Oh, What to Cast On?!? Ombre Mini-Skeins!

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.

 

The SpaceCadet's new Ombre & Gradient Mini-Skein Club Parcels

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?

 

The SpaceCadet's Ombre & Gradient Mini-Skein Club bundle

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.

 

The SpaceCadet's Ombre & Gradient Mini-Skein Club bundles

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!

Click Here to Learn More about the SpaceCadet's Mini-Skein Club

 


The Pau Hana KAL

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?

A Dress? Now THIS is a Dress!

If you were listening closely in the middle of June, I am quite certain that you heard a loud noise in the distance.  And you might have thought it was just a child yelling three streets over, or a dog who suddenly spotted a stray cat, or a distant explosion of some sort.  But no, it was me, letting out a scream on the day I met a dress.

I was at TNNA and had run into Heather Dixon, the designer at Army of Knitters and the creative director at Clotheshorse magazine.  And, after some lovely chit-chat about the Universal Importance of a good cup of tea, Heather suddenly said, “Oh, the dress!” and took this little number down from the rail…

The Bayeux dress by Mindy Brown, from Clotheshorse Magazine, and worked in SpaceCadet Creations Celeste yarn

Months and months previously, Heather and Mindy Brown, the editorial director at Clotheshorse (and the designer of the dress) had asked me to dye some Celeste in the colourway Stewed Cranberries for a segment they were doing on indie dyers.   And so I dyed it up and sent it off and…  went back to normal life.  And I think maybe I knew it was for a dress, but I really didn’t have any vision of what it might eventually be like.  I have no idea why, but my head had conjured up something like a heavy, elongated sweater with cables running down the front…

So when Heather pulled Bayeux, it was so completely NOT what I was expecting…  And so incredibly gorgeous — with that fabulous combination of knitted top and crocheted skirt, lovely nipped-in waist, sweet capped sleeves, and asymmetrical crochet hemline — that I think I actually let out a little scream right there on the TNNA show floor.

The Bayeux dress by Mindy Brown, from Clotheshorse Magazine, and worked in SpaceCadet Creations Celeste yarn

And that is the noise that you heard.  But then, if you’d suddenly realised that the yarn you’d dyed and sent away those many months ago had been turned into something so incredibly stunning as Bayeux, you’d have squealed too, right?


I’ve put a bunch of Celeste in the shop that will be perfect for this dress, in Stewed Cranberries, Honey, and a really gorgeous experimental green.  And a bunch of other great yarns too…  Click here to check it out!

Shop Update! Click Here to see the Shop Update of new SpaceCadet Creations yarns for knitting and crochet

(Also, everyone please cross fingers that the next shop update will be in the new shop!  There’s a lot of work between here and there, but I am really looking forward to having that big button above take you to the brand new SpaceCadet shop! Wooot!)


Hey, I just have to tell you about this because I am so excited!  Do you remember a few weeks ago I introduced you to the wonderful Melissa and her new podcast SingleHandedKnits, which she records beneath the palm trees and on the beaches of Hawaii?  Well, Melissa is putting together a fantastic KAL in honour of the upcoming election.  It’s called Sock the Vote, and Melissa has asked me to dye custom colourways for two the “parties”.  It’s going to be a BLAST!  But spaces are limited and going fast so — quick! — click here to take a mid-day trip to Hawaii and let Melissa explain all about it.

Click here to watch the details of the Sock the Vote KAL on the SingleHandedKnits podcast

…You know what?  Go ahead and click that link regardless.  Because no matter where you are or what you’re doing right now, somehow everything just feels that much better when you see those palm tree swaying in the background.  And, seriously, Melissa is just such a lovely, positive person, you can’t help but smile as soon as you see her.  Go on, click!