Our Spring SpaceCadet One-of-a-Kind Special Event!

26AprApril 27, 2015 By Stephanie

A few weeks ago, just after I’d mentioned on the blog that we were taking a wonderful collection of One-of-a-Kind SpaceCadet yarns to our spring shows, a customer emailed to ask if we could offer them on line for the folks who live too far away to come to our shows. We do a great deal of experimentation in the studio, which creates a ton of incredibly beautiful one-of-a-kind colourways, with layer upon layer of colour, but we rarely offer them for sale online simply because it takes so long to photograph and get them all up on the website. But that email got me thinking… I realised she was right, it would be great to occasionally offer our experimental colourways to all our customers, so I decided that once the shows were over, we’d do a something special.

Our Spring SpaceCadet One-of-a-Kind Colourways Special Event

So here it is — your chance to get your hands on all those lovely yarns that you don’t normally see in our shop! There are 65 skeins of Celeste fingering…

*sound of a record scratching*

Ok, wait, an amazing thing happened yesterday, but it kind of changes everything. So before I go any further, let me quickly explain. I had planned to open the One-of-a-Kind Special Event to the public this morning, but also decided to reward the folks who’ve joined our mailing list by giving them a one day’s advanced notice. Sundays are quiet in the online world, most people are busy and don’t check their email. I thought, it would be a nice, gentle way to ease into the Special Event…

Well… I was wrong! The folks on our mailing list went nuts for the One-of-a-Kind colourways and jumped straight in with both feet. It was amazing to watch the orders come flying in, knowing that each one represented a SpaceCadet customer who’d found a yarn they just LOVED! I have to tell you, I think getting to be that kind of a match-maker has to be one of the best parts of my job, but it does mean that a lot of the One-of-a-Kind skeins are gone. Now, there are some wonderful colourways left (including my personal favourite — any guesses which one it is?), but it turns out, you’ve got to be superfast to grab the ones that are calling out to you before they disappear!

Ok, so now that I’ve explained, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled programme…

There’s the summer-friendly Celeste fingering, our wildly popular Lyra sport, beautiful Elara bulky, and three kinds of laceweight — so you’re sure to find something that you love! But they’re available for only 10 days, so be quick.

Perfect for Mother’s Day!

Oh, and if you’re stumped for what to get your mother for Mother’s Day, pick a colourway for her and leave your gift message in the notes section when you place your order. Or you suspect your family might be planning to get you something… erm… disappointing for Mother’s Day, then share this post and drop some heavy hints — chances are, they’ll be grateful for the help!

Ready to get started?

It’s easy — just scroll down and click on one of the images below — fingering, sport, bulky, or lace — to see all the other colourways available. They’re all dyed and ready to go, so we’ll get your order packed and out to you quickly. Can’t wait to see what you pick!

So there you have it — the last 24 hours have been amazing and I’ve learned how much folks really love our One-of-a-Kind colourways. We never stop playing with colour and producing amazing yarns, so I think we might make this a semi-annual event to share our beautiful experimentations with you.

But the real moral of this story? It’s TOTALLY worth being on our mailing list! If you’re not already on it, click here and let’s get that fixed right now.

Announcing… Full Skeins and Sweater Kits of Mini-Skein Colourways!

06MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The Mini-Skein Club is always wonderful fun for us at SpaceCadet — we love coming up with exciting colours for the Multicolour Mix, and developing the next step in the Never Ending^™ colour story of the Gradient Mix. I know how much you guys enjoy it, because you share your wonderful projects with us on Ravelry, but I have to tell you, it’s just as fun for us creating the yarns for those projects.

But what we hear the most from Club members and other customers is how much they’d like to be able to buy larger skeins of some of the Mini-Skein colourways. And I agree — there are some fabulous colourways in those little bundles of yarny goodness! It wasn’t something we could accomplish last year (some day I will tell you the saga of moving into our new studio… and it is a saga) but, now that we are moved into our new space at last, we have a lot more freedom to bring you all those amazing colours. And so I am delighted to announce …

Full Skeins and Sweater Kits of SpaceCadet^® Mini-Skein Colourways!

