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! 

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!

Origin Stories & Updates

Now every Superhero, and Super villain has one, unless you're the Joker and then well you just cray.....

Not saying i'm any of those things, but I thought I'd share a little bit about my origin story or how Third Vault on the Left and Third Vault Yarns and Designs came to be.

I've always been a crafty person and I love to dabble in things and have a rather terrible or beautiful habit of throwing myself into a new craft very wholeheartedly until i'm at least decent at it (or blindly bashing on anyway, shhhhhhh!).

Anyway I learnt to knit at a very young age. I was taught by my mother on the playground, didn't have the patience to appreciate it at that age though as I was far more into footy and fashion design. I grew up always wanting to be a fashion designer and loving sewing, designing at every chance I got. I loved making things for everyone, to the point I'm pretty sure my family got a little tired of my handmade gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, (but you know I was having a clear out and I found a little lavender potporri bag I hand sewed for my mother, for a long ago mother's day tucked into one of her drawers, long since stopped smelling, but cherished).

Over the years I re-discovered knitting, making random things and putting them down to go to the UFO pile in the sky. I still remember the cringeworthy bright orange and chocolate brown scarf I decided to make my mother on our large family holiday to America, I spent a fair amount of my time in that Huntington beach house, proudly knitting that acrylic horror. That's not me talking down about acrylic, it has its uses and you can get some really lovely acrylic, evidenced by my spanish hauls from New year 2015, this however was bargain bin walmart stuff.

Fast forward to University I'd finished Textiles A Level and was currently studying my first year of Computer Science at University (I know right, a little bit of a disconnect). I decided at the end of the year I wanted to do a fashion show, a whole collection of outfits telling the story of a young lady, morning to evening and random stops in between. That was great fun, a little harsh on the student budget because by this time I was in LOVE, with Silk, not the cheapest certainly but it turned into some gorgeous pieces.

Fast forward 2010-2011, I was on placement at Microsoft and had seriously messed up knees. On crutches for 4 months and nowhere near as flexible or able to be kneeling on the floor drafting patterns and cutting fabric. I made one thing that whole year, I loved it but I took so many breaks making it, definitely a lot more labour and pain than love at the time. I got back to university, my social and crafting pursuits wildly up in the air (I still struggle with my knees at points). Promptly joined the Stitch n Bitch society which had undergone a massive overhaul whilst I was away and took back to Knitting like a fish rediscovering water. I've been doing it ever since. 

The next year I with a couple of friends took over the committee and in the spring/summer term, after discovering a love of hand dyed yarn, decided to teach a workshop for the members. Promptly taught myself through youtube videos and random tutorials, tested out a couple of things with another friend and comittee member and taught the class. Everyone loved it and so did I, Never really stopped since. I taught another dyeing workshop, kept dyeing for myself and eventually did some commission dyeing. Upon graduating I said F- this I want to do something I love and share my love of geekiness colour and yarn with others so here I am now :) I took up knitting design, mostly to assuage the designing bug that just wouldn't quite and my complete inability to knit a pattern, jumper or otherwise without making changes for me, or playing with the design. Be fearless knitters people!

 My own origin story !

My first 2 hand dyed yarns, food colouring and white vinegar :)

On a serious note, getting back in to knitting did a wonderful thing in helping me through a time when I took a big knockback, and suddenly found that I couldn't do half the things that I loved. Yarn, Colour and Squishyness, played a very large part in adding a little bit more joy to my life. In getting into dyeing yarn for sale, I wanted to share that feeling and love, the evocativeness of colour, the tactileness and the ability to dream and create with something and make it that much more beautiful with the work and love we put in.

In other more current news, Unravel started today! I'll be there from tomorrow morning, checking in with Porpoise fur and Yarn in the City in the Barley Room and the YARN oh the YARN.
I found myself singing today ( as per my recent fortune cookie, "sing every day")

"You put a spell on me, and I want your yarn!"

