Green leaves on trees, green grass in the park, a barefoot lunch hour sitting in the sun. Summer knitting.
Dappled light through the leaves, warm breeze, songbirds calling through the green oasis in the city. Needles softly clicking.
Bright blooms bursting from neat flowerbeds, calm amid the bustle, soaking up sunlight and softening the city-grey. Stitched meditation.
When we did our first show earlier this year, the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival, I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy it or not. I mean, I’d never done one before and, to be honest, it was a pretty daunting prospect to meet so many people like that, to put my yarns and colourways out there for them to love or to… walk away from. I was nervous.
I was also being silly, as it turns out. We had a BLAST at Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet! And then again, at HomeSpun Yarn Party — sooooo much fun! I had no idea how exhilarating it would be to finally get to meet so many customers in person, to get that feedback, to make those connections. Just wonderful!
And an even bigger surprise was the requests we got from LYSs for our wholesale information. What a compliment! But, sadly, we were so swamped at the time with the shows and custom requests and the launch of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance that we had to say we didn’t have any ready and we’d get it to them as soon we could…
Does it sound like a brush-off? It wasn’t, honest! We really were that busy!
But the shows are done (for now) and the Yarn Alliance has launched with the first parcels already sent out… and that means we’ve had a little time to catch our breath and put together a wholesale information packet. I’ll be sending those out Friday to everyone who enquired about them
So you know what that means, right? It means there’s a chance that SpaceCadet Creations yarns will be coming to an LYS near you, so you can do more than just look at pretty pictures and wonder if it’s the right yarn for you… You can pick it up and pet it and squish it and snorgle it! And believe me, it is sooooo much better in person than it is in the pictures!
And if any other LYSs are interested in carrying SpaceCadet yarns, please do pop over to the Wholesale page and let us know!
The response to the Sexy Knitter’s pattern giveaway has been fantastic, and it was so much fun to see the comments rolling in and all the feedback on your favourite Sexy Knitter patterns! Thanks so much to all of you for participating.
And I’m about to tell you who’s won but, before I do, let me just quickly show you two exciting yarns I’ve put in the shop today. And they’re exciting not because of the colours I’ve applied, but because the yarns themselves are just so beautiful. Really, when I’m holding them in my hands, turning them in the light, they are so lusterous, just so gorgeous! I can hardly take pictures to do them justice — but trust me, you’ll love them.
First is a combination of silk and superwash BFL which produces a 4-ply yarn that feels incredible and has the most amazing sheen…
And the second is a beautiful combination of silk with merino wool that creates a 2-ply yarn with a distinctive texture that is incredibly smooshy with a breath-taking luster…
Ok, I’ve made you wait long enough. The winner of two Sexy Knitter patterns of her choice is:
Congratulations! Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com, using the same email address you used in your comment, to let us know which patterns you’d like. And the Sexy Knitter will get them to you!
The weather was glorious, the shopping overwhelming, and it was sheep as far as the eye could see! I got back from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival exactly the way I knew I would: drunk with excitement, completely exhausted, and yet ready for more! There is nothing else like MDSW…
I was lucky enough to run into the lovely Nora Bellows of Noni. I discussed spindles with Sasha Torres of the SpinDoctor podcast. Got to say hello to Amy Singer of Knitty magazine. And I had really enlightening conversations (about credit card machines of all things!) with Andrea Berman (I Speak KnitSpeak), Gale of Gale’s Art, and Jennie Lanners (you know… Jennie the Potter!).
Did I take any pictures of any of them? No, not one. I know …I know!
.
So, you’ll just have to settle for pictures of my swag instead…
Oh wait! I forgot… I got some really cool stitchmarkers too from Jennie the Potter. Let me go grab my knitting…
I love that they have knit stitches on one side and instructions on the other! So cool! The yarn is SpaceCadet’s Stella in Vibrance.
So, you see how much fun it was? Oodles and oodles, and I am jonesing for more! What are your favourite fiber festivals through the year? Which ones do you love?
Are you ready for summer? Ready for those warm breezes, some long cool drinks, and golden light filtered through the lush green that you missed so much these past months? Yeah, me too. I really, really am ready.
And those kinds of days call for a really special yarn. Something like… bamboo. Not only because bamboo really does evoke thoughts of those tropical breezes accompanied by tropical drinks but, more importantly, because it has a spectacular sheen that captures the warmth of the sun and reflects it back in way that is everything you want in a summer yarn.
Here’s to those lazy days to come, gentle days bathed in golden sunlight, and lot of glorious, shimmery, summer knitting…
Clockwise from top left: fingering yarn with bamboo in Soliel, Pink Sun, Juicy, Evening Fog, Translucence, and SeaFoam
If you attended either the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival or HomeSpun Yarn Party this year, you might have met my sister. She was the one running the credit card machine and handing the cash, and she does a great job at that, but she doesn’t know anything about knitting. She lives her life blissfully unaware of all things fiber-related (though I’m not quite sure how that can possibly be blissful!), except when I call and ask if she’d lend a hand.
So the whole fiber-festival thing was completely new to her, and it took her pretty much completely by surprise. I think she might have been expecting sweet little old ladies and crocheted toilet paper covers…
Her first words, as we walked past the huge line of fiber-fanatics waiting for the doors to open, were, “People are here already?!? They’re waiting?!?” Her eyes were wide with surprise, and I stopped myself from giggling. She really didn’t know what she was in for.
But she got her second clue a few minutes after the festival got started. We were sitting near to one of the entrances and a woman walked in, went right up to my sister, with a face that looked almost frantic, and exclaimed, “I’m so excited!!!” before rushing off into the crowd.
“These people are crazy!” my sister said, looking a little frantic herself. “That lady actually grabbed me when she said that! What’s going on?!?”
I couldn’t stop myself laughing now. When you’re a fiber-freak yourself, when you knit and spin every chance you get, when you’re surrounded by all this all the time, you forget that this doesn’t look normal to outsiders. You forget that it seems a bit, well.. yeah… crazy.
But it’s not. It’s perfectly normal. You and I know that. …And my sister will come ’round in time.
