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!
Doing a show is always exciting and energising, but one of the best things is that I come away with a better understanding of what our customers want. Just talking to the folks who walk into our booth is all it takes — when I hear the same question coming up again and again, I know it’s something that’s important to you guys.
“What Do I Make With Them?”
And so it was this weekend at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival. Everyone was drawn to the big bowl of SpaceCadet Mini-Skeins, but we kept hearing the question, “But what do I make with them?”
To be honest, I struggle a little to answer this question — not because I can’t think of an answer, but because I can think of so many. The thing is, with Mini-Skeins, it’s not so much a matter of finding patterns for them as it a case of just finding inspiration, because Mini-Skeins don’t have to follow rules. You can use them all together in one project, you can use one on its own to add an accent, you can go for matching colours or you can mix them all up. Yes, Mini-Skeins are little bundles of yarn but, actually, I think of them more as yarn crayons that you use to add a punch of colour to your project in any way you fancy. And when you do that, it’s a whole different way of approaching colour in your knitting and crochet.
Get Inspired!
So where to go for inspiration? Probably the best place is the SpaceCadet Mini-Skein Ideas board on Pinterest. Jade and I have curated a fantastic collection of project ideas to get you started — everything from gorgeous striped cardigans to quick hats and mitts to adorable amigurumi. Some of the projects are constructed entirely from Mini-Skeins and many others are designed to use them as accents but, either way, there is a wealth of inspiration there just waiting to spark your imagination and get you thinking of creative ways to use Mini-Skeins in all kinds of different projects.
(If you’re not already a Pinterest user, let me tell you, it’s possibly one of the most addictive places on the web. But it’s one of the most useful as well. Almost every image, or “pin”, links through to the original source — just click on the image to go to the webpage it came from. And so as you pin images and build your pinboards, what you’re actually doing is collecting bookmarks …Bookmarks that are beautiful to look at, easy to peruse, and wonderfully inspiring. See how it could get addictive? To start using Pinterest, click here to join and then start following us at SpaceCadetYarn!)
And your next stop, of course, should be Ravelry. Add “mini skeins” to your pattern search, and it will give you all sorts of projects specifically designed to be made with these little bundles of yarny goodness.
Oh, and I just have to share with you… on the Singlehanded Knits podcast this week, my friend Mel and her sweet daughter Alana model their latest take on Mini-Skein creativity (fun spoiler: it includes pom-poms!). I think it might be my favourite episode ever because, as much as I love playing with colour and dyeing up all these wonderful little yarn crayons for you guys, absolutely nothing compares to seeing the innovative ways that folks turn them into completed projects!
Got some SpaceCadetMini-Skeins in your stash? Fantastic! Come over to the SpaceCadet group on Ravelry, and show us how you’ve used them to colour your world. We’d love to see!
We are crazy busy at the moment prepping club parcels and getting ready for our upcoming shows (Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet 14-16 March; HomeSpun Yarn Party 23 March; are you coming?), but I just wanted to quickly share this with you…
The Multicolour Mix
These are February’s Mini-Skein Club parcels and I think they may be some of favourites ever. First, let me show you the Multicolour Mix. Now, when I dyed it, I was just having fun — playing with the kind of wonderfully intense colours that I crave in the depths of winter. Bright and cheerful, I think they perfectly fit the bill.
But when Amy saw them, all twisted and gathered into bundles, she picked one up and held it up, so I was looking at it end-on. “You’ve dyed the Olympic Rings!” she declared. And she was right! Well, sort of. But there we were, right in the middle of the Olympic Games, and I’d unconsciously dyed a red, a green, a yellow, a blue, and… well, it’s actually a deep purplish colour, but it almost looks black. The Olympic Rings, in yarn form.
Maybe I’ll make it a reoccurring theme, every two years or so. …But, erm, in a completely not-copyright-breaching kind of way. It’s just, y’know, yarn.
The Ombre & Gradient Mix
Now let me show you the Mini-Skein Club’s Ombre & Gradient Mix, and I’m really excited about this one. This is a gradient set, meaning that the colours don’t fade as in an ombre set, but instead morph gently from one colour to the next across the set. Do you see how it moves from a lavendar into a gray and into a lemon colour? Imagine that gentle colour shift across the rows of your project — so lovely!
