An Update to Knitting Saves the Day! (And SpaceMonsters Closes This Weekend)

20JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

SQUEEEEEEE!!!!! In only a few hours from now, we’ll be leaving for TNNA, The National Needlearts Association’s summer tradeshow in Columbus Ohio, for some of the very best fun a fiber addict can possibly have!

There will be new yarns to sample, suppliers to talk to, designers to collaborate with. And the Very Best Knit Night Ever, as all the brightest stars of the knitting world meet up on Saturday night for drinks and knitting in the hotel bar. I cannot tell you how mind-blowing it is to sit in that room, knitting away happily, and to see every single industry icon you can think of knitting alongside you! Keep your eyes on my Twitter feed for live updates over the weekend.

But before I get back to my packing (what to wear?!? what to wear?!?), I wanted to give you a quick update on the Birdhouse that was Saved by Knitting. Do you remember that we had a lovely pair of birds who nested in a decorative birdhouse that really wasn’t up to the job? The body of the birdhouse started to come away from the roof, and I had horrible visions of it falling, nest and eggs and all, and smashing into the ground.

So I whipped out some size 19s and nylon cord and knit a quick safety net to hold the whole thing together. And I am thrilled to report that knitting really has saved the day: my spur-of-the-minute fix has held through thunderstorms and gusty winds, and I can hear (but haven’t yet seen) that there is a nestful of happy (and hungry!) babies inside that little birdhouse.

Want to hear them? I recorded this little snippet for you. First, you’ll hear my backdoor squeaking, then the babies calling, and then the very irritated mother chastising me for being too close to her nest.

(Can’t play it? Click here )

And for those of you who are good at identifying birds, I’d love to know what these guys are. Here’s a photo I was able to snap of the mother leaving the nest. Any ideas?

The SpaceMonster Club Closes This Weekend

And wow, time flies! The SpaceMonster Mega Yarn Club will be closing to new subscribers this weekend, so if you love bulkier yarns and fabulous SpaceCadet colours, make sure you sign up!

Want to know more? Click here for all the club details. Just make sure you do it quickly because, once subscriptions close, this club won’t re-open again for another six months — and it’s too good to miss!

Ready to join?

Click on one of the buttons below to grab your spot in the SpaceMonsters Mega Yarn Club

Very Important: if you are giving this as a gift, please remember to include the recipient’s postal and email addresses in the notes when you check out. We gotta have that to send the recipient their parcels!

Six month subscriptions include 3 parcels; twelve month subscriptions include 6 parcels. Parcels will be sent out on or near the first of February, April, June, August, October, and December. Shipping within the United States is included in the price; extra charges apply for shipping outside the US..
Normal subscription openings/renewals will be available in June and December of each year.
Any other questions? Ask us! info (at) spacecadetcreations (dot) com

SpaceMonster Mega Yarn Club: the Latest Parcel and Open for Subscriptions!

07JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

SPOILER ALERT: If you’re in the SpaceMonster Club and you don’t want to see the contents of the latest parcel, stop reading now!

Do you know how excited I get on club shipment day? Nope, I bet you don’t but let me tell you, seeing all those parcels bundled up and waiting for the postman… all of them filled with yummy yarny goodness… Oh, I love it! I think of all the excitement that those parcels will bring to our club members, how they’ll arrive on doorsteps and then burst open to reveal smooshiness and colour and gifts and joy. Mmmmm… I do love club shipment day.!

I am so excited to show you guys the SpaceMonster Mega-Yarn Club parcels that went out this week. First there was the yarn: it’s Cressida, a fantastic 4-ply worseted, in a colourway called “Chill”. I love this yarn, because it’s a really nice round and smooshy yarn that’s combined with a slightly tighter twist, so it’s a great for garments such as cardis or jumpers that might need a bit more durability — the best of both worlds!

And why is it called “Chill”? Because while I was dyeing it, it suddenly became unseasonably hot and all I could think about was finding someplace I could cooooool down. So I dyed the colours I was seeing in head: chilled blues, greens, and a touch of purple — all flowing into one another like a pool of cool water. I love the combination, don’t you?

