Squeeee! Today is the Day!

03SepSeptember 4, 2015 By Stephanie

I’ve been waiting for today for weeks now — it’s one of my favourite days of the year! Because today the SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance opens for new subscriptions! Squeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Ok, let’s get to all the details — there’s so much fun to tell you about!…

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is the
SpaceCadet’s Premiere Yarn Club

Join us to explore a universe of colour!

Open for subscriptions from September 4-20 ONLY
And spaces go fast!

So, what do you get when you join?

…beautiful yarns, colourways you might never have dared try but suddenly realise you love, and some seriously fabulous gifts!

Members of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance receive fabulous parcels delivered to their door every other month, containing:

SpaceCadet^® 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.
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance newsletter with periodic special offers exclusively for members.
A 15% off coupon every six months

Plus, Sweater Quantities!

One gorgeous skein just isn’t enough? You also have an exclusive opportunity to order more skeins custom-dyed in the latest club colourway. You’ll receive an email with all the details about a week after your parcel goes out — and then all you have to do is pick your project!

A 6 month subscription (3 parcels) is $135
and a 12 month subscription (6 parcels) is $249

Ready to join the fun? Spaces go fast so don’t wait!

Check Out our Gorgeous Colourways from Previous Parcels…

Ready to join us? C’mon — let’s do this!

Clubs are always more fun with your friends, right? Definitely! So please share it!

On Twitter: Squee! The Yarn Alliance Club from SpaceCadet is open for subscriptions – check it out! http://bit.ly/GGzcsn #spacecadetyarn @spacecadetyarn
On Facebook: Squee! The Yarn Alliance Club from SpaceCadet is open for subscriptions – check it out! http://bit.ly/GGzcsn #spacecadetyarn
On Ravelry: Squee! The Yarn Alliance Club from SpaceCadet is open for subscriptions – check it out! http://bit.ly/GGzcsn

Important Details and Policies: Six month subscriptions include 3 parcels; twelve month subscriptions include 6 parcels. Parcels will be sent out in early January, March, May, July, September, and November. 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. Normal subscription openings for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance are two weeks only in March and September of each year. Cancellation policy: Because we purchase supplies for all the parcels immediately after the subscription period ends, refunds are generally not available. However, if there are extenuating circumstances, please contact us as soon as possible and we will do what we can. By purchasing a subscription, you acknowledge and agree to these policies.

Any questions? We’re happy to help: missioncontrol(at)spacecadetyarn(dot)com

Mark Your Calendar! Our Club Openings and Yarn Shows

04MarSeptember 4, 2015 By Stephanie

Despite another 2″-4″ of snow predicted for us this week(!), the start of March means our Spring Events are right around the corner (as hard as that is to believe). Here’s a quick heads up so you can mark your calendar so you don’t miss out on any of the yarny goodness…

The Yarn Alliance Reopens for Subscriptions

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is the SpaceCadet’s premiere yarn club, known for its amazing colourways and fantastic gifts. It’s open for subscriptions twice a year for two weeks only — from March 13 to 29 — and spaces always go fast. We give early-bird priority to the people on the club mailing list, so click here and get your name on that list!

Homespun Yarn Party

Possibly our favourite-est yarn show of the year, this super-fast, super-furious event is always pure crazy and intense fun for anyone who craves hand-dyed and hand-made yarny goodness. A one day show that features only small and indie makers, it’s so worth the trip to the beautiful Savage Mill — if you live in the DC-Baltimore area, please come and see us!

HomeSpun Yarn Party

Sunday, March 22 from 12-5pm
Historic Savage Mill 8600 Foundry Street, Savage, MD 20763 Just off I-95, plenty of parking!
Admission is FREE!

Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

Our hometown festival just gets better and better each year! Having rapidly outgrown all its previous venues, we are super excited that this year’s festival will be at the Westin Convention Center hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Three glorious days of yarn and fiber fun, plus we are thrilled to be hosting festival headliner Alasdair Post-Quinn (author of “Extreme Double Knitting” from Coop Press) for book-signings in our booth. If you’re in the western PA area, we’d love to see you!

The Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival

Fri-Sun, March 27-29
Westin Convention Center hotel, next to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh

What’s your Favourite Yarn Show or Festival?

