Some Surprise News from Sock Summit

Did you get to go to Sock Summit?  Because I didn’t and I was just soooooo jealous of everyone who did.  All weekend long (all weekend? no, for four days), it seemed like everyone I follow on Twitter was at Sock Summit… and having the time of their fibery lives…  and tweeting mercilessly about it.  Mercilessly, I tell you!  Oh, how I wanted to be there.

…And then, I found out, I kinda was.

At The Summit, by © TAAT Designs, Used with Permission

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Well, not me, but my colours.  And not just there, but actually there as part of the winning submission in the Design for Glory competition!  Ok, a tiny part, but a part…  About a week before Sock Summit, my friend Abigail emailed with the news that she and her knitting partners at TAAT Designs had submitted the winning entry, a sock called At The Summit.  The design requirement was for a sock that could be knit modularly — in pieces and then assembled at the last minute — by a team in the Fleece to Foot Challenge.

At The Summit, by © TAAT Designs, Used with Permission

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And, for their entry, TAAT Designs chose yarn hand-spun from SpaceCadet Creations fiber!  When Abigail gave me the news, I sqeeeeeeeeeed so loudly, I think I scared the neighbours!  I remember when she bought that fiber and…  well, just to think that braid of wool had risen to such heights in the sock stratophere, it kinda blew my mind!

And while At The Summit is a beautiful design and the good ladies at TAAT  — Tesia Walker, Allison Janocha, Abigail Horsfall and Trisha Paetsch — are clearly a very talented bunch of knitters…  I have to admit, I like to think it was the gently undulating shades of SeaFoam that really made the difference in the end.

The Braid of BFL Fiber in SeaFoam

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The pattern for At The Summit is now available on Ravelry, or you can buy it directly by clicking here.  TAAT Designs is donating proceeds the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, in honour of Tesia’s husband Ryan.

Congratulations to Abigail, Tesia, Trisha, and Allison on their beautiful design.  Thanks for choosing SpaceCadet colours!  And congratulations also to Meridith Todd, who spun such a fantastic yarn.

And congratulations to that braid of SeaFoam fiber.  Every single time I pack up an order and send it out, I wonder what that yarn or fiber will become.  Never did I think anything I’ve dyed would become something so… Glory-ous!

The Braid of SeaFoam

I Need Your Help Choosing a Yarn

One of the really fun things about TNNA was just wandering around and looking at all the lovely yarns.  I mean, really.   For someone who loves yarn, who really gets quite giddy around large quantities of it, TNNA was heady stuff!

And the yarns ran the gamut from rustic bulkies to really stunning silk laceweights complete with beads and sequins — everything a fiberista’s heart might desire.  And I really thought I’d be drawn to the finest, most delicate, most beautiful yarns… so when I realised that the one thing that kept jumping out at me was these smooshy, chunky, single-ply yarns, it totally took me by surprise.  But they were wonderful — they looked like clouds, they looked so sheepy… I just wanted stick my face into them and snorgle!

So smooshy!

And, they seemed to be everywhere.  Even though I was trying to look at fingering yarns, my eye kept spotting these chunky single-ply yarns everywhere.  So, I’m tempted to buy some for my autumn/winter dyeing.  And y’know, when I say “tempted”, I kinda really mean “aching”.  As in, I loved them so much, I am aching to get my hands on some and start dyeing!

Man, I love this yarn...

But there’s a distinct possibility that instead of spotting the emergence of a fabulous new yarn trend, I might be just falling head-over-heels for my own personal preference.  And that you, my fingering-and-laceweight-buying customers, might be reading all this and just going, “Whaaat…???”

(that's a nickel, by the way, not a dime -- I couldn't find a dime...)

So, tell me, what do you think?  Do these pictures get your heart racing, and your fingers itching to cast on?  Do you want to grab that skein and just smoosh it?  Or does it leave you saying, “Meh…” and happily turning back to the much more delicate yarn of your current project?  Please tell me — leave a comment below, I’d really love to know your thoughts!

Win A Skein of SpaceCadet Yarn!

I am so excited about the InterStellar Yarn Alliance, the SpaceCadet’s new yarn club which opened for subscriptions on Monday, that I can’t wait for the fun to start!  The first parcels will go out in April, but I really want to do something to kick it off right now…

So I’m going to give away a free skein of lovely SpaceCadet Creations yarn to one  of you this week, and all you have to do to enter is talk about the Yarn Alliance in a post on Ravelry!  It can be anywhere on Ravelry except the SpaceCadet Creations and Interstellar Yarn Alliance groups. Once you’ve done that, leave a comment here with your Ravelry name, and you are entered to win a free skein of SpaceCadet yarn!