Each month, we will pick our favourite colourways from both the Multicolour and Gradient Mixes, and offer them to you as full skeins and sweater kits on a selection of SpaceCadet bases. Some will be exclusive to the Club members and some available to everyone, so you can order one skein or a sweater’s quantity — it’s up to you — to make a gorgeous, full-sized project with those fantastic Mini-Skein colourways!

Here’s how it works:

If you are a member of the Club that month, you have access to all the colourways we are dying that month, including exclusive access to

The Full Gradient Mix as a Sweater Kit!
Each month, our gorgeous Gradient Mix will be available as a full sweater kit exclusively to the Club members who received a bundle that month. If you’re in love with the Gradient Mix’s wonderful colour shift and are dying to use it in a larger project, you can order it as a breathtaking five-skein sweater kit.

One Multicolour Mix Colourway as a Club Member Exclusive
You know the Multicolour Mix is an explosion of colour! Each month, we’ll pick our very favourite Multicolour Mix colourway (or perhaps two?) and make it available exclusively to our Club members who received a bundle that month. The Multis are always so much fun — which one will we choose for you this month?

If you’re not a member of the Club that month, we still have something wonderful for you! How about this?

One Gradient Mix Colour in Full Skeins There’s always one colour out of the Gradient Mix that we pull out of the dyepots, gasp, and think, “I want a whole sweater in this colour!” And if you do too, then great news: we’re going to pick our favourite and offer it in full skeins! It might be exclusive to the Club members or it might be available to everyone — we’ll refine this as the months go by — but it’s always going to be mouth-watering

One Multicolour Mix Colourway as Full Skeins Each month, the Multicolour Mix is an adventure in colour and we never know how many of its colourways we’re going fall head over heels for. We’ll pick one (or occasionally two) that we really enjoyed dyeing and offer to dye you some more!

But you’ve gotta be fast! They’re available for two weeks only!

Because we’re always getting ready for the next month’s dyeing, these full skeins will be available for a very limited time — two weeks only — to allow us to get them dyed, prepped, and out to you as quickly as possible. So make sure you’re watching the blog or — even better — get on our mailing list so you never miss the announcement!

Ready to see this month’s full skein picks? Here they are!

Parallax Aphelion — Gradient Colourway #3

A parallax is a displacement in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight.

The Aphelion Sweater Kit shifts from a deep-space purple through to a rich sun-gold, and where the two come together, it forms this amazing colourway. We let the hues run over and into each other where-ever they like, which creates pockets of unexpected — and unpredictable* — colour that will turn your knitting or crochet into a multi-chromatic adventure!

*Please note: this is one of those very unpredictable colourways — we had many skeins come out like this one, and several come out with a beautiful rose tinge to them. We’ll do our best to reproduce the colour you see here but, if you buy this colourway, be prepared to go into it with a sense of adventure — which is truly the essence of hand-dyed yarn!

Cetus — Members’ Only Multicolour

Cetus is a constellation named after a sea monster in Greek mythology.

Dyed in intense shades of deep blues and blacks, with undertones and wild pops in pinks and rusts, Cetus reflects something unexpected that may rise from up from deep waters — or out of the deepest night skies.

Where’s the order button? This colourway is exclusive to February Club members. If that’s you, look for an email arriving shortly with your members-only link!

Flare Star — A February Multi

A flare star can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes.

A wonderful combination of soft gray contrasted against vivid magenta, Flare Star will create stitches that play with colour right in your hands, as they bounce back and forth between the sublime and bright. The result is a project that is not only tons of fun to work on, but a eye-catching to wear as well.

Aphelion Gradient Sweater Kit

Aphelion is the point in an object’s orbit when it is furthest from the Sun.

