When we went to our Spring shows this year, we brought a huge pile of Sweater Kits. They were something of an experiment — I hadn’t really announced them or talked about them ahead of time — but they were a big hit! I loved watching customers digging through all the Sweater Kits to find the one that was just right. And tons of you emailed and tweeted to ask, would the Sweater Kits be available in the shop? Could you get them even if you can’t get to the shows? The answer is yes, but in the rush of all the stuff that was going on after the shows (including this!), I never got the chance to put the kits in the shop after we got home.
Sweater Kits for the Hana Hou KAL
But then I realised the other day that KAL for Singlehanded Knit’s fabulous Hana Hou is starting in just a few days — remember that lovely slouchy cardi that you knew you’d wear for just forever? Yeah, I suddenly realised I should make those Sweater Kits available for anyone who’d still like to join the KAL. We’ll have more kits in the works soon, but if you want to get in on the KAL, click here quick and grab one of the ones we’ve got in stock!
(And if you fancy knitting in it an Ombre or Gradient colourway, there’s a few of those left too.)
Sari Cardi KAL Starts, More Kits on the Way!
And May 1st sees the start of the KAL for Jenise Reid’s gorgeous Sari Cardi. The Sari Cardi is knit in Thebe, our wonderfully airy Silk-Linen 2-play, and is an intriguing knit that incorporates unique shaping to create its beautiful sari-like draping. Now you know that we sold out of the Sari Cardi Kits super fast, but we have more stock coming in and will be dyeing up additional kits to send out as soon as possible. If you’d like to get on the waiting list for a kit and join the KAL when they’re ready, click here to order your Sari Cardi Kit!
Sometimes being wrong turns out to be kinda cool. Before we launched the kits for Jenise Reid’s Sari Cardi KAL, she and I discussed how many people we thought would likely join in. Then I dyed up kits for that number, and kept another 33% of undyed yarn in reserve, just in case. I thought that would probably cover us.
Well! I was wrong.
As soon as the kits went live, they started flying out the door! It was unbelievable. By 9am, we’d sold out of all the Sage and Sea Emerald kits, so I quickly went in and listed the reserve yarn as additional kits. By 11.30am, those were completely gone too, as well as almost all of the other colourways: Dark Skies & Honey, and Tickled and How Dare You! (there is now just one kit of Dark Skies & Honey left in the shop).
I’ll tell you what, it was a wild morning! And while no one ever wants to be wrong, that was a pretty darned cool way to be wrong.
We will dye these additional kits as soon as we receive the new yarn — around the end of April — and we’ll be dyeing them immediately to get them out as quickly as possible. The additional kits will be available in the shop for the next week or two and, if you place your order now, you should receive your kit in the first half of May (international deliveries may take longer).
I am absolutely delighted to see so many of you so excited about this KAL! I’m just tickled to have the opportunity to offer extra kits so even more of you can join. Being wrong isn’t really something most people aspire to but you know what? I gotta say… if you’re going to be wrong, this has to have been just about the best way to do it!
You know that phrase, “The best things come to those who wait”? Well sometimes the waiting is pretty darned hard! For the past couple of months, I’ve been working on two new projects that are just so exciting, I thought I’d burst. And at last I get to share them with you!
Sari Cardi pattern and KAL with Jenise Reid
The wonderfully talented Jenise Reid (you know her from her gorgeous Persian Dreams blanket) has chosen SpaceCadet Thebe for her new design, the Sari Cardi. Created in paired coordinating colours, the Sari Cardi has a versatile draped construction, beautiful texturing, and intriguing shaping. Knit at a loose gauge in Thebe, the SpaceCadet’s (very!) heavy laceweight in 65% silk and 35% linen, it gets softer and more beautiful the more its worn.
The pattern is released on April 15, the KAL kicks off on May 1 and, when Jenise told me about it, I knew we just had to put together some kits to support it! Each kit contains three skeins of Thebe — two in the main colour and one in the coordinating colour — and a download code for a FREE copy of the Sari Cardi pattern. They are available in limited quantities, so click here to grab one quick and come knit the Sari Cardi along with us!
SpaceCadet Dyeing Class at Camp Aloha Friends
Today was the first day all year that it felt like summer might actually be on its way and, when it does, I’m going to summer camp! Mel of Singlehanded Knits has asked me to be a camp counselor at Camp Aloha Friends, her super-fun packed-with-crafty-stuff summer camp. Want to come?
I’ll be teaching a class that has me super excited, because I’ll be walking you through the exact same steps I took when I first started experimenting with fiber and colour: learning with dye with drink mixes. It’s crazy fun, because it’s easy to learn, the colours are vibrant, and the results are quick. I can’t wait show you guys!
