A First Step in Sock Knitting

28JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Note from the SpaceCadet: My friend Amy (DPUTiger on Ravelry) is a knitting teacher, a quilter, and a newly-minted weaver. And she’s been kind enough to write about her favourite way to start new sock knitters on their journey…

Socks seem to be part of the “Magical Mystery Tour” of knitting. Somehow, people get all freaked out with sock heels, short rows, gussets, kitchener stitch … the list goes on.

And with all these amazing hand-dyed yarns to choose from, why not add sock knitting to your repertoire?

I teach sock knitting at Bloomin’ Yarns, my LYS. On Ravelry, I’d say one of the questions I see most often is how to get started with sock knitting. I have a prefab answer that I use over there, but you lucky folks get the expanded version with the why’s and wherefores behind my answer.

The number one thing that I recommend for a first sock is usually Fuzzy Feet. It’s a free pattern from the Winter, 2002 issue of Knitty.com. Why do I like it so much for a first sock?

The first reason is that it calls for a worsted weight yarn. I believe that using fingering weight yarn and sock-sized needles is a skill all by itself. When you are used to using worsted weight yarns and needles in the neighborhood of a US 8, it’s a big change to go down to 8 sts/inch and a 2.5mm needle. And it’s better to learn one thing at a time, not two.

If you already do enjoy small needles and want to jump right in with that set-up, then you can go wind your next skein of SpaceCadet so you’re ready to roll with my next guest post.

So what else is so great about Fuzzy Feet?

They are knit with a worsted weight feltable wool (like Cascade 220) on US 10.5 needles, which makes them very quick to knit. I usually use a 16” circ, so I don’t even have to mess with a small-circumference technique like DPNs (double-pointed needles), two circular needles or Magic Loop. The construction is identical to a traditional top-down sock so you can learn the process with great big comfy needles. And the best part? It doesn’t matter in the least if you mess up, because when you’re done… you felt the slippers.

Have you ever felted anything before? There is virtually no stitch definition left after the felting process so those wonky short rows to turn the heel? Those gusset stitches that you picked up that are a little loose and open? The kitchener stitch at the toe that isn’t quite perfect? Gone. All of it.

You wind up with a pair of comfortable, warm slippers. And you learned the mechanics of sock knitting! Even my uber-picky husband likes his Fuzzy Feet. He’s on pair #2, since he walked through his first pair by the end of Winter #3.

So what’s the next step after you’ve finished your Fuzzy Feet? I’ll be back to talk about that next time!

Forgetting Everything, Except This..

25JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There is a mountain of laundry in the family room waiting to be sorted — seriously, a mountain. And a mountain of dirty dishes collecting in the sink. I suspect there are a few bills I’ve forgotten to pay too… Real life has come to a complete halt while I get ready for the upcoming Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet show, and there are a lot of things that are getting pushed to one side — or getting forgotten altogether! — while that happens.

But while I’ve been dyeing at rate to make my head spin, you’ll be pleased to hear that one thing I haven’t forgotten is… to grab some of that yarn and put it in the shop for you guys!

IMG_2054 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in SeaFoam

IMG_2082 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in WinterBerries

IMG_2066 (Large) — Stella Fingering Weight Yarn in Plumberry

And just because it’s flippin’ FREEZING out there, I’ve included some Astrid DK too, which is incredibly soft and smooshy — perfect for lovely warm hats and gloves. Stay warm, everybody!

IMG_2098 (Large) — Astrid DK Yarn in WinterBerries

IMG_2107 (Large) — Astrid DK Yarn in the Dept of Rocket Science

SpaceCadet At The Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival!

18JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

His Vision: He is having surgery this week — nothing major, but enough to keep him on off his feet and off work for a few weeks. And in his vision, he sees himself sitting comfortably in bed — or perhaps on the couch, remote control in hand — where pillows will be lovingly fluffed for him, and cups of tea brought on a tray …perhaps with a plate of cookies to soothe his suffering. He sees himself waited on hand and foot, while he gently recovers in peace and serenity. A bit like man-flu, but fittingly multiplied.