The first is our Gradient Mix Sweater Kit. Shifting from a deep-space purple through to a rich sun-gold, it morphs into some amazing hues along its journey. Breathtaking in a full sweater, it would be equally stunning paired with black or a contrasting colour for gradient stripes.

Where’s the order button? This kit is exclusive to February Club members. If that’s you, look for an email arriving shortly with your members-only link!

What to get access to all the colourways next month? Join the Club!

Working with mini-skeins is like drawing with yarn, and each little bundle of colour becomes a new and exciting addition to your palette! The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club is a wonderful way to discover all the amazing, creative things you can make with these gorgeous little skeins — delivered straight to your door! Click here to learn all about it.

The Biggest News of the SpaceCadet’s Year

14SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This week, very quietly, the biggest event of the SpaceCadet year happened. It wasn’t a show, it wasn’t a big order, it wasn’t a feature in a knitting magazine. But it was something I’ve been working toward slowly — inch by inch — for a looooong time. And then this week, it happened. Quietly, and with no fanfare, just as if it was the most unimportant thing in the world.

And, y’know, to you, it probably is — but to me, it’s huge. So when I tell you what it is, please do me a little favour, ok? Just for a moment, give a little squeal for me — I am just so excited!!!!!

Ok, you ready? Here it is… See that shop link right there on the right? The one for the SpaceCadet shop? Last week, it took you to an Etsy shop. But today, when you click on it, it will take you to…

The Brand-New SpaceCadet Shop!!!!!

(go on, click it!)

I’ve designed this shop to give you everything I wasn’t able to give you before — and I am just so tickled about that. You can start by browsing all the yarns in one place on the Yarn Info page, where you can easily compare them by fiber content, weight, and yardage.

And there’s a lot to compare — the SpaceCadet’s fleet of yarns has increased from eight yarn types to… eighteen. Everything from laceweights (silk! sparkles! linen!) to bulkies. And in between, a beautiful array of choices. I’m sooooo excited — check it out!

When you’ve chosen your yarn, you can click through to see which standard colourways are in stock. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, there’s a link to show you that yarn in all the fabulous experimental colourways in the Department of Rocket Science.

My goal is to make it as simple as possible for you to find exactly the yarn you need for your project. Or… if you’re in a mood to just wander through the yarns and explore until you find one that captures your heart, you can do that too!

There’s still improvements I want to make — little things to tweak here and there, and a few big things too — but even though I want to keep going until it’s perfect, I know that, really, it’s perfect enough. And so, after months and months of preparation, the new SpaceCadet shop is ready at last. And while it feels like a HUGE thing to me, I know I’m biased. But secretly, I am really hoping that it’s pretty darned exciting for you too. So… will you squeal with me?

(Now, at the moment, there are only a select number of yarns in the new shop. I’ll be doing a shop update on Wed Sept 19 — see the banner on the main shop page — but, for now, most of the yarns are coming with me to… )

A Trunk Show at KNOTS on Saturday Sept 15

As soon as I walked into KNOTS in Chardon Ohio (for a class with Brenda Dayne earlier this summer), I knew it was exactly what a yarn shop should be. Cosy, welcoming, and packed with fibery goodness, I was thrilled when Kate asked me to do a trunk show there!

I’ll be bringing a ton of yarn, including lots of wonderful experimental and one-of-a-kind colourways. So if you’re in the area, please do come. I’d love to meet you!

SpaceCadet Trunk Show from noon to 5pm at
Knots – Knitting on the Square
153 Main Street
Chardon, Ohio 44024
(click here to map it!)

Only 3 Days Left to Join the InterStellar Yarn Alliance

Subscriptions to the Yarn Alliance have been going like hotcakes and there are only a few spaces and three days left before subscriptions are closed. If you’ve been thinking of joining and haven’t subscribed yet, grab your place quick before it goes! Click here for all the details.

