Limited Editions: The Glorious Summer Sky

13JunApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s Friday the 13th and, though I’ve never really been fazed by that particular superstition (it’s Monday the 13th that seems like a bad combo to me — I mean, Friday the 13th is still a Friday), I know it might not feel like the friendliest of days*. But I’ve got a little something that will cheer things up a bit…

When we put together the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club bundles, it’s usually the Ombre & Gradient Mix that really calls out to me. But, when we were packing May’s parcels, I found myself falling head over heels for the Multicolour Mix. Here, see for yourself.

Seriously, as we were packing, I just kept picking the bundles up and staring at them. It was so hard to send them all away!

But there are three particular colourways that I loved so very much and were so much fun to create, I just knew I had to dye more. So… I am!

June Limited Editions

For the next seven days, we’re offering three stunning colourways inspired by the glorious summer sky — Nightwatch, Gaze Skyward, and Horizon Fire — as Limited Editions for custom dyeing. Available from June 13th to 19th only, they’re sure to go quick. Click here to nab yours!
Nightwatch is the incredible blues and purples of twilight, fading into deep gray-black as night falls.

Gaze Skyward is the glorious mid-day sky, so intense directly above and burning out to white along the edges of perception.

Horizon Fire is all the heat and shadows streaking across the breathtaking summer sky as the sun sinks slowly beneath the horizon.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!? I just love them, can’t wait to get dyeing them for you! Want one? Click here!

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*What else? It’s also a full moon. shudder!

Everything You Do, You Learn Something New

13JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

When I started the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, I set it up with two options — the Gentle Mix (mostly semi-solids and gently varigated colourways) and the Wild Mix (mostly wildly variegated yarns). Everyone’s mini-skein project is unique to them and to the colours they love, so I was excited to give the club members the chance to tell me which mix of yarns they’d prefer.

For the first shipment, I wasn’t quite sure how wild to make the Wild Mix, so I stayed on the conservative side (…the conservative side of, y’know, wild). But then feedback I got told me the club members were ready to go further. So for the next shipment, I was ready to really push it. They wanted wild, they would get it — because I can do some crazy colour combinations!

I chose five of my most variegated colourways…

And when I looked at them one by one, they were wild — they were ka-razeee. Here’s an example of what I mean by a highly variegated colourway…

And here’s another…

And another…

See? They’re pretty wildly variegated. And pretty different. And if they were that variegated and different on their own, I expected them to really explode off each other.

But then something really weird happened…

I put them all together and they suddenly looked… tame! Well, maybe not tame exactly, but somehow a lot gentler, a lot more blended. Certainly the collection was not as explosive as I thought it would be…

See what I mean? What happened?!?

I took the little bundle apart and set each yarn on its own — and they each looked wild again. Put them back together and… they seemed subdued. And I had to do it a couple of times before I realised what was happening.

Here’s the thing… A wildly variegated yarn looks wild because the colours within it are so unrelated to each other. They contrast, they compliment, and they make each other pop. Put a few of these colours together and something beautiful happens!

But where each yarn contains a whole rainbow of colours, those same shades are likely to appear in other wildly variegated yarns too. So when you put several such wildly coloured yarns together, the rainbows all start to blend into one another, to reflect one another. Even colourways that look incredibly different can actually begin to… coordinate with each other.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

So I sat down and rethought the options, and here’s what I realised: those of you who choose the Gentle Mix are doing so because you want to create a mini-skein project that blends gently from one yarn to the next. And those of you who choose the Wild mix are aiming to create a project with an overall effect of exciting contrasts.

And I want to make sure the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club parcels help that to happen, so I’m going to slightly change the way I choose the yarns that go into the two mixes. The Gentle Mix will stay mostly as it has been but, for the Wild Mix, I’m going to choose colourways that will make the whole parcel more contrasting, rather than just focusing on variegated yarns. That will mean more semi-solids in the Wild Mix than there were before, but don’t worry — the overall effect will still be wild.

And you’re going to love it, because the mini-skein project you’re going to make with the new Wild Mix will be crazy colourful and eye-poppingly gorgeous! And isn’t that what you were aiming for all along?

Pattern Roll-Call: Mini-Skein Patterns, Part 2

25OctApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Usually when I do a Pattern Roll-Call, I like to feature several patterns by different designers. But as I was sifting through all the mini-skein patterns on Ravelry, I came across a little treasure trove full of patterns that I just love so much that I had to dedicate a whole blog post to them.

It started with this sweet little Pinwheel Purse. Isn’t it lovely? It’s the same origami you did as a kid — but in knitting! So cool.

And so from there, I began looking through the rest of the designer’s work, and found that her sense of colour and shape really spoke to me. I love the gentle, organic changes of colours and yarns, the very simple shaping, the modular construction, and — maybe most of all — the almost complete lack of sewing up!

All of these patterns are by Frankie Brown. And instead of charging for her patterns, Frankie offers them all as free downloads on Ravelry — with the request that knitters who enjoy her patterns make a donation to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation. So far, she’s raised about £2,500 and hopes go on to raise £1,000 a year. What a fantastic thing to do!

There’s a lot of yarns that would work well with these patterns, but I love how well these patterns would suit mini-skeins of fabulous variegated and semi-solid yarns. Can’t you just see it? All the colours coming together to compliment each other in some places and contrast one another in others. Beautiful!

If you’d like some amazing mini-skeins to knit these patterns in, check out the SpaceCadet’s new Mini-Skein Club. Each month you’ll receive a surprise selection of gorgeous SpaceCadet yarns delivered to your door, so that you can try out all the SpaceCadet bases and feed your mini-skein project addiction!