Shop Update (clockwise from top left: Celeste yarn in Carnival, Estelle yarn in Tree Snake, Estelle yarn in Sunshine, and Celeste Yarn in First Love

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And if you’ve like to earn a second entry after that, just retweet a link to the Yarn Alliance webpage or link to this blog post in a post on Ravelry (and please be sure to mention your Twitter name here if it’s different from your Raverly name).

The giveaway opens now, and closes at the end of Thursday, so you have to be quick!  I’ll announce the winner here on Friday.

Shop Update (clockwise from top left): Celeste yarn in Forgiven, Estelle yarn in Evening Fog, Celeste yarn in Spice Trade, Celsete yarn in Spare Change

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Which means that by the end of the week, one of you will be the owner of a new skein of SpaceCadet yarn.  Because you need more yarn in your stash, don’t you?  Don’t you?!?

Of course you do!

Shop Update (clockwise from top left): Alpaca & Merino fiber in Translucence, Alpaca & Merino fiber in SuperNova, BFL fiber in HandJive, Alpaca & Merino fiber in Beguile

The details (they’re not difficult, I promise!): Contest closes on March 17 2011 at 11.59pm EDT and all entries must be made before the close. All entrants will be verified and must complete the mandatory entry (that is, mentioning the SpaceCadet’s InterStellar Yarn Alliance in a post on Ravelry) before completing the ‘extra’ entry (tweeting a link to the Yarn Alliance). Completion of entries must be mentioned in a comment on this blog post to qualify, and comments must include the commenter’s Ravelry or Twitter name (as applicable). Invalid entries will be disqualified. Winner will be announced on this blog and must respond within 72 hours or we reserve the right to choose another winner. SpaceCadet Creations reserves the right to substitute prizes. Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash.  See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?

A Bad Week with a Good Ending

I like to do my shop updates for Monday or Tuesday, and start your week with a little fibery eye-candy. But this past week was completely hijacked by a terrible winter cold that has hit the whole family. Everything has come to a complete halt.

And rather than my days being filled with steaming dyepots, they were filled with steaming cups of tea…

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Well, actually more like this. When I’m not feeling well, I want a lot of tea…

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We-e-e-ell…. ok… When I’m really ill (and I’ve been really ill), I always turn to my mother’s never-fail cough medicine: warmed honey with a (generous) splash of Scotch.  Taken by the teaspoonful and poured down the back of the throat, absolutely nothing soothes a scratchy and nagging cough so well.

So… ok…  ok!  Maybe my week looked a bit more like this…

Tea, honey, Scotch, a box of tissues, me under the duvet…  and no shop update.

But something wonderful happened this week too — something really exciting that’s saved the whole miserable, cold-filled week…  SpaceCadet Creations made its 100th sale!  And that makes me want to celebrate.  So this week, instead of a shop update, I’m giving you a wee treat: every order placed between now and midnight on Thursday will get 10% off.  It’s just a little thing, a little gift from me to you to say thank you for all of your support.  Just enter the code “100Sales” at checkout to claim your discount.

And if you happen to have a bit of a cold too… Well, come over here and sit next to me.  I’ve got a box of tissues, and we can share a nice pot of tea.  …And maybe some of Mum’s cough medicine too — it really is lovely.

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Small print: Offer ends Friday 17 December 2010 at 12.00am (EST). Discount excludes shipping and any applicable tax.  Discount cannot be redeemed for cash.

Spinning Up Clouds of Baby Alpaca

So while I was waxing lyrical about the new cashmere in the shop, I never said a word — not a word — about the little something I had up my sleeve for the spinners.  Why?  Because the holidays are all about surprises!

And this was a surprise worth keeping: the most amazingly soft combed top made from 50% Baby Alpaca and 50% Superfine Merino wool.  It’s incredibly light, incredibly soft…  It feels like clouds in your hands.  And it dyes up beautifully.

50/50 Baby Alpaca/Merino blend in Evening Fog (left) and Tarnished (right)

For those of you who’ve never tried alpaca, I turned to my friend Natalie — a more experienced and excellent spinner — for some advice.  She said, “Alpaca is warmer and lighter than wool.  For knitting, a worsted weight yarn would make an awfully warm sweater – possibly too warm for daily wear.  On the other hand, if you want outer gear like hats and gloves, a thick, woolen spun alpaca would be like carrying around your own little furnace!

“Alpaca is a little more difficult to control than straight wool because it has a shorter staple length and feels sort of slippery.  I hold my hands closer together when I’m drafting to adjust for the shorter staple length.  I also try to get twist into the fiber more quickly than I would usually do with wool.

“Also, remember that alpaca has practically no memory.  So, for knitting, it often works better blended with other fibers that will give it a little bit of elasticity and memory.”

