Join In on Our Idea Bank!

12AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

We are all busy this week prepping the August Mini-Skein Club bundles (and I think they’re going to be a real treat this month, whether you’ve picked the Ombre&Gradient Mix or the Multicolour Mix — really fun colours coming your way!).

But I wanted to quickly share with you something wonderful that’s been happening in the SpaceCadet group on Ravelry! Now, we love collecting Mini-Skein project ideas for our club members on our Mini-Skein Ideas board on Pinterest — there are just so many fabulous and creative ways to add colour to your projects and scrolling through our Pinterest board is downright delicious.

But then I had a brainwave! As well as our collection on Pinterest, why not make this collaborative, and have all of you guys add your ideas too? So I started a thread on Ravelry — a place to share Mini-Skein project ideas and create a gorgeous look-book of patterns, an idea bank that we all contribute to. And it has become absolutely magic!

There are just two rules, and they are simple (and pretty fun too!):

Every suggestion has to include an image. Whether it’s a pattern on Ravelry or your own project, the idea is to create a visual idea book — and to be visual, it’s gotta have images! (and links are great too)
Chatting is welcome BUT you MUST also include an image and pattern idea in that same post. So, you can post a comment or reply to someone else’s post, but then you also have add in a pattern suggestion (and image) of your own in that post.

Want to join in the fun? Click here to check out the thread. And, hey, why not share your best Mini-Skein idea while you’re there?

Coming Soon

I’m crazy excited but I can’t say much, except to share this sneak peek…

…and these two key words: gorgeous new pattern and fabulous new kits! Mark your calendars for August 29th, and make sure you’re on the mailing list to be the first to hear about it!

Closing Soon

There’s less than one week left to order your fantastic SpaceCadet yarn bowl and mug from Pawley Studios. The orders are flying and it’s been so much fun! Don’t miss the chance to grab yours before they close on Aug 18! Click here to order or learn more.

Decisions! Which Colourways to Dye?!?

29JulApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

If you’re a member of the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, you know I love it because it gives me a chance to really stretch my wings and experiment with colour. Every month, I get to come up with ten colourways, and I have so much fun with that!

For July’s Mini-Skeins, I did another Start-Anywhere Gradient Mix. This one moves from a fabulous sunny-gold through to a delicate purple, which blends into a deliciously juicy blue (see the touches of purple hidden in the blue?), and finally melts back into that gold, creating vivid streaks of green as it does. I love the vibrancy of this mix — all the brightness of summer there in one sweet little bundle!

(And this best bit about these colourways? You may not know this, but when yellow and purple mix, they form the most sublime khaki colour. I think having that bit of earthy contrast in the mix really helps the brighter colours to pop.)

And to be honest, when the Mini-Skeins are finally all twisted and gathered into bundles, it’s usually the Ombre & Gradient Mix that’s my favourite. But this month… this month, the Multicolour Mix just reached out and grabbed me. All of the colourways in there are pure experimentation — I had no idea how they’d turn out — and the results blew me away!

There’s one that I think would be stunning if I took the colours and broke them out into a Gradient bundle of their own. And three more that are really calling to me to be dyed again, perhaps as Limited Editions. Can you guess which ones I’m thinking of?

Most of all, I can’t wait to get my Mini-Skein bundle caked up and ready to… oh, decisions! Should I knit them, weave them or crochet?!? I want to do all three! What would you do with yours?

Creative Colour: Two Projects that Inspire

10JulOctober 10, 2023 By Stephanie

One of the things that I find so seductive about hand-dyed yarn is way it is just so full of possibilities. Every knitter or crocheter looks at a skein and sees a completely different destiny for it — and no two people are ever going to create the exact same thing. Even if they were to use the same yarn and the same pattern, their gauges will be slightly varied and so the colours will arrange themselves in different ways across the stitches… With hand-dyed yarn, there is always that element of what-if, a kind of energy wrapped up in the colour and fiber and twist. I find that so intriguing!

