Pattern Roll Call: Win Two Gorgeous Shawl Patterns!

31MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The weather has changed and, while the days are quickly becoming unbearably hot, the evenings are suddenly sublime — soft and warm and silken. And of course, it is the perfect time to knit.

And I know that last bit won’t make sense to the rest of the world, but you and I both know that summer just begs for luscious yarns, delicate lace, and lovely light shawls that wrap gently around bare shoulders. Oh yes, summer is perfect for knitting.

But I know lacework is not for everyone. So check out the Make It Work! shawl by Leslie Thompson (you know her, she’s one of the KnitGirllls from the Knit Girllls podcast!). What caught my eye first was the beautiful edge shaping — I think looks just like waves washing onto the shore — and then I spotted that it’s got enough short-row shaping and simple lacework to keep you interested without becoming too intimidating. I love this shawl!

knitting pattern, shawl, knitting, yarn — Images © Leslie Thompson, used with permission

The pattern comes with instructions knitting it in fingering, sport, and worsted weight yarns, and even includes a video to explain the process of short-row shaping and how to pick up wraps invisibly. With its lovely stockinette crescent, I think it would look amazing in yarn with a bit of sheen to pick up the summer sun, such as SpaceCadet Fingering Yarn in Bamboo, Superwash Merino, and Nylon, in Pink Sun (below left) or SpaceCadet Fingering Yarn in Superwash BFL and Silk, in Plumberry (below right).

But if lace is your thing, prepare to fall in love… This is Adoro, a gorgeous all-over lace shawl from Ruth Garcia-Alcantud. I love the delicate edging and the beading detail is just beautiful. This shawl just oozes starlit nights and warm breezes…

lace, knitting, pattern, yarn, shawl — Images © Ruth Garcia-Alcantud, used with permission

The pattern comes with instructions for both laceweight and fingering yarn. And even though it is simply amazing in that stunning deep red, I’d love to see how delicate it would look in an ethereal colourway such as SpaceCadet’s Luna LaceWeight Yarn in Silk and Merino, in Covetous (below left) or in Translucence (below right).

Hey Cool! Win Both Patterns!

And here’s the best bit… Leslie and Ruth have very generously offered to give a copy of Make It Work! and Adoro to one lucky winner! To enter all you have to do is retweet this tweet:

“GIVEAWAY! I’ve just entered to win two shawl patterns from @rockandpurl @theknitgirllls and @spacecadetcreat http://wp.me/pKX4B-EU #RPKGllls”

And then just leave a comment here telling me you’ve done it.

I’ll draw a random winner from all the commenters next Monday or Tuesday, and then let you all know who’s won here on the blog. So come on in — the summer is warm and the knitting is gorgeous!

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The details (they’re eeeeeasy!): Sweepstakes opens when this blog post is published and closes on Sun June 5 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must retweet the tweet specified in the above blog post and then leave a comment to that effect on this blog post to qualify, and comments must include the commenter’s Twitter name. Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog within 72 hours of sweepstakes close and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. No purchase necessary. Only one entry per person. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?

Gimme Gimme Gimme Your Questions About Hand-Dyed Yarns!

27MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I’ve been working on a lot of things that have got me pretty excited lately — things that I hope will help us to bring you more of the best and most beautiful yarns that we can create. And, for one of those things, I really need your help….

I’ve been putting together an eBook, a little guide to choosing and using hand-dyed yarns. Because they can be really special things, hand-dyed yarns, can’t they? Beautiful, enticing, intoxicating, and… sometimes overwhelming. When you first see them, you want to dive in the colours. When you hold them, the colours change as they catch the light. And when you cast them on, the results can be absolutely spectacular… or sometimes terribly disappointing. Yep, there is a real art to using hand-dyed yarns!

hand-dyed yarn, yarn, knitting, crochet, indie dyer — Celeste Yarn in Garden In Spring

So, as I’m putting this eBook together, I’ve been trying to look at my yarns through the eyes of my customers. I’m asking myself the questions that they have — that you have — when picking yarns and choosing colourways. And, as I was trying to put myself in your place, trying to come up with these questions, it suddenly dawned on me… why don’t I just ask you?

Huh! Now there’s an idea!

A gentler, less intimidating variegated yarn — Fingering Yarn in Bamboo, Superwash Merino, and Nylon, in Translucence

So, when you bought your first hand-dyed variegated yarn, what questions went through your head? Were you confident in choosing a pattern for it, or did you have trouble? Were you worried it would pool, or did you not care? Or maybe even hope it would pool? Did you shy away from wildest colours or gravitate straight to them? And did you do anything to tame them …or did you just let them rock?

When you work with beautiful, wonderful, variegated hand-dyed yarns, what are your biggest questions? What perplexes you? What do you wish you had a little guidance on? Go on and tell me! Put your questions in the comments below and you’d really be helping me out.

And if you have answers to any of the questions, leave them too! Because I suspect that the answers are actually just as individual as the yarns that inspire them…!

(Hey, by the way, I’m not guaranteeing I’ll have all the answers. But if life is about the journey, then the journey has to start with the questions, right? Hit me!)

Shop Update: a Lunchtime Meditation

24MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Green leaves on trees, green grass in the park, a barefoot lunch hour sitting in the sun. Summer knitting.

knitting, yarn, indie dyer, handdyed, fiber arts, crochet, sock yarn — Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering yarn in City Park, Hedgerow, City Park, and Forget Me Nots

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.

Coming to a LYS Near You…

20MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

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!

Wholesale? Well, um…

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

Wholesale? Heck yeah!

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 Sexy Knitter Pattern Winner Is…

17MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

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…

yarn, knitting, hand-dyed, indie dyer, — From left: Silk and BFL Fingering Yarn in Plumberry and Straw Into Gold

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…

And The Winner Is…

Ok, I’ve made you wait long enough. The winner of two Sexy Knitter patterns of her choice is:

Dvora Geller

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!

MDSW: The Glorious Aftermath

13MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

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…

MDSW, Maryland Sheep and Wool — The traffic to get in was CRAZY!!!

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!

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?