Green leaves on trees, green grass in the park, a barefoot lunch hour sitting in the sun. Summer knitting.
Dappled light through the leaves, warm breeze, songbirds calling through the green oasis in the city. Needles softly clicking.
Bright blooms bursting from neat flowerbeds, calm amid the bustle, soaking up sunlight and softening the city-grey. Stitched meditation.
When we did our first show earlier this year, the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival, I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy it or not. I mean, I’d never done one before and, to be honest, it was a pretty daunting prospect to meet so many people like that, to put my yarns and colourways out there for them to love or to… walk away from. I was nervous.
I was also being silly, as it turns out. We had a BLAST at Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet! And then again, at HomeSpun Yarn Party — sooooo much fun! I had no idea how exhilarating it would be to finally get to meet so many customers in person, to get that feedback, to make those connections. Just wonderful!
And an even bigger surprise was the requests we got from LYSs for our wholesale information. What a compliment! But, sadly, we were so swamped at the time with the shows and custom requests and the launch of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance that we had to say we didn’t have any ready and we’d get it to them as soon we could…
Does it sound like a brush-off? It wasn’t, honest! We really were that busy!
But the shows are done (for now) and the Yarn Alliance has launched with the first parcels already sent out… and that means we’ve had a little time to catch our breath and put together a wholesale information packet. I’ll be sending those out Friday to everyone who enquired about them
So you know what that means, right? It means there’s a chance that SpaceCadet Creations yarns will be coming to an LYS near you, so you can do more than just look at pretty pictures and wonder if it’s the right yarn for you… You can pick it up and pet it and squish it and snorgle it! And believe me, it is sooooo much better in person than it is in the pictures!
And if any other LYSs are interested in carrying SpaceCadet yarns, please do pop over to the Wholesale page and let us know!
The response to the Sexy Knitter’s pattern giveaway has been fantastic, and it was so much fun to see the comments rolling in and all the feedback on your favourite Sexy Knitter patterns! Thanks so much to all of you for participating.
And I’m about to tell you who’s won but, before I do, let me just quickly show you two exciting yarns I’ve put in the shop today. And they’re exciting not because of the colours I’ve applied, but because the yarns themselves are just so beautiful. Really, when I’m holding them in my hands, turning them in the light, they are so lusterous, just so gorgeous! I can hardly take pictures to do them justice — but trust me, you’ll love them.
First is a combination of silk and superwash BFL which produces a 4-ply yarn that feels incredible and has the most amazing sheen…
And the second is a beautiful combination of silk with merino wool that creates a 2-ply yarn with a distinctive texture that is incredibly smooshy with a breath-taking luster…
Ok, I’ve made you wait long enough. The winner of two Sexy Knitter patterns of her choice is:
Congratulations! Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com, using the same email address you used in your comment, to let us know which patterns you’d like. And the Sexy Knitter will get them to you!
The weather was glorious, the shopping overwhelming, and it was sheep as far as the eye could see! I got back from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival exactly the way I knew I would: drunk with excitement, completely exhausted, and yet ready for more! There is nothing else like MDSW…
I was lucky enough to run into the lovely Nora Bellows of Noni. I discussed spindles with Sasha Torres of the SpinDoctor podcast. Got to say hello to Amy Singer of Knitty magazine. And I had really enlightening conversations (about credit card machines of all things!) with Andrea Berman (I Speak KnitSpeak), Gale of Gale’s Art, and Jennie Lanners (you know… Jennie the Potter!).
Did I take any pictures of any of them? No, not one. I know …I know!
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So, you’ll just have to settle for pictures of my swag instead…
Oh wait! I forgot… I got some really cool stitchmarkers too from Jennie the Potter. Let me go grab my knitting…
I love that they have knit stitches on one side and instructions on the other! So cool! The yarn is SpaceCadet’s Stella in Vibrance.
So, you see how much fun it was? Oodles and oodles, and I am jonesing for more! What are your favourite fiber festivals through the year? Which ones do you love?
The magic of knitting is in the knitting — we all know this, don’t we? It’s the feel of the yarn, the click of the needles, the hypnotic meditation of the motion. But no knitter can honestly deny that there’s a lot of fun in all the stuff that goes along with knitting. You know, the stuff — the needles, the project bags, the jewelry… er, I mean stitchmarkers. The stuff is fun!
And I want to show you some stuff that I really love. It’s the Knitter’s Tool Tin, from The Sexy Knitter, Sarah Wilson. Sarah’s cool and funky knitting patterns have appeared in The Knitter, Yarn Forward, Knitty, and Knitting Today, but when I was searching for the perfect gift to go in the very first parcels for the Yarn Alliance, it was her Knitter’s Tool Tin that caught my eye…
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And you can see why, can’t you? Is it great or what?!? Everything a knitter might need, right there in a nifty little tin. Perfect.
Of course, I wanted the Yarn Alliance to get something special and exclusive, so I asked Sarah if she’d customise some of her tins just for us. And they turned out fabulous! Check it out…
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Sarah put her calling card on the bottom, and a magnet in the lid…
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Now, because I didn’t want the Alliance members to be able to guess what was coming in the second or third parcels, we’ve changed the contents of the tin from Sarah’s standard Tool Tin. Yarn Alliance members received the first part of the contents in their April parcel, and will get more in future parcels to built up the full Yarn Alliance tin.
And here’s the best bit — when I told Sarah I’d be blogging about her stuff, I suggested we run a giveaway and she very generously offered two of her patterns as the prizes!
And here’s all you have to do to enter:
That’s it! Easy, huh?
But if you’d like a second entry (and who wouldn’t like a second entry?), leave a comment here telling us which Sexy Knitter design is your favourite, and why. And there you go, you’ve got two chances to win two patterns from The Sexy Knitter! How cool is that?!?
The Small Print (because I know you love it!): Contest closes on Sunday May 15 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must complete the mandatory entry (that is, being a follower of SpaceCadetCreat on Twitter and retweeting the tweet mentioned above) before completing the ‘extra’ entry (leaving a comment on this blog post). Tweet must be exactly as shown in the post above (to facilitate tracking of entries) in order to be valid. Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. Prizes are not transferable. There, that wasn’t too bad, was it?
Are you ready for summer? Ready for those warm breezes, some long cool drinks, and golden light filtered through the lush green that you missed so much these past months? Yeah, me too. I really, really am ready.
And those kinds of days call for a really special yarn. Something like… bamboo. Not only because bamboo really does evoke thoughts of those tropical breezes accompanied by tropical drinks but, more importantly, because it has a spectacular sheen that captures the warmth of the sun and reflects it back in way that is everything you want in a summer yarn.
Here’s to those lazy days to come, gentle days bathed in golden sunlight, and lot of glorious, shimmery, summer knitting…
Clockwise from top left: fingering yarn with bamboo in Soliel, Pink Sun, Juicy, Evening Fog, Translucence, and SeaFoam
