The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club Goes LIVE!

10OctApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Last week I mentioned to you that I was about to launch a new website. And I said I was excited but I know well enough that I was probably the only one who was really interested in it. But now I want to ask you to do me a favour, please — a personal favour. I thought I was excited, I really did, but the truth is I had no idea how excited I really would be when the site launched. And here’s why: I built it myself! Myself!!!

Six weeks ago I didn’t know CSS from HTML from my elbow (and, truth be told, I probably still don’t!) but I found some great resources, got focused, worked my backside off, and… and… well, this is the result.

…Can you hear me squeeeeing from there?!?

So will you do me a favour please? I know website lauches never really matter much to anyone except the launcher (me!), but please get excited with me! Jump to the comments and give me a WOOT! — because, seriously, who ever thought I could build a site like this?!? And I am just so fired up!

The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club Goes Live!

Ok, that’s enough of the exciting-for-me stuff (and, hey, thanks for getting excited for me too). Now let’s get to the exciting-for-you stuff…

About a month ago, I came across a tweet that mentioned a word I’d never seen before: hexipuffs. And I was thinking, “What the heck is a hexipuff?!?”

Hexipuffs knitted from SpaceCadet Creations yarn — These, as it turns out, are hexipuffs. Very cute... Very addictive!

And then all of a sudden, within a week, it seemed like mini-skein projects were everywhere… The BeeKeeper’s Quilt, the Babette Blanket, the Sock Yarn Blanket… (Oh man, I looove that Sock Yarn Blanket!). See what I mean? Mini-Skein projects are hot!

So then I realised, what would make a mini-skein project even more fun? Getting a surprise box of wonderful mini-skein colours each month to add to your project!

The SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club

Join the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club and every month you’ll receive an exciting parcel containing a hand-picked selection of gorgeous Mini-Skeins, perfect for adding to (or starting!) your project. You can choose your subscription level: Single (five 20g skeins), Double (ten 20g skeins), or Triple (fifteen 20g skeins). And you can cancel your subscription as soon as you have enough Mini-Skeins for your project.

(But the question is… can you ever have enough Mini-Skeins…?)

And here’s the really cool thing: the skeins are a mix of all the SpaceCadet’s beautiful yarns. Some are Celeste and Stella, there’s a touch of cashmere with Estelle, and the subtle sparkle of Lucina. And perhaps even some of the more unusual yarns from the Dept of Rocket Science — a bit of silk, some alpaca, maybe some bamboo or BFL… If you’ve ever wanted to try the different SpaceCadet yarns, the Mini-Skein Club is a GREAT way to do it!

Subscriptions are limited — Join Now!

Mini-Skein FAQs

What sorts of colourways can I expect in my parcel?

Each parcel is made up of a selection of SpaceCadet colourways, hand-picked to work together, with at least one contrasting colourway to add some zing! You can choose between

the Gentle Mix, which contains mostly Semi-Solids or Gently Variegated yarns, and

the Wild Mix, which is made up mostly of those exciting Wildly Variegated yarns.

All together, they look terrific and will be a great addition to your project.

What are the different subscription levels?

There are three levels, to cover you for the month no matter how fast you knit!

The Single Mini-Skein Subscription is five 20g skeins for $28

The Double Mini-Skein Subscription is ten 20g skeins for $54

The Triple Mini-Skein Subscription is fifteen 20g skeins for $78

(Shipping costs are exactly the same as in the SpaceCadet shop: $4.49 for the Single subscription level, and $1.49 for each additional level.)

When will my parcel arrive? And when will payment be taken?

All parcels go out on or around the 10th of each month, and the deadline for new subscriptions to be included in that shipment is midnight on the 1st of that month (every Mini-Skein is wound by hand, so we need a bit of notice to get your parcel ready!).

Domestic deliveries are sent by Priority Mail, which usually takes about 2-3 days. International deliveries are sent by USPS First Class mail.

Your payment will be processed on the day you subscribe, and will automatically repeat on the same day each month of your membership.

When does my subscription end?

You can end your subscription whenever you have collected enough Mini-Skeins for your project (or, any time you like). And it’s easy to unsubscribe! Just click on the Unsubscribe button on the Mini-Skein Club page.

