It’s going to be an exciting weekend! We’re packing up all the yarns and heading to Baltimore for Lovelyarn‘s PLY (Peace, Love, Yarn) Party on Sunday, and — so long as the rain holds off — I think it’s going to be a blast!
The PLY Party is a gathering of the indie dyers that Lovelyarns carries in their shop, selling their yarns in person and getting to meet the customers (and that last bit is the part I’m really looking forward to). If you’re anywhere in the Baltimore area this weekend, please do come to the party!
Here’s all the details:
Lovelyarn’s PLY (Peace, Love, Yarn) Party
Sunday, September 11th from 12noon – 6:00pm The party starts inside Lovelyarns at 846 W. 36th St. Baltimore, MD 21211
with a beautiful array of complimentary food, drink (and cupcakes!)
Then go through the shop to enter the THREE TENTS in the backyard parking pad. And for even more incentive, five door prize bags full of goodies will be given away!
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Now, because we’ll be taking most of our stock to the PLY Party, I will be emptying the Etsy shop for the weekend. I’ll probably do that on Saturday night and hope to get it opened up again early next week (Subscriptions to the InterStellar Yarn Alliance will of course remain available over the weekend).
And this is the first time I’ve ever done the PLY party, but I’m told it’s really popular and gets a bit crazy. …So if there’s anything in the shop that’s been calling your name, you might want to grab it now, because there’s no telling if we’ll still have it next week!
Ok… (looks around)… ok, I think everyone’s got their parcels by now, so I think I’m safe to share the latest InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcel…
The light has changed recently, as summer turns into autumn. There’s something more golden about its cast, it falls at gentler angle. The aura of the end of summer is unmistakeable, and I wanted to capture that in a yarn.
Merino/Bamboo/Nylon fingering yarn in End Of Summer
So I chose this gorgeous 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Bamboo, 10% Nylon fingering weight, because Bamboo really captures the light to create a beautiful sheen across the yarn. And then I dyed it in the shades of summer fields, as the grass turns to a deeper shade of green, and then begins to fade to gold.
To me, these colours perfectly capture the End of Summer. And so that’s exactly what I named it!
Colourway: End Of Summer
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And here’s something really fun: this month, I had Debbie at Divine Scentsations create some wonderful, hand-made soaps for the Yarn Alliance members. She did four scents — Lavender, Peppermint Leaf, Lemongrass Tea, and Citrus Lavender — and they are incredible! I can show you pictures but… oh! If only you could smell them!
Soaps from Divine Scentsations
One of the Alliance members said she knew she had Lavender even before she opened the package. Thesesoaps smell amazing! I kept trying to pick my favourite scent but… it’s impossible. They’re all really different but soooo delicious.
Yay for InterStellar Yarn Alliance goodies!
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Don’t forget, the InterStellar Yarn Alliance is open for subscriptions right now (and will close again after September 17). To find out more about the great stuff that Alliance members get, click here. And if you want to join the Alliance and be a part of all this fun, just click on the button below…
I am so excited about this! It’s the 2nd of September and that means…
(drumroll please)…
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance is open for subscriptions!
What is the InterStellar Yarn Alliance? It’s the SpaceCadet’s fantastic yarn club, and it’s a hell of lot of fun. If you like SpaceCadet yarns, you’ll love being in the Alliance.
Each member will receive an exciting parcel delivered every other month containing:
SpaceCadetTM Creations yarn (light to medium weight) in an exclusive Yarn Alliance colourway (guaranteed not to be offered on the SpaceCadet website for at least 6 months)
A great Yarn Alliance gift tucked into every parcel!
The SpaceCadet’s Log exploring the inspiration for each colourway.
An InterStellar Yarn Alliance group on Ravelry where you can discuss WIPs, ask questions, and share FOs with fellow members.
The InterStellar Yarn Alliance newsletter with periodic special offers exclusively for members.
Parcels will be sent out in late October, December, February, April, June, and August. Subscription openings will be available in March and September. Shipping within the United States is included in the price; extra charges apply for shipping outside the US.
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.
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!
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!
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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.
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!)
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..
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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?)
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
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!
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InterStellar Yarn Alliance Subscriptions Opening
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!
