MDSW: The Glorious Aftermath

13MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The weather was glorious, the shopping overwhelming, and it was sheep as far as the eye could see! I got back from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival exactly the way I knew I would: drunk with excitement, completely exhausted, and yet ready for more! There is nothing else like MDSW…

MDSW, Maryland Sheep and Wool — The traffic to get in was CRAZY!!!

I was lucky enough to run into the lovely Nora Bellows of Noni. I discussed spindles with Sasha Torres of the SpinDoctor podcast. Got to say hello to Amy Singer of Knitty magazine. And I had really enlightening conversations (about credit card machines of all things!) with Andrea Berman (I Speak KnitSpeak), Gale of Gale’s Art, and Jennie Lanners (you know… Jennie the Potter!).

Did I take any pictures of any of them? No, not one. I know …I know!

So, you’ll just have to settle for pictures of my swag instead…

Oh wait! I forgot… I got some really cool stitchmarkers too from Jennie the Potter. Let me go grab my knitting…

I love that they have knit stitches on one side and instructions on the other! So cool! The yarn is SpaceCadet’s Stella in Vibrance.

So, you see how much fun it was? Oodles and oodles, and I am jonesing for more! What are your favourite fiber festivals through the year? Which ones do you love?

Things My Non-Knitting Sister Says: This Time, It’s Physical

22AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

If you attended either the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival or HomeSpun Yarn Party this year, you might have met my sister. She was the one running the credit card machine and handing the cash, and she does a great job at that, but she doesn’t know anything about knitting. She lives her life blissfully unaware of all things fiber-related (though I’m not quite sure how that can possibly be blissful!), except when I call and ask if she’d lend a hand.

knitting, yarn, sock yarn, handdyed, indie dyer — Celeste yarn in Baroque

So the whole fiber-festival thing was completely new to her, and it took her pretty much completely by surprise. I think she might have been expecting sweet little old ladies and crocheted toilet paper covers…

Her first words, as we walked past the huge line of fiber-fanatics waiting for the doors to open, were, “People are here already?!? They’re waiting?!?” Her eyes were wide with surprise, and I stopped myself from giggling. She really didn’t know what she was in for.

But she got her second clue a few minutes after the festival got started. We were sitting near to one of the entrances and a woman walked in, went right up to my sister, with a face that looked almost frantic, and exclaimed, “I’m so excited!!!” before rushing off into the crowd.

knitting, yarn, sock yarn, indie dyer, handdyed — Celeste yarn in Cove

“These people are crazy!” my sister said, looking a little frantic herself. “That lady actually grabbed me when she said that! What’s going on?!?”

I couldn’t stop myself laughing now. When you’re a fiber-freak yourself, when you knit and spin every chance you get, when you’re surrounded by all this all the time, you forget that this doesn’t look normal to outsiders. You forget that it seems a bit, well.. yeah… crazy.

But it’s not. It’s perfectly normal. You and I know that. …And my sister will come ’round in time.

yarn, knitting, handdyed, indie dyer, sock yarn — Lucina yarn in Most Ardently

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!

.

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!

SpaceCadet Creations at Homespun Yarn Party on March 27

01MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

You know what? We had so much fun, we’re doing it again!…

SpaceCadet Creations will be at the Homespun Yarn Party in Savage MD on March 27! This is a fantastic, juried show that features only indie fiber artists and hand-crafters. But this is no local craft show — the standard is very high and it is such an honour to have been chosen to participate!

If you’ve ever wanted to see SpaceCadet colours in person, or to snorgle the yarns and stroke the fibers, and you live anywhere in the WashingtonDC/Baltimore area or the surrounds, please do make the trip Savage. We’d LOVE to meet you! And you’ll have a great time!

hand-dyed, handdyed, knitting, yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, silk, BFL — Left to right: Silk/BFL Yarn in Straw Into Gold, Plumberry, and Heartthrob

And, in case you’re thinking that March 27th feels like a loooong time away, I’ve put some wonderful new yarns in the shop. This time, I’ve focused on luxury: wonderful, smooshy Luna Laceweight and some decadently shimmery Silk & BFL. Enjoy!

hand-dyed, handdyed, yarn, lace weight, silk, merino, knitting, crochet — Clockwise from top left: Luna Silk/Merino Laceweight in Straw Into Gold, Translucence, Spice Trade, and Covetous

Lessons From the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

15FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s been an incredible weekend — exhilarating, exciting, educational, an absolute whirlwind, and a lot of hard work. SpaceCadet Creations was at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, and we had the time of our lives! And now, as I get the chance to sit down for the first time in days, I realise just how many lessons there were from doing our first show.

