Where have we gone?!?!

Hi All,

Sorry there haven't been any posts for a while. There is quite a bit queued up but I'm working on getting the new website up and running, that will have the blog, shop and all the fun stuff rolled into one. For now you can check out what we are doing on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ThirdVaultYarns  and Instagram @thirdvaultyarns  the shop is of course open and we'll be at a few shows this year so stay tuned and visit thirdvaultyarns.com for the shop and our soon to be new website.

We are also doing a lot in the Third vault on the left group, on Ravelry including a KAL called
"For the Love of Short Rows"
Starting on the 14th of Feb this KAL is all about using short rows, there are a few designers that have offered their short row patterns at a discount until the 14th don't miss out on those go check them out here ---> http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/third-vault-on-the-left/3557323

They will be dropping into the group with help and advice to help you with your short rows and to generally shout encouragement. With every good KAL there are Prizes which will be announced this weekend, so get stash diving and project hunting so you are ready to cast on with us!

Thanks for checking on us!

Lola x

Fibre East & Lambton Panes

As some of you will know, Third Vault Yarns is due to be at Fibre East on the 30th -31st of July, 16 days away! Eek! Come down and join us at Redbourne Community college in Ampthill, Bedford, we'll be in the Romney Marquee.

All systems are a go over here, I've been dyeing up a storm, I may even do some sewing! That being said, I thought that you deserved to see some pretty awesome new things at Fibre East. So i've come up with new colourways, am launching the Gytha base in person and oh Yes! The most exciting new things are the Cowtown Knit collaborations!

Kate of Cowtown Knits is really lovely and i've been incredibly lucky to meet and get to know her over drinks, food and most importantly Knitting, at our local knit night run by Yarn in the City. When I was first considering Fibre East, I was looking for someone to share a larger stall, unfortunately my fellow designers and yarn/fibre producers were jetting off on holiday and unable to join me. Lucky for some right? This did spark a conversation on how we could still collaborate and from a bit of back and forth, some oooohing and aaaahing Lambton Panes was born.

This gorgeous shawl inspired me to work with Gradients and play with some neutrals. I first worked on a Custom gradient in the Cowtown colours which was perfectly paired with Blue Steel to create the beauty you see below.

Since then I've been working to create a range of Gradient colourways for you to choose from to make your own unique Lambton Panes shawl. These will be available for purchase as kits at Fibre East. Though if you won't be able to attend, never fear because pre-orders are live in the shop from Today! You get to choose from the fantastic Gradient colourways below and some solids, that paired with a physical copy of the pattern and some themed stitch markers make up the kit.

Cowtown (The shawl colourway with blue steel)
Was created from the Cowtown Knits colours, Salmon Pink, Wheat, Mint and Turquoise.

Hawkeye
Was inspired by its namesake, the Marvel character Hawkeye from the Comics. With his Pink/Purple on Midnight blue threads.

The Poisoned Apple
Was inspired by the TV series Once Upon a Time, playing with some of the central charters,  Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin and The Evil Queen. The two villains of the piece conspiring to keep snow white and the other residents if storybook in the dark, harsh reality of the real world.

Kryptonite
This colourway speaks for itself representing three different colours of kryptonite, Gold, Green and Blue.

Quarter Quell
Inspired by the Hunger games and the game board of the Quarter Quell, The colours represent the different sections of the wheel.

As a way to say thank you to all of you that have bought from Third Vault Yarns before if you come see us at one of our show this year, Fibre East, Nine Worlds, Yarnporium or Festiwool, wearing one of your TVY creations you get an automatic chance to win something in our lucky dip, be it a discount for that show, coupons for the shop, mini skeins, even a full skein of yarn! So come visit us and wear your work proudly!

All about that Base... and the Competition Winner

I'm often asked what inspires the names of the yarn bases that I use, so I thought i'd give you guys a quick rundown of the named and current base line up for Third Vault Yarns.

I try to pick base names that embody the yarn's qualities whilst also staying true to TVY's Sci Fi and Fantasy leanings, mostly because I'm a big geek and it's fun.

The Lace Weights

Interstellar
Interstellar is a gorgeous, squishable soft base with fun sparkles, it's a non superwash extra fine merino and silk blend yarn that is perfect for shawls and light weight tops. Named because the subtle and sometime bold sparkles from the stellina reminiscent of stars, and the rest is but situated between.