This is the Mini-Skein version of a colourway I’d asked you to help me name a few weeks ago. Do you remember that? We had tons of fabulous suggestions in emails, in blog comments, on Facebook… And my favourite came via Twitter from Amy at Ross Farm Fibers, who suggested a play on the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I really loved that idea, and the colourway is called… When Life Gives You Lavender.
Tell Me Your Favourite!
Now, I would love to hear which of these Mini-Skein colourways is your favourite. Is there one that you think we should offer as a Limited Edition? Or maybe as a permanent addition to our shop colourways? Let me know! Just click here to vote in the poll and join the conversation on Ravelry (use the numbers at the bottom of each picture).I’d love to know what you think!
Join the Yarn Alliance! 1-16 March
Don’t forget the Yarn Alliance — the SpaceCadet’s fabulous yarn club — is open for subscriptions right now and closes on 16 March. Spaces have been going fast — click here to learn more and join today!
I had a little dilemma last week: it was knit night, but both of my current WIPs* were at either the point of dividing for the sleeves (that’d be my Vitamin D) or joining in the sleeves (that was my The Old Man and The Sea). I knew I wouldn’t really enjoy trying to do either whilst carrying on the kind of lively conversations we always have at knit night, so I needed to cast on something that was simple and would be fun to work on while nattering the evening away.
I wandered through Ravelry a bit (…a bit? Is it even possible to wander through Ravelry’s pattern library just a bit?), and asked for suggestions on Twitter. And though I found so many gorgeous patterns, nothing was jumping out at me as the perfect knit night cast-on. Maybe, I thought with a shrug, maybe I’ll just have to deal with it and do the sleeves at knit night.
And then, as I turned to go up the stairs, I suddenly spotted the extra bundles of our first ever Ombre Mini-Skein Club parcels and instantly knew what I needed to do.
Aren’t they gorgeous? The colourway is Tranquility**, which is a mix of deep purples, red purples, and a very intriguing splash of gray-purple. I’ve loved this colourway since the moment I pulled it out of the dyepot and, yet, I’d never grabbed a skein for myself. But I suddenly thought, now that all the Mini-Skein Club parcels had gone out… why not?
I have to tell you, I think they might be even more adorable once they’re wound into teeny tiny balls. Don’t you agree?
I needed another skein for the main colour, and chose Sliver, an incredibly gentle and ethereal gray that looks stunning against the dark purples and then almost disappears into the lightest purples. I know I could have picked something contrasting for more impact (Sage? or maybe even Fizz?), but I really liked that subtle synchronicity that Sliver brought to the Mini-Skeins.
And so I cast on… Leftie by Martina Behm — the perfect simple and fun knit night project! So straight-forward and so addictive… Just increasing along one side, adding leaves on the other, and counting quick progress stripe by stripe.
And I went off to knit night a very happy girl indeed!
We are getting super excited for the Pau Hana KAL starting on October 17! A gorgeous new design by Mel of Singlehanded Knits, Pau Hana uses the SpaceCadet’s Ombre & Gradient Kits to create a casual, laid-back sweater that’s perfect for chilling out when the work day is done. And the KAL is a fab opportunity to knit it in camaraderie and support of a whole community of great knitters! Want to join us? Click here for all the details!
*in case WIP is new to you, it means “work in progress” …and I usually have a lot more WIPs than FOs (“finished object”). It’s just how I roll.
**There’s also a colourway called Tranquility Blue. It’s much the same as Tranquility but, y’know… more blue. I was just playing with different colourways one day, and came up with them and liked them both so much I decided to dye more of each. But then I got confused somewhere along the line and called them both Tranquility. Oops. So I added “Blue” to one of them. It’s confusing, I know. But better than if I hadn’t added “Blue” and just let you all join me in my confusion. Right? …Right?
2013 has started off with a bang! We’ve been so busy getting ready for all the great stuff we’ve got coming up that I’ve hardly had a chance to stop and tell you about it.
Which is totally dumb, because what is the point of having all kinds of cool stuff in the pipeline if I don’t share it with you? Let’s fix that right now!
SpaceCadet is at the Loopy Ewe!
I’ve kept quiet about this for a couple of months now because… ooooh, I was afraid if I said anything, maybe it wouldn’t come true. But it has! I am so excited to announce that SpaceCadet yarn is now available at The Loopy Ewe. Sheri is well known for her fantastic customer service, her free shipping on orders over $75, and her ability to create a collection of the most amazing indie dyers out there. I can’t tell you how excited and deeply honoured I am to be part of that collection!
