The SpaceCadet’s Gradient Explorers

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We get emails like this…

An armful of Gradient Explorers yarn in complex, multi-hued colourways.  The caption says "I love it! I love it! I love it!"
Oh, these emails make me so happy!

They’re from our Gradient Explorers subscribers, who venture outside their usual palettes to experience a explore colour with us. And they all create new projects in colours they wouldn’t have normally chosen …but discover they absolutely love.

A Gradient Explorers colourflow of five hand-dyed yarns, moving from greens to blues to deep eggplant.  The caption says "The thing is, I would never have normally chosen these colors!"
Welcome to the SpaceCadet’s
Gradient Explorers!

The most exciting projects happen when you approach colour with a sense of adventure!

We know that stepping outside your comfort zone can be a little intimidating, so the Gradient Explorers takes you on a guided journey into curated colours that flow in a gentle gradient… that grows from month to month.

Join the Gradient Explorers Now (click here)

And armful of Gradient Explorer yarns in reds and slate greys.  The caption says, "I don't ususally go for reds but... wowwwww..."

The Gradient Explorers combines all things to make an adventure: gorgeous yarn in luxury fibers, dyed in stunning colourways that flow into the next month’s colour… and into the next month’s colour …and into the next

See how cool this is?  So come with us and explore the gradient that never ends!

Plus our Gradient Explorers colourways work with our standard colourways, so you can use the Never Ending Gradient on its own or mix in yarns from your SpaceCadet stash to build up your sweater set even faster!

And every few months, we send you great colour combo options, so it’s all awesome surprise and no guesswork.

First, you choose your subscription level:

Single: one skein of your chosen yarn
Double: two skeins of your chosen yarn (both dyed in the same colourway)

Then, choose your yarn:

Select the yarn you want to work in and we’ll dye your Never Ending Gradient onto that same yarn each month, so your skeins will always work together.   You can choose from:

  • Celeste (fingering):  With a generous 490yds/100g, our super light fingering in 100% superwash merino works up on larger needles to create a light and airy fabric that’s perfect for warmer weather sweaters and cardigans
  • Aurora (fingering): our super-soft cashmere-blend that’s just dreamy to work with.  Constructed of 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon, and with 350yds/100g, it has double the cashmere softness of most MCNs and that makes allll the difference!
  • Lyra (sport): spun into a wonderful cabled 8-ply that gives incredible stitch definition, this 100% superwash merino yarn has 270yds/100g and is a beautifully sproingy yarn that is a joy to work with.
  • Vega (worsted): this is the sister yarn to Lyra (above), in the same 100% superwash merino cabled 8-ply construction that gives such beautiful stitch definition, but in a quick knitting worsted with 210yds/100g.

And once you’re in, you’re totally in control of your subscription: stay in as long as you like and then you can cancel your subscription when you have enough Never Ending Gradient skeins for your project. (But just between us, can you ever get enough gradient? )

Still got questions? No problem — check out the Gradient Explorers FAQs.


Ready to Jump into the Gradient Fun?

Click the button below to select your yarn and join in…

Join the Gradient Explorers Now (click here)



Gradient Explorers FAQs

I love this idea, but what do I make with Gradient Explorers yarns?!?

The possibilities are endless!  Any sweater or cardigan designed in stripes or a gradient with work.  For ideas, start by checking out the SpaceCadet’s Gradient Explorers Ideas board on Pinterest (click here). There you’ll find tons of patterns designed specifically for Gradient sweater sets that you are going to love!

And if you’re an experienced knitter or crocheter with the skills to calculate your own colour changes, then you can use any pattern for gradient skeins.  Simply decided whether you want sharp colour breaks where you join in a new yarn or softer colour morphing by alternating skeins, then calculate where you’ll place the colour changes and cast on!

How do I make the Never Ending™ Gradient work? Can I start in any month and join that yarn to any other month’s yarn?

Each month’s yarn is designed to work with the yarn from the month before it and the month after it, so you’ll want to keep your yarns in order to maintain the gradient.  Of course, if you’d like to create contrasting stripes, you can ignore the month-order and work the yarns any way you like!

Are these one-skein gradient yarns? Or single colour yarns forming a larger gradient?

