Lessons From the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

15FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s been an incredible weekend — exhilarating, exciting, educational, an absolute whirlwind, and a lot of hard work. SpaceCadet Creations was at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, and we had the time of our lives! And now, as I get the chance to sit down for the first time in days, I realise just how many lessons there were from doing our first show.

Here’s what I learned:

How fantastic is it to finally get to meet my customers in person. Seriously, it is the best! These are people I see tweeting, people who leave comments on the blog and on Facebook, but there is nothing like meeting you guys in person, discussing your knitting, seeing your projects, and just being able to put faces to names. Meeting you all was fantastic fun!

How wonderful it is to talk to customers about my yarns and get that feedback. I mean, I do all this in isolation. Day to day, I work in my studio mostly on my own, with pots simmering quietly and yarns soaking… And when I pull them out, well, sometimes I think a yarn looks great and sometimes I’m not so sure. And it was just such an incredible experience to see customers making a beeline for the colourways that were calling out to them, and to hear their comments and get their feedback. Nothing beats that.

That every person has their own unique colour style, their own sense of what works for them… and you absolutely cannot judge a knitter or a crocheter by her cover. We had people come up who looked like they might choose calm, quiet colourways but who instead went straight for the brightest, craziest colours. And others whom I thought would go for the same wild yarns but who instead reached straight for the peace and serenity of the semi-solids. The truth is, crafters are unique and interesting people, and you can’t box them into categories!

That many hands make light work, and work doesn’t feel like work when it’s split out amongst friends. …With HUGE thanks to the Wednesday night knitters for bagging and tagging, knitting samples, brainstorming, and coming up with some great ideas that made the show a lot better for us.

That there is simply no way to show how beautiful, how smooshy, how fibery-lucious a yarn is over the internet. Great photography is all well and good, but absolutely nothing beats getting to snorgle that yarn in person!

And, following on from that, that the purples and blues that I absolutely cannot photograph will sell like hotcakes when people can see how lovely they really are!

The Vendor Hall was HUGE!

That when you get a look behind the scenes, you realise that the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival is a HUGE undertaking with a bazillion variables that really could all go disastrously wrong, but somehow Barb and her team keep everything under control and pull the whole thing off seamlessly. And they smile the whole time! I don’t know how they do it.

That you can’t actually go all day without eating.

Also, you can’t actually go without sleeping either. The body will revolt and shut you down. And that little factoid put a serious dent in my festival-prep schedule.

What fun it is to meet and finally get to chat with other fiberisti in person (Hello KnitPurlGurl! Hello StevenBe!)
StevenBe

That StevenBe’s mother and her friend are lovely, lovely women and so interesting that I could have sat and talked to them all day. Hallo Christa! Hallo Barbara!

That I go a bit giddy when I get asked if I’d like to be a guest dyer for a LYS’s yarn club. YesIwouldYesIwouldYesIwould!!!!

What an incredible rush it is to asked by LYSs whether I wholesale yarn …and how that plants interesting little seeds in my head.

That having friends there to show you the ropes, give you tips and ideas, loan you display furniture, and make change when you run out of small bills… that kind of professional camaraderie makes all the difference! (With big thanks to Amy, Bloomin Yarns, CosyKnits, Wren&Rita, and GwenErin)

How nice it is to be able to bring yarns out of the shop, give them a fresh airing, sell them at the festival, and then have brand new yarns to offer to all my custermers who couldn’t get to this festival. Look for new yarns to start appearing in the shop in the coming days and weeks!
All dyed in three weeks!

That you can increase your dyeing by 10 times your normal rate and fill a festival booth with stock in only three weeks, but everything else in your life will come to a complete halt. I really have to get some laundry done before I run out of clothes and some bills paid before they shut off the utilities!

That none of this is possible without the support of a great team. And I had a great team (With more thanks than I can express to my husband, to Natalie, to meine kleine schwester, and to my mum …and to my dad, who apparently hasn’t eaten in weeks because my mum has been here the whole time!).

And, finally, that I love love LOVE doing festivals!!!!!

