Making That Connection

01JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Driving home the other week from back-to-back trunk shows, I was on an absolute high. The owner of one of the shops had said to me that she thought that trunk shows were so much fun because her customers really liked making that conection to the dyer. And as I thought about it, I knew she was right. We so often think of knitting and crochet as being about projects, being about rows, about yarn and needles and hooks and all that stuff. But there’s one thing that none of that covers, and it’s maybe more important than any of it.

It’s All About The Connection

So often, what it’s really about is connection. Yes, most days we knit in solitude — but we always make sure we can get away to knit night. And we upload our WIPs to Ravelry, and check out the projects of others who are making the same pattern or using the same yarn. And the yarn… yes, the yarn. There are miles and miles of beautiful, even, predictable commercial yarns to choose from… but so often we gravitate toward a skein of yarn that has been dyed by hand, by a real person who put as much care into the colours of that skein as we put into every stitch of our projects.

Stella fingering yarn in Plume

And as I drove home, I realised that that connection is just as important to me. In the same way that you knit or crochet for a someone special — for a friend, for your sister, for a colleague, or even for yourself — when I dye, I’m not thinking of the yarn, I’m thinking of the people who are going to use it. I can see the projects in my mind, and I know the wonderful fiber-zen that this yarn will carry. Just as you love knowing your yarn comes from a real person, so I love knowing it will be used by a real person, in a project they will love. I crave that connection too.

So imagine my excitement this week when I discovered that two of my customers (one new, one long-time) have created their own video-podcasts! It was such a delight to finally “meet” these lovely, warm, down-to-earth ladies I’ve been sending my yarns to. And I began immediately to wish we lived closer, so we could sit down and have a proper natter over a cup of tea and our knitting.

The connection is everything.

The Podcasts

This is Amanda and here’s what I love about her podcast, We Are Yarn: the way she asks for help on the stuff that’s stumping her, the lovely things she says about SpaceCadet yarns and her InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcel (at 14:24), her beautiful Tennessee accent, and the cat with the swishy-swishy tail on her couch.

And this is Melissa in her Single-Handed Knits podcast. I love that I can almost smell the Hawaiian sea breezes blowing through her window, and I love the wonderful things she says about her SpaceCadet Mini-Skein Club parcel (at 13:24). I love that she actually does knit with one hand, and I love love love her incredibly positive outlook.

Two More Ways to Connect

Trunk Show in Erie PA

First, don’t forget that I’ll be doing a trunk show this Saturday, June 2, at The Cultured Purl in Erie PA. If you’re anywhere in the area, please do come and meet the yarn — and I’d really love to meet you too!

Send Me a Video-Introduction!

But, better than that, Amanda and Melissa’s podcasts gave me an idea. If we haven’t met (or even if we have), I’d love it — love it, love it, loooove it — if you’d video-introduce yourself to me. Flip on that webcam, grab your SpaceCadet yarn, and for 30 seconds, just record yourself. Say hello, tell me who you are (and who you are on Ravelry), show me your yarn or — better yet! — your projects, and then fire it off to me in an email or on Twitter. (I have a little nugget of an idea that, one day — if it’s ok with you guys — I could take these little clips and do a video mash up showing off all the great projects you all have made with your SpaceCadet yarn.)

But far more important than that, it would just be so cool for me to be able to meet you guys — to make that connection that means so much to all of us.

My Accountant is Not a Knitter

18AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Today’s post was supposed to be the one I’ve been looking forward to writing for a long time — a little guided tour of the development of a brand-new colourway called Diaphonous, (which I just love!), and then a shop update with some lovely yarns in that colourway. But somehow, as I’m looking at the photos I took today, they just aren’t quite right… the colours are just off. And I can’t be showing you the development of a colourway if the photos don’t show the colours. So the pictures will be retaken tomorrow and the blog post written later this week. Watch for it, ok? This colourway is worth it!

But… that leaves me sitting here at my computer blog-post-less, no idea what I’m going to write. The past few weeks have been insanely busy and I’ve barely been able to catch my breath: my husband (and head skeinwinder) has been in England for three weeks, I’ve been taking care of the family on my own, while tying and dyeing and winding like mad to build up stock again after we got mobbed at HomeSpun (what a day!), getting ready for Knitters Fantasy (last Saturday and wow, what a great day!) and… and… there was something else… What was it?

Oh, yeah, taxes. I was trying to do my taxes. And, I’ll tell you, with everything else that was going on, it was a real struggle to make myself sit down and work on the numbers. So, y’know, I tore into the accountant’s office late last week, my hair sticking out all over the place and a wild look in my eye, and dumped a stack of papers on her desk. “It’s all here,” I said. “…I think.”