50/50 Baby Alpaca/Merino blend in Rhubarb and Custard (left) and SeaFoam (right)

The blend of superfine merino and baby alpaca together will give your yarn the elasticity and memory that you need for knitting.  And the extra lightness and warmth that the alpaca gives you yarn will be perfect for warm winter mittens and hats.

And as I was in a mood for dyeing fiber, I went ahead and did a batch of Blue-Faced Leicester as well.  Enjoy!

Clockwise from top left:  BFL Combed top in Spice Trade, Sweetpeas, SeaFoam, and Sweetpeas.

Cooking Up Something Special

In every home across the country this week, the scene will be exactly the same…  There will be mixing bowls filled with the most amazing treasures, and pots gently bubbling on the stove.  There will be the old favourites and new recipes, last minute changes and quick saves when things go wrong.  A pinch of this and a dash of that…

And it’s been no different here.   Well…  ok, then, maybe a wee bit different here in the SpaceCadet house.  Here’s what I’ve been busily cooking up this week…

Stella Yarn in Spice Trade

BFL Fiber in SeaFoam

Stella Yarn In Funky Ballet Shoes

Celeste Yarn in Frost

BFL Fiber in Flock of Parrots

 

Celeste Yarn in Iris

…Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

Great Tools for Beginning Spinners

Note from the SpaceCadet:  My friend Natalie (npeace on Ravelry) is a prolific spinner who creates amazing handspun yarns almost exclusively on spindles.  She’s been kind enough to write about a few of her favourites here.

A while ago, I wrote a bit about resources for a beginning spindle spinner.  Since writing that post, a couple of people have come back to me saying:  That’s all well and good, but what are the actual tools that a beginner needs?

It’s a good question.  One of the appeals of spindle spinning is that it really doesn’t take much.  A spindle is basically just a stick and a weight, in one configuration or another.  Get one of those and add in some fiber – preferably prepared for spinning, but even that’s not completely necessary – and you should be good to go, right?  Well, yes… and no.  Yes because, well, yes; at a minimum that is what you need to spin.  No because, like most activities, having good tools makes the process easier – especially in the beginning.

I recommend a high-whorl spindle to start with.  There’s nothing intrinsically better about high whorls compared to low-whorls, or any other kind of spindle for that matter.  All types have their advantages.  However, the current spindle resurgence, in the US at least, has centered around the high-whorl spindle and this type of spindle is the most readily available, and the most generally used.

For a complete beginner, I suggest a spindle between 1 and 2 ounces.  Something in this range should suit most beginners nicely, and will continue to be useful as a plying tool even if the spinner decides with experience that they prefer lighter spindles.

Whorl diameter is also something to consider.  Generally, the broader the whorl is, the longer the spindle will spin.  For a first spindle, look for something between about 2.5 and 3.5 inches.

With these basics in mind, let me show you the spindles I most often use to teach beginners to spin.  These are only the tools that I have found to be effective – there are many other good spindle makers out there, and this list is by no means exhaustive.

My absolute favorite teaching spindle is this is a 1.3 ounce Kundert:

This spindle has a long, level spin that makes it easy for beginners to control as they first learn to draft.  It also has a nice broad whorl which lends stability to the spin, and the shape of the hook captures yarn well, minimizing slippage.

With many of the advantages of a Kundert spindle, but at a lower price point is this spindle from Spinsanity:

This spindle does not have the hand-turned elegance of the Kundert, but it is well crafted and has a very similar kind of long, easy spin.

Another maker I often recommend to a beginner is Jonathan Bosworth:

His spindles come in several size ranges, but a beginner would probably do well with a midi.  The whorl here is much narrower.  However,  the way it is shaped still keeps the weight distribution towards the rim, which makes for a long, steady spin.  The narrower whorl also makes it easier to carry around with you, so if you plan on spinning  when you’re out and about, this might be a good choice.

Finally, on the high end of the price spectrum is Golding Fiber Tools:

Golding craftsmanship speaks for itself.  If you’re one of those beginners ready to commit whole-heartedly to this spinning thing from day one, a Golding learn-to-spin kit would be an excellent way to start.

There are many other good makers out there and this list is just something to get you started.  If you try one of my suggestions and find that it doesn’t suit you, by all means try something else.  Check out the Spindlers and the Spindle Candy groups on Ravelry for other ideas.  Your spinning will only be improved by experimentation!

Scenes from a Fiber Life: Laceweight NeverEnding

With great beauty comes… great danger? Great sacrifice?  We all know that laceweight yarns are beautiful — there’s something inherent in its delicacy, and the luxury of its fibers, and the way it soaks up colour.  Laceweight is beautiful.

And dangerous, as I recently found out.  But sacrifice?  The beauty of laceweight requires sacrifice?  Not for you, dear readers, but it does for me.  Let’s talk about my arms.

