fibre arts

Shop Update: A Gift for a Wee Miracle

By Stephanie

A dear friend of mine is about to have her baby boy — a little miracle after a lot of broken hopes and heartache — and I am overjoyed for her.  So I want to send something special to welcome him into the world.  The first thing I thought about, of course, was the colour…

I didn’t want to go with the typical baby pastels or box him into blueblueblue.  So I went down to the studio and mixed up a few colours that I thought would be just right — that would be interesting, exciting, but still perfect for a baby boy.

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And when I pulled it out of the dyepot, it was exactly what I had in mind.  I’m seeing a little cardigan and a pair of matching booties.  And I can’t wait to cast on!

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But first… I dyed a couple more skeins for you.

Stella Fingering Weight Yarn, Superwash Merino and Nylon, in SeaFoam


The sea rolls in, and softly out again… leisurely, relaxed, as if it has nothing better in the world to do. Softly in, softly out, and making that wonderful, rich sound — the gently fizz of blue-green SeaFoam melting into the sand.

Each skein is over 100g of Stella, a beautiful and distinctive 2-ply fingering weight yarn in 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. There are two skeins available, sold separately.

Fiber Content: 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon
Weight: Approximately 3.7oz / 105g (approximately 400 yards per 100g)
Colourway: SeaFoam, 101113-003
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Machine wash, Lay flat to dry.

Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes which are mixed by hand from primaries. Please be sure to buy enough for your project as the colours may not be able to be reproduced exactly.
SpaceCadet Creations is a smoke-free, pet-free environment.
Please remember that the colours in pictures may vary depending on your computer monitor. The colours in the photos are as accurate as possible.

Shop Update: From Flat on My Back

By Stephanie

You may have noticed that there was no shop update on Monday, as there usually is.  Nor on Tuesday, which is when I usually do the update if Monday gets too busy.  There were yarns ready — drying, or in the process of being reskeined, some weighed, some tagged…  But I was not ready.

I was flat on my back in agony and holding as still as I possibly could.  Over the weekend, my neck and shoulder had seized up completely and, man oh man it hurt!  I mean, they’ve seized up before, a few times in my life, but never like this.  Imagine, if you will, me lying on my back in bed, with no pillow, nothing to contort my spine away from the support of the mattress, and I moved my foot — just my foot! — and it sent a spasm of pain shooting up through my shoulder and my neck and wrapped right around over my skull all the way to my eyes.  That kind of agony.

Stella yarn in Faded Garland

The doctor is satisfied that it is muscular and not skeletal (I was worried), and I now have some painkillers the size of horse-pills that are working a small miracle.  Bit by bit, I am gaining more mobility — and having to remind myself not to rush it, that everything can wait…  even though I am desperate to get back work.  There were so many exciting things happening this week, and so many wonderful yarns!

Celeste Yarn in Stewed Cranberry

And so keen was I to get them in the shop that I took advantage of those pills and pushed myself a bit too hard yesterday.  The result is that there are now some lovely yarns in the shop    …and, I am flat on my back again today.  Not anything like before, but just a little reminder from my muscles they are not to be trifled with and I must respect them and take things slooooowly.

Luna Laceweight Yarn in Rapeseed

But I did get some really exiting stuff into the shop…  There’s enough Megan’s Frost to make a sweater — with two more skeins of Frost waiting to go into the shop as soon as I’m able.   And there’s four skeins of Stewed Cranberry, with two more in the studio ready to be reskeined.  A beautiful skein of Laceweight in the most amazing golden-yellow.  And a skein of Stella in a lovely, quirky colourway called Faded Garland.  Enjoy!

And please keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?

Celeste Yarn in Megan's Frost

 

Pattern Roll-Call: Warm Feet for Cold Days

By Stephanie

There are some designers whom I admire hugely, and some whom I just want to sit and absorb knitting knowledge from, and some whose stars have shot so high into the knitsphere that I’d be awed just to meet them.  But there is only one designer that I genuinely like so much that I want to sit down and a pour a nice cup of tea, and spend half an hour knitting with her each week.  And… I do!

