Wow! You guys… Wow! Do you guys know how much fun it was to watch your entries roll in to win a space in the new Swatch Like You Mean It course?!?
Seriously, within hours, there were so many comments that I could hardly keep up. And the information in those comments — your answers to the question, “What’s your number one excuse for not swatching?” — actually paints a beautiful picture as to why this course is really needed. I was texting Mel (the podcaster at Singlehanded Knits and creator of the course) to tell her she had to read through every single one. So much great insight!
We have a Winner!
But, none of that is why you’re reading this, is it? You want to know who won! So, without further ado, the winner is…
Carol, who said, “The reason I don’t think I ‘need’ to swatch is because I can see how it will look in my mind’s eye. Sadly, I have to say that my mind’s eye is mostly not very accurate.”
Carol, congratulations! We’ll be in touch soon with info about your prize.
You Can Still Join!
Ok, so maybe you aren’t Carol and you didn’t win.. . but this is going to be an awesome class and registration is still open so you can still grab your space!
In Swatch Like You Mean It, you’ll get:
To work at your own pace
Lessons that will enrich & enliven your swatch making
Weekly audio/video of a key technique
Bite sized activity to practice & master
Small time commitment~Big time results
Two patterns designed exclusively for class….one for you and one for your home
Clear & informative weekly PDFs to download and keep as reference
That’s seven weeks of great instruction and exciting exploration of everything that swatching can teach you about your yarn and the project you’re about to make! You spend so much time creating your project and you know that swatching can be the difference between a fabulous finished object and one that just… doesn’t… quite fit.
This class is exactly what you need. And all that for less than $25? Click here to join!
You should swatch. You know that, right? I mean, it’s right there in every pattern you start. And even if it weren’t there, you’d know anyway. Everyone knows you should always swatch before starting a project.
Y’know what? I’m realllllly bad at swatching. I mean, I do it… most of the time. And pretty grudgingly, if I’m honest. It feels like a waste of time — nothing but a hurdle between me and that pattern I’m just itching to cast on.
So I have always been impressed (and a little shamed) by the attitude that Mel of Singlehanded Knit’s brings to swatching. She not only does swatches every time, but she really enjoys it — embraces it even! She uses it as an opportunity to get to know her yarn, and to make better decisions about how to adjust her pattern because she really understands how her yarn behaves.
Huh! Now, when she puts it that way, it actually sounds like something worth doing. So I was seriously chuffed when Mel announced a new class she’s created that all about learning to love swatching! Swatch Like You Mean It explores the good side of swatching — the exciting, informative, and yes, even fun side of swatching.
Lessons that will enrich & enliven your swatch making
Weekly audio/video of a key technique
Bite sized activity to practice & master
Small time commitment~Big time results
Two patterns designed exclusively for class….one for you and one for your home
Clear & informative weekly PDFs to download and keep as reference
Giveaway!
And here’s the best part… Mel is offering you the chance to win your placet in Swatch Like You Mean It! All you have to do is leave a quick comment below telling us the number one excuse you have for not swatching, and you will be in with a chance to win. Make sure you comment by midnight (PST) on Sunday, and then check the SpaceCadet blog early next week to see if you’re the winner!
And then get ready to learn to love swatching!
There’s gotta be small print: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to entrants worldwide, age 12 or older. Void where prohibited. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Sweepstakes ends 11:59 p.m. PST on January 19, 2014. Entry is made via a comment on this blog post. Limit one entry per person. Sponsored by Singlehanded Knits and SpaceCadet Inc, PO Box 113312, Pittsburgh PA 15241. Prize is one (1) space in the Swatch Like You Mean It course, valued at $24.99. Winner will be selected by random drawing. Cannot be redeemed for cash. Cannot be substitued. Employees of SpaceCadet Inc are ineligible. A list of winners will be available on the SpaceCadet blog on or after January 21, 2014. For full official rules, visit https://spacecadetyarn.com/2014/01/13/giveaway-swatch-like-you-mean-it.
Driving home the other week from back-to-back trunk shows, I was on an absolute high. The owner of one of the shops had said to me that she thought that trunk shows were so much fun because her customers really liked making that conection to the dyer. And as I thought about it, I knew she was right. We so often think of knitting and crochet as being about projects, being about rows, about yarn and needles and hooks and all that stuff. But there’s one thing that none of that covers, and it’s maybe more important than any of it.
It’s All About The Connection
So often, what it’s really about is connection. Yes, most days we knit in solitude — but we always make sure we can get away to knit night. And we upload our WIPs to Ravelry, and check out the projects of others who are making the same pattern or using the same yarn. And the yarn… yes, the yarn. There are miles and miles of beautiful, even, predictable commercial yarns to choose from… but so often we gravitate toward a skein of yarn that has been dyed by hand, by a real person who put as much care into the colours of that skein as we put into every stitch of our projects.
And as I drove home, I realised that that connection is just as important to me. In the same way that you knit or crochet for a someone special — for a friend, for your sister, for a colleague, or even for yourself — when I dye, I’m not thinking of the yarn, I’m thinking of the people who are going to use it. I can see the projects in my mind, and I know the wonderful fiber-zen that this yarn will carry. Just as you love knowing your yarn comes from a real person, so I love knowing it will be used by a real person, in a project they will love. I crave that connection too.
So imagine my excitement this week when I discovered that two of my customers (one new, one long-time) have created their own video-podcasts! It was such a delight to finally “meet” these lovely, warm, down-to-earth ladies I’ve been sending my yarns to. And I began immediately to wish we lived closer, so we could sit down and have a proper natter over a cup of tea and our knitting.
The connection is everything.
The Podcasts
This is Amanda and here’s what I love about her podcast, We Are Yarn: the way she asks for help on the stuff that’s stumping her, the lovely things she says about SpaceCadet yarns and her InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcel (at 14:24), her beautiful Tennessee accent, and the cat with the swishy-swishy tail on her couch.
And this is Melissa in her Single-Handed Knits podcast. I love that I can almost smell the Hawaiian sea breezes blowing through her window, and I love the wonderful things she says about her SpaceCadet Mini-Skein Club parcel (at 13:24). I love that she actually does knit with one hand, and I love love love her incredibly positive outlook.
Two More Ways to Connect
Trunk Show in Erie PA
First, don’t forget that I’ll be doing a trunk show this Saturday, June 2, at The Cultured Purl in Erie PA. If you’re anywhere in the area, please do come and meet the yarn — and I’d really love to meet you too!
Send Me a Video-Introduction!
But, better than that, Amanda and Melissa’s podcasts gave me an idea. If we haven’t met (or even if we have), I’d love it — love it, love it, loooove it — if you’d video-introduce yourself to me. Flip on that webcam, grab your SpaceCadet yarn, and for 30 seconds, just record yourself. Say hello, tell me who you are (and who you are on Ravelry), show me your yarn or — better yet! — your projects, and then fire it off to me in an email or on Twitter. (I have a little nugget of an idea that, one day — if it’s ok with you guys — I could take these little clips and do a video mash up showing off all the great projects you all have made with your SpaceCadet yarn.)
But far more important than that, it would just be so cool for me to be able to meet you guys — to make that connection that means so much to all of us.
