Our Most Ambitious Projects: What Holds Us Back?

15JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There’s a project that you’ve been thinking about for a long time now, isn’t there? It’s there, sitting quietly at the back of your mind, waiting for you to work up the courage to start it. It something you’d love to make, that you really want to conquer, but… but… oh! It’s ambitious. It’s bigger than anything you’ve tried before. Or it’s more complicated and… and… oh!

So there it stays, tucked away in the back of your mind… no closer to being cast on than it was the day your first saw it and fell in love. Ambitious projects can be wonderful, motivating, exciting… But they can also be paralysing, can’t they?

Yeah, Me Too…

When I first started knitting, waaaaay back in the late ’80s, I opened a book one day and fell head-over-heels for Kaffe Fassett’s Romeo and Juliet Coat. I desperately wanted to make it but… I was new knitter and it just frightened the life out of me then. How could I possible knit something as amazing as that?!? I didn’t think I’d ever be a good enough knitter to create that.

These days, it’s not the skill level that would stop me from starting it so much as the fact that the late ’80s and I parted ways quite a while ago. The projects that I aspire to now are much more intricate — when I go to knit night and see my friends pull out masterpieces like Honeysuckle by Sarah Hatton or 2011 KALendar by Carmen Oliveras, my heart goes pitter-patter. But I wonder if I could ever make something so amazing myself…

What intimidates me most now, be it Kaffe Fassett’s coat or those amazing shawls, is the sheer the amount of time it would take. It’s time, not skills (or courage!), that I lack. And I find I bypass as many projects now for that reason and I did back then for the other.

Is It The Same For You?

I’ve been thinking of this a lot lately — the projects we aspire to and what it is that holds us back from making them — and wondering if your experience is like mine. Are there projects that you aspire to but have never yet had the courage to start? What is it that’s stopping you? And do you think you will ever get past it and cast your project on?

So I tweeted that question last week…

(Hey, retweet that for me, would you?)

And the responses told a real story… Some of you are intimidated by new techniques; some, like me, just too time crunched; a few have too many ambitious projects on the needles already. And one response I love more than any, because it took that story and turned it into a real conversation…

(Also, does he have the coolest mustache or what?!?)

Tell Me About You

So tell me, what projects do you aspire to? What do you have on your maybe-someday list? And — the most important part — what is it that’s holding you back?

Tweet me, tell me on Ravelry, or leave a comment right on the blog. Because I’d really love to know!

Pattern Roll Call: Perfect for Laceweight

07JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Did you hear that almighty THUD the other week? That was me, hitting the floor when I discovered that… wait for it… the Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, was knitting with SpaceCadet laceweight yarn. Not just knitting with it, she found herself actually being called by the colour, and I honestly don’t think a dyer could hope for any higher praise than that!

The second thud — you heard that one too, right? That was me when all my laceweight sold out in what seemed like only minutes. It was crazy to see the awesome power of the Yarn Harlot”s influence! But also so cool because I love these laceweights and it was exciting to see them take center stage at last.

Stephanie chose to knit Omelet, a beautiful and intricate lace shawl. It was a great choice for the yarn — and it’s exactly what most people think of first when they pick up of skein of laceweight yarn. But I also know that a lot of people end up putting that skein right back down again, because lace like that can be really intimidating.

So I wanted to show you a beautiful alternative: this is Mythos by Laura Nelkin and, knit in a laceweight yarn, it is the most perfect light summer cardigan to slip on whenever the evening brings the slightest chill.

Mythos is one of the samples we take to our trunk shows and it’s amazing how almost everyone falls in love with it on the spot. It can be knit in either a fingering yarn or, as shown here, a laceweight yarn held double. And with simple stitchwork and straightforward shaping, it’s a really appealing way to use those gorgeous laceweights that sometimes seem so inaccessible. What could be better for laid-back, lazy summer knitting?

Shop Update!

I’ve been busy dyeing to get those laceweights back in the shop! So, here’s the first batch — some of the 100% Merino that the Yarn Harlot has been knitting, and some of the gorgeous Silk and Merino Luna Laceweight — all in those rich, gently undulating colourways that are perfect for these delicate yarns. Click here to see them!

Making That Connection

01JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Driving home the other week from back-to-back trunk shows, I was on an absolute high. The owner of one of the shops had said to me that she thought that trunk shows were so much fun because her customers really liked making that conection to the dyer. And as I thought about it, I knew she was right. We so often think of knitting and crochet as being about projects, being about rows, about yarn and needles and hooks and all that stuff. But there’s one thing that none of that covers, and it’s maybe more important than any of it.

It’s All About The Connection

So often, what it’s really about is connection. Yes, most days we knit in solitude — but we always make sure we can get away to knit night. And we upload our WIPs to Ravelry, and check out the projects of others who are making the same pattern or using the same yarn. And the yarn… yes, the yarn. There are miles and miles of beautiful, even, predictable commercial yarns to choose from… but so often we gravitate toward a skein of yarn that has been dyed by hand, by a real person who put as much care into the colours of that skein as we put into every stitch of our projects.