One-skein gradients are usually caked and the colour changes in one slow continuous shift from one end of the skein to the other. While those yarns are beautiful, they can be mathematically very tricky to use in larger projects such as sweaters or cardigans.  Each of our Gradient Explorers yarns is a single colour that, put together with the other yarns in the monthly parcels, forms an larger gradient that is easy to incorporate into lots of different patterns.

But I don’t want to wait a months to get enough for a sweater!  Can I buy ahead?

You can’t buy ahead but you can “fill in” the Never Ending™ Gradient with skeins in our standard colours, meaning you could have a full sweater quantity in as little as two months!  Every few months, we send an email with lots of ideas about which of our standard colourways will work best into the gradient.  If you’re keen to build up a gradient faster, these will help you do it!

What sorts of colourways can I expect in my parcel?

(or: does the gradient just go in rainbow order?  I like rainbows but I’m not sure I want to wear rainbows.)

The best gradients combine colours you might not expect(!) so, while we occasionally work our way through analogous colours (hues that sit next to each other on the colour wheel, such as green-blue-purple) or fades of one hue, we also move around the colour wheel in unexpected ways (for example, purple-grey-yellow).  The whole idea is have an adventure, so we never know where the colour will take us!

When will payment be taken? And when will my parcel arrive?

Your payment will be processed on the day you subscribe, and will automatically repeat on the same day each month of your membership.

All parcels go out near the end of the month: domestic deliveries are sent by Priority Mail, which usually takes about 2-3 days. International deliveries are sent by USPS First Class mail.  You’ll get an email each month letting you know when your parcel has shipped.

Hey! My second payment has come out but I haven’t received my yarn yet!

Because each skein is dyed by hand and our membership numbers change every month, we need enough time to get everyone’s parcel dyed and ready. That usually takes between three to six weeks, depending on when you sign up and whether we are travelling to special events that month.  When you join, your first parcel will be the following month’s parcel, and will go out at the end of the month (for example, if you join on January 20, your first shipment will be February’s parcel and will go out at the end of February). Because of this, you may end up making two payments before your first parcel arrives (in the example above, your payments would come out on Jan 20 and again on Feb 20, and if your first parcel ships on February 25, you will see two payments go out before your first parcel arrives). Although it is not ideal to have that happen, we can’t figure out a good way to avoid it, so we always track everyone’s payments carefully to ensure you receive all of your parcels.

When does my subscription end?

You have complete control over your subscription!  Suspend or cancel whenever you have collected enough skeins for your project (or, any time you like). Just log into your account using the magic link in your subscription email to make any edits or changes.

What if I don’t like the colours? Can I return or exchange a skein?

So much of the fun of being in a subscription service like this is the excitement of discovering new yarns and exclusive colourways! Joining the Gradient Explorers with a sense of adventure means you’ll come along as we explore new worlds of colour together, and that is key to really getting the most of your club experience.

Because of the nature of the subscription set-up, we can accept returns or exchanges of shipments for faulty yarns only. However, if one of your skeins really isn’t working for you, you can always sell or destash it on Ravelry, in the SpaceCadet’s For Sale or Wanted thread (click here to go to it). Even if a colourway isn’t your cup of tea, it’s almost guaranteed that there’s another SpaceCadet fan who will be excited to snap it up!

Anything else I should know?

When you join, you’ll be added to the Gradient Explorers mailing list, which we use to share project ideas, subscription information, and to easily let you know of any changes to the service in the future.

And once you’ve joined, please do come over to the SpaceCadet Creations group on Ravelry and tell us all about the project you’re making or planning to make. We’d love to hear about it and see your progress!

Want to see our past colourways? Take a look!

Dec 2017
Nov 2017
Oct 2017
Sept 2017
Aug 2017

 

We’re dyeing the next colourway — Join Now!

Click the button below to select your yarn and join in…

Join the Gradient Explorers Now (click here)

 


Small Print: This is a subscription purchase; purchase will be automatically recharged monthly on the same day as initial purchase.  All subscribers are automatically subscribed to the club mailing list to receive email notification of subscription updates, special offers for extra skeins, and similar stuff. We never, ever sell or share your email with anyone. Because of the nature of the subscription set-up, we can accept returns or exchanges of subscription shipments for faulty yarns only. By purchasing the subscription product, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.  All images shown here are of past colourways and are for illustrative purposes only. Yarns and colourways for new subscriptions will be different (but still awesome!).

Any other questions? We’re here to help! missioncontrol(at)spacecadetyarn(dot)com