The Big News: SpaceCadet Creations has manged to get a last-minute spot at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival! This is so exciting, I can hardly tell you! If you’ve ever wanted to see the SpaceCadet’s yarns in person — if you want to see the colours in real life instead of in pictures, or just want to pet all the lovely fibers — please do come. We’d love to see you!

The Reality: There is an enormous amount of work to be done — an enormous amount! — and only three weeks to do it. There are kilos (and kilos and kilos…) of yarn to be dyed. And then to be reskeined and twisted and tagged. I’ve got to get a sign made, and cards printed, and get bags sourced. I’m trying to figure out how to dress the booth — baskets? shelves? racks? what?!? — so that everything looks good (and nothing comes tumbling down!). And then, of course, there is the shop to keep stocked as well, the custom orders to fill, and a few special projects that I already had up my sleeve.

I am so excited and so looking forward to the Festival but — oh! — there is so much to do! And only three weeks to do it! Did I mention there’s only three weeks?!?

So.

Sooooo… back to his vision…

He will get good care, and he will get love. And cups of tea. No really, he will!

But when I should be waiting on him hand and foot, I… um… I’ll probably be out in the studio dyeing. And when I ought to be fluffing his pillows, I’ll be… yeah… out in the studio dyeing. And when his dinner should be arriving on a tray, or his teacup being refilled (again), I might be out getting the sign made, and the cards printed, and finding those baskets and shelves…

I’m afraid his peaceful and serene recovery isn’t going to be anything like what he envisions, and I feel terrible about that. The poor lad. But, hey, SpaceCadet’s gets to go to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival! And you get to come and snorgle all the fibery goodness in person!

Soooo… are you going to tell him, or am I?

(…I vote you!)

Discombobulated

14JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I had plans for this week — I had great plans — but here it is, Friday already, and as I look back, I realise the week has got the better of me. I seem to have spent most of this week rushing… scrambling… really struggling to get things done. And the harder I’ve pushed, somehow the less I’ve seemed to get done. It’s been very frustrating!

And even though I’ve felt like I don’t know why this week was so unproductive, the truth is, I do. Somehow, ever since the holidays, I have lost my rhythm — dyeing on the wrong days, blogging on the wrong days, working far too late into the night and then struggling to catch up the next day. Trying to mould my days around me, and ending up totally out of sync instead.

That is not my 2011. My 2011 is going to be calm, ordered, organised, productive, and purposeful. And so I am going to get my rhythm back. I am going to stop, rework the schedule, and get back on top of things.

I had a really good blog post planned for tonight but, though I scrambled through today with all my might, I never managed to get the photos taken for it. And as I sat here last night trying to think of a work around for that, or even a whole ‘nother blog post — squeezing my brain for ideas like an orange for juice — I suddenly realised that I was doing (again) what I’ve been doing every day since the holidays. But what I’ve been doing hasn’t been working, and I decided to stop.

So, I have no blog post for you today. Instead, I am going to spend the day working very hard on slowing down. I’m going to take things at a sensible pace, focus on the calm, and try find my rhythm again. And maybe, by not trying so darned hard to get everything done in a big rush, I will manage to get most things done — with a bit more success.

I’ll start with a nice cup of tea. It’s the best way to start any endeavor of calm, don’t you agree? And then I’ll start off into 2011 afresh — and this time, I’ll just put one foot in front of the other.