Tesseract
This gorgeous silky yarn, has both glow and lustre created by the high percentage silk and the fantastic crispness and richness of Bluefaced Leicester wool this luxury yarn represents the glowing richness of the Tesseract from the Marvel Universe, the Infinity Stone containment vessel.

The Sock Weights and Long Haulers

Ship's Mechanic sock
Which is sadly now leaving the line up, due to being discontinued by the Supplier. I'm on the hunt for a good base replacement, so you'll probably see some different sock yarn blends in the store until i settle on a new one and name it. Though I will say in keeping with the style of Ship's Mechanic i'm looking for a good strong but soft sock. So you might see a gorgeous BFL/Nylon in the future.

This base is named in a nod to a one of my favourite Sci fi's and a certain Firefly class ship mechanic, Kaylee. Who embodies both hardiness and prettiness. This mechanic is just as at home in a dress and baubles as she is with a screwdriver and wrench in hand. Which is the perfect fit for this hard-wearing yarn that is perfect for socks with it's lovely juxtaposition of softness and strength.

Companion 4ply
It's a common theme in Sci Fi and fantasy for the protagonist to have one or two trusty companions, this fabulous superwash merino yarn is the perfect base to come with you on your knitting journeys providing strength and softness. So it's named in tribute to all the companions throughout the galaxy, travelling in time and space, through the black, respectable or otherwise, be fearless knitters, go on I dare you!


Hevelin 4ply
Hevelin is a fingering weight Merino Cashmere Nylon blend, full of softness and warmth. Sinaya Dk also an MCN blend came first, so when it came to naming the fingering weight version I wanted to stay in keeping with the theme.With that in mind Hevelin is another Norbear from the Liaden Universe and as the Ambassador, arguably the most important.

The Great All Rounders

Echo Dk
It's no secret that i'm a big fan of Joss whedon's sci fi works, so when I was thinking of a name for this soft, bouncy, washable, versatile base, I thought of Echo. A kickass active played by Eliza Dushku in dollhouse. The versatility of this year makes it ideal to become anything, just like and active. So choose what imprint(pattern) you want to mold it into and don't forget Echo will bring her own oomph to make your project extra special.

Jayne in One Skein
The name just says it all, this cake of squishy goodness, is for those most cunning amongst us, with a love of shiny, shiny things. Another base named and designed with a nod at my favourity Sci fi. This yarn and base is specifically dyed and measured out to use with the Jayne in One Skein pattern to knit your very own Ma Cobb hat. Though in the same vein, don't be a afraid to knit anything you wish!

Selkie Dk
This dual natured 50/50 Merino and Silk yarn bring both drape and softness to the table. It was named with a view to it's dual nature and inspired by the seal people of myth and folklore, the Selkie. They often make appearances in fantasy tv shows such as Lost girl and I felt that the hypnotic duality of these creatures perfectly embodied this cool and warm glowing yarn.

Sinaya Dk
Sinaya is named after a Norbear from the Liaden universe. Norbears are said to be fearless with a lively dispostion and natural empaths. They are sharing creatures that are warm and comforting, just like this yarn with the merino and cashmere lending incredibly warmth and cuddlyness and the nylon giving it that strength of character. You can't help but want to wrap yourself in this yarn, there is nothing like to gorgeous squishyness to make you feel extra comfortable, so the name was really a no brainer.

The Heavy Hitters

Space &Time
Space and Time are Sister bases, both the same weight and put up at 3plys. However they differ in wool type. With Space a 100% Merino Base and Time 100% Blue Face Leicester. Named thus as space and time are key features in Science Fiction stories and in Tv shows I know and love such as Dr Who. With these two bases all of Space and Time is open to you :P

AND FINALLY

I had such a hard time choosing, because there were so many fabulous suggestions. In the end though, partly because you caught me at a time where i'm re-reading and re-experiencing my love of Discworld. The newest most Fabulous, Squishy Soft Worsted Weight base is Gytha! (First suggested by Claire)

Gytha Worsted

Is named after a Nanny Ogg, from the Discworld Series. She is a loveable and much liked character, to all but her many daughters in law (Which is said by many to be her only failing). This warm welcoming fully figured mother and witch embodies this yarn, It's ridiculous softness and ability to take colour, along with it's good wearing qualities, make it the perfect yarn, for something next to the skin soft or to wrap you up in warmth as a jumper, it's almost magical ;D.