Here’s what I learned:

How fantastic is it to finally get to meet my customers in person. Seriously, it is the best! These are people I see tweeting, people who leave comments on the blog and on Facebook, but there is nothing like meeting you guys in person, discussing your knitting, seeing your projects, and just being able to put faces to names. Meeting you all was fantastic fun!

How wonderful it is to talk to customers about my yarns and get that feedback. I mean, I do all this in isolation. Day to day, I work in my studio mostly on my own, with pots simmering quietly and yarns soaking… And when I pull them out, well, sometimes I think a yarn looks great and sometimes I’m not so sure. And it was just such an incredible experience to see customers making a beeline for the colourways that were calling out to them, and to hear their comments and get their feedback. Nothing beats that.

That every person has their own unique colour style, their own sense of what works for them… and you absolutely cannot judge a knitter or a crocheter by her cover. We had people come up who looked like they might choose calm, quiet colourways but who instead went straight for the brightest, craziest colours. And others whom I thought would go for the same wild yarns but who instead reached straight for the peace and serenity of the semi-solids. The truth is, crafters are unique and interesting people, and you can’t box them into categories!

That many hands make light work, and work doesn’t feel like work when it’s split out amongst friends. …With HUGE thanks to the Wednesday night knitters for bagging and tagging, knitting samples, brainstorming, and coming up with some great ideas that made the show a lot better for us.

That there is simply no way to show how beautiful, how smooshy, how fibery-lucious a yarn is over the internet. Great photography is all well and good, but absolutely nothing beats getting to snorgle that yarn in person!

And, following on from that, that the purples and blues that I absolutely cannot photograph will sell like hotcakes when people can see how lovely they really are!

The Vendor Hall was HUGE!

That when you get a look behind the scenes, you realise that the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival is a HUGE undertaking with a bazillion variables that really could all go disastrously wrong, but somehow Barb and her team keep everything under control and pull the whole thing off seamlessly. And they smile the whole time! I don’t know how they do it.

That you can’t actually go all day without eating.

Also, you can’t actually go without sleeping either. The body will revolt and shut you down. And that little factoid put a serious dent in my festival-prep schedule.

What fun it is to meet and finally get to chat with other fiberisti in person (Hello KnitPurlGurl! Hello StevenBe!)
StevenBe

That StevenBe’s mother and her friend are lovely, lovely women and so interesting that I could have sat and talked to them all day. Hallo Christa! Hallo Barbara!

That I go a bit giddy when I get asked if I’d like to be a guest dyer for a LYS’s yarn club. YesIwouldYesIwouldYesIwould!!!!

What an incredible rush it is to asked by LYSs whether I wholesale yarn …and how that plants interesting little seeds in my head.

That having friends there to show you the ropes, give you tips and ideas, loan you display furniture, and make change when you run out of small bills… that kind of professional camaraderie makes all the difference! (With big thanks to Amy, Bloomin Yarns, CosyKnits, Wren&Rita, and GwenErin)

How nice it is to be able to bring yarns out of the shop, give them a fresh airing, sell them at the festival, and then have brand new yarns to offer to all my custermers who couldn’t get to this festival. Look for new yarns to start appearing in the shop in the coming days and weeks!
All dyed in three weeks!

That you can increase your dyeing by 10 times your normal rate and fill a festival booth with stock in only three weeks, but everything else in your life will come to a complete halt. I really have to get some laundry done before I run out of clothes and some bills paid before they shut off the utilities!

That none of this is possible without the support of a great team. And I had a great team (With more thanks than I can express to my husband, to Natalie, to meine kleine schwester, and to my mum …and to my dad, who apparently hasn’t eaten in weeks because my mum has been here the whole time!).

And, finally, that I love love LOVE doing festivals!!!!!