Anything else I should know?

When you join, you’ll be added to the Mini-Skein Club mailing list, which we use only to easily let you know of any important information or changes to the club in the future.

Oh, and once you’ve joined, please do come over to the SpaceCadet Creations group on Ravelry and tell us all about the project you’re making or planning to make. We’d love to hear about it and see your progress!

Ready to jump into the Mini-Skein Mania?

So Much Fun Stuff: New Website, Mini-Skein Club, and a Shop Update Too!

05OctApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There has been so much going on here — so much! — that I feel I am about to burst! And it’s all just about ready… a-a-almost there… So today’s shop update will be a mini-update so I can quickly get back and finish all this up and share it with you. More on that update at the bottom.

But right now, let me tell you what I’ve been working on…

The Website

First, a new website! I’m really excited about it because it’s beautiful, everything I’d hoped for. But the reason that’s really cool for you is that it’s going to allow me to a whole bunch of new things that I couldn’t do before (one of them is my new club, which I’m going to tell you about in a second).

But there’s a really important thing you need to know about this website change. If you subscribe to my website via my mailing list, you don’t need to do a thing. But if you subscribe via WordPress, you’ll need to change over to the mailing list — and that’s super easy to do. Just click here to join the mailing list. See? Easy and done! (If you want to ensure you don’t receive duplicate emails during the transition period, you might also change your WordPress settings, like this.)

Mini-Skein Club

Remember that Super Secret Thing I was telling you about? Oh, I am so excited about this…! And if you’re addicted to hexipuffs, dreaming about the BeeKeeper’s Quilt, falling head over heels for the Babette blanket, or any of the other wonderful mini-skein patterns that are cropping up everywhere these days, then you will be super excited too! The SpaceCadet Mini-Skein Club is coming and it will not only be a regular supply of those addictive little skeins, but also give you the perfect opportunity to try out all those wonderful SpaceCadet yarns and colourways that you’ve never used before. Think of it as a mouthwatering knitters’ and crocheters’ sample pack, delivering yarny goodness to your door every month…

I cannot wait to get the Mini-Skein Club started! If you can’t wait either, make sure you’re on the mailing list to be the first to hear when it goes live!

The Ebook

The ebook is with the editor and is so close to being finished, I can taste it! I know a lot of people aren’t sure how to approach knitting or crocheting with hand-dyed yarn, so I’m hoping this ebook will help ease any nervousness. It’s an introductory guide to hand-dyed yarn: how to use it, how to care for it, how to understand it so you can dive into hand-dyed without fear. If that sounds just right for you, then get on that mailing list to be sure you hear when it’s ready for download!

Oh, and this is really cool — the editor has been blogging the process of putting the ebook together. Check it out!

Shop Update

And finally, here’s the shop mini-update I promised you, two yarns that I am just crazy about…

First is a colourway that I’ve called Inlet, because I see all the colours of shimmering and shallow water — blues, greens, grays — with the glint of something precious resting at the bottom. I absolutely love this colourway! The yarn is 70% superwash merino, 20% bamboo, and 10% nylon, so it has that lovely glossy sheen.

And another yarn in that same lovely bamboo base… This colourway is Contrary and I just love the intensity of those cool, cool blues…

So, lots of stuff going on. It’s been crazy busy but soooo exciting! And if you’re excited too, keep checking back to see if the website has changed. Once it has, the ball starts rolling on everything else too…

Designer Profile: Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches

30SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Here’s a Friday morning brainteaser for you… (because, you need one, right? You’re wide awake and raring for brainteasing this morning, right? …no? Oh, never mind, keep reading. It’s worth it.)

Right, here’s your brainteaser: how do you pronounce amigurumi? Yes, amigurumi. I’m hitting you with a word like amigurumi first thing on a Friday morning not because I’m particularly cruel and sadistic (although… umm… no, never mind) but because if you don’t know about amigurumi, then I have someone I want to introduce you to.

Fresh Stitches Amigurumi crochet designer Stacey Trock on SpaceCadet Creations yarn and knitting blog — © Fresh Stitches, used with permission

Ok, let’s back it up and make Friday morning a bit easier. How do you pronounce Fresh Stitches? How about Stacey Trock? Better? Yep, me too! I can’t say amigurumi to save my life. …Well, I can, but I have to slow right down and I sound like an idiot. I prefer to say Stacey Trock. Mostly, because I really like her.

