So What Do I Make With It?!? Projects in SpaceCadet Yarn

I know I’ve said it before, but one of my favourite things about this job is seeing what you guys make with SpaceCadet yarn.  So often, the way the colourways look in the skein is completely different from how they look in the finished object — and I just love seeing that transformation!

Many of you are kind enough to share pictures of your projects in the SpaceCadet group on Ravelry.  And quite a few of you email pictures of your projects to me personally (I love that! Thank you!).

And I want to share my favourites with you here.  I think you’ll find it just as fascinating as I do to see how the colourway in the skeins translates in the finished projects!

The first one I’ve chosen is this incredibly cool, slouchy hat made by Stacey Trock.  She’s the designer of crochet amigurumi at FreshStitches.com and author of Cuddly Crochet and Crocheted Softies, and for this project she chose SpaceCadet Estelle yarn in a colourway called City Park — a lovely green that gently washes into hints of blues and yellows.  Here’s what the yarn looks like in the skein…

SpaceCadet Creations Estelle yarn for knitting or crochet, in City Park

And here’s what Stacey created with it!  The pattern is the Rocka Beanie by MayaB.  And I just love the way the stockinette and simple shaping let the colours shine through!

Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches shows off her fabulous Rocka Beanie knitted in SpaceCadet Creations Estelle yarn in City Park

There are so many fabulous projects out there in SpaceCadet yarn that I am going to turn this into an ongoing series.  I’m looking for great projects in luscious colours, shown off with really beautiful photography.  Know of a project like that that I ought to see?  Please, tell me about it!


Oooh, two more quick things:

If you’re a fan of Stacey’s work and you’d like to meet her in person, she’ll be at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet this weekend, teaching classes and selling her books and kits in booth 51.  And she’ll be coming to the Ravelry meet-up on Friday night.  Stacey’s an absolute doll — if you come and meet her, you’ll love her!

And if you’re coming to Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet, please please wear your SpaceCadet project.  Not only would I be thrilled to see it, but if we’re not too crowded, I’d love grab a couple of pictures of it, maybe for a future blog post.  So, please do wear your SpaceCadet project!

 

Busy-ness and Brain Freeze

Things are crazy-busy here at the moment!  I am dyeing like mad for the first show of the season, the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet festival on Feb 10-11-12.  Our booth position had to be changed only two days ago (we’re now booth #43, please come find us!), which prompted a redesign of our entire layout at the last minute.  The mini-skeins for February will have to go out the same weekend, so we’re busy getting those all ready too.  The InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcels will go out only two weeks later, so the yarn for them needs to be dyed and the goodies finished up too.  Oh, and my last shipment of yarn to dye for the festival was delayed, so it will arrive on Thursday — and then I’ll try to get 25lbs of yarn all dyed and dried and ready to go in less than a week.

The crazy-busies?  Yeah, I haz ’em!

I was supposed to write a blog post on Monday, but when I sat down at my computer…  my brain froze, froze right up solid.  I tried again last night and, again… nothing.  Too much to do, and not enough brain cells left.  So, instead, I went back to boxing up the orders that had to go out today.

And as I was wrapping up the yarns and placing them in each box, I realised I was smiling.   Because as much as I love dyeing — and, oh I do loooove dyeing — that’s only half of the picture.  As lovely as the yarns are when they come out of the dyepots, it’s not until someone takes them home and knits them up into something beautiful that they’ve lived up to their potential.

I love sending my yarns out to my customers.  And, as crazy as show-prep is, I love doing yarn festivals.  So many yarns, going home with so many happy customers, ready to be made into so many wonderful new projects…  And I get to sit and talk about them with every one of you.

Seriously, I think I have the best job in the world!  Thanks to you guys, choosing SpaceCadet yarns and making all this possible.  And really, what could be better to blog about than that?

Come to the Rav Meet-Up at Pgh Knit & Crochet!

One thing I really really really ought to learn is that after Christmas comes January.  Christmas is not the end.  Christmas is not a wall.  Christmas is just a point in time and then…  January comes.

SpaceCadet Creations yarns for knitting and crochet, hanging up to dry

And if something important is happening in early in the new year, you really have to be able to see past Christmas to get ready for it.  I really need to learn this because I do it every year!

Please tell me you do too.  Tell me I’m not the only one who has trouble seeing past Christmas…  please?

Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Feb 10-11-12

The Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival is coming up on Feb 10, 11, 12.  It’s a fabulous event — the entire (enormous) ballroom of the Four Points Sheraton in Mars PA* is turned into a dreamscape of fibery goodness.  And I am soooooo looking forward to it!

There are wonderful classes, a fabulous market, and some incredible cool events.  But more important than that — and by far the coolest thing about doing a festival like this — is that I get to meet so many SpaceCadet customers!  I love it when people come up and introduce themselves, show off their wonderful SpaceCadet projects,  and I can finally put faces to names.  It is such a treat, getting to meet so many people who are almost already old friends.  How often in life do you get to do that?!?

So if you live anywhere in the Western Pennsylvania area, please come!  And please wear your SpaceCadet project.  I may have seen the pictures, but I would love to see it — and you — in person!  Here’s the info again:

Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival
February 10,11,12, 2012
at the Four Points Sheraton, North, Mars, PA 16046

And yet more SpaceCadet Creations yarns for knitting and crochet, hanging up to dry

The Ravelry Meet-Up

And if you are coming on the Friday (Feb 10), please do come to the Ravelry Meet-Up!  It’s being organised by my friend Natalie, my sister-who-now-knits-a-bit, and me, and I know there’s going to be some pretty cool fiberistas attending: I can’t wait to meet up with a bunch of fiberista friends: the lovely Karrie of the KnitPurlGurl video podcast; Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches; Cosy Cornelius-Bates and Gwen Erin with whom** I did Pittsburgh Indie Knit & Spin

Please come! We’d love to have you there! Here are the details for the Meet-Up:

Ravelry Meet-Up
Friday, Feb 10 at 6.30pm
in the Cranberry Room (located off the main atrium via the hallway to the left of Legends pub)

It’s by RSVP only and today is the LAST DAY to reserve your space, so please go and send me a Ravelry PM (private message) right now!

So there you go — the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival is only about three weeks away.  And I am so excited about it!

But am I ready for it?  No.  Did it sneak up on me after Christmas?  Yep, yep it did.  Am I presently dyeing like a woman possessed?  Ohhhhh yes!

Because I really, really, really need to learn that after Christmas comes…  January.

And even more(!) SpaceCadet Creations yarns for knitting and crochet, hanging up to dry


*Did you spot that?  It’s in Mars! Mars!  Makes a SpaceCadet feel right at home, that does.

**My high-school English teacher would be so proud.

A Shop Update to Banish the Mid-January Blahs

It’s cold and grey outside and keeps trying to snow, but nothing sticks and it just ends up looking…  ugly.  We are officially into the mid-January blahs.   And, as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to do but just hunker down and wait for spring.

Fortunately, there’s also new yarn in the shop: warm rust BFL, rich purple cashmere, and some wonderfully daring variegated yarns.   Does that sound a bit better?  Yeah, me too.  Click the button below to see them!

Click Here to see the new SpaceCadet Creations yarns for knitting and crochet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orbiting the Fiber Universe, 17 January 2012

Another wrap-up of all the great fiber arts news that’s caught my eye of late…

Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches Guides you through Choosing Colours for your ProjectYou know my world is about colour — I talk about it all the time.  And I am convinced that working with beautiful colour makes everyone else’s world better too.  So I just love this quick guide to choosing your own colours for for crochet patterns, from Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches.  And of course, everything she says works for knitting too!

You’ve probably heard about those programs that teach inmates to knit and crochet, right? Personally, I can’t get enough of them, probably because I so wholeheartly believe that the fiber arts are life-enhancing.  But this article — where inmate are able to use knitting to reach out to kids who are facing the same tough situations they once faced — really touched me.

The number one thing most of my customers tell me they love is the colour of their yarn. And the close second is always the softness.  But, if you can step beyond those two essentials for a moment, come and have a look at these amazing crocheted wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa.  Just breath-taking. (And, when you’re done, you run straight back to soft and colourful, I promise!)

I loved this knitted Happy New Year sign from Mansha Friedrich in Hanover, Germany.  What better way to set yourself up for a year of fibery goodness?!?

Do you speak Finnish? Or wait… is it Danish? No, Norwegian?  Or… oh well, whatever it is,  I bet you will loooove this knitted wallpaper as much as I do.  Knitted walls for the win!

And now, for something really, really important.   It’s not fiber related but, people, this has totally changed my life.  Seriously, it has.  Read this article about olive oil — or, even better, click the link at the top of the page and listen to the actual radio programme.  And then, go out, scour those labels and find yourself some olive oil that was mechanically processed.  And watch your life change.  Well, we use a lot of olive oil in our house (a lot) so it was life-changing for us, but I promise it will at least improve yours a bit.

