Do you believe in jinxes?  Because the oddest thing happened yesterday.

Well, let me back up a little first.   You remember that our studio suffered serious storm damage earlier this year, right?  Rain pouring through the roof, the ceiling buckling like roller coaster tracks, and finally contractors coming in and ripping out the walls and ceiling to make everything safe again.  As you know, that work uncovered some additional damage and, to help raise funds to cover the costs, I decided to turn something ugly into something beautiful and dye a special colourway inspired by the damage.

Yesterday was a beautiful day — warm and pleasant so I set myself up on my front porch to take photos of the new colourways (two of them — I couldn’t just do one!).  My porch always gets great light so I take advantage of it whenever I can but, as I was taking the photos, the sunshine started slipping away quickly.  I looked up and saw a bank angry clouds rolling across the sky, blocking out the light, and looking like… well, looking like they were coming for some kind of vengeance.

I knew rain had been forecast but the sheer anger of those clouds took me by surprise and I finished the photos fast and brought everything inside …just as the heavens opened.  And open they did!  The rain was incredible: pounding on the roof like a drum, pouring down the eaves so fast and spilling right over the gutters (as if they weren’t even there!) and rolling out into the street, which was quickly beginning to imitate a waterslide at an amusement park.

It lasted for two hours.  Water came in our basement (not much, but some).  Firetrucks wailed in the distance, and I turned the police scanner app on my phone.  And then my assistant Jill texted: the creek along road to the studio had burst its banks and one of the hillsides had come down onto the street.  The police scanner squawked as the emergency services set up barricades and tried to clear the mudslide.

Now, I am feeling fairly confident that our studio is ok (knock wood).  It sits well back from the creek and the roof has been solidly repaired.  But today we supposed to go down and pack the Mini-Skein Club and… well, I’m not sure we can all safely get there.  This dumpster was floating down the street near the house of one of my assistants (as was this rescue boat).  And last I heard, they still hadn’t cleared the mudslide.

So instead, I’m going to start this morning gently (and give everyone who has to rush to work the chance to do that first).  I’ll drink my tea, slow down a bit, and then I’ll head down and see how the studio fared.  They say lightening doesn’t strike twice…  I wonder if that’s true for flood waters too?  Either way, please keep your fingers crossed.

Speaking of drinking tea and slowing down, I can’t think of any better way to do that than with a little fiber news round-up, can you?  So grab a cuppa, sit down with me, and let’s start today right, shall we?

image © Aroha Knits LLC, used with permission

This looks like fun: a five-day mKAL and photo challenge from Frenchie at Aroha Knits, all about incorporating mindfulness and self-care into our knitting.  It starts May 21, with five days of prompts for reflection and pattern clues. Click here for more details.

I came across two articles this week — here and here — on the cost and effort that goes into producing a knitting pattern.  They’re both eye-opening.  To be honest, some of it didn’t surprise me, because  I know how much work goes into producing yarn (and the bulk of it isn’t the dyeing — it’s the prep before and after, especially for Mini-Skeins, and then the photographing and getting it up on the website, and then sharing and promoting it) and designing patterns seems so much more complicated than dyeing yarn.  I found both articles fascinating — well worth reading!

When I read the title of this post (“Can We Talk About Moths?“), my first thought was no thank you!  But this time of year, I’m afraid we all have to.  The article is short and without much detail but the comments below are full of handy info.  And for the record, did you know that all our yarn — dyed and undyed — is stored in plastic tubs and bags for that very reason?  I’ll admit it looks pretty sterile and takes away a lot of the yarn’s romance but it’s 100% worth it to keep your yarn safe from creepy-crawlies!

Ok, I hear “Laurel”.  What about you?

I recently came across two games that are all about colour and which absolutely fascinate me (thanks Jill!).   The first is Color Match, which shows you a colour and then has you find it again on a spectrum.  I love this because, as a dyer, this is basically what I do all the time, but it’s so cool to see it scored (my highest match: 98 out of 100!).  The other is Blendoku and your goal is to put colours in (increasingly complex) gradient order.  It feels like creating a bunch of Sweater Sets at breakneck speed and I can only do it for so long before I am itching to get down to the studio and start making some for real.  If you download them, please let me know if you have as much fun with them as I do!

This Tuesday: the SpaceCadet Flood Damage Limited Edition Colourways!

Storm Damage + Unexpected Costs = Beautiful New Colourways!