Stacey designs crocheted amigurumi, which is a Japanese word meaning a crocheted or knitted stuffed animal. And so you know they are going to be cute, but Stacey’s designs are not just cute, they’re downright funky. I mean, right now, you’re thinking “teddy bears”, right? Nope.

Fresh Stitches Amigurumi by Stacey Trock — left-right: Dale the Mosquito, Mr Crabby, and Zork the Alien (© Fresh Stitches, used with permission)

I met Stacey at TNNA in June — she was unmissable, wandering around with a crocheted monkey on her back — and I quickly discovered she is an absolutely lovely person. During the Mother-of-All-Knit-Nights (imagine a room filled with every.single.one of your knitting idols, and that’s exactly what it was), Stacey and I got to talking and… we just kept going for a couple of hours! Isn’t it just the coolest thing when the people you’ve admired from afar turn out to be truly nice people in real life?

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Stacey, your amigurumi are so adorable! How do your design ideas come to you? Do you know what the finished project will look like before you start, or do you let the yarn and hook lead the way and just see how it comes out?

Aww, thank you! I have no idea how my ideas come to me… sometimes I think it’s just a little fairy in the night that brings them. In all honesty, I’ll just get ‘struck’ by an animal idea, and I know exactly how it’s going to look and how it’s going to be made. And more than often, I’m right. Once in a while, I go through a phase of experimenting with different shapes and techniques, and then a whole new batch of animals will hit me.

Fresh Stitches Nelson the Owl by crochet designer Stacey Trock — © Fresh Stitches, used with permission

When did you make the jump from crocheter to crochet designer? What defined that change in your mind?

Ah, yes… you’re hinting at two different questions! The first one is: when did I go from crocheter to being a person who sold crochet designs. I did that one summer, when I was finished with school, and was tired of what I was doing. I asked myself, ‘what would I do if I didn’t have to worry about money at all?’. And I thought, ‘make stuffed animals’. And, I’ve been crocheting since I was very small, so that seemed like the natural method to make my animals. Then, I thought about it, and figured I really could make a living of it… so, then I just started designing! My first designs were a koala and a lion.
The second question, when did I feel like a crochet designer is slightly different. It took a while for me to really believe that this was my job and not just some pipe dream. I would say that after my first book, Cuddly Crochet, came out, I felt like I was really a designer.
It’s interesting, though- because I think of myself as a stuffed animal designer, not a ‘crochet designer’. I would jump to knitting stuffed animals before I would design a crocheted sweater. I guess I’m just obsessed with stuffed animals 🙂

When you design, do you have a specific person in mind? Are you designing for someone, or for yourself?

I always have one of two customers in mind when I design. Customer number one is a late-20s, early 30s woman who is crocheting a toy for her children (of course, in real life, it could be a grandmother, aunt or even a father… but marketing folks tell you to be specific!). She’s interested in a pattern that’s not overwhelmingly complicated (she has other things to do, after all!) and she’s also interested in a fairly mainstream, cute animal. The animal also will need to be baby-safe (crocheted eyes, no long strings, etc.). My Nelson the Owl pattern is a stereotypical example of an animal I designed with this customer in mind.
Customer number 2 is a late teenager or 20-something woman who loves crocheting and wants to make a funky and cute crocheted animal. She’s not scared off by trying a new technique, but the end product has to be awesome. She may be making it to make a statement at work, or crocheting a gift for a

friend (and wants a super-unique gift over something you can just buy in the store). Weird animals are totally okay… even suggested! Sandford the Squid is the best example of a pattern I’ve designed with this customer in mind.
Sometimes, I lose sight of my customer, and design an animal ‘just because’, and these usually end up being flops. Like, I designed a cheetah… he was cute, for a cheetah. But, what’s the market? You don’t give a cheetah to a baby. And, people looking for funky designs aren’t drawn to cheetahs.
It’s been a lesson… even though I’m completely passionate about what I do, it’s still a business, and I need to keep in mind that I’m designing for my customers.