And I’m just one of a whole bucket load of teachers at Camp Aloha Friends! There are classes in all sorts of crafty pursuits: sewing, tatting, crochet, bead making, weaving… and the list goes on and on. In fact, click here to watch a fab video taking you through everything you’ll get to do.
Exciting stuff, right? I know I can’t wait to get started — and I so hope you’ll be joining me too!
The other day, I was talking to an acquaintance and, when I mentioned knitting, he said, “It’s nice to see that people still do these old-fashioned things.” And I know he meant well so I smiled and nodded but — oh! — I was cringing inside. It isn’t the first time someone’s assumed that I knit to somehow embrace old-fashionedness or history or something equally off the mark, but it never ceases to surprise me that there are people out there for whom knitting and crocheting are so unusual that the only explanation can be something to do with the past. Whaaaat?!?
But it got me thinking about why I knit (…and why I dye, for that matter). I know some knitters and crocheters do it for the finished object but that, if I’m honest, that has never been me. And I know others who do it for the creative outlet: they modify patterns to put their own mark on them, or just skip that and create designs all their own. That’s a little closer to my reasons — I’m always coming up with design ideas, but I’m just not skilled enough to turn them into patterns.
But the real reason I knit has nothing to do with being old-fashioned …and everything to do with being in the here and the now. When I pick up my needles and begin that rhythm of moving stitches from left to right, I feel everything start to slow down. My breathing slows, my thinking slows… There is something about knitting that seems to just take over the part of my brain that is always fretting, nagging, analysing and instead occupies it with the simple acts of knit and purl.
And with that most pesky part of my mind thus quietened, I find I can think clearly. I can focus. Be it on the conversation when I’m with friends or the sound of the breeze when I’m alone, knitting changes the experience. It makes it better — and that’s why I knit.
But why do I dye? Because I truly believe the world would be a better place if everyone were knitting or crocheting. I mean, c’mon, you know it, don’t you? And nothing encourages that more than having beautiful, natural yarn in gorgeous, vibrant colours. So, dyeing is sort of my way of bringing about world peace …or at least, bringing a little peace into a few people’s lives. When I dye my yarns, I’m thinking of the person it will go to, and the quiet joy they will experience as the yarn moves through their fingers and the colours change before their eyes.
Oh, and it’s because I really love colour — really really love colour. There’s always that too.
Most of the last pre-order kits are going in the post today, so there’s time for swatching and colour-play before the start date. But if you haven’t joined us yet, you can order a Pau Hana kit for custom dyeing, and we will get it into the dyepots for you as quickly as possible so you can join in the fun! Click here for all the details!
I had a little dilemma last week: it was knit night, but both of my current WIPs* were at either the point of dividing for the sleeves (that’d be my Vitamin D) or joining in the sleeves (that was my The Old Man and The Sea). I knew I wouldn’t really enjoy trying to do either whilst carrying on the kind of lively conversations we always have at knit night, so I needed to cast on something that was simple and would be fun to work on while nattering the evening away.
I wandered through Ravelry a bit (…a bit? Is it even possible to wander through Ravelry’s pattern library just a bit?), and asked for suggestions on Twitter. And though I found so many gorgeous patterns, nothing was jumping out at me as the perfect knit night cast-on. Maybe, I thought with a shrug, maybe I’ll just have to deal with it and do the sleeves at knit night.
And then, as I turned to go up the stairs, I suddenly spotted the extra bundles of our first ever Ombre Mini-Skein Club parcels and instantly knew what I needed to do.
Aren’t they gorgeous? The colourway is Tranquility**, which is a mix of deep purples, red purples, and a very intriguing splash of gray-purple. I’ve loved this colourway since the moment I pulled it out of the dyepot and, yet, I’d never grabbed a skein for myself. But I suddenly thought, now that all the Mini-Skein Club parcels had gone out… why not?
I have to tell you, I think they might be even more adorable once they’re wound into teeny tiny balls. Don’t you agree?
I needed another skein for the main colour, and chose Sliver, an incredibly gentle and ethereal gray that looks stunning against the dark purples and then almost disappears into the lightest purples. I know I could have picked something contrasting for more impact (Sage? or maybe even Fizz?), but I really liked that subtle synchronicity that Sliver brought to the Mini-Skeins.
And so I cast on… Leftie by Martina Behm — the perfect simple and fun knit night project! So straight-forward and so addictive… Just increasing along one side, adding leaves on the other, and counting quick progress stripe by stripe.
And I went off to knit night a very happy girl indeed!
We are getting super excited for the Pau Hana KAL starting on October 17! A gorgeous new design by Mel of Singlehanded Knits, Pau Hana uses the SpaceCadet’s Ombre & Gradient Kits to create a casual, laid-back sweater that’s perfect for chilling out when the work day is done. And the KAL is a fab opportunity to knit it in camaraderie and support of a whole community of great knitters! Want to join us? Click here for all the details!