It may seem like an unlikely equation, but I am determined to turn all that ugly flood mess and mold and blech into something good.  And I hope you’re just as excited to see the result as I am!  Here they are…

The first is inspired by the rain coming through our ceiling: first it was a beautiful clear bluey-grey and then, as it picked up muck and debris running through our walls and ceiling, it turned brown.  Sounds gross (and it was!) but, as a study in neutrals, I absolutely love the resulting colourway, don’t you?

And the second colorway was inspired by… wait for it…  the mold and mildew they found all over the wet insulation inside our studio walls.  You’ll see the bright pink of the fiberglass mixed with yellow-brown mildew and black splotches of mold.  Sounds so ugly right?  Well the walls were gross as they came down, but I this colourway is actually really beautiful.  Whodda thunk, eh?!?

These go live on this coming Tuesday May 22 at 12noon (eastern).  A very limited number are dyed and ready to ship, but I’ll keep this colourway open to orders for two weeks, and we will have a special custom dyeing day for the rest on June 7th.

(You’ll notice neither of them have names yet — I always find that the hardest part.  Please, send suggestions.  The wittier and snarkier the better!  I need to show these storms who’s boss.)

And also on Tuesday, I’m going to be releasing four other, new colourways to join our palette of permanent colourways.  Here’s a quick peak at them, but there’s something about them I want you to see…

Here’s what I want to show you:  look at what a gorgeous fade they make when you combine them with the two storm damage colourways!  Now, as I said, these four are joining our regular colourway line-up but, if you want to put together this fade, you’ll need to order within the two weeks that the storm damage colourways are available.

Do you love them as much I do?  I hope so, because I really want to make something good out of all the mess and hassle of the damage to the studio.  So I’ll see you on Tuesday at 12noon!

Making Advances by Jennifer Dassau

I love the way this shawl takes a simple triangleand unexpectedly enlongates it into a beautiful assymentrical shape.  And even more, I love the way the stripes accetuate it by swapping the roles of the main colour and contrast colour along the way.  Go wild with the colour by pairing a semi-solid with a variegated.  Or incorporate Mini-Skeins with a single semi-solid to create a colour story that changes right along with the shawl shape!

Pistachio Ice Cream Shawl by Brenda Castiel

The simple shape of this shawl belies its fascinating construction, using short rows to create wedges of colour to contrast with garter and eyelet rows that cross-cross the whole piece like ribbons.  Here it’s knit in two colours (and yay, it’s another great example of combining semi-solids and variegateds!) but I’d love to see it done with each wedge being a new colour from a set of gradient Mini-Skeins.  It’d be a show-topper!

Roselette Cowl by Mindy Wilkes

There’s something so sweet about the stitch pattern in this cowl that it jumped out at me immediately.  Stranded colourwork doesn’t seem nearly so daunting when it’s this delicate.  I love the soft colours and traditional patterning — and the fact that, knit in fingering, it’s perfect for using leftovers and scraps from other projects.  Choose your colours carefully, and the result will be delightful!

all images © the respective designers, used with permission

Ok, that’s it for today.  I’m going to get ready and head down to the studio soon.  Or try to, at least.  Keep your fingers crossed for me and, until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

Last week, I had a wonderful phone conversation with an LYS owner to discuss developing a custom-dyed yarn club for her shop.  This week, I got to chat with a customer who wanted to check on an order.  And in between, I’ve been working with a whole bunch of designers, choosing colours and yarns for some seriously awesome new designs and KALs.  It’s so exciting to see these creative new things in development!  And to be a part of making it all happen!  It just fills me up with anticipation and enthusiasm and I can’t wait to get to the studio and do my part in making it happen.

And it’s no less true for dyeing for our regular customers as it for LYS owners and designers.  They may be in the industry but it’s our customers’ passion for knitting and crochet that makes all of this happen.  And that passion is so much more than a hobby!  It’s a calling and a connection and a creative outlet that other folks just don’t get.  And I am so glad to get to be a little part of it!

So, lots of great stuff going on at the moment but, before I rush off to the studio, let’s take a moment to explore what’s going on in the fiber world together.  Grab your tea or coffee and get comfortable, and here we go…

(the pattern is Eyeblink by Heidi Alandar, knit in SpaceCadet Maia Gradient Mini-Skeins)

Warmer weather always gets me excited about lace patterns.  But it’s easy to get intimidated by them too, so I was excited to spot that Julia Riede just released Lace Knitting for Beginners, a brand new ebook to teach everything you need to get started with lace.  And she’s offering 30% off until the end of the May!  Click here for the code and download a sample chapter.