And the most amazing thing about this? Sheri told me she’d first heard about SpaceCadet from her own customers, who were asking her to start carrying our yarn. So thank you for that — it’s proof positive that I have the most awesome customers a girl could possibly ask for!
Here’s something else to go squeeeeeeee about: the fabulous knit designer and Craftsy teacher Laura Nelkin has asked me to create the kits for her exciting new mystery knit-along! Now, I’ve seen some of the sneak-peeks of her design and it’s so gorgeous I wish I tell you all about it but… well, it is a mystery, so I can’t say much right now. But her last KAL was such a runaway success, I just cannot wait to see this one get started!
What to be the first to hear when it goes live? Make sure you’re on her mailing list, in her Ravelry group, or following her on Twitter or Facebook. And then… just you wait, you’re going to love it!!!
New Intense Colours on the Way
I don’t know what it is about January, but as soon as the holidays ended and the new year began, I was suddenly craving some seriously deep, intense colours. And even though I have a ton of other dyeing to do, I took a couple of days and just indulged myself in some wonderful, soul-enriching colour experimentation.
The result is such intense colour that I just cannot stop looking at it. And honestly, I can’t seem take a picture that does it justice. But believe me, that blue on the right there? It almost pulsates with colour!
I’ve never explored colour this intense before and, suddenly, I cannot stop exploring it. I am totally inspired, and you are going to be seeing the results that inspiration popping up all over the place soon! Keep your eyes open.
And if you’re in the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club, you’re going to get some of the first tastes of this experimentation. Not to spoil anything but… well, the “wildness” of this month’s Wild Mix colourways is less about variegation and more about deep, intense, gorgeous colour. I know it’s a bit of a departure from the norm, but I think you’re reallllly going to like it!
And if you’re not in the club but you love these kinds of colours, now is one of the best times to join, because the Mini-Skein Club is the place where I really let my imagination come out to play! One-of-a-kind colourways, experimental yarns, and a good mix of SpaceCadet favourites too… all wrapped up in the sweetest little tiny skeins. It’s a great way to see what all the fuss is about!
I have been working like a mad woman — there have been trunk shows, and more coming up (see below for details), I’ve been dyeing for the next Yarn Alliance parcel and for some great new shops, and getting ready for Rhinebeck… Oh, and building a new online shop. Let it never be underestimated how much work goes into a new shop!
Y’know, I could say that again. Neverrrrrr underestimate. Never never never never…
But there’s good stuff in all that work too. One of the most fun: I’ve gotten to explore some fun new photography techniques to take some luscious new colourway pictures. What do you think to these?!?
A-a-a-and, if you know my colourways, and you’ve looked closely at that photo, you’ll have spotted that there’s a new one in there. It’s called Five Rings, and I created it for the latest bundle of yarns for the SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skein Club. The seed of inspiration was planted when Mindy at Clotheshorse magazine sent me one of their mood boards and asked me to dye a colour to go with it. And I just couldn’t stop! From that colour, I just kept mixing dyes until I’d created a whole new collection of gorgeous sun-baked spice colours, tempered with the cool of a silver-grey. And Five Rings is the one that ties all the colourways together.
This is one of the mini-skein bundles that went out to the Club members (clockwise from top left, they are: Five Rings, Burnt Clay, Mars, Drizzle, and Sun-Baked). Would you be understanding if I told you that I very very nearly didn’t send out the parcels this month? That I very nearly kept all the skeins for meeeeeeee?
Well, after all the bundles went out, I went into the studio and quickly dyed a whole bunch more, in at least five different yarn types. Look for them as soon as they are dry!
Mark Your Calendars!
If you live in the Baltimore/DC area, you do not want to miss the PLY party (Peace, Love, and Yarn) at Lovelyarns on Sept 9. It’s a hand-dyed extravaganza with fresh yarns from a ton of indie dyers. Make sure you’re there!
Just one week later, on Sept 15, we’ll be doing a trunk show at the fabulous KNOTS (Knitting On The Square) in Chardon Ohio. I was up there earlier in the summer for a fabulous class with Brenda Dayne, and I can’t wait to go back! Will you be coming?
And… Oh oh oh! Mark your calendars and set an alarm, because the InterStellar Yarn Alliance will open for subscriptions from Sept 1 to Sept 16! The Yarn Alliance is the SpaceCadet’s fabulous yarn club, full of gorgeous yarn, exclusive colourways, and fantastic goodies. Spaces are limited, so click here to check it out!
