Calling All Yarn Adventurers

There’s a lot of experimentation that goes on in the SpaceCadet studio — experimentations with new colour combinations, experimentations with new yarns and fibers.  And it’s a hell lot of fun (!) that produces a lot of wonderful yarns.  It also produces a lot of yarns that may be the start of something great or… that may be one-of-a-kind specials, never to be seen again.

yarn, knitting, crochet, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, hand dyed, indie dyer
Merino/nylon fingering yarn in "Submerge"

And while most knitters and crocheters stick to the more tried-and-true colourways, there is a small, core group of my customers who really, really love this kind of yarn.  I think of them as Yarn Adventurers — customers who like to break new ground, who want to try new things, who love the possibility of knitting with a yarn that no one else may ever their hands on.

If you’re a Yarn Adventurer, I’m talking to you.  Later this week, I’m going to put a new button over there in the right-hand column.  Look for it — it will say something like “Yarn Adventurer” or “Yarn Voyager”, I’m not sure yet.  And when you click on it, you’ll get the chance to sign up for a new newsletter just for people who like you.  In this newsletter, I’m going to offer the first chance at some great experimental yarns.   You’ll see them before anyone else does.  You’ll see them waaaaay before they ever go into the shop — in fact, they may never even get into the shop.  It’ll be first-come first-served, and you’ve got to be on the list to know about it.  Watch for that button later this week!

yarn, knitting, crochet, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, hand dyed, indie dyer
Merino/Nylon fingering weight yarn in "Half-Light"

There’s just one thing I ask for if you sign up for this new newsletter, and that’s feedback.  You are going to be one of the first people to try a new base, to see a new colourway.  You are my man on the ground.  And I need to know what you thought of it.  So, for any yarns or colourways I’m debating about, I may get in touch with you after your purchase to ask your opinion, to get your thoughts.  If you’re up for that, and you’re up for a little yarn adventure, then make sure you are on that list!

—————————————————————————————————–

yarn, knitting, crochet, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, hand dyed, indie dyer
Merino/bamboo/nylon fingering weight yarn in "Torment"

Now, let’s get to the yarns in the shop update this week!  Every one of them is the sort of yarn that will go in this new newsletter but, until it’s set up, I’ve put these in the shop.  First, there’s a pair of merino/bamboo/nylon yarns in a beautiful, luminous, almost oxidised green called “Torment”.  I’m crazy about this shade!

And then, the rest of the yarns are on a merino/nylon base that…  that I…   well, I bought it by accident.  Yeah, I know!  I just marked the wrong box on the order form and, well, there you go.  Almost ten pounds of the wrong yarn arrived a few days later and I faced the choice of owning up to my mistake and hoping the supplier would take the yarn back or…  just dye it.

yarn, knitting, crochet, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet, hand dyed, indie dyer
Merino/nylon fingering weight yarn in "Plunge"

So, I dyed it up (I mean, why not? I love to dye!) and you know, what?  I am so glad I made this mistake.  I think I’m a little in love with this yarn!  It’s an ordinary merino/nylon blend, smooth and quite light, but there’s something about it that I just love.  It’s the way it takes colour — it’s almost lustrous.  I love this yarn.  I’m soooooo glad I ticked the wrong box!

(Oh, by the way, the yarn in the first picture?  There are six skeins of it, easily enough to do a whole sweater, maybe a bit more.  If you fancy that, grab it up quickly!)

Hesitating About… Hesitating

You know how it is when you really want something, but you hesitate?  I’ve been doing that quite a bit lately.  I used to do yoga to a programme on television called  Namaste Yoga.  I loved it — 30 minutes of calm in the middle of a hectic day.  But the channel changed its line up and stopped showing the programme and I stopped doing the yoga and…  well, I’ve really missed that bit of calm.

