Getting So Much More than I Expected

Because I mix almost all my colours directly from the primaries (blue, red, yellow, and black), it can be a challenge sometimes to control the colours.  I see a shade in my mind — or, more usually, a grouping of different colours together — and then I work back from there to figure out how I’d need to mix the primaries to get that combination.

It’s such a rush when I pull the yarn out of the dyebath and it’s exactly what I’d hoped.  I get so excited I could punch the air!

But sometimes what comes out of the dyepot is nothing like what I had expected.  That’s when I bite lip, turn it over in my hands, and look carefully at the yarn to see what adjustments I should make to bring out the best in the colours that have appeared before me.  A little more red, a single drop of black, a swirl of yellow at the very last moment… it can all make a world of difference to the final yarn.  And sometimes… sometimes what I get from that is far and away so much better than the colours I’d first hoped for in my mind.

Vineyard Stain was exactly such a yarn.  It was meant to be something completely different — I can hardly remember now what I was aiming for — but it surprised me completely when I pulled it out of the dyebath.  At first, I didn’t like what appeared at all.  But I made those little adjustments — a bit of this, a smidge of that — and put it back in the water.  And when it came out the second time, I fell head over heels in love.

This is an absolutely amazing yarn.  The colours — the depth of colours — are just gorgeous and I simply cannot get my camera to really capture them.  I may never be able to reproduce this yarn again but, oh!, how I hope I can!!!

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Sock Yarn, Fingering Weight Superwash Merino, in Vineyard Stain

When the grapes have been harvested and gathered into great piles at the end of each row, and the piles have been collected and taken to the winery, what is left in their place is a ruby-red mark where the sheer weight of the bounty crushed the succulent grapes and the dark juice escaped and ran down, leaving that beautiful, telltale stain — deep as burgundy in some places, soft as a rose in others — against the yellow-brown of the dry, sun-baked earth.

This skein is approximately 100g of Superwash Merino in a wonderfully soft 3-ply, fingering weight yarn.

Fiber Content: 100% Superwash Merino
Weight: Approximately 3.70oz / 105g
Colourway: Vineyard Stain, 100324-002
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Machine wash in tepid water, Lay flat to dry.

Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes. Please be sure to buy enough for your project as the colours may not be able to be reproduced exactly.
SpaceCadet Creations is a smoke-free, pet-free environment.
Please remember that the colours in pictures may vary depending on your computer monitor. The colours in the photos are as accurate as possible.

Off the Porch and Into the Shop

Sock Yarn, Fingering Weight Superwash Merino, in Seagrass

Nourished by the rich seabed and the soft, tropical waters, seagrass stretches up from the ocean floor in a spectrum of impossible greens, hiding clown fish and seahorses in its emerald fingers as it reaches for the sunlight falling through the clear, sapphire waters.

Each skein is approximately 100g of Superwash Merino in a wonderfully soft 3-ply, fingering weight yarn. Two skeins available, sold separately.

Fiber Content: 100% Superwash Merino
Weight: Approximately 3.50oz / 100g
Colourway: Seagrass, 100401-001
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Mashine wash, Lay flat to dry.

Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes, using professional grade acid dyes which are mixed by hand from primaries. Please be sure to buy enough for your project as the colours may not be able to be reproduced exactly.
SpaceCadet Creations is a smoke-free, pet-free environment.
Please remember that the colours in pictures may vary depending on your computer monitor. The colours in the photos are as accurate as possible.

Seagrass Drying in the Sun

It is hard to believe that it was less than two months ago that the massive snowstorms hit and we were thigh-deep in snow and without power for several days.  Because today, it was over 80°F with blazing sunshine.

I brought the yarn out and let it dry in the lovely warm breeze.  In the natural light, the colours came completely to life, and then changed subtly as day melted into dusk…

Come Back! Come Back!

In an attempt to encourage Spring to return, I’ve dyed some BFL combed top in all the lovely colours of Garden in Spring:

Hand-dyed BFL Combed Top, in Garden in Spring

Like an English garden in the full bloom of spring, this wool is a gentle explosion of colour. The pinks are a riot of foxgloves, buzzing with the sound of busy bumblebees collecting pollen. There is the deep bluey-purple of delphiniums, and the impossible green of new spring grass, called to life again by the sun and fresh rain.

This is over 4oz of wonderfully soft Blue Faced Leicester combed top that spins up beautifully.

Fiber Content: 100% Blue Faced Leicester wool
Weight: Approximately 4.10oz / 115g
Colourway: Cottage Garden in Spring, 100328-001
Care Instructions for the final item: Handwash only in tepid water, Lay flat to dry.

Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes, using professional grade acid dyes which are mixed by hand from primaries. Please be sure to buy enough for your project as the colours may not be able to be reproduced exactly.
SpaceCadet Creations is a smoke-free, pet-free environment.
Please remember that the colours in pictures may vary depending on your computer monitor. The colours in the photos are as accurate as possible.

As Featured on an Etsy Treasury

Imagine my surprise when I received an email today telling me that my Freshly Cut Grass yarn has been featured in an Etsy Treasury.  Well, no… wait…  you don’t have to imagine — let me tell you:  I squealed so loud that my husband didn’t know what to do with me and my children ran away up to their bedrooms!

So exciting!  Thank you, Heather King, for choosing my yarn for your treasury!

And… Back to Cold Again

No sooner had I begun to wax lyrical about Spring than the weather decided to teach me a lesson and get cold again.   In honour of that, I dyed a new yarn.

Sock Yarn, Fingering Weight Superwash Merino, in Cold Waters

In a still northern sea, the prow of a ship plows through cold waters, dividing the waves into a pale, frothing wake. The water is dark, foreboding… a deep blue broken by white wave caps, and chunks of silver-gray ice. Beautiful in its strength… beautiful, these endless Cold Waters.

This skein is approximately 100g of Superwash Merino in a wonderfully soft 3-ply, fingering weight yarn.

Fiber Content: 100% Superwash Merino
Weight: Approximately 3.75oz / 105g
Colourway: Cold Waters, 100324-001
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Mashine wash, Lay flat to dry.