Along those same lines, I don’t know what it is about warmer weather that makes me think every year that this is the year I’m doing to do a project with beads, but I always do.  And then the idea freaks me out a little and I never end up doing it.  But this video made it seem so simple that this might be the year I do it! (It uses a crochet hook and adds the beads as you go along but if you know a good video about pre-stringing your beads, let me know — I’d love to see that too)

What makes you a maker? I am feeling so inspired by this quick round up of other makers’ thoughts on that question.

Twitter seems to have changed tone a lot in the last few years.  Whereas it used to be one of the places where I went to connect with other knitters, now it feels like it’s all politics (for better or worse, and Instagram has taken its place in my personal knitosphere).  But designer Kathleen Sperling is bring that knitting feeling back to Twitter with a Twit-a-long, a mystery KAL where the clues come every two days in tweet form.  Sound like fun?  It started yesterday but there’s still plenty of time to join in.  Click here for the inaugural tweet.

New Colourways Coming Next Week!

Now that we’ve got the studio back and the most recent shows behind us, we’ve had the opportunity to do a little experimentation in the studio and it’s been so fun to get back to the dyepots.  Two of the things I’ve been working on are the colourways inspired by the damage to our studio and a new little collection of colours that we’re calling Fadeds.  And when I started taking their pictures earlier this week, I realised they actually go beautifully together.

I’ll share proper pictures of them soon, but I just want to give you a quick sneak peek (without giving toooo much away).  So here are the Fadeds together with the Damage colourways.  Don’t they make a gorgeous fade?  Watch for them to go in the shop next week!

(that’s it. It’s really really sneaky)

Speaking of Gorgeous Fades…

I just want to show off to you our latest Mini-Skein Club colours in the Ombre & Gradient Mix.  This is such a cool club because, in this mix, the gradient flows from one month to the next (and the next and the next).   I just love the way March’s deep, rich greens morph slowly into April’s khaki and then into a golden yellow.  We’re working on May’s set now…  where do you think the colour will take us next?

(Mini-Skein Club minis from March to April 2018)

And, while I’m at it, here are the months that came before the skeins above.  So this is November and December on the left, and you can see how they flow into January and February on the right.  If you’re in the club but you don’t break open your bundles and lay them out like this…. do it!  I find it is so much more inspiring when you can really see their gorgeous colours.

(Mini-Skein Club minis from, left, Nov to Dec 2017 and, right, Jan to Feb 2018)

 

Speaking of Mini-Skeins, I find that folks often ask me what to make with them.  My standard answer (“Everything!”) isn’t always the most helpful but, this week, three fabulous patterns jumped out at me that answer the question perfectly.  Each one has a slightly different take.  Check them out and imagine how you’d use the colours above in these patterns…

Pomeroy Shawl by Mindy Wilkes

The most obvious place to start is with a simple shawl that just works its way through a set of Mini-Skeins to show off the wonderful colour flow. This shawl has two great things going for it: first, Mindy works the changes between skeins so that the colour blends perfectly from one Mini-Skein to the next; and second, this $4 pattern is yours free when you sign up for her mailing list!  Click here to get it!

Ondulation by Becky Herrick

Becky’s lovely shawl uses Mini-Skeins combined with a contrast yarn to create really emphasise the colour flow from skein to skein with crisp, clean stripes.  But they’re not plain stripes — they have soft undulations of their own that make them both fun to knit and so pretty to wear.  I think April’s blue-to-green Mini-Skeins would look amazing in this, against a contrasting skein of Drizzle.

Bonus! Just for folks on our mailing list, Becky is offering Ondulation for 20% off.  Just click here and use the code spacecadet before the end of May …and then cast on!

POPstripes by Jennifer Dassau

And finally, for this shawl, a truly innovative way to use Mini-Skeins, by working two sets in opposite directions: from light to dark and dark to light, moving across one another in reversing waves of color. Using just knit, purl and simple slipped stitches, lines of colorful stripes sweep along this asymmetric bias shawl to create a wonderfully intriguing knit!  Imagine it in November and December’s Minis going one way, and January and February’s going the other: you’d have gorgeous grey at both ends…   mmmmmm!

all images © the respective designers and used with permission

There now, isn’t that a wonderful way to start your day?  Yarny goodness always gets the morning going right!  But it’s time I head down to the studio.  Lots more dyeing to do and photos to take!  I hope your day is creative and inspiring too, and until next time, all my best!