She picked up the papers and cast her eyes over the first few sheets, and we quickly went over the main stuff. W-2zzz… 1099zzzz… 401kzzzzzzzz….

Things My Non-Knitting Accountant Says

But I’ve got to tell you this, because you’ll love it. After she looked through all that stuff, she came to the SpaceCadet spreadsheets. And as she looked over the numbers for the business, she said almost unconsiously, “Yarn! …Yarn!”

Now, the business is healthy, but the numbers are hardly mind-blowing, not by any means. But my accountant is not a knitter and, when first I told her I dye yarn for knitters and crocheters, I am quite sure she was under the impression that there were only a handful of you guys out there, and that you probably buy only a skein or two of yarn per year. (I mean, you only knit booties, right? Only when you’re pregnant. Of course.)

She remembered I was in the room and looked up again. “I… I wouldn’t even know what to do with it,” she said, still clearly flummoxed by the whole yarn-concept. “What do they do with it?”

“They knit with it,” I said, grinning. I couldn’t help it, her obvious confusion was too entertaining. “Here, look… ” and I pulled out my knitting, the Walnut Grove shawl in the Yarn Alliance’s Selfish colourway.

She squinted at it, then reached out and touched it gingerly with her fingertips. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “It’s really thin!” And then… “You could make something normal with it!” Why, yes. Yes, you could. My grin spilled into a chuckle.

I love dyeing yarn for you guys. And, she loves crunching numbers. It’s all good.

Written All Over My Face

23MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The last couple of days have been crazy busy — I’ve been running around doing last minute things to prepare for HomeSpun Yarn Party this Sunday in Savage MD. But yesterday and I had to stop everything and play for wee bit.

Just stop and play, like a kid.

Because something wonderful arrived in the post. Something I’d ordered completely on a whim, and just hoped it’d turn out all right, thought I’d probably love it but wasn’t really sure…

When I ripped open the package I found this…

And I immediately let out a squeeeeee!!!!

And then, I immediately did this…

(Disclaimer: My nose is not that big. Somehow, I seem totally incapable of taking a close up that does not involve either enlarging my nose to alarming proportions or causing it to become misshapen in a startlingly Gérard Depardieu-esqe fashion. Seriously. I have no idea why. Also, the crazy amount of out of focus area? That hides wrinkles. Yeah, I can see some of you nodding.)

But back to the tattoos. Ok, now, I admit I’m probably a lot more excited about this than you are. The thing is, I love my little SpaceCadet. He hangs out with me all day long — on labels, on my project bag, and on the original drawing I made of him, stuck on the corkboard over my desk. So to see him suddenly appear on a bunch of temporary tattoos just made me feel downright giddy. I mean, a SpaceCadet tattoo! How cool is that?!?

So, If I Wear One, Will You Wear One Too?

Ok, how does this sound… We’ll be taking these funky little SpaceCadet tattoos to HomeSpun and giving one to every person who signs up to the SpaceCadet mailing list (oh yeah, a copy of the SpaceCadet’s Guide and a tattoo!). And — and here’s the fun part — for everyone who puts their tattoo on right then and there, we’ll give them 10% off their HomeSpun purchase! How does that sound?

And if you’re not going to HomeSpun but you really really want one of these cool little tattoos, just remind me in the notes of your next order and I’ll pop one in your parcel. And when you wear it, you gotta send me a photo! Ok?

(Hey, don’t forge: InterStellar Yarn Alliance memberships will be open for only another 7 days. If you’ve been meaning to join and haven’t yet, don’t let the subscription time close before you get a chance!)

My First Ever Dyeing

24FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I was walking through the living room the other day when my eye fell on a bowl on yarn. It’s been sitting on the shelf for several years now, looking pretty …but pretty much ignored. I walk past it day after day and had almost forgotten it was even there.

But I really shouldn’t forget about it, because it’s some pretty important yarn — it’s the first yarn I dyed seriously. Y’know, not just messing about, not playing with Kool-Aid… This was the first yarn I dyed with professional grade dyes and real goals for the resulting colours. This was the yarn that I showed to my friends, asked them what they thought… waited nervously for their answers…

They loved it. And so, this was the yarn that has changed my life.

But the yarn itself is not lovely. It was something wallowing at the very bottom of my stash, for good reason… It’s thick and rustic, rough and itchy. I don’t know why I ever bought or what I’d ever use it for. And so the yarn has sat in that bowl, pretty but unnoticed, for several years now.

So when I spotted it the other day — hidden there in plain sight — I thought it had probably been waiting long enough. It was time to honour the importance of that yarn by using it in a project. But what project for a rustic, itchy yarn…?