There are other yoga programmes, I know, but I really liked this one.  Every now and again, I’ll go and have a look at the website and… hesitate.  And then, the other day, I discovered that they’d put an entire episode online, and watching that reminded me how much I’d loved it.  It’s $100 for the whole set: two seasons, 26 episodes.  It’s not much, really.  It’s one month’s membership to an actual yoga studio.  A bargain!

And yet… I find myself hesitating.  Not because I don’t want them — I do! — but because…   I don’t know.  What is it that is making me hesitate?

Whatever it is, it’s the same thing that so many women struggle with.  How many of us have snuck yarn into the house?   How many of us have stashed new skeins in ridiculous places so they won’t be spotted?  How many of us have held a skein of yarn and squished it between our fingers and felt giddy, like a kid sneaking sweets from the jar?

And here’s the thing: we shouldn’t feel that way.  We work hard for our money and, what’s more, when we do unwind, we spend our leisure time productively.  We knit and crochet.  We make hats and scarves and socks and sweaters for friends and family and charity and… ourselves.   Heck, we make Christmas gifts!  We don’t sit in front of the telly idly flicking channels (ahem!) — our hands are busy.

And we do yoga.   Or, I did yoga.  Mmmmm… maybe I’ll do yoga again..

————————————————————————————————–

What is it that makes you hesitate?  And why?  Or, on the other hand, what do you never hesitate about?

(And… why am I hesitating about the yoga videos?!?  Should I get them?)

September Events You Don’t Want to Miss!

I looked at the calendar today and realised that September follows August… I don’t know that happened, but apparently, that means September is next month!  And that’s great because there’s a lot of super fun stuff happening in September…

PLY Party in Baltimore

knitting, yarn, crochet, lovelyarns, PLY party, spacecadet, space cadet, indie dyer, hand-dyed

First, we’re going to the PLY Party at Lovelyarns in Baltimore on Sept 11th.  Lovelyarns is a cool little LYS in Hampden that began carrying SpaceCadet Creations yarns over the summer and we’re delighted that they invited us to be part of the Peace Love Yarn (PLY) party, their yearly gathering of indie hand-dyers and spinners.  And they just posted a really cool little SpaceCadet bio on the PLY website.
If you’re in the Baltimore area, please do come out and join us! We’d love to meet you.

Ply Party
Sunday, September 11, 2011
12:00 – 6:00 PM
Lovelyarns 846 W. 36th Street  Baltimore, MD 21211
(click here for a map)

It’s going to be so much fun!

———————————————————————————————————

InterStellar Yarn Alliance Subscriptions Opening

yarn club, yarn, knitting, handdyed, indie dyer

And the other thing that September means is… subscriptions open for the InterStellar Yarn Alliance!  If you’ve watching all the fun stuff that Alliance members have been receiving in their parcels and want the chance to join in, keep your eyes open.  More details will be coming soon, but be sure you are signed up for the SpaceCadet newsletter to be the first to hear when subscriptions go live!

subscribe by email, yarn, knitting, crochet, indie dyer, hand-dyed

Shop Update: And Then There Was… One

This week, I dyed this.  Six gorgeous, luscious skeins of this…

knitting, yarn, sock yarn, indie dyer, hand dyed, spacecadet, space cadet

Estelle (merino, cashmere, and nylon) dyed in a colourway called Rescue …and I fell in love it with it.  Absolutely, deeply, madly in love with it.  I thought about keeping it for myself… and I was going to, I really was, but I talked myself out of it and decided to put it in the shop instead.

knitting, yarn, sock yarn, indie dyer, hand dyed, spacecadet, space cadet

But first, I emailed a picture of it to a friend.  And she emailed straight back with, “I want some!”  And five minutes later, another email, “I’ve checked my pattern — I’ll need five skeins.”