Continuing your Sock Knitting Journey

08FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Note from the SpaceCadet: My friend Amy (DPUTiger on Ravelry) is a knitting teacher, a quilter, and a newly-minted weaver. And she’s been kind enough to write a series of posts about her favourite ways to start new sock knitters on their journey…

So you’ve tackled Fuzzy Feet and are ready to move along and try something else. Where is a good place to start with that beautiful fingering weight yarn and the toothpick-sized needles?

My first pair of fingering weight socks were generated by my sock class teacher with Sock Wizard. They had crazy-long cuffs (hello, 7” of 2×2 ribbing!) and took a really, really long time to knit. I did a second pair with the same yarn, on needles that I hated, and with short-row heels and toes. That experience nearly put me off of socks completely.

So, you ask, what turned things around for me, and what would I recommend to you so you don’t suffer the sock blahs right out of the gate?

Knitting Rules. If you aren’t familiar with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, you should be. Stephanie is a terrific writer with a sense of humour. And whether you are an experienced knitter or especially a knitter that’s just starting to branch out into the world of Not Scarf Knitting, Knitting Rules is a valuable addition to any knitter’s library.

So just as I was finishing the Socks from Hell, the Yarn Harlot began blogging about the step-out socks that she was knitting for an appearance on Knitty Gritty. I was intrigued, picked up a copy of Knitting Rules and hit the jackpot.

And while Stephanie provides a perfectly awesome 64-stitch sock pattern, she also provides a good basic sock recipe. I love this pattern and recommend it because it gives you the tools to create a sock in any size to fit any foot. She gives you permission to stockingette that leg after a couple inches of ribbing. She has great information on how to start with hats, sweaters, all kinds of things. The book is a great foundation for wherever you want to take your knitting.

There are a few little tidbits I’ll throw in before I leave you in suspense waiting for my final salvo on sock knitting:

I have one rule in my classes: No Eeyores. If you attack something new with a positive, can-do attitude, you will succeed! If you are convinced sock knitting is too hard for you, then it will be. Period. Attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Lifelines are your friend! (What is a lifeline? Click here) If you’re new to sock knitting, throw a lifeline in before you start something new. My ideal lifeline material is DMC Perle Cotton, commonly used for cross stitch and embroidery. If you use lifelines, you really can knit fearlessly, because it will be simple to rip out and re-start if you screw up or get confused.

Every single sock pattern in existence can be knit using any of the three small-circumference knitting methods: double-pointed needles (DPNs), two circular needles, or the Magic Loop. All three methods are interchangeable. Always. No exceptions.

I’ll be back again to discuss the one book that changed my knitting life. Until then, enjoy your foray into sock knitting!

An Open Letter

04FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

An Open Letter to Those who Don’t Get the Fiber Arts

I am not doing this to recreate the past. I don’t harbour any fantasies of wearing petticoats or a bonnet. And I don’t knit because I want to feel domestic.

I do this to free my soul. I do this to work in colours that make my heart sing. I dye because I see in my mind hues and shades that are bursting to be let out. And so I do let them out, laying them down in dye upon fiber – vibrant shades poured out over wool, over silk, over the ordinary of life.

And when, at last, I cast those colours onto my needles, I feel a calm wash over me as I work them up into a fabric of my own making — the needles clicking softly and the colours gently blending and contrasting.

I know you think this is old-fashioned, but it’s not. It is as modern as imagination, as current as discovery, as now as creativity. Would you ask a painter why he doesn’t just take a photograph?

And it’s ok if you don’t get it. I understand. But I just wanted to say – I just wanted to say out loud – that this is nothing about old fashioned. This is what I do, and I do it now. I am a fiber artist.

Pattern Roll-Call: Trifecta Perfection

02FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There’s snow on the ground and ice on the way, and the wind is bitter and cruel. I think no month can be called Deep Winter more than February, and it takes all our woolly armory to stave off the cold.

So when I saw the Sweetly Worn trio by Natalie Selles, I knew I had to show it to you. I mean, it caught my eye first because of the way it will show off a hand-dyed variegated yarn so beautifully by alternating it against contrasting solid yarn. And I love that the stripes travel across the fabric to form intriguing shapes and angles.