…No, seriously, do it.  It has changed. my. life.

 

Oh! and something really exciting happened — I finally got Pinterest!  I mean, I’d taken a little wander through it before and I thought it was pretty but… meh.  Another social networking site?  Another thing I’m supposed to keep up with?  Yeah, I wasn’t that into it.

But then this week, it finally clicked.  It’s for bookmarking webpages, but better.  Instead of a dropdown menu full of words that all jumble together, it’s visual, so I can remember instantly what it is and why I saved it.  Every pin clicks through to the original source.  And it’s social, so I can see all the cool-tempting-interesting stuff other people are bookmarking and grab it for myself — the colours, the images, the ideas.  Half the stuff in this post came from Pinterest.  And… it’s so beautiful.  Really, really beautiful.

I love it.  I’m hooked!  If you’re already hooked too, please come and follow me.   And if you’re not yet hooked, just click on that link and play around a bit. Once you realise it’s for much more than just looking at pretty pictures, I bet you’ll be hooked too.

Follow Me on Pinterest

Everything You Do, You Learn Something New

When I started the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, I set it up with two options — the Gentle Mix (mostly semi-solids and gently varigated colourways) and the Wild Mix (mostly wildly variegated yarns).  Everyone’s mini-skein project is unique to them and to the colours they love, so I was excited to give the club members the chance to tell me which  mix of yarns they’d prefer.

For the first shipment, I wasn’t quite sure how wild to make the Wild Mix, so I stayed on the conservative side (…the conservative side of, y’know, wild).  But then feedback I got told me the club members were ready to go further.  So for the next shipment, I was ready to really push it.  They wanted wild, they would get it — because I can do some crazy colour combinations!

I chose five of my most variegated colourways…

And when I looked at them one by one, they were wild — they were ka-razeee.  Here’s an example of what I mean by a highly variegated colourway…

SpaceCadet Creations Celeste fingering weight yarn for knitting and crochet, in Tiger Lilies

 

And here’s another…

SpaceCadet Creations fingering weight yarn for knitting and crochet

 

And another…

SpaceCadet Creations Celeste fingering weight yarn for knitting and crochet, in Submerge

See?  They’re pretty wildly variegated.  And pretty different.  And if they were that variegated and different on their own, I expected them to really explode off each other.

But then something really weird happened…

I put them all together and they suddenly looked… tame!  Well, maybe not tame exactly, but somehow a lot gentler, a lot more blended.  Certainly the collection was not as explosive as I thought it would be…

A Wild Mix of SpaceCadet fingering weight yarns for knitting and crochet

 

See what I mean?  What happened?!?

I took the little bundle apart and set each yarn on its own — and they each looked wild again.  Put them back together and…  they seemed subdued.  And I had to do it a couple of times before I realised what was happening.

Here’s the thing…  A wildly variegated yarn looks wild because the colours within it are so unrelated to each other.  They contrast, they compliment, and they make each other pop.  Put a few of these colours together and something beautiful happens!

SpaceCadet Creations Stella fingering weight yarn for knitting and crochet, in Carnival

But where each yarn contains a whole rainbow of colours, those same shades are likely to appear in other wildly variegated yarns too.  So when you put several such wildly coloured yarns together, the rainbows all start to blend into one another, to reflect one another.   Even colourways that look incredibly different can actually begin to… coordinate with each other.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

So I sat down and rethought the options, and here’s what I realised: those of you who choose the Gentle Mix are doing so because you want to create a mini-skein project that blends gently from one yarn to the next.  And those of you who choose the Wild mix are aiming to create a project with an overall effect of exciting contrasts.

SpaceCadet Creations Celeste fingering weight yarn for knitting and crochet, in Baroque

And I want to make sure the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club parcels help that to happen, so I’m going to slightly change the way I choose the yarns that go into the two mixes.  The Gentle Mix will stay mostly as it has been but, for the Wild Mix, I’m going to choose colourways that will make the whole parcel more contrasting, rather than just focusing on variegated yarns.  That will mean more semi-solids in the Wild Mix than there were before, but don’t worry — the overall effect will still be wild.

And you’re going to love it, because the mini-skein project you’re going to make with the new Wild Mix will be crazy colourful and eye-poppingly gorgeous!  And isn’t that what you were aiming for all along?