Milton the Slowpoke Snail by Fresh Stitches Crochet designer Stacey Trock — © Fresh Stitches, used with permission

Are there any special skills needed for amigurumi that are different from other crochet projects?

The main thing about amigurumi is that they are worked in the round. You don’t need any special stitches (it’s the same single crochet, increasing and decreasing that you see everywhere), but starting off can be tricky for folks… it’s getting the piece going in the round. I use the sloppy slip knot (a technique that I made up by accident) because it’s quick an easy. The magic ring is another popular choice.
Attaching the pieces (arms, legs, etc to the body) also takes a little artistry. It can be tricky when you start, but using some locking stitch markers to position the piece (and see if you like it) before sewing it on is a great tip. Alternatively, Dawn Toussaint is an amigurumi designer who attaches all of the pieces as you crochet- so there’s nothing to attach afterwards… that can make the whole attaching-thing easier!

What is the best bit of being a designer? What part of it brings you the most joy?

The thing I love most is the flexibility. I get to work from home and make my own schedule. My partner (Tim) is Australian, and we go back to Australia for 3 weeks every Christmas. I’m the studio manager at my yoga studio, and I attend classes at 5pm. Tim is giving a talk at a university in a few weeks, and I get to just go along. I don’t think I could do any of those things if I worked a normal 9-5 job.
Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t work a lot of hours… but the flexibility is priceless to me!
It’s funny you ask the 2nd question… because the best thing in the world happened to me this morning- that makes my job super-awesome. One of my customers emailed me and told me that she was going through a very hard time in her life (due to family illness), and that what had gotten her through was making my stuffed animals for her grandchildren! I couldn’t believe someone would say such a sweet thing to me! Making others happy brings me the most joy!

What is your favourite amigurumi design that you’ve done? Which one makes you smile every time you see it?

I’ve got two. One is Nelson the Owl… I’m not sure if it’s because owls are insanely popular right now, or what, but I make a lot of them, and they’re adorable every time! It doesn’t matter what color combo you use- he’s adorable! The second is Milton the Snail from my new book, Crocheted Softies. I have a total soft spot for snails… and I love Milton!!!

What do you suggest to knitters/crocheters who are nervous about using hand-dyed?

Fresh Stitches crochet designer Stacey Trock — © Fresh Stitches, used with permission

Who’s afraid of hand-dyeds? I’ll go have a talk with them! I think what most people don’t realize is that you can use hand-dyed yarns in almost any pattern that calls for commercial yarns! Crocheters and Knitters seem to get really caught up on using the yarn recommended in the pattern… but as long as you’re substituting a similar weight and fiber yarn (i.e. a worsted weight wool for another worsted weight wool)- you don’t need to think very hard about doing a substitution! And, there’s so much more variety in the hand-dyed market. A commercial yarn company produces thousands of skeins of each color… so they’re pretty tied to producing yarns and colors with a broad appeal. But, since an indie dyer produces yarn in small lots, they can really let their creativity shine through. I’ve gotten some amazingly colored skeins from indie dyers that would have never been available commercially! Also, you can’t beat the colors and love that goes into hand-dyed… so I say, rock on!

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See what I mean? She’s lovely! You can see more of Stacey’s designs and books on her website, www.freshstitches.com, on Twitter @freshstitches, on Facebook, and on Ravelry as FreshStitches.

Shop Update: Snorkel, Sailor’s Warning, Beguile, and Rescue

23SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

The ebook has been sent to the editor, the shop has been restocked after PLY, there’s a website revamp underway (now, there’s a mix of joy and pain!), and the Super Secret Thing is almost ready to go… It’s been a good week. …A busy week!

Oh, and there’s been dyeing. Lots of dyeing. Some of it has been that fantastic experimental stuff that I love to do — that’s going into the Yarn Adventurers’ newsletter that will go out later today. If you’re on the Yarn Adventurers’ mailing list, keep your eyes open for it. And if you’re not on the list, get on it!

And there’s some wonderful stuff that’s gone into the shop… A wonderfully vibrant colourway called Snorkel (not for the faint of heart, that one!); the warm and tropical Sailor’s Warning (see it knitted up as a sock); the absolutely stunning greens of Rescue (and there’s four skeins of it, enough for a cardi); and then there’s one of my most favourite colourways ever ever ever, Beguile (three skeins, enough for a bigger project). The skeins of Rescue and of Beguile are both split over different dyelots, but they are all so close that you can feel confident buying across the dyelots if you do want to do a larger project.

