The Best Resolution of the Year

06JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Fresh new year. The first week of a fresh new year and it holds so much possibility. Sparkling and brand new. Beautiful, perfect… like freshly fallen snow.

And we try to fill the space of those possibilities with resolutions. I will lose weight. I will read more. I will stop smoking. I will pay down my debt. I will… I will… I will…

The thing is that, while also those resolutions promise to lift us to a higher place, they start the year out by reminding of the things we most dislike about ourselves. It’s a strange way to set out into the newly fallen snow.

My friend Natalie and I were discussing resolutions last week. Mine were all of the usual sort, the sort that pulls you down before bringing you back up by kicking you in the backside. And her resolution… well, it stopped me in my tracks. “I’m going to knit something green each month of 2012.”

Green is Natalie’s favourite colour — favourite like an obsession. She says, “You know my green sweater?” as though anyone could know which green sweater she might mean. So it wasn’t that that surprised me. It was the simple positivity of her resolution. Her resolution is about doing something she loves, in a way she loves, more often. Now that a resolution that feels worthy of the brand spanking new year.

So y’know what? I’m rethinking my own resolutions. Maybe I can afford to ditch all the self-improvement ones (because, really, they’re on the cards already regardless of the time of the year). My life is so busy that I rarely get the chance to sit down and knit as much as I’d like. So maybe I could resolve to… just knit more. To just knit when… well, when the knitting calls to me. As resolutions go, it actually feels pretty radical.

And pretty uplifting. The way resolutions should.

So what are your resolutions for the new year? Do you have any that you’re especially excited about? Or one that is just simple and uplifting and fibery?

Shop Update: a Lunchtime Meditation

24MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Green leaves on trees, green grass in the park, a barefoot lunch hour sitting in the sun. Summer knitting.

knitting, yarn, indie dyer, handdyed, fiber arts, crochet, sock yarn — Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering yarn in City Park, Hedgerow, City Park, and Forget Me Nots

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.

Bright Lights, Big Etsy Treasury

22MayApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

A little email in my inbox, minding its own business, waiting for me to open it… And so I do, and it announces that… drumroll please… Freshly Cut Grass has been chosen for SacredArts‘s Etsy Treasury!!! I’m so excited!!!

And here’s how my little yarn looks up in lights:

Thank you, SacredArts! You have absolutely made my day!

Off the Porch and Into the Shop

03AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Sock Yarn, Fingering Weight Superwash Merino, in Seagrass

Nourished by the rich seabed and the soft, tropical waters, seagrass stretches up from the ocean floor in a spectrum of impossible greens, hiding clown fish and seahorses in its emerald fingers as it reaches for the sunlight falling through the clear, sapphire waters.

Each skein is approximately 100g of Superwash Merino in a wonderfully soft 3-ply, fingering weight yarn. Two skeins available, sold separately.

Fiber Content: 100% Superwash Merino
Weight: Approximately 3.50oz / 100g
Colourway: Seagrass, 100401-001
Care Instructions for the final item: Hand or Mashine wash, Lay flat to dry.

Each item is individually hand-dyed by the SpaceCadet, using professional grade acid dyes, 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.

Seagrass Drying in the Sun

03AprApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It is hard to believe that it was less than two months ago that the massive snowstorms hit and we were thigh-deep in snow and without power for several days. Because today, it was over 80°F with blazing sunshine.

I brought the yarn out and let it dry in the lovely warm breeze. In the natural light, the colours came completely to life, and then changed subtly as day melted into dusk…

As Featured on an Etsy Treasury

29MarApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Imagine my surprise when I received an email today telling me that my Freshly Cut Grass yarn has been featured in an Etsy Treasury. Well, no… wait… you don’t have to imagine — let me tell you: I squealed so loud that my husband didn’t know what to do with me and my children ran away up to their bedrooms!

So exciting! Thank you, Heather King, for choosing my yarn for your treasury!