© Brenda Dayne, Used with Permission

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Brenda Dayne produces Cast-On, my absolute favourite knitting podcast and the most relaxing half-hour in my week.  She is (as I was until a couple of years ago) an American expat living in Britain and, in between her interesting and entertaining pieces about knitting and spinning and dyeing, she also paints pictures of her home in west Wales that take me straight there.  Cast-On is an absolute delight.

And even if I weren’t a fan of Brenda’s, I’d want to show you this design for the name alone, but her Brother Amos Hellfire Lace Socks are worth knitting not just because of Brenda, and not just because of the name (Hellfire..? Lace..? How did those two words end up side-by-side?!?) but because it is a gorgeous design.  I love the way the lace flickers up the leg (what better to keep your feet warm as winter sets in?), and I know the stitch pattern would be interesting to knit without being too daunting.

And they’re beautiful, aren’t they?  Just beautiful!

© Brenda Dayne, Used with Permission

These socks call for a yarn that lives up to their fiery name, and I think they’d would really… (ahem!)… glow in the warm colours of Ball of Fire or Sunset Over a Stormy Sea.  Don’t you?

Celeste yarn in Ball of Fire
Celeste yarn in Sunset Over a Stormy Sea

Pattern Roll-Call: Get Ready, Get Set…

By Stephanie

Now, let me just stop here and give you fair warning that I am about to tell you that the holidays are around the corner.

I know, I know.  That last post — the one right there below this one — has jack-o-lanterns in it and I know it feels waaaay too early to be even thinking about breaking out the holiday decorations and baking cookies and wrapping presents and…   But we are a special breed, you and I.  We are fiberistas.  We don’t just rush out to the stores and buy our gifts at the last minute.  We make gifts — each gift unique, each stitch fashioned with love for those people we care about most in the world, and who understand just what a hand-made gift means.

And that kind of gift-giving takes time…  which is why, for the likes of you and me, the holidays really are right around the corner!  So to get your gift-giving ideas flowing over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to share some great patterns for quick holiday gifts.

And let’s start with something from Kate Gilbert, who designed the incredibly popular Clapotis scarf (with 16,395 projects listed on Ravelry!).  But my eye was caught instead by her beautiful Marina Piccola socks.  I just love the way the simple pattern so perfectly evokes ripples across a water’s surface.  And I think it looks like a quick but really interesting knit for holiday gift-giving.

© Kate Gilbert, Used with Permission

You know this pattern would really shine in a rich colourway such as Desert Wine, but I’d love to see these how these socks came out in a more variegated yarn such as DayLilies or Plumberry.  I think the combination could be quite stunning.

Stella Yarn in Desert Wine
Celeste Yarn in DayLilies
Celeste Yarn in Plumberry

Shop Update: Nobody Likes Green… or Blue?

By Stephanie

You know…  I may be asking for trouble, because nobody likes green, and I’ve dyed four new greens and gone and stuck them in the shop…

Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering weight yarn in Bluegrass,

Mermaid’s Tail, Steel Leaf, and Nobody Likes Green

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Wait…!  You’re confused?  Nobody likes green? Well, that comes from a story that a friend of mine tells, of a time when she popped into her local yarn shop to buy some green yarn to knit a gift for a friend.  But she couldn’t find any green yarn — not any — so she asked where it was.  And the reply came without a moment’s pause,  “We don’t sell green because nobody likes green.”

Every time I dye green, I feel like such a rebel.  Or… wait!  Does dyeing green make me a nobody?  It’s so confusing!

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And, just in case it’s true and, really, nobody likes green, I dyed some blues too.  Because everybody loves blue…  don’t they?

Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering weight yarn in Faded,

Gloomy Sky, Blue Horse, and Sing the Blues


LAST CHANCE to enter for a $25 Gift Certificate!

By Stephanie

The contest to win a $25 SpaceCadet Gift Certificate ends tonight, so — quick! — make sure you’re entered!  All you have to do is go the SpaceCadet Creations Facebook page and click the “Like” button right at the top — and that’s it, you’re in with a chance!

After that, you can earn up to four additional entries by:

  • Share this contest with your friends on Facebook
  • Tweet a link to this contest on Twitter
  • Mention this contest in a post on Ravelry
  • Subscribe to this blog, if you haven’t already.

And then leaving a comment to let me know that you’ve done it.

Full details on how to enter can be found in this post here.  Thanks for entering and GOOD LUCK!