I carried the bowl over to the dining table and grabbed my phone. And as I took a couple photos, I suddenly realised what the project would be. I wound the yarn and cast on.

It’s going to be the perfect use for this yarn. And you’ll never guess what it is. I’ll show you when I get further along…

Busy-ness and Brain Freeze

01FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Things are crazy-busy here at the moment! I am dyeing like mad for the first show of the season, the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet festival on Feb 10-11-12. Our booth position had to be changed only two days ago (we’re now booth #43, please come find us!), which prompted a redesign of our entire layout at the last minute. The mini-skeins for February will have to go out the same weekend, so we’re busy getting those all ready too. The InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcels will go out only two weeks later, so the yarn for them needs to be dyed and the goodies finished up too. Oh, and my last shipment of yarn to dye for the festival was delayed, so it will arrive on Thursday — and then I’ll try to get 25lbs of yarn all dyed and dried and ready to go in less than a week.

The crazy-busies? Yeah, I haz ’em!

I was supposed to write a blog post on Monday, but when I sat down at my computer… my brain froze, froze right up solid. I tried again last night and, again… nothing. Too much to do, and not enough brain cells left. So, instead, I went back to boxing up the orders that had to go out today.

And as I was wrapping up the yarns and placing them in each box, I realised I was smiling. Because as much as I love dyeing — and, oh I do loooove dyeing — that’s only half of the picture. As lovely as the yarns are when they come out of the dyepots, it’s not until someone takes them home and knits them up into something beautiful that they’ve lived up to their potential.

I love sending my yarns out to my customers. And, as crazy as show-prep is, I love doing yarn festivals. So many yarns, going home with so many happy customers, ready to be made into so many wonderful new projects… And I get to sit and talk about them with every one of you.

Seriously, I think I have the best job in the world! Thanks to you guys, choosing SpaceCadet yarns and making all this possible. And really, what could be better to blog about than that?

Everything You Do, You Learn Something New

13JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

When I started the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, I set it up with two options — the Gentle Mix (mostly semi-solids and gently varigated colourways) and the Wild Mix (mostly wildly variegated yarns). Everyone’s mini-skein project is unique to them and to the colours they love, so I was excited to give the club members the chance to tell me which mix of yarns they’d prefer.

For the first shipment, I wasn’t quite sure how wild to make the Wild Mix, so I stayed on the conservative side (…the conservative side of, y’know, wild). But then feedback I got told me the club members were ready to go further. So for the next shipment, I was ready to really push it. They wanted wild, they would get it — because I can do some crazy colour combinations!

I chose five of my most variegated colourways…

And when I looked at them one by one, they were wild — they were ka-razeee. Here’s an example of what I mean by a highly variegated colourway…

And here’s another…

And another…

See? They’re pretty wildly variegated. And pretty different. And if they were that variegated and different on their own, I expected them to really explode off each other.

But then something really weird happened…

I put them all together and they suddenly looked… tame! Well, maybe not tame exactly, but somehow a lot gentler, a lot more blended. Certainly the collection was not as explosive as I thought it would be…

See what I mean? What happened?!?

I took the little bundle apart and set each yarn on its own — and they each looked wild again. Put them back together and… they seemed subdued. And I had to do it a couple of times before I realised what was happening.

Here’s the thing… A wildly variegated yarn looks wild because the colours within it are so unrelated to each other. They contrast, they compliment, and they make each other pop. Put a few of these colours together and something beautiful happens!

But where each yarn contains a whole rainbow of colours, those same shades are likely to appear in other wildly variegated yarns too. So when you put several such wildly coloured yarns together, the rainbows all start to blend into one another, to reflect one another. Even colourways that look incredibly different can actually begin to… coordinate with each other.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

So I sat down and rethought the options, and here’s what I realised: those of you who choose the Gentle Mix are doing so because you want to create a mini-skein project that blends gently from one yarn to the next. And those of you who choose the Wild mix are aiming to create a project with an overall effect of exciting contrasts.

And I want to make sure the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club parcels help that to happen, so I’m going to slightly change the way I choose the yarns that go into the two mixes. The Gentle Mix will stay mostly as it has been but, for the Wild Mix, I’m going to choose colourways that will make the whole parcel more contrasting, rather than just focusing on variegated yarns. That will mean more semi-solids in the Wild Mix than there were before, but don’t worry — the overall effect will still be wild.

And you’re going to love it, because the mini-skein project you’re going to make with the new Wild Mix will be crazy colourful and eye-poppingly gorgeous! And isn’t that what you were aiming for all along?