I Can’t Show You This Yarn

21DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I’ve dyed two skeins of my lovely sparkly Lucina yarn in the colourway Southeasterly. It’s an amazing blend of deep purples and seaweed greens. The sparkles in the yarn shimmer in the light, and it is absolutely gorgeous.

And my camera simply won’t photograph it.

My camera has always struggled with purples. Time and time again, they come out more blue than they really are. I’ve tried adjusting all sorts of things on the camera — the white balance, the colour settings, the exposure compensation — but to no avail. I’ve tried manipulating the colours after I download the picture to make them more realistic, but they refuse to play. Purples come out blue, and a horrid garish blue at that. And so I have no way to show you what this yarn really looks like.

Which is a real shame, because it’s beautiful. It took my breath away when I pulled it out of the dyepot. The colourway is Southeasterly and is much like the yarn I dyed in this colourway before…

But this time, it’s so much more intense, so much more striking. And then with the sparkles too…

I wish I could show it to you, I really do. But you’re just going to have to believe me when I say it doesn’t look like this. It really doesn’t look like this — it is so, so, soooo much better.

And if there are any photographers out there who can tell me what I am doing wrong, I’d be incredibly grateful for any suggestions. …Or, better yet, if there are any knitting photographers who want to come round and give me a lesson on capturing better purples, there might be a skein or two of yarn in it for you..!

The Perfect Yarn for the Season

07DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This is the season of twinkling stars on cold, cold nights, of candles that glow cheerfully, and holiday lights on trees inside and out… This is the season of virgin snow glistening in the silver moonlight, of shimmering icicles, of perfect crystalline snowflakes that catch the light in their icy lace. This is the season for Sparkles.

Introducing Lucina, a beautiful fingering yarn that sparkles with all the magic of the season and turns every colourway into something stunning. This is the kind of yarn that catches your eye instantly — that you pick up and don’t want to put down. This is a yarn perfect for the season of Sparkles!

Lucina Yarn in Midnight Swim

The best light for photography is always natural light, outdoors. And even though it was freezing today, I wanted to be sure to capture the way this yarn shimmers so gorgeously, so I braved the bitter wind and the icy temperatures and took the whole batch of Lucina outside for a photoshoot. And just as my finger froze to the bone and I began cursing the winter, a gentle snow began to fall — big, fat, beautiful flakes that landed softly on everything and then… just stayed there, almost too perfect to be believed.

And so, the sparkles in these photos are the beauty of the yarn, but the snowflakes are courtesy of Mother Nature. And as I was trying so hard to show off my lovely new yarn, didn’t she just go and steal the show?!?

Snowflake on Ripe

Snowflake on Evening Fog

Snowflakes on Nightfall

Snowflakes on Midnight Swim

Snowflakes on Mermaid’s Tail

The Season for Luxury

29NovApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The holiday season is upon us and suddenly, I’m in the mood for something a bit luxurious. I don’t know if it’s the chill in the air, or the lovely smells of wintery comfort-food, or thoughts of all the gift-giving to come… but I have been wanting to snuggle down and knit with something really luxurious.

Cashmere, I thought. Cashmere is luxury. And I knew it would be soft, and I knew it would feel heavenly, but I wasn’t really prepared for just how luscious it is…

Estelle Fingering Yarn in Nutmeg Spice Trade (left) and Burnished (right)

Let me introduce you to Estelle, a stunningly soft 4-ply fingering yarn, in 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Nylon, and 10% of that most wonderful Cashmere. The superwash will prevent it from felting, and the nylon adds the strength needed for socks and mittens, but it’s the cashmere — oh, that cashmere — that makes all the difference! And this is not me talking this yarn up — I was quite genuinely surprised by how soft this yarn is, how squishable, how… well, just how luxurious it is. I have not been able to stop petting it all week!

I also haven’t been able to stop dyeing it. I may never go back to ordinary yarn again… Care to join me?

Estelle Fingering Yarn in Steel Leaf (left) and Evening Fog (right)

Cooking Up Something Special

23NovApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

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…

…Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Pattern Roll-Call: Perfect, Absolutely Perfect!

19NovApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I know two little girls who are mad-crazy-keen about ballet. They begin dancing the moment they wake up, and they dance all through their day, and they don’t stop dancing until they go to bed. Actually, they probably don’t stop dancing until they fall asleep — I am quite certain they lie in the dark and practice their tondues under the bedsheets until sleep finally steals them away.

And they would wear their ballet shoes every single day if they could. But they’re not allowed, because the ballet shoes get lost — absent-mindedly set down on the wrong shelf or accidentally kicked under the sofa or sinking slowly to the bottom of the toybox — and are nowhere to be found on ballet day. And so those most-beloved shoes get secreted safely away after each class and the disappointed girls must instead practice their dancing in their socks. It’s not at all ballerina-like!

I’m always on the lookout to bring you great patterns that would make the most of single skeins of SpaceCadet yarn, and when I came across the Open House Socks by Kate Atherley, technical editor of Knitty and knitting editor of A Needle Pulling Thread, I fell in love them! They’re sweet, romantic, and cheeky all at once — and, as a bonus, each pair takes only about half a skein of yarn. They’d make a great quick-knit holiday gift — perfect for padding around the house on cold winter days. I looked at them and thought, they make me want to… dance!

DSC00851_-_Copy_medium2 — © Kate Atherley, Used with Permission

Wait… Make me want to dance?!? I thought immediately about those two little dancers… I could knit them ballet shoes! I could knit them lovely ballet shoes so they could dance all week whilst their real ballet shoes were safely tucked away. There could be no better Christmas present for them on Earth!

In the dyeing studio, I sat and thought for a while about the perfect colour. I could do them in the standard ballet-shoe pink-beige but… well, while these two are budding ballerinas, they are also little girls who love all the stuff that little girls everywhere love: sparkly and bright and fancy and pink. Plain ballet shoes would never do — if they were going to have custom knit ballet slippers, then they would have them in a pink to thrill their hearts. And I began mixing the dyes…

I emailed Kate and told her my plan, and she wrote straight back and very kindly offered to help me adjust the pattern to suit these much smaller feet. What a lovely thing to do!

So once I’ve done my gauge swatch and worked out some calculations, I will cast on with this wonderful, crazy pink. And then I can’t wait to share with you my new works in progress!

But shhhh… mind no-one tells the girls, ok?

Shop Update: A Gift for a Wee Miracle

16NovApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

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.

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!

But first… I dyed a couple more skeins for you.

Stella Fingering Weight Yarn, Superwash Merino and Nylon, in SeaFoam

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.