Win A Skein of SpaceCadet Yarn!

15MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I am so excited about the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, the SpaceCadet’s new yarn club which opened for subscriptions on Monday, that I can’t wait for the fun to start! The first parcels will go out in April, but I really want to do something to kick it off right now…

So I’m going to give away a free skein of lovely SpaceCadet Creations yarn to one of you this week, and all you have to do to enter is talk about the Yarn Alliance in a post on Ravelry! It can be anywhere on Ravelry except the SpaceCadet Creations and Interstellar Yarn Alliance groups. Once you’ve done that, leave a comment here with your Ravelry name, and you are entered to win a free skein of SpaceCadet yarn!

yarn, sock yarn, knitting, crochet, hand-dyed, hand dyed, handdyed — Shop Update (clockwise from top left: Celeste yarn in Carnival, Estelle yarn in Tree Snake, Estelle yarn in Sunshine, and Celeste Yarn in First Love

And if you’ve like to earn a second entry after that, just retweet a link to the Yarn Alliance webpage or link to this blog post in a post on Ravelry (and please be sure to mention your Twitter name here if it’s different from your Raverly name).

The giveaway opens now, and closes at the end of Thursday, so you have to be quick! I’ll announce the winner here on Friday.

yarn, sock yarn, knitting, crochet, hand-dyed, handdyed, hand-dyed, hand painted — Shop Update (clockwise from top left): Celeste yarn in Forgiven, Estelle yarn in Evening Fog, Celeste yarn in Spice Trade, Celsete yarn in Spare Change

Which means that by the end of the week, one of you will be the owner of a new skein of SpaceCadet yarn. Because you need more yarn in your stash, don’t you? Don’t you?!?

Of course you do!

spinning, fiber, fibre, merino, alpaca, hand-dyed, handdyed, hand dyed, hand painted — Shop Update (clockwise from top left): Alpaca & Merino fiber in Translucence, Alpaca & Merino fiber in SuperNova, BFL fiber in HandJive, Alpaca & Merino fiber in Beguile

The details (they’re not difficult, I promise!): Contest closes on March 17 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must complete the mandatory entry (that is, mentioning the SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance in a post on Ravelry) before completing the ‘extra’ entry (tweeting a link to the Yarn Alliance). Completion of entries must be mentioned in a comment on this blog post to qualify, and comments must include the commenter’s Ravelry or Twitter name (as applicable). Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash. See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?

3.. 2… 1… Launch the SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance!

14MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I have been looking forward to writing this post for weeks — no, months. This started as a little kernel of an idea just before Christmas and I have spent the last few months coming up with ideas, making plans… and getting just so excited!

So, I am very very pleased that this day as come at last. Because today is the day that we launch…

If you like SpaceCadet yarns, then you’ll love being a member of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance! Each member will receive an exciting parcel delivered every other month containing:

SpaceCadet Creations^TM 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 Alliancegift tucked into every parcel!
The SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway.
An InterStellar Yarn Alliancegroup on Ravelry where you can discuss WIPs, ask questions, and share FOs with fellow Yarn Alliance members.
A 15% off coupon every six months

Subscriptions open today and will be available only until March 31. You can subscribe for either 6 months (3 parcels) at $125 or for 12 months (6 parcels) at $235, and parcels will be sent out in late April, June, August, October, December, and February.

I hope you are as excited as I am! It’s going to be great fun, so please come join Yarn Alliance. I can’t wait for you to be a member!

The Yarn for Today

08MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Today, I am not feeling well. It is a day for tea, and warm socks, and curling up on the couch, being quiet, and breathing slowly. Today is this yarn…

sock yarn, yarn, hand-dyed, handdyed, wool, knitting, crochet — Stella Yarn in Spare Change

But outside, Spring is picking up pace. The last of the snow is clinging on, but it is a futile effort. It’s warm today, almost balmy. The robins are pecking determinedly amid the freshly revealed grass, and the squirrels have appeared to bounce joyfully again from tree to tree. And the flower beds are filled with proud green shoots as the crocuses awaken after their long sleep. Oh yes, spring is on it’s way, and I predict a riot! So really, this yarn is today…

yarn, sock yarn, handdyed, hand-dyed, knitting, crochet — Stella Yarn in Snorkel

Different yarns for different moods, different colours for different days… No one colourway will ever suit every moment. Is it any wonder knitters end up with such wonderful stashes?!?

yarn, sock yarn, knitting, crochet, hand-dyed, handdyed — (l to r) Celeste Yarn in Cold Flame and Funky Ballet Shoes, Estelle Yarn in Cold Flame

SpaceCadet Creations at Homespun Yarn Party on March 27

01MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

You know what? We had so much fun, we’re doing it again!…

SpaceCadet Creations will be at the Homespun Yarn Party in Savage MD on March 27! This is a fantastic, juried show that features only indie fiber artists and hand-crafters. But this is no local craft show — the standard is very high and it is such an honour to have been chosen to participate!