I’ll be honest, it can be hard to tell what shows are the best to do without bringing our work dyeing to a halt and going to each one. So I rely on recommendations from friends and customers to decide what to put on our schedule. If there’s a festival that you just love — one that’s fun, lively, and full of that great buzz that being around lots of gorgeous yarn creates, I’d love to know about it! Leave a comment here or please email us: info(at)spacecadetcreations(dot)com. Honestly, your input is invaluable!

Seven Weeks Later…

30AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I’ve just gotta share this with you because, this week, we have been doing the happy dance — a lot. As you may recall, we had a slight disaster midway through the summer when a big (biiiiiiiiigggg) storm rolled in and dumped approximately 25 feet of water in 15 minutes (or maybe a little less) which completely overwhelmed our drain and so the water surged in under the door instead and partially flooded our family room. If you never saw it, all the sorry details are here.

Fortunately, the damage didn’t reach the levels of a lot of lower lying areas around us, and I was able to get most of our stuff up and away from danger, but the carpet was a complete (uninsured!) write-off. And the asbestos flooring we discovered underneath it meant that the room was wholly unusable until the carpet could be replaced.

That was seven weeks ago. Seven weeks ago. And it’s taken this long to get the room dry, the carpet ordered, and the installation booked. But on Wednesday….

…on Wednesday, THEY INSTALLED OUR NEW CARPET!!!!!!! Wooooot!!!! I know it’s only our family room we were missing but, somehow, it feels like we have our whole house back again. Things that have spent the last seven months in the wrong place are finally able to go back to where they belong. And we are able to sit in the family room again of an evening, have a cup of tea, and discuss the day just like we used to do. I know we could do that anywhere in the house, but somehow it feels so much more right now.

And all I want to do, every time I see that lovely expanse of fresh, new, clean, lovely carpet is to cheer. Hoooooooray!!!!

Speaking of cheering, here’s something to make some noise about. If you’ve been waiting for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance to reopen for subscriptions, your wait is almost over. The SpaceCadet’s premier yarn club opens this Sunday Sept 1 (actually, midnight on Saturday) until Sept 16. Spaces always go really quickly, so be ready.

And for those of you who’ve clicked here and got yourselves on the Yarn Alliance mailing list, I may just open up subscriptions a wee bit early for you. …Such are the perks of reading all the way to the bottom(!).

Straight from the Sandy Beaches of Hawaii

16AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’ve been a fan of the Singlehanded Knits podcast ever since I first discovered it. I mean, Mel records right on the beautiful beaches of Kauai, with the waves rolling in and palm trees swaying — what’s not to love?

And I knew she’s been a member (and huge fan) of the Mini-Skein Club almost since it first began as well, so I felt comfortable asking her to share her thoughts on it in a new video for the Mini-Skein Club page. Here, come escape to Hawaii for a few minutes and sit on the beach with Mel and chat about yarn. (I don’t think it can get any better than that, can it?)

As you can tell from the video, Mel is an absolutely lovely person — warm and genuine, and with a positive attitude that’s just infectious. Watching her podcast is always a surefire way to bring a little sunshine to any cloudy day.

So I was startled to find myself with tears in my eyes as I read this beautiful blog post she wrote about her dear friend Miss Carol, and the money she is helping to raise for the MARSOC foundation in Miss Carol’s memory. The response from the knitting community has been swift… and incredible! But there is still a way to go to hit the goal, so I urge you to click here and read Mel’s story about Miss Carol for yourself.

Ohhhhhhhhh…. did I mention there are prizes? Oh yes there are! Lots of wonderful yarny prizes to encourage you to read and donate, including a SpaceCadet Gift Code worth $40. So seriously… Go. Click. Read. Give. It’s all good.

And now something I just have to share with you guys… I was stunned — stunned! and thrilled! — to discover that SpaceCadet was featured in the latest issue of Knit Simple magazine, in a round-up of their favourite yarn clubs. Go look — it’s on page 12. Or here, wait, have a look here…

Isn’t that exciting?!? I’m over the moon! Squeeeeee with me!!!!!

And hey listen, the club that Knit Simple mentions there, the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, opens for new subscriptions next month for two weeks only, from Sept 1 to 16. This is the club that everyone talks about — beautiful hand-dyed yarn, fantastic SpaceCadet gifts and loads of fun! Spaces are limited and last time they went incredibly fast, so if you’re not already on the mailing list, click here to get on it and be the first to know when it opens!