And so I get crazy excited to discover what SpaceCadet customers make with our yarn. I loooove seeing finished your objects in the SpaceCadet group on Ravelry, or posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (make sure you tag me, ok? @spacecadetyarn or #spacecadetyarn).

You know how I much I love hunting out interesting ways to use SpaceCadet Mini-Skeins, right? (If you don’t, just check out the Mini-Skein Ideas board on Pinterest — some really amazing possibilities there) Well, I’ve just got to share this one with you, because sometimes it’s the littlest thing that makes a project really come to life.

Using Mini-Skeins on Mini-Skeins

Now first, if you don’t know Martina Behm’s Hitchhiker pattern, let me show you:

It’s a simple garter stitch shawl — easy to knit but intriguing because of its diagonal construction and fun sawtoothed edging. So far, so good.

But now check out this little modification that Megan/Arthjarna made to her Hitchhiker — and what a massive impact it has on the finished product!

Megan used SpaceCadet Ombre Mini-Skeins so her Hitchhiker shifts from the intense rust of Headstrong at one end to a gorgeous shades of terracotta at the other. But here’s the thing that I think is pure genius… instead of having the colours blend into each other, Megan went bold and chose a contrasting Mini-Skein in a gorgeous chartreuse to highlight each colour shift.

She actually added a second Mini-Skein element to her Mini-Skein project. How awesome is that?!?

Using the Start-Anywhere Gradient Mix

You remember last month I created Space-Cadet’s Start-Anywhere Gradient Mini-Skein Mix? Here’s how it works:

And I just have to share with you this gorgeous project, knit by my assistant Jade/jadeish. It’s the Quaker Yarn Stretcher Boomerang by Susan Ashcroft and it’s got a very similar diagonal construction, but this time with the added texture of alternating knit and purl ridges.

What I love about about this is how the individual Mini-Skeins work together. Look closely… Do you see the gray flecks in the burnt-orange along the edge? Those are there so that skein can blend back into the gray of the first skein if you wanted to start at another point in the Mini-Skein bundle.

But in this shawl, what it actually does is tie the whole thing together, by picking up the colour of the gray at the other end of the shawl, and making the whole piece come together. Even though the first and the last Mini-Skein aren’t physically joined, there’s still a connection in the colour, and that brings the whole shawl full circle.

See what I mean? So many possibilities in each skein of yarn! So come on and show me — what will you make with yours? I’m dying to see!

1.. 2… 3… Wait, 1.. 2…

01JulApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Counting from one to five shouldn’t be tough, but this month I totally stumped my assistants Jade and Amy, and had them counting… and then recounting… and then starting over again.

They were bundling the June Mini-Skeins and, for the Ombre & Gradient Mix, the rule usually is that the most intense skein is number one, working to the gentlest skein at number five. Easy, right? But this month, I did something a little different.

But first, let me show you the Multicolour Mix. June always feels like such a bright, clear month — no snow, bright skies, blazing sun — that it felt right to dye clean, clear, happy colourways. Don’t they make you smile?

Now, which of these do you think I should do as Limited Editions? The pink and green? That happy yellow with pops of peach and green? Leave a comment and tell me which ones are calling your name!

But it was the Mini-Skein Club Ombre & Gradient Mix that was giving the SpaceCadet assistants pause… You see, most months, the Mini-Skeins have a definite start and a definite end, and Amy and Jade know exactly where to start.

But this month, I did something a bit different. I dyed five skeins that formed a complete circle, and all blended into each other. So, instead of starting a project at Skein 1 and working through to Skein 5, you could start a project anywhere in the set, and the skeins will still all work together.

Fancy that gorgeous Skein 3? Start there! It will blend into Skein 4, which blends into Skein 5, which blends into… and here’s the trick… Skein 5 blends neatly back into Skein 1. So you can start anywhere and still work your way right through the full bundle, creating a beautiful gradient effect no matter where you choose to begin.