My arms are going to fall off.  They ache, they’re sore.  And as much as my eyes love laceweight, my arms hate it.  At 1300 wonderful, delicate, luxurious yards per 100g, it takes a loooooong time to reskein.  I have to sit and turn that skein winder round and round and round and round…

When the dyed skein goes on the swift, it really doesn’t look much different from any other skein.  My arms are blissfully ignorant of what’s about to happen.

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But after a few minutes of winding, when my arm is expecting the job to be half done, I look and find there’s only wee bit of yarn on the skein winder…

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And so I keep winding.  Round and round and round and round…

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And after what seems like forever, I look up and…

.the swift looks as full as it ever was!  HOW can that be?!?

My arms are not happy with me.  My arms are burning and fed up and ready to quit.  It takes some convincing to get them to keep going.

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But after a long, long time, the skein winder starts to look lovely and full like this…

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And the swift finally starts to look a bit emptier…!

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And then just as my arms get to the point where they are ready to fall right off, we reach the end.

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And then it’s done.  And it’s gorgeous.  And I hold the finished skein in my hand and look at how all the colours blend together gently and I am in love!  Laceweight is worth it, I tell myself.

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Until I lay that skein aside, and pick up the next one and start to arrange it on the swift and my arms realise what’s happening… and they don’t like it.  They don’t like it one bit.

New Yarns in the Shop

I’m really excited to show you some of the new colourways I’ve put in the shop this week!   I have to say, I just cannot get my camera to really capture them, but I hope you get a good idea here.

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Dragonfly

Dragonfly flitters by, catches the light and throws back iridescence — greens, lilacs, pinks that shimmer in the sun for only a moment… and then are gone. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn.

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Mountain Mist

These are ancient mountains, gentle and rounded, that seem to go on forever, ridge upon ridge disappearing into the distance as the night falls and the mist rolls in — deep blue fading into soft purples that stretch as far as the eye can see. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn

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Sunflowers

Happy yellow that welcomes the sunlight, stretching skyward, petals open to catch the rays. Yellow petals, deep brown seedheads — happy sunflowers basking in the mid-day sun. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn, which has been dyed using a technique to create random, short bursts of contrasting colour.

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Midnight Swim

Dark waters, dark night. Soft waters, cool and still, flashing deep blue, purples, greens. Water dark as bruise, quiet as the night, so cool on the skin… Irresistible. This skein is over 100g of Stella, a beautiful and distinctive 2-ply fingering weight yarn in 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon.

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These skeins are over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn. There are two skeins available, sold in separate listings.

And there are more new colourways going into the shop later this week.  Keep your eyes open for them!

Beautiful One-Skein Knitting Patterns for Hand-Dyed Yarns

One of the most exciting things about buying yarn from small, indie dyers like SpaceCadet Creations is that each skein is hand-created and unique, dyed on its own or in a very small dyelot, and not like any other skein in the world.  But now and again, someone will look at my shop and then contact me to say that they love my colours but… what can be made with yarns from such small-batch dyelots?  What can be knit out of a single skein of yarn?

Now, there are legions of addicted sock knitters who could probably jump in with an answer that question (“Socks!”) but, in reality, there are just so many beautiful projects that can be created from just one or two skeins of hand-dyed yarn!  Let me share a few patterns that have caught my eye…

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Simple Things by Mary-Heather Cogar

© Mary-Heather Cogar, Used With Permission

This beautiful shawlette was designed to show off the colours of a of a single skein of sock yarn.  Mary-Heather chose simple stitchwork  to compliment the colours of even the most wildly variegated colourway, such as those in Sunset over a Stormy Sea, and the regular increases help reduce the chance of pooling.  The shawlette looks fantastic tucked into the top of a jacket — stylish and functional at the same time.  And I think it’s a perfect first project for anyone who is experimenting with hand-dyed yarns.

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SweaterBabe.com’s #87 One Skein Lace Fingerless Gloves

© SweaterBabe.com, Used with Permission

I fell in love with these the minute I saw them!  The lace pattern is delicate without being fussy, and the gloves look warm and lady-like at the same time.  Using just a single skein of yarn, I think this pattern would look stunning knit up in an autumn colourway.

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Dalia by Ariane Caron-Lacoste

© Ariane Caron-Lacoste, Used with Permission

This little cowl is so sweet, so perfect, that I every time I see the picture I just want to cast on for it RIGHT NOW.  It’s always at a moment when I’m busy dyeing or blogging and so I can’t cast on but… still, as soon as I see it…  I want to start it RIGHT NOW!  I love the simplicity of it, how quick it would be…  how it would be a little gift just for me.  I’m seeing it in a warm colourway such as Bramble Rose.  You know…  I really am seeing it.

In fact, I may just have to stop blogging and go cast it on.  Right now.