And there’s an extra surprise in this parcel… Every third parcel in the SpaceMonster Mega-Yarn Club contains a special gift, and this parcel contained this fabulous project tote-bag! Made especially for us by Ana from Wren & Rita, it’s quilted and roomy, with nicely squared corners, an extra pocket inside, and big enough to carry a whole sweater-project. I am just over the moon to be able to share these with SpaceMonsters!

And here’s some more exciting news: The SpaceMonster Mega-Yarn club opens today for new subscriptions. If you love the smooshiness of big yarns and working up quick projects, this is the club for you — and we’d love to have you!

What to know more? Click here for all the details. But hurry, because subscriptions are available for two weeks only, from June 7 to June 22.

Ready to join now?

Click on one of the buttons below to grab your spot in the SpaceMonsters Mega Yarn Club

Saving Spring (and some news about the SpaceMonster Club)

30MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

After a winter that felt like it would never be defeated, it is such a joy to see the signs of spring at last. As soon as the first buds appeared on our maples, we welcomed the return of green by hanging a whole village of sweet little birdhouses in their branches. And even though I knew they are purely decorative and would never actually be used, their bright colours and cheerful presence brought a smile to my face everytime I spotted them out the window.

And we gathered up all the scrap yarn lying about the studio and the house, and stuffed it into a spare birdfeeder. It wasn’t long before chickdees and sparrows began tugging out colourful strands to build their nests with. Just like all of you, the birds in my garden have SpaceCadet WIPs too!

I think my favourite is the little church painted with the Union flag. How happy is that?

I can’t tell you how suprised I was when I discovered that a two little birds had adopted one of our decorative birdhouses, and were flying madly in and out as they built their nest. They’re little and sweet, with fat round bellies and dainty pointed beaks — I think they’re thrushes of some sort, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, I was delighted that they’d moved in right outside my kitchen window.

But as they flew in and out, adding sticks and twigs and lots of those yarn scraps, I realised to my horror that the birdhouse wasn’t up to the task. If you look carefully, you can see that roof was slowly beginning to separate from the house. You can see what I mean right there in the photo above. And at some point, I knew that the weight or the nest (…or the eggs …or the nestlings) would be too much, and the house would drop, nest and all, to the ground below.

What to do?!? I couldn’t let them keep building with sure disaster on the horizon. And yet I so wanted to them nest there outside my window! The solution suddenly came to me, and I wasted not a single moment as I grabbed some nylon twine and pair of size 19 needles.

Fifteen minutes later, impending doom had been averted. The house was now nestled safe and snug in a hand-knit net, secured through the birdhouse’s hook and right around the branch itself. The nest would not drop, and all was right in the world again.

Hey SpaceMonsters, get ready! Your yarn is all dyed and I am super-excited about this colourway. And your gifts were delivered yesterday and they are awesome! I can’t wait to get them in the post to you.

And for everyone else, if you’ve been thinking about joining the SpaceMonster Mega-Yarn Club, I’ve got exciting news! The club opens for new subscriptions on June 7, and this one is all about bulkier yarns — so quick to work with and just such fun! Want to know more more? Click here for all the details about the club. And don’t forget to mark June 7 on your calendar — we’d love to have you join us!

You Guys Just Blew Me Away

14DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Sometimes, good things rise up out of bad. Sometimes, sad events spur us onto something beyond the ordinary. And when that happens, it is a wonderful thing to see. Heartwarming. Hope-restoring. The knitting community did exactly that last week.

When my friend and colleague Karrie Steinmetz of the KnitPurlGurl podcast passed away suddenly on Nov 26, her husband asked me to create a colourway in her honour. I knew that the loss of a wife and mother, so suddenly and unexpectedly, would send any family reeling in practical ways as well as emotional, so I decided to use this colourway as a way for the knitting and crochet community to help Karrie’s family through this time. I decided to dye her yarn in Aurora and called it “A Colourway for Karrie”, and offered it for pre-orders with 50% of the sales price going to Karrie’s family. Not know what sort a demand there might be, I limited it to an initial run of 24 skeins.

