In every home across the country this week, the scene will be exactly the same… There will be mixing bowls filled with the most amazing treasures, and pots gently bubbling on the stove. There will be the old favourites and new recipes, last minute changes and quick saves when things go wrong. A pinch of this and a dash of that…
And it’s been no different here. Well… ok, then, maybe a wee bit different here in the SpaceCadet house. Here’s what I’ve been busily cooking up this week…
A dear friend of mine is about to have her baby boy — a little miracle after a lot of broken hopes and heartache — and I am overjoyed for her. So I want to send something special to welcome him into the world. The first thing I thought about, of course, was the colour…
I didn’t want to go with the typical baby pastels or box him into blueblueblue. So I went down to the studio and mixed up a few colours that I thought would be just right — that would be interesting, exciting, but still perfect for a baby boy.
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And when I pulled it out of the dyepot, it was exactly what I had in mind. I’m seeing a little cardigan and a pair of matching booties. And I can’t wait to cast on!
The sea rolls in, and softly out again… leisurely, relaxed, as if it has nothing better in the world to do. Softly in, softly out, and making that wonderful, rich sound — the gently fizz of blue-green SeaFoam melting into the sand.
Each skein is over 100g of Stella, a beautiful and distinctive 2-ply fingering weight yarn in 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. There are two skeins available, sold separately.
Fiber Content: 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon
Weight: Approximately 3.7oz / 105g (approximately 400 yards per 100g)
Colourway: SeaFoam, 101113-003
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Machine wash, Lay flat to dry.
Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes which are mixed by hand from primaries. Please be sure to buy enough for your project as the colours may not be able to be reproduced exactly.
SpaceCadet Creations is a smoke-free, pet-free environment.
Please remember that the colours in pictures may vary depending on your computer monitor. The colours in the photos are as accurate as possible.
You may have noticed that there was no shop update on Monday, as there usually is. Nor on Tuesday, which is when I usually do the update if Monday gets too busy. There were yarns ready — drying, or in the process of being reskeined, some weighed, some tagged… But I was not ready.
I was flat on my back in agony and holding as still as I possibly could. Over the weekend, my neck and shoulder had seized up completely and, man oh man it hurt! I mean, they’ve seized up before, a few times in my life, but never like this. Imagine, if you will, me lying on my back in bed, with no pillow, nothing to contort my spine away from the support of the mattress, and I moved my foot — just my foot! — and it sent a spasm of pain shooting up through my shoulder and my neck and wrapped right around over my skull all the way to my eyes. That kind of agony.
Stella yarn in Faded Garland
The doctor is satisfied that it is muscular and not skeletal (I was worried), and I now have some painkillers the size of horse-pills that are working a small miracle. Bit by bit, I am gaining more mobility — and having to remind myself not to rush it, that everything can wait… even though I am desperate to get back work. There were so many exciting things happening this week, and so many wonderful yarns!
Celeste Yarn in Stewed Cranberry
And so keen was I to get them in the shop that I took advantage of those pills and pushed myself a bit too hard yesterday. The result is that there are now some lovely yarns in the shop …and, I am flat on my back again today. Not anything like before, but just a little reminder from my muscles they are not to be trifled with and I must respect them and take things slooooowly.
Luna Laceweight Yarn in Rapeseed
But I did get some really exiting stuff into the shop… There’s enough Megan’s Frost to make a sweater — with two more skeins of Frost waiting to go into the shop as soon as I’m able. And there’s four skeins of Stewed Cranberry, with two more in the studio ready to be reskeined. A beautiful skein of Laceweight in the most amazing golden-yellow. And a skein of Stella in a lovely, quirky colourway called Faded Garland. Enjoy!
Wait…! You’re confused? Nobody likes green? Well, that comes from a story that a friend of mine tells, of a time when she popped into her local yarn shop to buy some green yarn to knit a gift for a friend. But she couldn’t find any green yarn — not any — so she asked where it was. And the reply came without a moment’s pause, “We don’t sell green because nobody likes green.”
Every time I dye green, I feel like such a rebel. Or… wait! Does dyeing green make me a nobody? It’s so confusing!
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And, just in case it’s true and, really, nobody likes green, I dyed some blues too. Because everybody loves blue… don’t they?
Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering weight yarn in Faded,
When I reached into this pile of wonderful fibery goodness to choose the yarns I would put into the shop this week, my hand went straight to the brightest shades, the boldest colour combinations. Eye-candy!
Hidden for so long within its vibrant green stalk, when the Iris finally breaks through and reveals its bloom, the rich purple of the petals with its surprising splash of yellow is nothing short of breath-taking.
Grey the colour of cold and blustery — cloudy skies over unkind days. And Purple in asucculent shade of zing, a lively sparks that breaks through the grey and breathes life into the day. Together they blend beautifully into a Cold Harmony.
Pink slides lazily into Mauve and, hardly pausing to note the change, then dips softly into Purple. And in the end, which comes out on top? It doesn’t even matter — with colours so gentle and ripe, it’s all good.
A Ball of Fire, burning bright, slowly sinking below the horizon… Crackles, hisses, spits and burns… Red, yellow, and orange come flying out in great streaks of colour, escaping across the sky.
Deep reds and warm pinks like the oxygen-rich blood that carries life on every steady HeartBeat, and cool blue of that same blood as it returns to be replenished again in its life-sustaining circle.
Falling from the tree and caught on the wind in a flash of purple-blue and green and startling yellow, a reminder that there are no caged birds in a Flock of Parrots.
I dye because I love playing with colour. And when I free myself from the (usually self-imposed) requirement to create a specific hue or shade, and instead just let myself be drawn into pure experimentation, I find real joy in the process.
Last week, I did just that. I created a basic colour recipe, and then tweeked it, and tweeked it again, and then once more… and dyed one skein in each, just to see how they’d come out.
Trade winds blow great ships across the sea, their sails billowing, their hulks lying heavy in the blue and green waters, laden down with trunk upon trunk of brightly coloured silk fabrics, and barrels filled with the warm shades of precious spices.
Because the recipes (and the resulting colourways) are so close, I’m going to choose only one colourway to dye for the shop in future. But… I’m not sure which one to pick. And so I’d like to ask you, dear readers, for your help. Which one would you pick? Please tell me!
And, just to add a bit of fun, I’ll give a $4 credit on your next order from SpaceCadet Creations to everyone who leaves an answer in the comments here before midnight on Friday. Howzat then? Sound good?
So, go on then! Tell me which colourway you’d pick!
Small print: Comments must be left on this blog post before midnight on Fri Oct 1 2010. Limited to one $4 credit per household. Comments must name a colourway chosen from the four listed to be valid. Multiple comments will not count for multiple credits. Commenter must list a valid email address when leaving the comment and then use that same email address when placing the order with SpaceCadet Creations, in order to be properly credited. The $4 credit must be claimed via the message section when placing the order on Etsy, in order to be properly credited.