Well hello!  You remember last week when I asked for suggestions of shows we should go to?  Oh my stars, the response was fantastic!  Thank you to everyone who made a suggestion — some of them were awesome and I applied to three new-to-us shows over the weekend.  I won’t say any more than that at the moment because they’re all juried shows and I don’t want to jinx us, but I am super-excited!  Please keep your fingers crossed that we get in and, please, if there’s a great yarn show or fiber festival near you that I should know about, do let me know!

(just another random pile of yarn handing around in the studio…)

Speaking of things to be excited about, after months of cold and snow that just. wouldn’t. let. go, Spring seems to have finally arrived!  As I sit on my front porch and drink a cup of tea, my lilac tree is bursting into bloom and the smell is amazing.  I’ve got a bunch of great stuff to share with you so grab yourself a cup of tea as well and spend five minutes easing into the day with a little fiber goodness.  Ready? Here we go…

I love an idea that’s both a stash-buster and a new craft to try, inspired by all the wall-hanging weaving I seem to be seeing everywhere these days (you too? If not, try following the Midnight Weaver for inspiration).  So I was super excited to come across this tutorial for making your own wall-hanging and weaving loom.  What an awesome way to show off your stash — especially if you’re a member of our Mini-Skein Club and have a gorgeous collection of our Ombre & Gradient minis, right? 

I have a good friend with a fondness for the Venus figurines (carved figures of the female form dating back 25000 to 30000 years ago), so this crocheted pattern for the Willendorf Venus caught my eye.

If you love role-playing games and you love knitting, Welcome to Yarnia might be just the thing for you.

Yesterday I was sitting on the front porch, drinking a nice cup of coffee and minding my own business, when a couple of wasps decided I was in their way (or their territory?!?) and convinced me to move indoors.  That reminded me that I’d read this article last week on why you should spray vinegar around your windows.  I’m not sure if it’s true, but I’m going to try it — windows, porch, and all!

Hand and wrist pain can be fact of life for knitters and crocheters, but does that stop us? No! (and the muggles can’t understand why but then, that’s why they’re muggles).  I am super intrigued by the suggestion of using ball rolling techniques for keeping your hands healthy and happy.  There are special balls you can buy (of course!) but, if you’ve got kids in the house, you probably have a million of those super-bouncy balls rolling around somewhere anyway (ask me how I know) or you could win one in the giveaway.  Either way, it looks like an interesting technique to try!

Studio-Damage Colourways

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I told you about how they’d discovered additional damage to our water-soaked studio (above) and we’d incurred some unexpected costs? I thought perhaps I’d dye some limited edition colourways inspired by the damage to help raise funds to cover those costs.

Now, “inspired by the damage” also kind of means “inspired by mold” …but don’t let that worry you.  This week, I spent a little time playing with that idea and the results got me pretty excited.  I explained it all on my Instagram Stories.  If you missed it, click below to watch.  The long and short?  They look so cool and they’ll be coming soon.  Watch this space!

Linen Cocktail by Natalie Volyanyuk

This time of year, I find myself gravitating to very light, very simple knits.  And this simple fingering weight sweater fits the bill, incorporating just enough sweet detailing to keep it interesting and enough stockinette to keep it simple and light.  I think I’d choose SpaceCadet Oriana because of its awesome drape, in a colour that feels like spring is in the air, such as the clean, fresh green of Crisp.

Revival by handmade by SMINÉ

Once the air conditioning goes on, there’s always a chill, isn’t there?  I love the simple geometry of this shawl, knit in angled blocks of garter and working gently through a beautiful fade.  I think I’d knit it in SpaceCadet Celeste to keep it light, in the colourways Honey, Thrive, Plume, Breeze, and Sage.

Skyline by Mel Ski

When its too warm for a full sweater or cardigan, but you don’t want bare shoulders and arms, a shrug is the perfect solution.  I love this one because its got interesting changes in both colour and texture.  Here the colour is clear contrast, but I think I’d go for a semi-solid matched with a variegated that blend together, such as Troublemaker with Tantrum, Sage with Time Traveller, or Feather with Fathoms Down.

all images © the respective designers and used with permission

Well, I suppose it’s time I get a start on the day.  Today I’m going to be sorting through some Mini-Skeins for a fabulous designer I’m excited to work with, and then maybe I’ll get a chance to try re-dyeing the mold colourways (am I really going to call them that?!?) to make sure I can repeat them.  I hope your day is packed with exciting things too (and no mold!) and, until next time, all my best!