And just like that, I went from six skeins to put in the shop to only one skein.  But in that one skein…  Oh! Some of the most intense, gorgeous green I have ever dyed.

knitting, yarn, sock yarn, indie dyed, hand dyed, space cadet, spacecadet

(But if you love it as much as I do and want me to dye any more, talk to me…)

———————————————————————————————————————

And here’s a few other things going in the shop this week:

Lucina fingering yarn (with sparkles!) in Megan’s Blues

yarn, knitting, hand dyed, indie dyer, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet

Lusterous Silk/BFL fingering yarn in Megan’s Blues

yarn, knitting, hand dyed, indie dyer, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet

And, to warm things up a bit…

Estelle (merino/cashmere/nylon) in Engine No9

yarn, knitting, hand dyed, indie dyer, sock yarn, spacecadet, space cadet

Some Surprise News from Sock Summit

Did you get to go to Sock Summit?  Because I didn’t and I was just soooooo jealous of everyone who did.  All weekend long (all weekend? no, for four days), it seemed like everyone I follow on Twitter was at Sock Summit… and having the time of their fibery lives…  and tweeting mercilessly about it.  Mercilessly, I tell you!  Oh, how I wanted to be there.

…And then, I found out, I kinda was.

knitting, yarn, hand-dyed, hand-spun, indie dyer, sock summit, TAAT Designs
At The Summit, by © TAAT Designs, Used with Permission

.

Well, not me, but my colours.  And not just there, but actually there as part of the winning submission in the Design for Glory competition!  Ok, a tiny part, but a part…  About a week before Sock Summit, my friend Abigail emailed with the news that she and her knitting partners at TAAT Designs had submitted the winning entry, a sock called At The Summit.  The design requirement was for a sock that could be knit modularly — in pieces and then assembled at the last minute — by a team in the Fleece to Foot Challenge.

knitting, socks, sock summit, TAAT designs, indie dyer, hand-dyed, hand spun, Design for Glory
At The Summit, by © TAAT Designs, Used with Permission

.

And, for their entry, TAAT Designs chose yarn hand-spun from SpaceCadet Creations fiber!  When Abigail gave me the news, I sqeeeeeeeeeed so loudly, I think I scared the neighbours!  I remember when she bought that fiber and…  well, just to think that braid of wool had risen to such heights in the sock stratophere, it kinda blew my mind!

And while At The Summit is a beautiful design and the good ladies at TAAT  — Tesia Walker, Allison Janocha, Abigail Horsfall and Trisha Paetsch — are clearly a very talented bunch of knitters…  I have to admit, I like to think it was the gently undulating shades of SeaFoam that really made the difference in the end.

spinning, fiber, knitting, TAAT Designs, sock summit, hand-dyed, indie-dyer
The Braid of BFL Fiber in SeaFoam

.

The pattern for At The Summit is now available on Ravelry, or you can buy it directly by clicking here.  TAAT Designs is donating proceeds the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, in honour of Tesia’s husband Ryan.

Congratulations to Abigail, Tesia, Trisha, and Allison on their beautiful design.  Thanks for choosing SpaceCadet colours!  And congratulations also to Meridith Todd, who spun such a fantastic yarn.

And congratulations to that braid of SeaFoam fiber.  Every single time I pack up an order and send it out, I wonder what that yarn or fiber will become.  Never did I think anything I’ve dyed would become something so… Glory-ous!

knitting, spinning, hand-spun, TAAT designs, sock summit, hand-dyed, indie-dyer
The Braid of SeaFoam

Origami Stitchmarker Winner!

We had a great response to the Origami Stitchmarker Giveaway!  And no wonder — The Sexy Knitter‘s little vial of paper stars are just adorable.  And it was just so cool of her to give us one to give away.

knitting, crochet, space cadet, spacecadet, stitchmarkers, the Sexy Knitter, Sarah Wilson

And thanks to all of you for entering!  You guys are what makes these giveaways fun.

The Winner

And now, without further ado, the winner is….

Annethologist

Congratulations!  Please email me at spacecadetcreations (at) gmail (dot) com, with your full postal address, and I’ll have those stitchmarkers winging their way to you lickety split!