The Biggest News of the SpaceCadet’s Year

14SepApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This week, very quietly, the biggest event of the SpaceCadet year happened. It wasn’t a show, it wasn’t a big order, it wasn’t a feature in a knitting magazine. But it was something I’ve been working toward slowly — inch by inch — for a looooong time. And then this week, it happened. Quietly, and with no fanfare, just as if it was the most unimportant thing in the world.

And, y’know, to you, it probably is — but to me, it’s huge. So when I tell you what it is, please do me a little favour, ok? Just for a moment, give a little squeal for me — I am just so excited!!!!!

Ok, you ready? Here it is… See that shop link right there on the right? The one for the SpaceCadet shop? Last week, it took you to an Etsy shop. But today, when you click on it, it will take you to…

The Brand-New SpaceCadet Shop!!!!!

(go on, click it!)

I’ve designed this shop to give you everything I wasn’t able to give you before — and I am just so tickled about that. You can start by browsing all the yarns in one place on the Yarn Info page, where you can easily compare them by fiber content, weight, and yardage.

And there’s a lot to compare — the SpaceCadet’s fleet of yarns has increased from eight yarn types to… eighteen. Everything from laceweights (silk! sparkles! linen!) to bulkies. And in between, a beautiful array of choices. I’m sooooo excited — check it out!

When you’ve chosen your yarn, you can click through to see which standard colourways are in stock. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, there’s a link to show you that yarn in all the fabulous experimental colourways in the Department of Rocket Science.

My goal is to make it as simple as possible for you to find exactly the yarn you need for your project. Or… if you’re in a mood to just wander through the yarns and explore until you find one that captures your heart, you can do that too!

There’s still improvements I want to make — little things to tweak here and there, and a few big things too — but even though I want to keep going until it’s perfect, I know that, really, it’s perfect enough. And so, after months and months of preparation, the new SpaceCadet shop is ready at last. And while it feels like a HUGE thing to me, I know I’m biased. But secretly, I am really hoping that it’s pretty darned exciting for you too. So… will you squeal with me?

(Now, at the moment, there are only a select number of yarns in the new shop. I’ll be doing a shop update on Wed Sept 19 — see the banner on the main shop page — but, for now, most of the yarns are coming with me to… )

A Trunk Show at KNOTS on Saturday Sept 15

As soon as I walked into KNOTS in Chardon Ohio (for a class with Brenda Dayne earlier this summer), I knew it was exactly what a yarn shop should be. Cosy, welcoming, and packed with fibery goodness, I was thrilled when Kate asked me to do a trunk show there!

I’ll be bringing a ton of yarn, including lots of wonderful experimental and one-of-a-kind colourways. So if you’re in the area, please do come. I’d love to meet you!

SpaceCadet Trunk Show from noon to 5pm at
Knots – Knitting on the Square
153 Main Street
Chardon, Ohio 44024
(click here to map it!)

Only 3 Days Left to Join the InterStellar Yarn Alliance

Subscriptions to the Yarn Alliance have been going like hotcakes and there are only a few spaces and three days left before subscriptions are closed. If you’ve been thinking of joining and haven’t subscribed yet, grab your place quick before it goes! Click here for all the details.

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is OPEN for Subscriptions!

01SepSeptember 4, 2015 By Stephanie

It is officially one of the most exciting days of the year! So exciting that I left my knit group early — bolted right outta there — to get the website updated for the stroke of midnight. So, what is it that’s got me so excited?

The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is open for subscriptions!!!

I love everything about today. Everything! I love the weeks leading up to it when I can feel the buzz in the air, and everyone is asking what day subscriptions will go live. I get so excited as the new memberships come rolling in, and even more excited to see the current members renew. The tweets and the emails and the chatter on facebook… Ohhhh, it’s all so much fun!!!

And you know why I love it so much? Because I get to dream up the most fabulous (and exclusive!) colourways for you guys, and share my inspirations in the dyer’s notes. Oh, and I love putting together cool extra gifts for you! Most of all, I love getting to know all the members, and seeing all the different projects you guys create with your yarn. The InterStellar Yarn Alliance has got to be one of the best parts of my job!

And when I hear that the members love it too, it puts me over the moon…

All The Details

Members of the InterStellar Yarn Alliance receive fabulous parcels delivered to their door every other month, containing:

SpaceCadet^® 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.
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance newsletter with periodic special offers exclusively for members.
A 15% off coupon every six months

Subscriptions are for either 6 months (3 parcels) for $125, or for 12 months (6 parcels) for $235.

Want to join the fun?

C’mon! We’d love to have you! Click here to learn more.