If you’ve ever wanted to see SpaceCadet colours in person, or to snorgle the yarns and stroke the fibers, and you live anywhere in the WashingtonDC/Baltimore area or the surrounds, please do make the trip Savage. We’d LOVE to meet you! And you’ll have a great time!

hand-dyed, handdyed, knitting, yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, silk, BFL — Left to right: Silk/BFL Yarn in Straw Into Gold, Plumberry, and Heartthrob

And, in case you’re thinking that March 27th feels like a loooong time away, I’ve put some wonderful new yarns in the shop. This time, I’ve focused on luxury: wonderful, smooshy Luna Laceweight and some decadently shimmery Silk & BFL. Enjoy!

hand-dyed, handdyed, yarn, lace weight, silk, merino, knitting, crochet — Clockwise from top left: Luna Silk/Merino Laceweight in Straw Into Gold, Translucence, Spice Trade, and Covetous

Lessons From the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

15FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s been an incredible weekend — exhilarating, exciting, educational, an absolute whirlwind, and a lot of hard work. SpaceCadet Creations was at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, and we had the time of our lives! And now, as I get the chance to sit down for the first time in days, I realise just how many lessons there were from doing our first show.

Here’s what I learned:

How fantastic is it to finally get to meet my customers in person. Seriously, it is the best! These are people I see tweeting, people who leave comments on the blog and on Facebook, but there is nothing like meeting you guys in person, discussing your knitting, seeing your projects, and just being able to put faces to names. Meeting you all was fantastic fun!

How wonderful it is to talk to customers about my yarns and get that feedback. I mean, I do all this in isolation. Day to day, I work in my studio mostly on my own, with pots simmering quietly and yarns soaking… And when I pull them out, well, sometimes I think a yarn looks great and sometimes I’m not so sure. And it was just such an incredible experience to see customers making a beeline for the colourways that were calling out to them, and to hear their comments and get their feedback. Nothing beats that.

That every person has their own unique colour style, their own sense of what works for them… and you absolutely cannot judge a knitter or a crocheter by her cover. We had people come up who looked like they might choose calm, quiet colourways but who instead went straight for the brightest, craziest colours. And others whom I thought would go for the same wild yarns but who instead reached straight for the peace and serenity of the semi-solids. The truth is, crafters are unique and interesting people, and you can’t box them into categories!

That many hands make light work, and work doesn’t feel like work when it’s split out amongst friends. …With HUGE thanks to the Wednesday night knitters for bagging and tagging, knitting samples, brainstorming, and coming up with some great ideas that made the show a lot better for us.

That there is simply no way to show how beautiful, how smooshy, how fibery-lucious a yarn is over the internet. Great photography is all well and good, but absolutely nothing beats getting to snorgle that yarn in person!

And, following on from that, that the purples and blues that I absolutely cannot photograph will sell like hotcakes when people can see how lovely they really are!

The Vendor Hall was HUGE!

That when you get a look behind the scenes, you realise that the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival is a HUGE undertaking with a bazillion variables that really could all go disastrously wrong, but somehow Barb and her team keep everything under control and pull the whole thing off seamlessly. And they smile the whole time! I don’t know how they do it.

That you can’t actually go all day without eating.

Also, you can’t actually go without sleeping either. The body will revolt and shut you down. And that little factoid put a serious dent in my festival-prep schedule.

What fun it is to meet and finally get to chat with other fiberisti in person (Hello KnitPurlGurl! Hello StevenBe!)
StevenBe

That StevenBe’s mother and her friend are lovely, lovely women and so interesting that I could have sat and talked to them all day. Hallo Christa! Hallo Barbara!

That I go a bit giddy when I get asked if I’d like to be a guest dyer for a LYS’s yarn club. YesIwouldYesIwouldYesIwould!!!!

What an incredible rush it is to asked by LYSs whether I wholesale yarn …and how that plants interesting little seeds in my head.

That having friends there to show you the ropes, give you tips and ideas, loan you display furniture, and make change when you run out of small bills… that kind of professional camaraderie makes all the difference! (With big thanks to Amy, Bloomin Yarns, CosyKnits, Wren&Rita, and GwenErin)

How nice it is to be able to bring yarns out of the shop, give them a fresh airing, sell them at the festival, and then have brand new yarns to offer to all my custermers who couldn’t get to this festival. Look for new yarns to start appearing in the shop in the coming days and weeks!
All dyed in three weeks!

That you can increase your dyeing by 10 times your normal rate and fill a festival booth with stock in only three weeks, but everything else in your life will come to a complete halt. I really have to get some laundry done before I run out of clothes and some bills paid before they shut off the utilities!

That none of this is possible without the support of a great team. And I had a great team (With more thanks than I can express to my husband, to Natalie, to meine kleine schwester, and to my mum …and to my dad, who apparently hasn’t eaten in weeks because my mum has been here the whole time!).

And, finally, that I love love LOVE doing festivals!!!!!

An Open Letter

04FebApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

An Open Letter to Those who Don’t Get the Fiber Arts

I am not doing this to recreate the past. I don’t harbour any fantasies of wearing petticoats or a bonnet. And I don’t knit because I want to feel domestic.

I do this to free my soul. I do this to work in colours that make my heart sing. I dye because I see in my mind hues and shades that are bursting to be let out. And so I do let them out, laying them down in dye upon fiber – vibrant shades poured out over wool, over silk, over the ordinary of life.

And when, at last, I cast those colours onto my needles, I feel a calm wash over me as I work them up into a fabric of my own making — the needles clicking softly and the colours gently blending and contrasting.

I know you think this is old-fashioned, but it’s not. It is as modern as imagination, as current as discovery, as now as creativity. Would you ask a painter why he doesn’t just take a photograph?

And it’s ok if you don’t get it. I understand. But I just wanted to say – I just wanted to say out loud – that this is nothing about old fashioned. This is what I do, and I do it now. I am a fiber artist.