They sold out within 90 minutes. And I suddenly began getting tons of emails and Rav messages asking for more. So I ran over to the studio to see if I had any more Aurora in stock… 10 skeins. I put them up and they sold out almost immediately.

And that was it — that was all the yarn I had. But the emails and messages kept coming — some offering straight donations –and I realised, by limiting the run, I was also limiting how much we could raise for Karrie’s family. So I opened it up for a second run to be delivered somewhere in January and, this time, I put no limit on the number of orders before the deadline.

The response was phenomenal. Phenomenal. And as the orders came flying in and the responses were being posted on Ravelry, I realised what you all are made of. You are made of compassion, of kindness, and of generosity. You are made of love for a fellow knitter and crocheter, and of genuine concern for her husband and children. I watched the orders coming in and I was blown away.

Ninety-four skeins sold. One thousand, five hundred, and ninety-eight dollars raised. I am deeply thrilled to write this cheque for Karrie’s family. And humbled because, though it is my name at the bottom, it is all of you who made this happen. Thank you all so very much.

Yarn Update

The first run is all dyed up and currently drying. If you nabbed one of those 34 skeins, expect your yarn to go in the post sometime next week! And for those of you who got in on the second run, your yarn is being spun at the moment and is still looking good for a mid-January delivery.

The SpaceMonster Club Closes in Three Days!

And, hey, don’t forget that there are only three days left to grab a subscription to the SpaceCadet’s newest yarn club, the SpaceMonster Mega Yarn Club! If you love the fabulous smooshiness of big yarns (not to mention the quick knits they produce!), then this is the club for you. It’s all worsted, chunky, and bulky — and exclusive colourways designed to bring out the best in them. But subscriptions close on Sun Dec 16, so — quick! — click here to find out more.

For Cyber Monday: A Fantastic New SpaceCadet Club!

26NovApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s Cyber Monday and everywhere you look, there are ads screaming at you about dealsdealsdeals! And it’s exhausting, isn’t it?

So, instead of joining in with all that noise, I decidedto give you something really special. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long, long time, and I can’t believe the day is finally here…

I am thrilled to announce…

SpaceMonsters, the SpaceCadet’s Mega Yarn Club

Specially designed for those who love working with thicker yarns!

There is nothing in the whole world like a skein of lovely, smooshy, thick yarn to make you want to pick it up, squish it… dive right into it! Big, bulky yarns call out to you, beg you to pick them up and press them against your cheek. And when you cast on, they always work up so fast! Big yarns are gorgeous.

Members of the SpaceMonsters Mega Club will receive:

a fantastic parcel delivered to their door every other month, containing a beautiful skein of SpaceCadet^® Creations yarn in worsted or bulky weight, hand-dyed in an exclusive colourway* created to bring out the best in thicker yarns.
The SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway.
A fantastic SpaceMonsters gift tucked into every third parcel. We’re known for the fabulous gifts we include in our club parcels — and for this club, we’re seriously upping the fab. You’re going love it!

*guaranteed not to be offered on the SpaceCadet website for at least 6 months

But bigger yarns mean bigger projects, right?

Don’t you worry — in this club, you can buy extra skeins! For a whole month after you receive your parcel, you’ll have an exclusive opportunity to order more skeins custom-dyed in the latest club colourway. You’ll receive an email with all the details a few days after your parcel goes out — and then all you have to do is pick your project!

And the price is pretty exciting too: a 6 month subscription (3 parcels) is only $99, and a 12 month subscription (6 parcels) is just $194. …Know anyone on your holiday gift list who’d love to receive a right-to-her-door supply of gorgeous, smooshy yarn?

But subscriptions are open only until Dec 16 and spaces are limited… so you’ve gotta be quick!

Ready to join the SpaceMonsters?

Click on one of the buttons below to grab your spot in the SpaceMonsters Mega Yarn Club