 

 

 

Doing shows is one of my favourite parts of this job (I know I’ve said it before but it’s so true) because I get to meet in person so many folks who have until that point been only names on shipping labels.  When a long-time customers come into the booth to introduce themselves, to me it is such a pleasure to finally put a face to that name.  Thank you to everyone who came and said hello at our recent shows.  I had a great time meeting you, and I hope you enjoyed it too!

Our booth at the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. I loved standing in the sunlight from the huge windows in the Convention Center!

Speaking of shows, I’m thinking of shaking up our regular schedule and trying some new places we’ve never gone to before.  If there’s a show or festival  you think we ought to come to, please let me know!  Now, booth fees and travel can be expensive, so any show we go to has got to have that energy and vibe that makes it really worthwhile — you know what I mean — but if there’s one you love going to and think I should apply for, I really do what to hear about it!

And then once you’ve done that, I’ve got a ton of great fiber news to share with you. So grab your cup of tea or coffee, get comfy, and here we go…

(when you make granny squares out of Mini-Skeins, they somehow become doubly addictive… *cough* …ask me how I know!)

I pretty much love all things modular (mitred squares and granny squares are my happy place) so I was super-excited when I saw this tutorial for two colour spiraled granny squares.  I think I like the one on the right better.  Don’t you think it’d be awesome in a variegated yarn with a complimentary semi-solid?

This is cool: Instagram just introduced a “Focus” setting that mimics the shallow depth of field look that’s often only possible with higher-end cameras.  I can see it works really well with selfies, but will it work with project photos?  If you try it out, tag me — I’d love to see!

Umm…  ummm…  This is a big fat NO from me, but I’d love to know what other crocheters think.  Would you be into turning your fingernail into an always-on-hand (literally!) crochet hook?

Have you heard of Knit Stars? It’s an entirely online knitting event that give you the chance to learn from some truly awesome designers and instructors, and Knit Stars 3.0 (Nov 26- Dec 14) is open for enrollment now. Click here to check out the teachers and get earlybird pricing!

Ever knit a big scarf?  I bet it’s not as big as the one Jennifer Garner went out in recently!  I came across two articles about it (this one is safe for work, this one is not) and both of them made assumptions about her scarf that made me chuckle (it doesn’t look knitted to me…  and I’m not convinced it’s handmade…  and I’m really not convinced any 12-year-old is focused enough to work through all that yardage!).  But at any rate, I wonder if this is a one-off fashion statement, or will we see some sort of crazy-big scarf trend?

I’m super excited that the fabulous Corrina Ferguson, editor of Creative Knitting magazine, is using a trio of SpaceCadet yarns to create a beautiful new design.  That’s all I can say about it (shhhhh!) but I just loved this image she recently posted on Instagram of the three colourways all caked up: Troublemaker, Headstrong, and Windswept.  She’s boldly combined a semi-solid with a tonal with a variegated (never be afraid to try them together!) and what I love about this combo most is that, even though my instincts tell me they shouldn’t work together, it so beautifully mixes warm colours with cool.

image © Corrina Ferguson, used with permission

Try holding your hand over the image so you block out one cake at a time and see how that changes the feel of the whole picture.  When the rust disappears, the other two look cool.  When the magenta disappears, everything seems warm and autumnal.  And when the variegated is covered, you’ve got this awesome contrast combo.  See what I mean?  It’s so cool!

(Serious question: which out of those three is your favourite pairing?)

Gradient Explorers Combos!

This past month I’ve been so blown away by the SpaceCadet crew, who kept their focus on getting clubs and orders out even while we were away at back-to-back shows and hindered by simultaneous studio repairs (SpaceMonsters and Mini-Skein members, look for your parcels to go out at the end of this week).  But I finally got the chance to photo some colourway combinations for recent Gradient Explorers yarns and I just have to share my favourite with you!

First, this is March’s Gradient Explorers colourway, Rivulet:

And this is how it fits into a fade created with the previous Gradient Explorer colourways combined with some of our standard colourways. Even though I came up with about a dozen different combos that I shared with the Gradient Explorers members (once I got started, I just couldn’t stop!), I think this one is my absolute favourite because I just love a fade where the colours alternate perfectly between semi-solids and variegateds.  Don’t you agree?