Stella fingering yarn in Plume

And as I drove home, I realised that that connection is just as important to me. In the same way that you knit or crochet for a someone special — for a friend, for your sister, for a colleague, or even for yourself — when I dye, I’m not thinking of the yarn, I’m thinking of the people who are going to use it. I can see the projects in my mind, and I know the wonderful fiber-zen that this yarn will carry. Just as you love knowing your yarn comes from a real person, so I love knowing it will be used by a real person, in a project they will love. I crave that connection too.

So imagine my excitement this week when I discovered that two of my customers (one new, one long-time) have created their own video-podcasts! It was such a delight to finally “meet” these lovely, warm, down-to-earth ladies I’ve been sending my yarns to. And I began immediately to wish we lived closer, so we could sit down and have a proper natter over a cup of tea and our knitting.

The connection is everything.

The Podcasts

This is Amanda and here’s what I love about her podcast, We Are Yarn: the way she asks for help on the stuff that’s stumping her, the lovely things she says about SpaceCadet yarns and her InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcel (at 14:24), her beautiful Tennessee accent, and the cat with the swishy-swishy tail on her couch.

And this is Melissa in her Single-Handed Knits podcast. I love that I can almost smell the Hawaiian sea breezes blowing through her window, and I love the wonderful things she says about her SpaceCadet Mini-Skein Club parcel (at 13:24). I love that she actually does knit with one hand, and I love love love her incredibly positive outlook.

Two More Ways to Connect

Trunk Show in Erie PA

First, don’t forget that I’ll be doing a trunk show this Saturday, June 2, at The Cultured Purl in Erie PA. If you’re anywhere in the area, please do come and meet the yarn — and I’d really love to meet you too!

Send Me a Video-Introduction!

But, better than that, Amanda and Melissa’s podcasts gave me an idea. If we haven’t met (or even if we have), I’d love it — love it, love it, loooove it — if you’d video-introduce yourself to me. Flip on that webcam, grab your SpaceCadet yarn, and for 30 seconds, just record yourself. Say hello, tell me who you are (and who you are on Ravelry), show me your yarn or — better yet! — your projects, and then fire it off to me in an email or on Twitter. (I have a little nugget of an idea that, one day — if it’s ok with you guys — I could take these little clips and do a video mash up showing off all the great projects you all have made with your SpaceCadet yarn.)

But far more important than that, it would just be so cool for me to be able to meet you guys — to make that connection that means so much to all of us.

Pattern Roll-Call: Yarns for Color Affection

24MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

You know I love dyeing yarn — I love thinking up the colourways, and I love whole adventure of creating the colours. But when I send a skein off to the customer, it always feels like I’ve somehow stopped halfway through the process.

A skein of yarn is nothing more than a lovely, smooshy bundle of potential. The process is never complete until a knitter or crocheter has chosen that skein, picked a pattern, and cast on. That’s when all that potential begins its release at last, completing the journey from colour to yarn to project ..and finally to something beautiful in your hands.

Doing the trunk shows the other weekend, I got the chance to be a part of that process. All through the shows, I got to help customers choose their perfect yarns and match them with the perfect pattern. What fun!

And time and again, I found customers were asking for those yarns in sets of three…

Three Yarns, Two Words: Color Affection

Everyone is knitting Color Affection by Veera Välimäki, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a gorgeous shawl that showcases stand-out colour with an intriguing off-center construction. Traveling three different yarns across four sections, the colours mix and separate (and maybe mix again) in ways that make every project unique. In love with it yet?

But picking three colourways that both compliment and contrast can be difficult, and here’s where the SpaceCadet’s collections really come into their own. All the colourways in each collection are designed to work together, so all you have to do is choose maybe two semi-solids and a variegated, and there you go — your project is sorted.

You could go for soft….

(l to r: Lucina in Gentle, Lucina in Translucence, Stella in Quilt Blue)

Or you could go for bold…

(l to r: Izarra in Dept of Rocket Science G120405-003, Izarra in Honey, Izarra in Dept of Rocket Science G120405-006)

So go ahead, mix and match — see how the same colourways can work with lots of different options?

(l to r: Estelle in Quilt Green, Estelle in Dept of Rocket Science C120319-005, Estelle in Mercy)

(l to r: Estelle in Quilt Green, Estelle in Usui, Estelle in Quilt Blue)

And Now With Two Colours

But what if three colours seems a bit too much for you? No problem, you can start a little more gently with two other Veera Välimäki designs, Different Lines and the Stripe Study Shawl. Both have that same interesting asymmetrical shaping, and both have that striping that allows the yarns to play off each other so beautifully. But for these shawls, you only have to choose two colours.