Shop Update: Clean and Dirty

19AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

When we think of spring, we all picture clean colours: the clear blue of cloudless sky, the bright shades of new flowers, and new grass sprouting up through the earth. But what we actually get is a little dirtier than that: grumpy dark skies, rain-soaked puddles and lots of mud, and days that can’t decide whether to be kind and warm, or cold and cruel.

Today, Spring is rainy and grumpy. But there are new yarns in the shop….

From top to bottom: Estelle yarn (80/10/10 Superwash Merino, Cashmere, Nylon) in Pollen, a DoRS colourway, Tuesday Blue, Storm Clouds, Mucky Pup, Spice Trade, Monday Red, and a DoRS colourway.

Last Day to Join the InterStellar Yarn Alliance!

31MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Sunday was the HomeSpun Yarn Party and we had a FABULOUS time!!!! Thank you to everyone who came out to Savage Mill — it was great to meet you all, and to talk about yarns and fibery things. You guys made it so much fun!

And SpaceCadet yarn was popular too. The booth was packed for most of the day…

spacecadet, space cadet, yarn, sock yarn, knitting, hand dyed — The booth was packed!

We really didn’t expect to be so mobbed — at times the line seemed to extend right out of the booth space itself!

hsyp, spacecadet, space cadet, yarn, sock yarn, knitting — The line!

.And it’s wonderful to get that kind of support, but we were very sorry that our customers had to stand in line so long to buy our yarn. So, we’ve all talked it through and come up with a couple of ideas that should make everything a bit faster and easier for our customers next year.

Speaking of fast… The opening time for subscriptions to the SpaceCadet’s yarn club has flown by: Today is the last day to sign up for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance!!! If you’ve been thinking about it, wanting to do it…. but haven’t made it happen yet, sign up TODAY! You can click here to read all the details of the club, or click here to go straight to the shop and sign up. Come on! We’d love to have you join us!

And finally, we’ve been busy this week getting things organised and getting yarns back in the shop. There are some in there now, but lots and lots more to go in over the next few days — and lots of new colourways. Keep your eyes open for them!

(And, just between you and me, if you liked Beguile and Sugared Violets — the chocolate-and-pink and chocolate-and-purple yarns that sold out at Pittsburgh Knit&Crochet — make sure you keep checking in!)

Emptying the Shop!

25MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Don’t panic! There’s a good reason to empty the shop and it’s only temporary. More on that further down. But first, we head out this weekend to Savage, Maryland to be part of the HomeSpun Yarn Party on Sunday, and this place is a flurry of activity getting last-minute prep done. And I know I mentioned in my last post what a busy time it’s been around here, but I did I forget to mention what an exciting time it’s been? I think I did..

Profiled on the HomeSpun Yarn Party website

Exciting is not just because of all the prep Homespun, but also because HomeSpun Yarn Party did a feature post about SpaceCadet Creations on their website. It was such a rush to see our name and our yarns up there with all the other fantastic indie dyers and spinners who go to HomeSpun!

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Interviewed on Falling Stitches

And, to add exciting on top of exciting, the designer Ariane Caron-Lacote interviewed me on her blog, Falling Stitches. I’ve been a fan of her designs for a while, and I was so delighted that she asked me to be interviewed. Pop over and have a read and, while you’re at it, check out her designs (including my favourite, Dalia).

Emptying the Shop

I will remove most of the yarns and fiber from the shop while we’re at Homespun (to ensure that we don’t inadvertently sell any of the same yarns twice!), but I will get everything back in again as quickly as possible. I will probably take the stock out on Saturday night, and then you can look for the shop to be fully stocked again sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. If there’s something in the shop right now that you really love, grab it now!

And, of course, I will keep the subscription buttons for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance live, so that you join and become a member any time you like! Remember, there’s less than a week left to sign up for the Yarn Alliance — subscriptions close March 31, 2011!