*in case WIP is new to you, it means “work in progress” …and I usually have a lot more WIPs than FOs (“finished object”). It’s just how I roll.
**There’s also a colourway called Tranquility Blue. It’s much the same as Tranquility but, y’know… more blue. I was just playing with different colourways one day, and came up with them and liked them both so much I decided to dye more of each. But then I got confused somewhere along the line and called them both Tranquility. Oops. So I added “Blue” to one of them. It’s confusing, I know. But better than if I hadn’t added “Blue” and just let you all join me in my confusion. Right? …Right?
I have an announcement. But before the announcement, I have a little funny story that I want to share with you. My friend Mel, otherwise known as MSkiKnits of the Singlehanded Knits podcast (you watch it, right? because, seriously, she records on the beaches of Kauai)… Anyway, Mel has been busy designing a fantastic pattern with a SpaceCadet Ombre & Gradient Kit — actually, two patterns, and here’s where the funny bit comes in… because she hadn’t named one of patterns yet, so she kept referring to as “the sweater”. But when she said that, I somehow got the wrong sweater in my mind.
So she was phoning me up and asking questions about the kits and how they would work with the pattern. And I was happily answering her questions. And sometimes it all suddenly wouldn’t seem to make any sense to me and I’d paused confusedly… or sometimes she’d pause… But then we’d get ourselves back on track and everything would seem fine again.
And then the other week, she told me that the pattern was ready for release at last. Hoorah! But as she went on to describe the details, suddenly it all started to not make sense again. And so I finally owned up to my utter confusion and said, “Hang on, Mel. What… wait, what exactly are we talking about?” And that’s when she and I suddenly realised that the entire time we’d been talking — through all those phone calls — she’d been asking about one sweater, and I’d been answering about a comletely different sweater!
*sigh* …SpaceCadet indeed.
Not to worry, the pattern is gorgeous. The yarn works with it beautifully. You’re going to love this!
And now the announcement…
This is Pau Hana
Pau Hana is a beautiful Dolman style sweater by MSkiKnits of the Singlehanded Knits podcast, designed completely around SpaceCadet Creations Ombré & Gradient Kits, to capture one of the hottest trends in colour right now.
Pau Hana is knit top down,with a beautiful center panel pattern repeated in the cuffs and bottom edge detail. Front and back panels are knit side to side in parts and joined together in the round beneath the arms. After joining, a series of decreases gently shape the sweater to flatter all figures. Upper and lower bottom arm seaming is simple and enjoyable.
The positive ease in this sweater makes it perfect…for all sizes, all layering choices, all seasons.
Want to see this sweater live? Head HERE for a peek at it on Mel on the blog and in the podcast on the beach in Hawaii at sunset!
The Pau Hana Kit
And, hey, guess what? In celebration of the pattern’s release, I’m doing a limited number of Pau Hana kits! The kits are created with Lyra, the SpaceCadet’s gorgeously sproingy sport weight, and each kit includes:
either four skeins for size XS, S, and M (32″, 34″, 36″ bust)
or five skeins for sizes L, XL, XXL (40″, 42″, 44″ bust)
a FREE copy of the Pau Hana pattern with five pages of detailed directions
an instructional video, provided exclusively with each SpaceCadet Pau Hana kit purchase, which explains how to weigh yarn, join and transition most effectively.
To buy a Pau Hana kit, click the button below and then be sure to choose a colourway option that is marked “Pau Hana” to ensure you get the pattern and bonus video.
(These kits are limited in quantity but, if we run out, I’ll open the listing to pre-orders for as many more kits as I have yarn in stock. If you click over and there are none left, be sure to come back shortly to nab one of the pre-orders!)
The KAL
And look, if a whole bunch of you are grabbing a kit and casting on, we might as well make this a party, right? So let’s turn this into a Pau Hana KAL!
The Pau Hana Knitalong is a fabulous way to knit this gorgeous jumper in the company a whole bunch of other excited and enthusiastic knitters!
You’ll be able to share your progress, get support and extra instruction on the best way to use the intriguing colour changes of the Ombre and Gradient Kits, and enjoy the camaraderie as we all work through this beautiful project together. It’s gotta be the very best way to knit — c’mon and join us!
The KAL will begin in mid-October and run for about six weeks. Each week there will be benchmark goals to help keep you on track, but you don’t have to worry — everyone can work at their own pace, and the only requirement is that your share your progress and help us all cheer each other along.
Ready to join the fun? All the updates and information will be post on the SpaceCadet’s Ravelry page. Click here to join the group, and then say hello in the Welcome thread!
I can’t wait to get started, can you? Ok, who’s in?