But today,on this cold, grey, snow-locked February day, I think I just really love the fact that this is a complete set — hat, shawl, and mitts — that will go a long way toward keeping this bone-chilling winter at bay.

I think this pattern would look wonderful with a deep, wintery colourway such as this Celeste in Stewed Cranberries (which went into the shop today) or Estelle in Spice Trade:

sock yarn, yarn, knitting, hand-dyed — Celeste in Stewed Cranberries, Estelle in Spice Trade

Or, if you are looking out at the snow and find yourself in need of a boost of bright summery colour, perhaps you could try these zesty yellows and greens that I’ve just put into the Dept of Rocket Science:

knitting, yarn, sock yarn — Estelle and Stella in Dept of Rocket Science 110120-010

A First Step in Sock Knitting

28JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Note from the SpaceCadet: My friend Amy (DPUTiger on Ravelry) is a knitting teacher, a quilter, and a newly-minted weaver. And she’s been kind enough to write about her favourite way to start new sock knitters on their journey…

Socks seem to be part of the “Magical Mystery Tour” of knitting. Somehow, people get all freaked out with sock heels, short rows, gussets, kitchener stitch … the list goes on.

And with all these amazing hand-dyed yarns to choose from, why not add sock knitting to your repertoire?

I teach sock knitting at Bloomin’ Yarns, my LYS. On Ravelry, I’d say one of the questions I see most often is how to get started with sock knitting. I have a prefab answer that I use over there, but you lucky folks get the expanded version with the why’s and wherefores behind my answer.

The number one thing that I recommend for a first sock is usually Fuzzy Feet. It’s a free pattern from the Winter, 2002 issue of Knitty.com. Why do I like it so much for a first sock?

The first reason is that it calls for a worsted weight yarn. I believe that using fingering weight yarn and sock-sized needles is a skill all by itself. When you are used to using worsted weight yarns and needles in the neighborhood of a US 8, it’s a big change to go down to 8 sts/inch and a 2.5mm needle. And it’s better to learn one thing at a time, not two.

If you already do enjoy small needles and want to jump right in with that set-up, then you can go wind your next skein of SpaceCadet so you’re ready to roll with my next guest post.

So what else is so great about Fuzzy Feet?

They are knit with a worsted weight feltable wool (like Cascade 220) on US 10.5 needles, which makes them very quick to knit. I usually use a 16” circ, so I don’t even have to mess with a small-circumference technique like DPNs (double-pointed needles), two circular needles or Magic Loop. The construction is identical to a traditional top-down sock so you can learn the process with great big comfy needles. And the best part? It doesn’t matter in the least if you mess up, because when you’re done… you felt the slippers.

Have you ever felted anything before? There is virtually no stitch definition left after the felting process so those wonky short rows to turn the heel? Those gusset stitches that you picked up that are a little loose and open? The kitchener stitch at the toe that isn’t quite perfect? Gone. All of it.

You wind up with a pair of comfortable, warm slippers. And you learned the mechanics of sock knitting! Even my uber-picky husband likes his Fuzzy Feet. He’s on pair #2, since he walked through his first pair by the end of Winter #3.

So what’s the next step after you’ve finished your Fuzzy Feet? I’ll be back to talk about that next time!

Forgetting Everything, Except This..

25JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There is a mountain of laundry in the family room waiting to be sorted — seriously, a mountain. And a mountain of dirty dishes collecting in the sink. I suspect there are a few bills I’ve forgotten to pay too… Real life has come to a complete halt while I get ready for the upcoming Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet show, and there are a lot of things that are getting pushed to one side — or getting forgotten altogether! — while that happens.

But while I’ve been dyeing at rate to make my head spin, you’ll be pleased to hear that one thing I haven’t forgotten is… to grab some of that yarn and put it in the shop for you guys!

IMG_2054 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in SeaFoam

IMG_2082 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in WinterBerries

IMG_2066 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in Plumberry

And just because it’s flippin’ FREEZING out there, I’ve included some Astrid DK too, which is incredibly soft and smooshy — perfect for lovely warm hats and gloves. Stay warm, everybody!