Who is the SpaceCadet?

Dyes Mixed by Hand, From Primaries

By Stephanie

Tucked away in the description of my yarns, right down there in the last paragraph, are these words: “Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes which are mixed by hand from primaries”.  That last bit is really important to me — mixed by hand from primaries.  Every colour you see in my yarns and fiber has been created by hand, conjured up from only the primaries and black.  It’s both the entire reason that making hand-dyed yarns excites me so much and the source of more than a little pride for me.

I see a colour in my mind (or, more usually, several colours together) that I know I want to dye and I start dissecting them.  If it’s a purple, is it a red purple or a blue purple?  If it’s a darker shade, I gauge how much black is needed to darken it.  If it’s lighter, I work out the dye-to-water ratio it requires.  And then I calculate in the personality of the fiber — every fiber takes dye in its own unique way, so the same colours can come out wildly different.  And taking all that together, I mix up the dyes in the way that I think is going to create the colour I see in my mind, submerge the yarn, and… wait.

And the moment that I pull the yarn out again, and see whether my calculations — and my instinct — were correct, that is the most exciting moment in the whole dyeing process.  When I get it right,  I go a little wild, grabbing friends, family, any passers-by and saying, “Look! Look! this is the colour I was going for and this is what I got!”

Thinking abou this the other day, I wondered if all this excitement wasn’t really a bit ridiculous…?  I mean, really, it’s just colour.  Painters do it all the time, don’t they?  And they not only mix their own colours but then go on to create something with them.  They don’t just sit there crowing over all the little puddles of colours they’ve created on their palettes!

But then I realised that, unlike painters, when I mix my dyes, I’m doing it blind.  The colours in the water are sometimes a good indication, but often not.  And besides, the insides of the dyepots aren’t white so what I see in them is always distorted anyway.  No, there’s no way to know if the colour is right until the yarn goes into the water.  Dyeing is a one-shot deal.

So when I pull the yarn or fiber out of the dyepot and it’s exactly the colour I had envisioned, it’s pretty darned exciting.  For this yarn, I imagined cornflowers, that lovely soft violet-blue that seems to be everywhere this time of year.

Merino and Silk Laceweight Yarn in Cornflowers

When I lifted the yarn out of the dyebath, I knew I’d nailed the colour.  And, yeah, I am really proud to be able to say I mixed these colours by hand from primaries.

A Little Lift for your Wednesday

By Stephanie

Wednesdays are hard, I know.  You’re still two long days away from the weekend, and too far from last weekend to go back.  You’re stuck right there in the middle of the work week.  There’s no where to go.

This week, I’ve been attempting to create some new graphics — an ad for Ravelry, and a new banner for the blog and my shop.  It’s all part and parcel of running a small fiber arts business and, while it’s something I’m having to figure out entirely from scratch, I have to say I am really enjoying the learning.  It feels good to stretch  …most of the time.  Sometimes it seems to morph from a learning experience to an exercise in pure frustration, and I am reminded that I am a dyer, a spinner, a knitter — not a graphic artist.

And so it was this week.  I took the pictures, loaded them onto the computer, opened up the software and…  nothing.  Nothing worked the way I wanted it to, nothing would cooperate.  I couldn’t get the graphics to come out the way I’d envisioned them for love nor money   …and so I stopped, and set it all to one side and decided to tackle afresh on another day.

So today is Wednesday, and Wednesdays are hard.  And at some point today, you will come across something that isn’t working for you either, and is just driving you crazy no matter which way you go at it.  When that happens, stop.  Set it aside.  You can tackle it tomorrow, when you are feeling a little fresher.   …When it’s Thursday and you’re that bit closer to the weekend.

And in the meantime, treat yourself to a momentary mid-week pick-me-up, and have a little peek at the one thing that did go right in my little foray into self-taught graphic design: the pictures — just a wee bit fiber eye-candy, to lift your Wednesday.

The Importance of a Great Knitting Reference Book

By Stephanie

The other day, when an unfamiliar knitting term tripped me up and I reached to my knitting books to find the answer, I realised just how important it is for every knitter to have a really great knitting reference book.   It needs to be a book that you can turn to when you’ve tried to figure things out for yourself and nothing has worked, when you’re frustrated and contemplating pulling the needles out and frogging the whole project.  It has to be a book that you trust and, most of all, one that really makes sense to you.

See if you can spot the book that's used most often...

And if it also happens to be a book that inspires you, challenges you, helps you to grow as a knitter…  Well, then, you’ve found a keeper — a book you will turn to year after year.