The Department of Rocket Science

12JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

C’mere, I want to show you something… Here, over here, through this door. It says, “Department of Rocket Science” and I’ve heard crazy things happen in there… No, don’t worry… it’s ok. Look, I’ll come with you. It’s this door here, see? Come on!…

I love to experiment with colour — it gives me such a rush and it’s why I dye. For me, there is no moment in the whole dyeing process more exciting than when I lift a skein of yarn out of the dyepot and it reveals its colours to me. Darker on the outside, softer on the inside… opening up like a soft spring flower, or glistening like a decadent chocolate. No matter how many skeins I dye, that moment gives me a rush every single time.

sock yarn, hand-dyed, hand dyed, knitting, yarn — Estelle in Dept of Rocket Science Colourway 101222-002

It’s through this process of playing with colour that I’ve created all the wonderful colourways that I dye for the shop time and again. But, along the way, that process also produces yarns in colourways that probably won’t be repeated again — yarns that were stepping stones in the development of a new colourway, or yarns where I simply let my muse run free to see what would come out of the dyepot.

And so I have created the Department of Rocket Science. It’s a special place where I can go to experiment with abandon — to mix new colours, to dye with my eyes closed, to play with new fibers and new yarn bases. And it’s place where you can come and discover results of all this wonderful experimentation, and choose one of these very special yarns for your one-of-a-kind project. (And remember that all these experimental yarns will go into this section, regardless of yarn/fiber type, so if you’re searching the shop for a particular yarn type, don’t forget to check the Dept of Rocket Science as well.)

Stella in Dept of Rocket Science Colourway 110105-005

So go ahead… open the door! You never know what you’ll find inside… But it will always be something exciting!

Inspiration for Colour in Knitting and Dyeing

07JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

A few years ago, I took a class with Brandon Mably that completely changed the way I thought about colour. It was an intense 2-day course which challenged us to think about how we see and use colour from the minute we arrived in the morning, until we left at the end of the day. Brandon had us doing a lot of crazy things to shake up our brains, from throwing all our balls of yarn into the center of the floor and mixing them all up, to free-knitting swatches that contained 10… 15… 20 different colours. It was a great weekend (and if you ever get a chance to take Brandon’s Design in Colour class, I highly recommend it).

And there’s one technique that he taught that has translated particularly well from knitting to dyeing. He suggested that we use artwork that we love — paintings that really spoke to us — and use the colours as inspiration. If those colours work in the painting, then they would work in our knitting too. He walked around the room and let us choose from a stack of fine-art postcards and greeting cards, whichever painting called out to each of us the most.

The thing about using this technique is that you suddenly realise how many colours you don’t see, even as they are right in front of your eyes. When you first look at a painting, you may see what you think of as a “yellow painting”…

But when you take the time to really immerse yourself into the colour, you suddenly see so much more — little spots of red that jump out at you, the grays that fade into the background, subtle greens that you didn’t even notice. They all work together — these colours that you never would have thought of putting side-by-side — and they create a depth and complexity that pulls you back again and again.

Just realising that really began to set us free in that class, and we dove into the pile of yarn in the middle of the floor. Using our cards as a guide, everyone’s knitting exploded into wild colour — combinations of shades far more daring than we would have tried before.

And then Brandon showed us a something else that I hadn’t noticed: different areas of the the same painting contain their own micro-colourways, and give off completely different moods from what you felt when you first saw the painting. So if you take a painting that you think of as mostly sunny and yellow, and cover part of it up, you might find an area that’s completely different… that’s moody and blue…

And when you switch your hands around again, the whole mood changes back to the sunny and yellow you saw before. Or maybe to a different section, and a different colourway and mood. Here are little colourways that you can pull out for inspiration in your knitting, and that I use in my dyeing — a whole world of colourways in one painting, just waiting to inspire you, if you stop and look closely enough! And once you start seeing them, you really can’t wait to start using them yourself… to start knitting as though you’re painting.

(When I lived in the UK, fine art cards like this one from Woodmansterne were available in any card shop for just a couple of pounds. But here in the US, I don’t regularly see cards like this — the shelves seem to filled with the standard assortment of greetings cards with nice-but-not-overly-interesting artwork. I’d love to find a good supplier of art cards like this one to inspire me… Can anyone suggest where I might find something similar here in America?)