Thank you so much to everyone that made suggestions, they were all fantastic and Adipose and Aslan were such close contenders! Gytha Worsted will be making it's debut in the Shop next month and will be available for a damn good squishing on our stall at Fibre East on the 30th and 31st of July. 

Club Boxes, Teasers and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Nightshade....

The first half of this month seems to have flown by almost at a trot! I'm of the firm belief it might have been urged on by a little magic, Eskarina style.

Sign ups for the Discworld Club are drawing to a close this coming Monday, so if you have yet to get yours sign up now here: http://goo.gl/forms/zjaO8qXN6V

If you need a little convincing here's a little teaser for you.....

I'm rather in love with this new colourway, it's a full skein teaser for one of the club mini skeins. It's just such a deep vibrant red and gold with orange fiery speckles. I've been re-reading the Discworld books and was inspired by the Wizards of Unseen University (Mostly Rincewind) and The Colour of Magic. So I'm pretty sure I'm going to be calling this new colourway Octarine. What do you think? This colourway won't be available in the store until after the Club ends, so if you have a hankering, sign up and get yours! I'm now reading Mort, so if you want to join me in my read-along (it's 4 books in).

Keep an eye on the Instagram and Facebook pages for more teasers over the course of this month. There may yet be another yarn teaser, with the promised Boozin' blue men in kilts colourway! Otherwise you'll get some teasers of the club extras. 

I've been dyeing like a crazy person and having far too much fun with my new base, Yes I did say new base! I've been working with Andy over at Wooltops to create the most amazing quintessentially British worsted weight yarn. The Merino wool was sourced by Andy from the Falkland Islands and is gorgeously soft, and mulesing free. Then processed and spun by John Arbon here in the Uk. It's a fantastically bouncy superwash merino yarn 190m /100g. The perfect jumper weight yarn. I can't stop stroking it, and I can't wait to get started on the jumper pattern for the Glass collection using this yarn. At the moment the yarn base is available only as a custom order, in our regular or custom colourways, by contacting us through the shop at Thirdvaultyarns.com 

I've been having some fun dyeing up the base, take a look at some of the colours i've been playing with.

I'm very much in love with the squishy goodness. I also played with a double stranded sock blank in one of the colourways as you can see in the bottom left corner. Which will be listed in the shop after re-skeining and de-kinking. I'd love opinions on this. Do you like knitting straight from sock blanks? What would you say are the pros and cons?

Now the Sisterhood, not so much a sisterhood but more a travelling swap with the lovely Nightshade or Sadie for short. Sadie is a gorgeous but slightly rebellious bunny in want of travelling opportunities. So after batting her eyelashes and generally warming our hearts with her loveableness she will be travelling to some lovely ladies around the UK who've promised to take her out and show her a good time. If you want to check out the cuteness overload and keep abreast of her travels, come by the Third Vault On the Left Ravelry group or check out #Sadiestravellingswap on Instagram.

She'll be attending some Wool shows over the next few months, so if you see her, give her a shout out! 

And the winner is.......

You wonderfully awesome people have spoken.The theme for Quarter 2's yarn club is.......

As with most fandoms Terry Pratchett's Discworld is near and dear to me. I fondly remember reading the books and watching The Hog Father at Christmas. Discworld was a source of much laughter, probably more than a little confusion and silly memories! Also for those of you who like a good table top gaming session, Ankh-Morpork the game is really rather fun!

I am really looking forward to re-exploring and re-discovering the world of Discworld with you for this club and I can tell you right now I am strongly inclined to create a colourway called boozin' blue men in kilts.....

As before sign ups go live for subscribers to the yarn club mailing list on the 30th (tomorrow!) and will be available to everyone 1st week of May. Sign ups will only be open until Monday 16th of May this time around, and remember there are only a limited amount of places so don't miss out, if places fill up then sign ups will close early.

The club box will include a set of mini skeins, themed goodies and an exclusive club skein which can be in one of our 100% superwash merino bases, Companion 4ply, Echo Dk or Space Aran. Or you can change from one our standard bases to one of the luxury bases.