Such a simple change, and yet it has a really big impact on your project. And I am so chuffed with the result! Don’t you just love it? So tell me, which skein would you start with?

Wanna get Mini-Skein bundles delivered straight to your door? Click here to find out more!

Limited Editions: The Glorious Summer Sky

13JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s Friday the 13th and, though I’ve never really been fazed by that particular superstition (it’s Monday the 13th that seems like a bad combo to me — I mean, Friday the 13th is still a Friday), I know it might not feel like the friendliest of days*. But I’ve got a little something that will cheer things up a bit…

When we put together the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club bundles, it’s usually the Ombre & Gradient Mix that really calls out to me. But, when we were packing May’s parcels, I found myself falling head over heels for the Multicolour Mix. Here, see for yourself.

Seriously, as we were packing, I just kept picking the bundles up and staring at them. It was so hard to send them all away!

But there are three particular colourways that I loved so very much and were so much fun to create, I just knew I had to dye more. So… I am!

June Limited Editions

For the next seven days, we’re offering three stunning colourways inspired by the glorious summer sky — Nightwatch, Gaze Skyward, and Horizon Fire — as Limited Editions for custom dyeing. Available from June 13th to 19th only, they’re sure to go quick. Click here to nab yours!
Nightwatch is the incredible blues and purples of twilight, fading into deep gray-black as night falls.

Gaze Skyward is the glorious mid-day sky, so intense directly above and burning out to white along the edges of perception.

Horizon Fire is all the heat and shadows streaking across the breathtaking summer sky as the sun sinks slowly beneath the horizon.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!? I just love them, can’t wait to get dyeing them for you! Want one? Click here!

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*What else? It’s also a full moon. shudder!

Adding Colour to Little Things and Big

27MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Ok, it’s not actually Monday but, at least here in the US, it feels like a Monday, so let’s brighten the morning up with some great Mini-Skein ideas!

Y’know, as I was scrolling through Mini-Skein ideas this week for the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Ideas board on Pinterest, the thing that struck me was how versatile they actually are. I mean, when the Mini-Skein craze started, it was all about hexipuffs — tiny little six-sided pillows that give instant gratification and are eventually all put together into the stunning Beekeeper’s Quilt.

And those little puffs get us thinking about using Mini-Skeins for mini-sized projects. Two of my favourites that I spotted on Pinterest this week are the Itty Bitty Stripes hat, knit by deliknits from a pattern by Susan B. Anderson, and the Luxury Holiday Garland, knit by harleagh from a pattern by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich. Both of patterns use small amounts of yarn highlight colour in a whimsical (and delightful way). Who can look at that sweet little hat and not smile? Or resist that garland of happy stars when holiday-time rolls round? Yes, Mini-Skeins really lend themselves to mini-projects like these.

But I think what is really cool is the way people are using Mini-Skeins now to add tiny pops of colour to full-sized projects. More and more on Pinterest, I see designs that use yarn as if it were a crayon to add colour here there and everywhere… Sweaters or cardigans with a gorgeous bright edging… Or maybe a gently contrasting collar or cuffs. Or… or… something really innovative and exciting — like the Stripes Ahoy! sweater, knit by machamaya and designed by Asa Tricosa. Isn’t it fantastic?!? I love how she’s used colour in a unexpected way to turn a simple design into something really eye-catching.

And finally, I want to share Moore, a design by one of my favourite designers, Ruth Garcia-Alcantud of Rock & Purl. It’s eye-catching of course because of its unusual off-center shaping, and side-to-side construction. But imagine if you took those stripes and, instead of doing the pattern in just two colours, you used Mini-Skeins to add a whole spectrum of colour? It’d be stunning, right? No need to imagine — just click here and see how it would look!

You see what I mean about how versatile Mini-Skeins can be? The more I go through ideas on Pinterest, the less I think of them as yarn and more as yarn-crayons, to add colour where-ever it’s going to add impact to a project. What more of that? Follow the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Ideas board on Pinterest and get inspired to colour your world too!