So go with warm…

(l to r: Izarra in Pride, Izarra in Honey)

Go with bright…

(l to r: Celeste in Plum, Celeste in Plumberry)

Choose a pair of semi-solids…

(l to r: Izarra in Venus Sea, Stella in Plume)

Or swap one out for a variegated…

(l to r: Izarra in Venus Sea, Izarra in Dept of Rocket Science G120405-003)

No wait, swap the other!…

(l to r: Izarra in Dept of Rocket Science G120405-003, Stella in Plume)

See what I mean? The collections… they make it so easy. So go ahead — choose your yarn and cast on!

I’m Knackered, You Get a Shop Update!

18MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I had a fabulous blog post planned for you, full of great colourway combinations for maximum impact in some of this season’s hottest knitting patterns… but, oh!, I’m just too knackered. I don’t know what it is, but all week, I’ve felt like I could just fall asleep where I stand. I’ve gotten a lot of dyeing done — there is always wonderful, colourful dyeing to be done — but everything else has just fallen away.

I find I always need a few days to recover after doing shows — they’re so exciting and there are so many people to talk to, that they actually use up a lot more energy than I expect. Two weeks ago, I traveled to MDSW, which is such a fibery adventure, but simultaneously both energising and energy-draining. And then immediately turned around and did the SpaceCadet’s Grand Tour of Cleveland, back-to-back trunk shows.

And they blew me away. They were so much fun! Can I tell you, if you’re in Cleveland, go to River Color Studios in Lakewood or Soft n Sassy in Broadview Heights. Both of them are gorgeous, mouth-watering yarn shops. And both of them run by really lovely, warm people who made me feel right at home (Erika and her team at River Color: Rachael, Gretchen, Laura, Gail; Cheryl and her team at Soft n Sassy: Linda and Evelyn).

And at both of them, I met some of the nicest people I’ve ever got the chance to meet. They said lovely things about my yarn, which always makes me feel amazing. It was great weekend.

And it wasn’t just the trunk shows that made the weekend memorable. There was also lunch at a bakery decorated with… wait for it… flowers made from coffee filters. How cool is that?!?

There was the oldest microwave I’ve ever seen. For a long time, I thought it was a television in the corner of the office, before I realised what it was. Look at the size of it! Look at the dials! And… it still works just fine. Crickey!

Oh, yeah, and there was a Yarn Harlot too. People, there was the Yarn Harlot! She was absolutely lovely, and very very funny. And she bought a skein of SpaceCadet yarn! That blew me away totally.

Ohhh… and there was yarn. Lots of lovely, lovely yarn…

And after all that, I’m completely knackered. Cream-crackered. And so you don’t get the blog post I was planning. But I’m not going to leave you high and dry… you do get two things that are well worth having. One is some lovely Friday eye-candy in those photos up above.

And the other? I just mustered the energy to do you a wee shop update. Go on, take a look!

Psst… Wanna See the Yarn Alliance Parcel?

11MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I was really nervous when I sent out the InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcels this month. Really nervous. I knew I’d taken a risk — I knew it — but I also knew I had dyed the colours that I’d had in my heart, the colours I needed to dye… And if the dyer follows her heart, that surely must be right. …Right?

But still, I was nervous. Because I know a lot of people buy hand-dyed because they love deep, rich, saturated colour, and this colourway was anything but that. I’d dyed a washed out colourway, of the sort that I’ve fallen head-over-heels for lately, where I gently swirl layer upon layer of colour into the dyebath, and then watch as it settles delicately onto the fibers. Watching it happen is breath-taking, the yarn it creates is beautiful. And the result when you cast on and begin to knit is ethereal, sublime …simply amazing.

Are you ready? Here it is…

It was exactly what I hoped it would be. From every angle, I was in love! I just wanted to grab it and smoosh it and… oh!

I just hoped the Alliance members loved it as much as I did.

In the SpaceCadet’s Log, I explained my inspiration — the colours in my garden as Spring arrived in sudden rush, then retreated and the cruel cold returned, and then Spring began anew. And so there are flowers in my garden both dying and blooming, and I wanted to capture the colours of Nature’s confusion.

And then…! And then there was the goody, and this I knew would be exciting. I’d asked Melissa of Melissa Jean Design to create some custom buttons for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance. And when the parcel containing them arrived, I was so excited, I spent a full five minutes bouncing up and down in my kitchen. They’re ADORABLE!

And what’s more, she did a bunch of different colours! Mix and match, everyone!

But the very best bit? I got to keep all the extra buttons that Melissa made — all her experiments and test runs. I love them! And I feel like I should make something wonderfully crafty and clever with them, but I don’t know what. What would you make?

Hey, don’t forget: this weekend is the SpaceCadet’s Grand Tour of Cleveland! If you’re anywhere in the northern Ohio/PA area, come on out and see us.

Friday, May 11 at River Colors Studio
1387 Sloane Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107 (map it!)
(216) 228-9276

Saturday, May 12 at Soft N Sassy
8047 Broadview Rd.
Broadview Hts., OH. 44147 (map it!)
Phone: (440)746-9650

There will be lots of gorgeous yarns, fabulous SpaceCadet tattoos, tons of fun… and I’d love to meet you!