One Too?

Ok, how does this sound… We’ll be taking these funky little SpaceCadet tattoos to HomeSpun and giving one to every person who signs up to the SpaceCadet mailing list (oh yeah, a copy of the SpaceCadet’s Guide and a tattoo!). And — and here’s the fun part — for everyone who puts their tattoo on right then and there, we’ll give them 10% off their HomeSpun purchase! How does that sound?

And if you’re not going to HomeSpun but you really really want one of these cool little tattoos, just remind me in the notes of your next order and I’ll pop one in your parcel. And when you wear it, you gotta send me a photo! Ok?

(Hey, don’t forge: InterStellar Yarn Alliance memberships will be open for only another 7 days. If you’ve been meaning to join and haven’t yet, don’t let the subscription time close before you get a chance!)