This kind of gorgeous mix-and-match flow is exactly what the Gradient Explorers is all about! There are a few spaces available in the Gradient Explorers but it might be too late in the month to open those spaces up. If you’ve been wanting to join, click here and get on the Gradient Explorers mailing list, so you’re first in line if I do a special limited opening before the end of the month.

Ecliptic by Hunter Hammersen

What Hunter does with creative stitch patterns blows me away every time, and this beautiful hat is no exception.  And while it may seem like an odd time of year to knit a hat, Spring still hasn’t convinced me that it’s yet sprung, and when the stitchwork is this intriguing and the project is quick, casting on is a no brainer!

 

Atyria II by Alasdair Post-Quinn

We partnered with Alasdair Post-Quinn at one of our recent shows and, as I flipped through his beautiful books and smooshed his lovely samples (he knit this one in Lyra), I couldn’t help but fall in love.  This hat was one of those samples that customers picked up again and again and again, because the double-knit design is so instantly appealing.  I just had to share it with you here!

little v hat by Jenny F

But if what you really fancy is some straight forward stranded colourwork, then I love the way this beautiful design combines it with just a little bit of texture for a completely intriguing knit.  Work it up in a monochromatic colour pair or go for a really bold contrast.  Either way, it makes for a fun, fast, and thoroughly enjoyable knit!

all images © the respective designers and used with permission

Ok, I’ve got fun day ahead of me, filled with lots of lovely yarn photos to take, and dyer’s notes to write, and maybe, if I’m lucky, a little dyeing as well.  I’m so glad to have been able to share all of this fun fiber stuff with you and hope you’ve enjoyed it too.  And, until next time, all my best!

Something kind of amazing happened this week.  If you’ve been following the saga of our leaking studio roof, then you’ll be glad to hear that the contractors finished replacing the ceiling and walls this week, and the studio is back up and running again.  Hoorah!  But that’s not to say everything is back to normal exactly…  the contractors tried to put everything back the way it was but it’s actually quite comical where things ended up …and we have found ourselves having to stop work and hunt for important items in some pretty illogical places!

But here’s what’s amazing: the studio has been completely repainted and, instead of the dark army green it was before (yep, that’s what the previous owner went for…), we now have a beautiful light grey on most of the walls and the first thing we noticed is how much it changes the light.  And not just from an HGTV  “wow, the room seems so much bigger” point of view, but it actually changes the way the yarn looks as we’re dyeing it!

I suppose that’s perfectly logical when I think about it, but we were just so used to the old wall colours (and actually didn’t have the option of changing them) that, after a while, I don’t think we noticed anymore.  But with the new paint so much lighter and more neutral, it’s easy to see that the old wall colour had an effect on how the dyes looked to our eyes.  Now the dyebaths fairly glow and the skeins seem so much brighter.  It’s exciting!

Oh, one other thing that made me laugh.  The new wall colour is actually called Olympus White but when I couldn’t remember that, I opened my handy Sherwin-Williams app and took a picture of the wall.  Here’s what colour it told me it was…   I can’t think of anything more appropriate!

Ok, I’ve got a bunch of great stuff to share with you this morning, so let’s get go ahead and jump in.  Grab a cuppa and find a comfortable spot, and here we go!

Last week I shared Dot Matrix (below) with you, a beautiful new pattern from Corrine Walcher that uses our Linking Sweater Sets and features true seams and set-in sleeves.  Knowing how to properly seam a garment is an important skill for a knitter to have but if it’s got you a little spooked, this wonderful tutorial from Amy Herzog is just what you need to guide you through every step.

There are lots of excellent knitting magazines out there, but very few dedicated to men’s knits so I’m excited to come across Rib Magazine.  Describing itself as “an ever-evolving, inspirational library of men’s knitwear patterns that highlights the renaissance of men returning to the craft and art of knitting,” I think it’s a wonderfully intriguing addition to the knitosphere!

This article in the Telegraph (of London) reports on calls for Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) to start prescribing knitting as a treatment to lower blood pressure, reduce depression, and slow the onset of dementia (key question: does quality fiber content improve medical results?).  I have no doubt that anyone’s health can be improved with the addition of knitting or crochet, but the two things that really caught my eye were further down in the article: first, the inspiring work of the charity Knit For Peace and, second, the comment about how “little known the research is” on the health benefits of knitting.  (…*cough* hands up everyone who already knew knitting and crocheting are good for your health!)