Today is the LAST DAY to join the Yarn Alliance

17SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This is just a quick reminder that subscriptions to the InterStellar Yarn Alliance close at midnight tonight. If you’ve been considering joining, thinking about it, checking out all the fab parcels and the lovely yarns… now is the time!

Each member will receive an exciting parcel delivered every other month containing:

SpaceCadet^TM Creations yarn (light to medium weight) in an exclusive Yarn Alliance colourway (guaranteed not to be offered on the SpaceCadet website for at least 6 months)
A great Yarn Alliance gift tucked into every parcel!
The SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway.
An InterStellar Yarn Alliance group on Ravelry where you can discuss WIPs, ask questions, and share FOs with fellow members.
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance newsletter with periodic special offers exclusively for members.
A 15% off couponevery six months

Subscriptions: 6 months (3 parcels) $125; or 12 months (6 parcels) $235

Parcels will be sent out in late October, December, February, April, June, and August. Subscription openings will be available in March and September. Shipping within the United States is included in the price; extra charges apply for shipping outside the US.

Remember, subscriptions close at midnight tonight! Join now!

Fresh Design Crochet: SpaceCadet Yarn

16SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I got some great news last month: SpaceCadet Creations yarn has been chosen for two designs for two upcoming books! How cool is that?!? Seriously, I am so excited!

And I want to introduce you to the designer, Amy Maceyko. Not only because she turned out to be a really nice person, but also because it’s really interesting to see as she how she applies her experience as an architect to her fiber arts. So I asked her a few questions…

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I know you are an architect, a knitting teacher, and a crochet designer. How do these three parts of your creativity influence each other?

Good question. They are honestly even more intertwined than I expected them to be back when I started knitting. The way that I work as an architect definitely influences my process when I’m designing knit or crocheted pieces. Just as an architect draws 2-dimensional plans of a 3-dimensional building, I tend to draw 2-dimensional “plans” of my designs in yarn. I even add notes and dimensions the same way I do it for buildings. It is entirely possible that an architect could look in my knitting/crochet notebook and understand my creations better than a fellow designer, but I haven’t had a chance to test this theory yet.

As for the other way around, I think the way that my yarn endeavors influence my architecture is a bit more subtle. Crochet and knitting gives me a way to play with color and texture in a much faster medium than architecture. So all of the time I have spent putting different colors of yarn together, playing with proportion and looking at ways that textures react to different 3-dimensional shapes has improved my work on the interior design aspects of the job.

And lastly, there is a lot of similarity between teaching and working with a client as an architect. Most people who are building a building have never done so before (with the exception of the head honchos), so there is some teaching that goes along with working with any client. In general, all teaching that you do makes you a better teacher, so I felt ready to jump into teaching knitting and crochet quickly even without a lot of past experience.

What came first for you, crochet or knitting? Has that influenced the way you design?

Technically, I learned to crochet first because my mom taught me when I was little. But it didn’t stick and I only cross-stitched and sewed for many years before coming back to yarn crafts in my late 20’s. I learned to knit first and then to crochet (again) about 4 years later. I think my brain probably tends to swing more toward knitting designs because at this point I’ve been knitting about twice as long as I’ve been crocheting and I’ve made so many more knitted objects. But since there don’t seem to be as many independent crochet designers out there, I am trying to force myself to keep thinking about crochet designs to build an audience. I also think there are some things that knitting does better and some things that crochet does better, so when I think of a particular look I want to achieve I try to imagine which fabric will serve the purpose best.

Hmmm…that kind of sounds like the famous Louis Sullivan quote “Forms follows function.” Apparently my architectural influences are everywhere…

When did you make the jump from knitter/crocheter to knit/crochet designer? What defined that change in your mind?

Some of it was gradual and some of it was much more sudden. Even since I first learned to knit I have made up patterns as I went, and whenever I followed a pattern I always altered something about it. At least the yarn, probably the gauge, maybe the edging, etc. It is just in my DNA to try things differently. I had a student who wanted to learn a free online hat pattern a few weeks ago, so I knitted one the week before the class to ensure that I could teach her all of the skills she needed. As soon as I finished, I cast on another that removed all of the garter ridges and added 4 columns of cables. I just couldn’t stop myself!