• Tesseract lace 600m (55% Sw Blue Faced Leicester 45% Silk) + £4 per skein
• Hevelin 4ply 400m (MCN - 80% Sw Merino 10% Cashmere 10% Nylon) + £4 per skein
• Sinaya Dk 212m (MCN) + £4 per skein
• Selkie Dk 212m (50% Sw Merino 50% Silk) + £2 per skein

There will also be a limited number of single 100g skein offerings for £16 + postage, if a luxury base is chosen add £2 or £4 per skein depending on the option as detailed above.

Extra 100g skeins can be added to the club box or with the single skein for an additional £15 (standard skein) each.


Whilst you wait though, check out my newest pattern release!

The Noughts and Crosses Cowl is now live and available to purchase, both as a pattern on Ravelry and as a Kit in the Store

Third Vault Yarns on Holiday: Part 1

If you've been following the Facebook page and Instagram, you'll be aware of the fact that we've had a little holiday. Starting on the 12th of March and finishing on the 12th of April. I was joined by a new little friend to take in the highlights, meet new people and travel to new countries. So first of all let me introduce you to #Shaunbonbunny!

This cute little Zombie bunny was made in Third Vault Yarns Echo DK ~ Zombiecide colourway by Kirsty from Stonechatcrafts on Etsy, she has some great things and is a new knitty friend of mine so go check her out!

Our first stop on our tour was Leeds on route to #EYF2016 (but we'll get to that later). I did both of my degrees at Leeds University and because of that the city will always hold a special place in my heart, it's a lot like home for me. It's also home to a few of my friends and the society where my knitting and dyeing addiction truly began. So I couldn't rock up in Leeds for a week without going to stitch 'n' bitch knit night, where I caught up with a couple of old friends and met some 'newtomebies'. Shaun also learned to knit....

Later on that week we taught a dyeing workshop for the society, though mind you it was mostly me teaching, Shaun just charmed everyone with his cuteness. It was a lot of fun to discuss the different techniques, and then watch everyone experiment with hand painting techniques and the different methods of dye application I brought along. I freely admit to being uber jealous of some of the wonderful creations which have been posted under the tag #snbdye16

After that and various stops across the week at my favourite Leeds restaurants (that's the problem with moving after you've lived somewhere for several years, you leave a lot of favourites behind!), If you are in the Leeds area you should absolutely visit, Thai Edge, Little Tokyo, Maxi's Chinese and so many others, It was off on the next leg of my Journey to Edinburgh! I spent most of my time on the train knitting, I was desperately trying to finish my Mont Blanc (oh beautiful thorn in my side!), being absolutely determined to wear it for some of #EYF 2016. At this point I was in the home stretch working on the neckline. I didn't manage to finish it on the train, picking up stitches always takes me forever! So I decided that I was not going to be attending the ceildh without my knitting!

Suffice to say whilst the other's were doing some very energetic dancing I was hunched over in a corner casting off my neckline! Don't worry though, it was done soon enough and I was out on that dance floor with the rest of them. I can't say I have a head for scottish dancing, I certainly didn't know what I was doing half the time, but it was definitely lots of fun. If you discount the amount of times I apologised for stepping on toes and dancing out of time.... There are some great pictures of the Ceildh on the Edinburgh Yarn Fest Website so I recommend heading over and checking it out!

Say What! a finished object?
Steamed within an inch of it's life so I
could wear it the next day :)

Bright and early I queued up for marketplace, snuggly wrapped up in my new jumper, say nothing of those ends! Until at 10 o'clock we were unleashed on the marketplace. First thing I did was to head over to say hello to both Porpoise Fur and Cowtown Knits, though leaving my purse at the porpoise fur stand didn't stop me from buying a pattern from Katie when I was over at her stand. Yes that is my tip for yarn and fibre festivals (not buying stuff without your purse), be disciplined, if you can leave your money in a safe place for that first lap, or firmly at the bottom of your bag.
Get an eyeful of everything before you leave with anything!
is my motto. Shaun was of course with me on this trip round the #EYF marketplace, he was the one hobnobbing with everyone while I ogled the yarns! If you check out the Instagram feed you'll be able to see everyone we met. Oh and I forgot to mention, Shaun, the little cutie, was a style award stealer, someone got an award when I didn't!