What’s the biggest project you’ve ever made?  A sweater?  A blanket?  Maybe a whole sweater-coat?  Be prepared to be blown away by this fiber artist who crochets* whole people (plus their entire outfits!) who are amazingly accurate to the people they are modeled on.  Absolutely stunning!  (*they look crocheted to me — do you think so?)

Carol’s Amazing Pooling

I spotted this amazing sweater last week on Instagram and just had to share it with you.  It’s knit in a custom colourway we dyed for River Colors, a wonderful LYS in Cleveland, and I so enjoyed creating that red, yellow, and black theme.  But the thing about this photo that stopped me in my tracks is the way the colours pooled into an amazing pseudo-argyle pattern in the body of the sweater.  Isn’t it stunning?!?  And look how different it looks from the sleeves.  Gauge makes all the difference with any variegated yarn.  And sometimes, when the gauge is just right, magic happens!  Click here to show Carol a little colour-pooling love!

 

 

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival
David L Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown Pittsburgh PA
(Click here for directions and parking info)
 
Marketplace Hours:
Friday, April 6 – 12:00 Noon to 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 7 – 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday, April 8 – 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Featuring books by double-knitting master Alasdair Post-Quinn!

 

Shoreline Scarf by Rebecca Velasquez

There’s a story behind this beautiful design: originally, Rebecca started it with a skein of SpaceCadet Thebe in Honey and when she realised she needed a second skein, we had that age-old problem of mismatching dyelots (which means, it happens to everyone — even top-notch published designers!).  Fortunately, we were able to sort her out with Feather, this beautiful teal blue, and the design took shape at last! A simple scarf for a new crocheter, it only uses three stitches for an easy crocheting experience. Check it out in the April issue of I Like Crochet magazine.

Sunnydale Cowl by Katy H. Carroll

Variegated yarns are so pretty in the skein, but they can sometimes drive you bonkers if the colors and stitch pattern are competing. So I love this cowl, which is specifically designed to showcase wildly variegated yarns,  and uses a combo of elongated and dropped stitches to create a lightweight, open fabric that works with a crazy skein of fingering beautifully.  Try it with Molten Cool, Windswept, or Vortex.

Meditation on the Beach Shawl by Brenda Castiel

Look closely at this shawl and you’ll see that it’s worked up in stockinette short row sections and garter stitch stripes, created to flow through a gradient fade for an intriguing knit with a stunning result.  Designed for a sport weight yarn, I’d actually love to see it knit in our Ombre & Gradient Mini-Skeins held double, because two fingering yarns together are a good DK/Sport substitute, and the colourways blend to produce an amazing mottled effect.  So grab two bundles from your stash and cast on!

all images © the respective designers, used with permission

Ok, I’d better get going because we’re setting up for the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival today, so I’ve got a long and exciting day ahead of me.  I hope your day is just as exciting (and maybe a little warmer?) and, until next time time, all my best!

You remember a couple of weeks ago when I showed you photos of our studio ceiling doing some very scary things after the rain made its way through the roof?  Well, this week, it’s all getting fixed!  The contractors are in, ripping out the ceiling and the walls and the studio looks… well, it looks like nothing I’ve seen before!

The good news is they’re replacing everything with new, mildew-resistant materials that are going to make the studio even better than it was before.  The interesting news is that they discovered a whole bunch of weird things about the studio that I’m really glad they’re going to fix (including the fact that our HVAC duct work actually didn’t have an end cap and so the furnace has been just pumping most of our heat out into the ceiling and wall cavities!).  And the bad news is that some of this weird stuff means we’ve run into some additional expense. *sigh*

Unexpected costs are never nice so I was trying to think of a way to bring some good out of this bad — perhaps by creating a beautiful new colourway to inspired by the studio damage and repair, that could raise the funds to cover this extra expense!  What do you think?  I talked about it this week in a video on my Instagram Story and on Facebook — if you haven’t see it, click here to check it out.  And then please do jump into the conversation and help me decide what colours to dye! After seeing the studio all ripped apart like that, I’m really looking forward to getting it back up and running, and getting some yarn in the dyepots to create this new colourway.

(Oh, and lots of folks got in touch to ask how they could help — thank you so much, that’s just lovely of you!  Honestly, the best way to help is by buying yarn or joining the Mini-Skein Club or the Yarn Alliance  — so we raise the funds by earning them and by sending you wonderful yarn)

But before anything else, it’s time to do what you and I do every week: grab a nice hot cuppa and relax with a bit of fibery goodness.  So get curled up in a comfortable spot and let’s dive in!