My (now vintage) copy of Vogue Knitting

I found exactly that book, back when I very first started knitting, and it has been my go-to knitting reference ever since.  It’s Vogue Knitting, The Ultimate Knitting Book and it’s excellent.  When I bought this book, I had been shown how to cast on and I could make knit stitches, but nothing more — and I had a real hankering to move past garter stitch!   This book taught me everything.  I started with mastering purl stitches and binding off (very exciting additions to my repertoire!), and then used it to move onto increases, decreases, cables, intarsia, stranded colourwork…   All learned on my own, just me and my trusty reference book.

The thing that I loved about this book is that the descriptions are so clear.  The pictures just made sense to me — I could see exactly what I was supposed to do for every single technique.

And it’s comprehensive.  As well as basic and advanced knitting techniques, it covers everything from the history of knitting, to the properties of different yarns, the care of knitted garments, and even the principles of knitwear design.

The Table of Contents

I tried other books as well — in fact, I began acquiring them with all the enthusiasm of, well, a new knitter — but none of them ever worked as well for me as the Vogue Knitting book.  Often the descriptions simply weren’t as clear, or the illustrations were too confusing, and always, always they simply weren’t as in depth.  Eventually I stopped collecting other reference books and realised I had found The One.

And we’ve been together for over 20 years now.  I couldn’t be happier.

Evidence of a well-loved book

So what is your favourite knitting reference book?  I’d love to know!

Hard at Work on the Tour de Fleece

By Stephanie

The Tour de Fleece has been rolling along  for nearly a week and I am having a blast.  It is wonderful to have a real, legitimate excuse to tell everyone that no, I can’t do this or that, I have to spin.  And believe me, I’ve been using that excuse just as far as credibility can be stretched!

Have you been doing that too?  Pushing your other responsibilities (…and loved ones) aside to spend quality time with a some wonderful fiber and your wheel or spindle?  If you’re using SpaceCadet fiber, please do share pictures of your spinning, either on the SpaceCadet Ravelry group or by email.  I’d love to feature it here on the blog!

As well as spending a lot of time on a spindle, one of the things the Tour has allowed me to do is to really make some headway on the fiber that has been languishing on my wheel for far too long.   A few days ago, I went out onto the front porch after the heat of the day wore off (95°F!) and filled half a bobbin before real life called me back in again.

You’ll recognise this fiber from previous blog posts.  Yes, it’s still on the wheel!  But… I kind of don’t mind because it’s such a pleasure to spin these colours.

I’m splitting the fiber (somewhat) evenly into thirds and will then spin it all back together as a 3-ply.  Thanks to all the extra spinning time from the Tour, I’m nearly there!  Here’s the first bobbin…

And when that’s done, I’ll be moving on to this wonderful, shimmery-smooth silk…

Hmmmm…  Do you think I might have a warm-colour fixation?  Maybe it’s the weather!

And Then There Were…

By Stephanie

Now, I knew that baby robins grow quickly…  in theory.  But watching it happen right outside my back door has been nothing short of breathtaking.  In less than two weeks, they’ve gone from this…

To this…

And the very next day, they started perching on the edge of the nest, contemplating the big leap down.  I didn’t want them go — I’ve grown so fond of them there, just outside the door.  But they can’t stay in the nest forever.

And yesterday, when I went to check on them, there was only one left, taking his time about leaving — and sinking down into the nest in the hopes I wouldn’t notice him…

When I went to check again today…   the nest was empty. 

Goodbye baby robins.  Take care in this big world. Such a bittersweet feeling…

Essential Items for Good Spinning

By Stephanie

What do you need for successful spinning?  What is essential to produce a gorgeous, soft, lofty yarn?  Well, you start with beautiful fiber that runs through your fingers like butter, and you spin on well-made equipment that you love and that loves you back.  But that’s not all you need…

Spinning can be done in isolation — and there’s something really lovely about the meditative aspect of spinning on one’s own — but, in my opinion, spinning is most enjoyable when it’s done in the company of other spinners. Other spinners inspire, they teach, they encourage, and — most of all — other spinners understand.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited to me come to her spinning group.  It was some considerable distance away and, when I realised how long the drive would be, I had second thoughts.  But I decided to go anyway, and I am so glad I did.   I met a wonderful group of women who welcomed me warmly and whose company I thoroughly enjoyed.  And they were knowledgeable — so knowledgeable, years and years of collective experience all gathered up together and shared out, happily, freely.  It was an absolute pleasure to spin with them.

If you are a new spinner or wanting to learn to spin, seek out the company of other spinners.  It will enhance your experience and your learning immensely.  It will inspire you.  And I’ve never once met a group of spinners who didn’t welcome with open arms a fellow fiber-lover!   So don’t be shy — you can find other spinners through your local yarn shop or knitting group, by looking up spinning guilds, or searching on Ravelry.

And if you happen to find one that meets in a beautiful rural setting on warm summer afternoons, cooled by shade of tall trees and a breeze scented by a garden in bloom, then you will be as lucky as I was.  There simply cannot be a better way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.