My Haul was very modest, Just 2 skeins of Wollmeise and a gift skein for someone else (I can't show the gift yet).

ok so maybe there was a bit more... but in fairness they were all mini skeins and maybe a skein of OMA yarn...

Did you go anywhere interesting over the Easter Holidays? 

Themed Quarterly Yarn Club ~ Firefly

Quarter 1 is drawing to a close, bringing with it the end of the first instalment of the Quarterly Yarn Club. For those of you that didn't get a chance to join in the fun, here is the final club box and the gorgeous yarns and goodies that everyone received.

I have a lot of fandoms that I'm particularly partial to. Firefly being one of my all time favourites. So I was thrilled when it won the vote. I really enjoyed creating it and I'd love to take you through my different inspirations for the colourways present in the Club. Starting with the Exclusive Club skein 'Serenity'.

Shown on our Tesseract base

Serenity was inspired by it's namesake, the Firefly class ship that is home to our favourite crew. I wanted to show the ship as a little battered but still well loved and beautiful in its own way. With maroon and orange flashes across the skein overlaid with a silvery grey/black reminiscent of the scene when the ship is flying though a sea of Reavers in Serenity. Lastly I definitely couldn't forget to add the section of engine burn orangey yellow, so that when in skein form it looks like Serenity is in full burn travelling through the black.

Crew Member Companion minis

Captain Tightpants/Mal

For Mal I really wanted to represent his bold nature as well as pay homage to his browncoat loyalties. To this end I played with rich reds and browns, whilst also including some yellow and beiges to balance out those colours. As I've said before I think his and Inara's colourway go beautifully together, both very bold and in brilliant contrast.

Reader/River

River was a hard one to represent, as in speaking to others, I've found she in particular is interpreted so differently. Even by me in this case, as her colourway very nearly ended up completely different. I had originally gone for a strong rich blue and Sage/olivey green to represent her dresses in two key scenes, both in the TV series and the film. However at the last moment I changed my mind and her colourway became silvery blue with more blue flashes and red speckles. As I think it represents the dancer's fluidity with which she carries herself but also a nod to her fighting skills and her scattered mind.

Companion/Inara

I have previously spoken about my inspiration for Inara's colourway, and how I feel the rich layered purples represent her strength of character and her beauty, so it was a pleasure to include her as a mini for this club.

Pilot/Wash

Wash and Zoe will always be my personal favourite characters aboard the ship, so it was a no brainer when I chose Wash as one of the crew member skeins, With his quirky one liners and his snappy dress sense how could I not! I took inspiration from his crazy shirts, with their pale green under colour and colourful prints and patterning. I followed this by creating a light mint green underlay and using orange, blue, teal and black for speckles and splashes.

As to why these four over the others, I have been working on some new Firefly themed colourways that I will début in the next quarter as well as some more Dr Who inspired colourways. Some of the ideas I had for crew members for Firefly couldn't be demonstrated to my satisfaction on mini skeins. Hence why these 4 of 9.

Goodies!

We can't forget this club's wonderful goodies. made in collaboration with some other artisans, including buttons from Crazy buttons and Allsorts, and some charms from Pinz n Thingz.
The notions pouches and stitch markers were made by me with the buttons made by Angie of Crazy buttons, she does beautiful work.

I will be offering themed notions kits upon my return from holiday in April and there will be a limited number of these Firefly ones up for grabs, so if you like them don't miss out!

Now onwards! Boldly into the next quarter and the beginning of voting on the next theme. Thanks to everyone on Ravelry who gave suggestions in the group as to possible themes for next quarter, The Random thing picker has spoken!

The themes for voting are!

• Discworld
• Fifth Element
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Don't worry if your theme isn't here for voting, I'll be working on lots of new colourways on my return from holiday so you'll see one or two based on some of the different themes suggested to me, Also keep an eye out towards the end of this year, there will be some exciting things happening, exciting but kind of secret so I can't share them just yet :D

In other news, there will be a "Because yarn is expensable, right?" Market Night this coming Saturday April 2nd over on the Facebook page, don't forget to check it out as all our ready to ship yarns will be on offer. with 10% off over £20 spent and 15% off over £50.

So what are you waiting for, Get Voting and Get Shopping!