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.

Full-Skeins of March’s Mini-Skein Colourways!

10AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

A customer recently emailed to tell us that she loved all our Mini-Skein bundles but wanted to tell us that “some months they are outstanding”. We put so much enthusiasm into each month’s dyeing that I just can’t tell you how much that meant to me. And I have to say, I think March’s Mini-Skeins fall right into that category of “outstanding”. Check them out:

Are you drooling over any of them? I am particularly drawn to the Gradient Mix this month (on the left). There is just something about those intense jewel tones mixed with subtle grays and blacks that get my fingers itching to cast on! And if you’re feeling the same, here’s some great news…

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

Each month, we 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 are 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!

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

Blueshift — from the Gradient Mix

A Blueshift is a shift in the lines of an object’s spectrum toward the blue end, indicating that an object is moving toward the observer.

Blueshift is a stunning combination of blues, grays, and blacks that swirl and shift across the skein. Reminiscent of the deep night sky and available on three different bases, it creates a dramatic look for anything from shawls to cardigans to capes.

Spring Tide — Members’ Only Multicolour

The Spring Tide occurs only when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are in a straight line

Dyed in sublime shades of soft grays spiked with sunbeam golds and oranges, which blend together to create touches of beautiful sea-greens. Available on three different bases.

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

Aurora Polaris — A March Multicolour

The Aurora Polaris is the aurora of the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the Northern Lights

Drenched with the luminous greeny-blues and vibrant yellows of the Northern Lights, Aurora Polaris creates a colourplay that welcomes spring with abandon. Available on three different bases.

Blackberry Winter Gradient Sweater Kit

Blackberry winter refers to a cold snap that often occurs in late spring when the blackberries are in bloom.

This colourway moves from a deep lavender through vibrant raspberry before descending into a deep grays and blacks. Available on three different bases, it would be stunning in a full sweater, and equally beautiful paired with 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!)

Here’s how it works:

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

The Full Gradient Mix as a Sweater Kit!
Each month, our gorgeous Gradient Mix is 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 itching 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 pick our very favourite Multicolour Mix colourwayand make it available exclusively to our Club members who received a bundle that month.

If you’re not a member of the Club that month, you’re still in for a treat!

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!” Great news: we pick our favourite and offer it in full skeins to everyone!

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 pick one 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 release of new colourways!

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.

Five Fabulous Gift Ideas

03DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite days of the year (and I hope yours was lovely!) but y’know, I find the days of shopping madness that follow just plain exhausting. I am never so organised that I am thinking about gift-giving the weekend after Thanksgiving — I’m still lying around trying to recover from dinner!

Rather than add to all the craziness of the Thanksgiving weekend, it made sense to me to wait a few days, to let things calm down and get back to normal a bit before we even thought about holiday shopping. So if you’re like me and are just now starting to come up with gift ideas, let me share a few of mine…

For the Knitter who is Branching Out*

Leftie is a simple yet intriguing pattern that incredibly popular with knitters of all skill levels. A perfect holiday gift, you can use it to knit a quick last minute present, or just give the kit to your favourite knitter and let them have all the fun!

Each SpaceCadet Leftie kit includes one 100g skein of fingering weight yarn in a semi-solid colourway and five 20g mini-skeins of fingering weight in an assortment of colourways and fiber content — easily enough to complete the pattern with your own combination of colours. Create your leaves with all five colours or choose just your favourites. Or, switch it up by using the Mini-Skeins for the main colour and the semi-solid for the leaves!

Each kit is unique and when they are gone, they’re gone. Click here to see the colourways and grab your favourite quick.

*(get it?!?)

For the Knitter or Crocheter who Deserves Months of Smooshy Yarny Goodness

There is nothing in the whole world like a skein of lovely, smooshy, thick yarn, and the SpaceMonster Mega Yarn Club is specially designed for the knitters and crocheters who can’t get enough of them! Every other month, members receive a fantastic parcel containing a beautiful skein of SpaceCadet^® Creations worsted or bulky yarn, the SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway, and a fantastic SpaceMonsters gift tucked into every third parcel.

Membership in the SpaceMonsters is a very special gift. But you have to hurry — subscriptions are available only until Dec 15. Click here to learn more.

For the Fiber Adventurer or for the Crafty Kid

The Zoom Loom is an incredibly addictive and quick way to create something new and exciting with that huge stash of yarn! For a knitter who has always wanted try weaving, or the crafty kid who loves to try new things, this is a perfect gift. Click here to grab one!

For the Knitter or Crocheter who is Right On-Trend

Ombre is one of the hottest trends going right now, and the SpaceCadet’s Ombre & Gradient kits are designed to bring excitement to your favourite knitter’s project as the colour morphs gently from the dark into light or from hue to hue. Each kit contains either 3, 4, or 5 full size skeins of SpaceCadet® yarn, in coloursthat gently change along a spectrum from skein to skein. Click here to choose your colour.