But in all of these years I haven’t actually written my made up patterns and shared them with anyone. I have thought about it. But by the time I really felt confident enough to do it I had a 2 year old and a baby…and not enough sleep to do pattern writing after they were in bed.

And then a year ago I was laid off from my architecture job. After the first optimistic 6-8 looking for a job, I started talking to my local yarn store about part time work and looking at design submission requests on ravelry. Within a couple of months I was teaching classes, working some part time hours in the shop and had three designs accepted for a series of crochet books! I am still looking for full time work, but now that my kids are older and I have “established” myself a little, I plan to keep up some teaching and designing even if (when) I find another position as an architect.

How do you approach hand-dyed yarns that’s different from the way you design in commercial yarns? What do you suggest to knitters/crocheters who are nervous about using hand-dyed?

It is somewhat easier to design with commercial yarns because you can tell the knitter or crocheter exactly what to buy, and I’ve found there are lots of crafters out there who even want to use the same color that’s used in the sample. There are people who want to see exactly what they’re going to make before they make it.

There is so much potential in hand-dyed options and so many people spinning their own yarn, it is really an important market to consider designs that go beyond the workhorse commercial yarns. I’ve been thinking about this a lot because I have some yarn in my stash that I have acquired at wool festivals. This is yarn that few, if any, of the people buying my patterns could acquire. It is also yarn that I *really* want to design with, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the best ways to go about it.

One thing I have been thinking about is including a picture of the yarn in the hank as a part of the pattern when I use something unusual or hand-dyed. This would give the knitter or crocheter a sense of what I started with to help them in the shopping process.

But in the end, it is really all about swatching. I can look at a skein of hand-dyed yarn and have an idea. But until I swatch I don’t know for sure if it will work. The more I work with variegated yarns the better sense I have of what will and won’t work before I swatch, but not well enough to describe it to other people yet. 🙂

My advice is that if a hand-dyed yarn has caught your eye and you can’t stop thinking about it…buy it! Yarn is not a precious commodity, it should be used. Buy it, wind it, and swatch it! In the worst case, if you don’t like what you try making, you can undo it and try something else.

How many projects do you have on the go right now? Is there such a thing as too many projects or too much yarn?

2 baby blankets (One of those babies just turned 1 – oops!), 1 Babette blanket, 1 sweater for class and for the book series – 2 blankets, a girl’s cardigan and a girl’s jumper. I also have a small pile of hand knits that need mending or sweaters that aren’t quite right.

I did find that when I had an infant I really had to keep my number of projects low so I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by my projects. I also don’t tend to have WIP for years and years, Babette being the one exception because I tend to work on it in fits and starts. That list above is really everything that I have in progress. I don’t have a bin of items that I abandoned. Although I do have a number of bags with yarn and an index card with the description of the item that yarn could (should?) become. But since I haven’t actually started them yet beyond the idea, they aren’t WIPs.

What can you tell us about the two designs you’re doing in SpaceCadet yarns?

The first is a wrap cardigan in girl’s size 4, 6, 8 and 10. Although someone saw me working on it at my LYS this week wishing I would make an adult pattern. The cardigan has some flower motifs along the front, but most of the fabric is worked in double crochet through the back loop. It has been a little tricky to figure out, but I think it will be pretty straightforward for the crocheters to make.

The second is a very textured blanket. I’m actually making two versions of it for the book, one in Space Cadet yarn and a second in Berroco Vintage, one of my favorite commercial yarns. My initial goal in making two is to show the amazing opportunity to play with the yarn choice – from high contrast to something more subtle and variegated.

I’m very excited to see how both projects come out!

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Both of Amy’s designs will appear in the Fresh Design Crochet series from Cooperative Press: her cardigan will be in Fresh Design Crochet: Sweaters, coming out in Spring 2012, and the blanket will be part of Fresh Design Crochet: Home, in Autumn 2012. You can check out Amy’s blog, Structured Stitches, to follow her adventures in fiber arts design.