I thought this was really interesting: Heather at Closet Case Files spots a runway trend for quilting and patchwork motifs during the fashion week shows and speculates that we’ll be seeing the same inspiration hitting ready-to-wear in the coming year.  And so I’m wondering how that will translate into knit design…  will we see more patterns for modular knitting? (I hope so — I do love me some mitred squares!)

Quick: what’s the difference between “pick up 5 stitches” and “pick up and knit 5 stitches”?  If you don’t know the answer immediately, this excellent and exhaustive tutorial from the wonderful Kate Atherley is exactly what you need to feel completely confident the next time your pattern calls for either one.

I came across this video of a highly incompetent sheepdog getting schooled by a flock of sheep the other day and it had me in stitches (ok, it’s not actually a sheepdog, but still).

There are so many patterns these days that move through colour changes knit in the round and I love this tutorial on how to use Helical Stripes to blend two skeins without a join at the change.

The latest issue of 6 Bit Storybooks, Remain, is out (I highlight a beautiful pattern from it below) aaaaand… it contains an article I wrote about the way crocheting a blanket for my sister’s new baby connected me to my own grandmother.  It was a joy to write — I hope you enjoy reading it.

It’s been awesome welcoming so many new and renewing members to the Yarn Alliance, and I am so looking forward to the upcoming season!  If you’ve been meaning to join in the fun, this weekend is your last chance to grab a spot.

So first let me share with you a quick look at the yarn from the last parcel of the current season (just to whet your appetite…  *wink*) and then click the flying saucer to learn more and join in…

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is our premiere yarn club, all in fingering yarn and all about bold adventures in colour.  Exploring great new colourways is tons of fun… and even better when you do it with friends! The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is your a chance to dive into amazing exclusive SpaceCadet colourways and share it with a fabulous community of folks who are just as excited as you are!

Upcoming

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival Fri-Sun, April 6-8 David L Lawrence Convention Center Downtown Pittsburgh PA Featuring books by double-knitting master Alasdair Post-Quinn!

 

Dot Matrix by Corrine Walcher

image: © Stephanie Alford

I am so excited about this design, I can hardly tell you.  When I sent one of our linking Sweater Sets to Corrine earlier this year, I had no idea what she would do with it: a sweater? a shawl? something crazy? something wild?  Instead, she chose to let the colour change speak for itself and picked a beautiful but intriguing overall eyelet pattern to create visual interest.  The result is simple but stunning, a cardigan to be worn time and again… and again… and again.

Two things you need to know about this pattern… First, she’s discounted it by $1 off until 03/30, no code needed.  And second, because this is designed specifically for our linking sets, there’s no worry if you need an additional skein to make a larger size: every linking set starts and finishes with one of our standard colourways so, even though the set works through a complicated colour progression, it’s easy to add an extra skein or two to the set!

Dignity by Mel Ski

© 6Bits Storybooks, image used with permission

They say it’s all in the details and this sweater raises the stakes from simple stockinette to something far more intriguing through a beautiful colour choice and amazing stitch details.  Designed in SpaceCadet Lyra in Nine Stones, the subtle colourplay is shown to full effect in the main body but it really comes into its own in the slipped stitches along the textured cuffs and hem.  Part of 6 Bits Storybooks latest issue, Remain, it’s available as a standalone pattern but, when purchased as part of the ebook, it comes as part of a full magazine of filled patterns and wonderful articles.  Well worth reading!

Cooperish Cowl by Katy H. Carroll

© Katy Carroll, used with permission

Chevrons always make me happy!  So do patterns that can be cast on and memorised quickly so I can just kick back and enjoy the knitting.  But most of all, patterns that are perfect for stash-busting SpaceCadet Mini-Skeins make me very very happy.  This charming cowl fits the bill perfectly and can be customized to any number of colour changes, hues, and striping combinations.  Click through and check out the different versions Katy created!

Ok, that’s it.  I’m heading down to the studio shortly to check the progress.  And then, because I can’t dye, I think I might sit down  and just enjoy the opportunity to knit for a while (…or I could finish my taxes…  hmmm… knit or taxes? knit or taxes…?).  I hope you get a chance to pull out your project bag and knit or crochet today.  And, until next time, all my best!