For the Truly Creative Crafter

The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skeins are more than just little bundles of yarn. They’re like a box of crayons or an artist’s palette of paint that the truly creative knitter or crocheter can use to set the imagination free… to combine colours as subtly or as wildly as she like… to really explore the ideas in her head. If you are shopping for someone whose fiber artistry knows no bounds, then a subscription to the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club is the perfect gift. Click here to find out more!

Rhinebeck: One AMAZING Weekend!

26OctApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

First it rained. It was the kind of rain where you discover that the highest setting on the wipers is frighteningly inadequate, where cars slide off the road, where you wonder if you’re going to get there at all.

And then it cleared, and we suddenly saw how incredibly beautiful autumn in the Hudson Valley really is.

The old farmhouse we rented turned out to be wonderful. It had a lovely pond, and beautiful period features. And big soft comfortable beds

But there was no time to go to bed — there was work to be done — and we headed straight to the Duchess County Fairgrounds to get the Melissa Jean booth set up. It was a lot of hard work but, by the end, I think it looked fantastic, don’t you?

And then it was two amazing, whirlwind days of yarn and buttons and so many lovely customers and some super-cool fiberista friends… We were so busy, I forgot to take pictures of almost everyone (ooops!).

And then, before I even knew it’d begun, it was all over! The booth was taken down and the car all packed up, and we started on the long looong journey back.

And when we finally arrived home after 9 hours of driving, I made myself a well-deserved cup of tea, and looked back at the weekend with a crazy rush of emotion. It was an amazing weekend, and I felt so excited and so happy.

…And ohhhh sooooo tired!

(With huge thanks to Melissa Jean for featuring SpaceCadet yarn, and to Natalie and Kristen for making everything go so smoothly.)

Shop Update!

Lots of yarns went back into the shop yesterday. Lots more will go in today and over the weekend, including some fantastic one-of-a-kind colourways that you won’t want to miss. Click here to keep your eyes open for them!

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.

A Dress? Now THIS is a Dress!

03AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

If you were listening closely in the middle of June, I am quite certain that you heard a loud noise in the distance. And you might have thought it was just a child yelling three streets over, or a dog who suddenly spotted a stray cat, or a distant explosion of some sort. But no, it was me, letting out a scream on the day I met a dress.

I was at TNNA and had run into Heather Dixon, the designer at Army of Knitters and the creative director at Clotheshorse magazine. And, after some lovely chit-chat about the Universal Importance of a good cup of tea, Heather suddenly said, “Oh, the dress!” and took this little number down from the rail…

Months and months previously, Heather and Mindy Brown, the editorial director at Clotheshorse (and the designer of the dress) had asked me to dye some Celeste in the colourway Stewed Cranberries for a segment they were doing on indie dyers. And so I dyed it up and sent it off and… went back to normal life. And I think maybe I knew it was for a dress, but I really didn’t have any vision of what it might eventually be like. I have no idea why, but my head had conjured up something like a heavy, elongated sweater with cables running down the front…

So when Heather pulled Bayeux, it was so completely NOT what I was expecting… And so incredibly gorgeous — with that fabulous combination of knitted top and crocheted skirt, lovely nipped-in waist, sweet capped sleeves, and asymmetrical crochet hemline — that I think I actually let out a little scream right there on the TNNA show floor.

And that is the noise that you heard. But then, if you’d suddenly realised that the yarn you’d dyed and sent away those many months ago had been turned into something so incredibly stunning as Bayeux, you’d have squealed too, right?

I’ve put a bunch of Celeste in the shop that will be perfect for this dress, in Stewed Cranberries, Honey, and a really gorgeous experimental green. And a bunch of other great yarns too… Click here to check it out!

(Also, everyone please cross fingers that the next shop update will be in the new shop! There’s a lot of work between here and there, but I am really looking forward to having that big button above take you to the brand new SpaceCadet shop! Wooot!)

Hey, I just have to tell you about this because I am so excited! Do you remember a few weeks ago I introduced you to the wonderful Melissa and her new podcast SingleHandedKnits, which she records beneath the palm trees and on the beaches of Hawaii? Well, Melissa is putting together a fantastic KAL in honour of the upcoming election. It’s called Sock the Vote, and Melissa has asked me to dye custom colourways for two the “parties”. It’s going to be a BLAST! But spaces are limited and going fast so — quick! — click here to take a mid-day trip to Hawaii and let Melissa explain all about it.

…You know what? Go ahead and click that link regardless. Because no matter where you are or what you’re doing right now, somehow everything just feels that much better when you see those palm tree swaying in the background. And, seriously, Melissa is just such a lovely, positive person, you can’t help but smile as soon as you see her. Go on, click!