Shop Update: Yarns for a Sleepy Dyer

21JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Sleep, as it turns out, is not optional. For over a week, I’ve been trying to knock this bug from TNNA on its head. For ten whole days. And the bug is beating me because it’s figured out my weakness: I need sleep.

I cannot sleep when I am coughing. And I am coughing pretty solidly from about 11pm to 4am, when I finally slip into a slumber from nothing more than sheer exhaustion. But until then,I lie in bed and keep very very still and breathe very very slowly, just willing this cough into submission long enough for me to sleep. It doesn’t work.

And so, the past ten days have felt like a total loss to me. Almost nothing done, almost nothing achieved. *sigh…* All I want in my bed, and that lovely, dreamy, delicious feeling of just slipping under the surface of sleep…

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Is it any wonder that the yarns I’ve put in the shop today are all of the softest, gentlest colours? Cool blues and sleepy greys that make me think of an inviting bed, of soft, dreamy light falling through sheer white curtains…

From left: Estelle fingering weight yarn in Translucence, Goodbye Blue Sky, a Dept of Rocket Science colourway, and Translucence.

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KnitCircus Pattern Collection Giveaway

But there’s something far more exciting for the rest of you than going to sleep. Today is the day that I draw the three winners of the KnitCircus Summer 2011 Pattern Collections! First, a huge thank you to everyone who participated — I really enjoyed reading your comments and find out your favourite patterns and articles.

And now, the winners are…

vitpil

Dawn Hays

PandaLark

Congratulations! You’ve won the complete Pattern Collection from the Summer 2011 issue of KnitCircus!

Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com with your email address (and remind me of your Ravelry name), and I’ll pass your details onto Jaala Spiro at KnitCircus so she can send you the collection. Enjoy!

Shop Update and Pattern Contest Winner!

07JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Someone… who shall remain nameless… Someone in our house is celebrating a birthday this week. A big, BIG birthday. The sort of age you know you’ll get to someday, but you never really believe you’ll ever reach. A tough birthday …but a fun birthday.

So, on Sunday, we had a big family celebration, and it was a fantastic day. You can imagine the scene in your mind: a table spread with amazing food, glasses filled deep with buttery white wine, a luscious chocolate cake covered in strawberries… And everywhere, everywhere that beautiful, dreamy, glowing light of a summer’s afternoon, gently dappled as it falls through the trees. It was a glorious day, and a glorious start to a new decade.

Today’s shop updates are yarns that evoke beautiful, lazy, summer days. Days filled with good food and plentiful wine. Days filled with golden sunshine, and evenings of glorious twilight. Even if it’s not your birthday this week, you deserve a little celebration too…

Stella fingering weight yarns in Row 1: Carnival (both images); Row 2: DoRS 110106-002 and City Park; Row 3: Sweet Dreams and Spice Trade

Pattern Contest Winner

And now, the moment I know a lot of you are waiting for! The winner of the Leslie Thompson and Rock and Purl Pattern Giveaway is…

SadieKate08

Congratulations! Send me a quick email to spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com to confirm your correct email address, and I will pass your info onto Leslie and Rock&Purl Ruth.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

(…and just to let you know that we’ve got some more great contests coming up in the near future, so stick around! If you’d like to hear about them first, be sure to subscribe to the blog, using the subscription box over there in the right-hand column)

Shop Update: a Lunchtime Meditation

24MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Green leaves on trees, green grass in the park, a barefoot lunch hour sitting in the sun. Summer knitting.

knitting, yarn, indie dyer, handdyed, fiber arts, crochet, sock yarn — Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering yarn in City Park, Hedgerow, City Park, and Forget Me Nots

Dappled light through the leaves, warm breeze, songbirds calling through the green oasis in the city. Needles softly clicking.

Bright blooms bursting from neat flowerbeds, calm amid the bustle, soaking up sunlight and softening the city-grey. Stitched meditation.

The Sexy Knitter Pattern Winner Is…

17MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The response to the Sexy Knitter’s pattern giveaway has been fantastic, and it was so much fun to see the comments rolling in and all the feedback on your favourite Sexy Knitter patterns! Thanks so much to all of you for participating.

And I’m about to tell you who’s won but, before I do, let me just quickly show you two exciting yarns I’ve put in the shop today. And they’re exciting not because of the colours I’ve applied, but because the yarns themselves are just so beautiful. Really, when I’m holding them in my hands, turning them in the light, they are so lusterous, just so gorgeous! I can hardly take pictures to do them justice — but trust me, you’ll love them.

First is a combination of silk and superwash BFL which produces a 4-ply yarn that feels incredible and has the most amazing sheen…

yarn, knitting, hand-dyed, indie dyer, — From left: Silk and BFL Fingering Yarn in Plumberry and Straw Into Gold

And the second is a beautiful combination of silk with merino wool that creates a 2-ply yarn with a distinctive texture that is incredibly smooshy with a breath-taking luster…

And The Winner Is…

Ok, I’ve made you wait long enough. The winner of two Sexy Knitter patterns of her choice is:

Dvora Geller

Congratulations! Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com, using the same email address you used in your comment, to let us know which patterns you’d like. And the Sexy Knitter will get them to you!

Bamboo, to Shine in the Summer Sun

03MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Are you ready for summer? Ready for those warm breezes, some long cool drinks, and golden light filtered through the lush green that you missed so much these past months? Yeah, me too. I really, really am ready.

And those kinds of days call for a really special yarn. Something like… bamboo. Not only because bamboo really does evoke thoughts of those tropical breezes accompanied by tropical drinks but, more importantly, because it has a spectacular sheen that captures the warmth of the sun and reflects it back in way that is everything you want in a summer yarn.

Here’s to those lazy days to come, gentle days bathed in golden sunlight, and lot of glorious, shimmery, summer knitting…

Clockwise from top left: fingering yarn with bamboo in Soliel, Pink Sun, Juicy, Evening Fog, Translucence, and SeaFoam

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.