So yeah I might be leaving my purse little lighter and my bags a little heavier!

I'll also be wearing the Sample of my Newest Shawl Pattern Stained Glass, published last week and only on Limited Time Discount for a few more days.

Only available on Ravelry at the moment

I might also be wearing the fingerless gloves designed to be knit with this shawlette in a kit of two 50g skeins of fingering weight. Come find me if you want a preview :D.

There will be a large shop update next week and a final teaser for the Firefly yarn club (only 2 more spaces). Until I get the whole box finished and sent out.

Until next time, let me know if you'll be wandering at unravel, we can have a knit, chat and a yarn ogle :P

This Quarter Y'all, it's just so Goram Shiny!

I keep saying there are exciting things going on this year and it's true I can barely contain myself! For now I'll just stick to exciting things happening this quarter.

Firstly Sign ups are live for this Quarter's Yarn Club. Woooooooo! Firefly! There are only a limited number in total, and some of them are already gone to subscribers! So if you want a club box or exclusive skein sign up here now!

From next week I'll be posting little teasers of the goodies in the box, which I'm really excited to share, however the full contents of the box will remain secret until all the boxes are received in March.

Stained Glass Shawlette will be published this month, so keep an eye out for it, you never know, there might be a limited time discount when it goes live! It uses Misha's Obsessions Merino Silk yarn as part of our #yarniedesignerswap, so check out her yarns and look out for the gorgeous socks she designed in Third Vault Yarns Companion 4ply.

Coming up this month for those in London and the surrounds, Unravel 2016 is happening at Farnham Maltings. From Friday the 19th to Sunday the 21st, there are workshops, talks, and a fabulous list of exhibitors! Also exhibiting is the brainchild of some wonderful ladies London knitters should know and love, or at least have heard of, Yarn in the City! They are launching the London Craft guide, a fantastic book of amazing patterns, for the craftsmen/women and the many bicraftstitchual or is that polycraftstitchual among us, I never know! It's currently available for pre-order over on the Yarn in the City blog. I can't wait to get mine! They will also have some of Third Vault Yarns on the stall including the custom colourway I dyed for YITC. They're posting teasers of it knitting up on Instagram so go take a look, it's got me far too tempted to grab it all back! It will be alongside some fantastic yarns from other Dyers we know and love.

March looms very quickly after that, to much baited breath and Club box reveals!

I'll be teaching a dyeing workshop at my alma mater, Oh Leeds how I miss you!

Though the event on everybody's lips, that has so many guarding their wallets and adding to those savings in preparation is Edinburgh Yarn Fest! We're only adding to those savings to have a massive splurge really! I'll be there shopping, possibly with some samples and coupon codes, but also just to hang with some of the wonderful people. Including Porpoise fur, I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel uses her knowledge of science and chemistry to add pheromones to her fibre because it's just to dye for! I don't even spin...... yet! Also gracing us with her presence will be Kate of Cowtown Knits, what better way to view her patterns than with all the yarn around us, so we can match it to what we want to knit, sounds like a plan y'all!

All that and I've not even really touched on half of it! FAR TOO EXCITED!

Deadpool next week people, deadpool next week.......

What are you looking forward to this Quarter?

The Votes are in and it's Shiny!

I've counted up all your votes, and you wonderful people have chosen Firefly!

I'm incredibly excited and I confess i've been planning this nearly since the beginning of the month, but I also planned the Doctor Who box option too, so you might get to see some new Whovian colourways this quarter.

I'll be working with a couple of other artisans to bring you a very snazzy club box. Just a quick reminder of what will be in the box.

The club boxes (£42) will include a 100g skein of yarn in an exclusive colourway. There will also be a set of mini skeins two of which are colourways you've already seen before but are just gorgeous. Take a look at Mal and Inara all knit up together in Lili Comme Tout's fantastic pattern Papyrus .

There will also be some mystery theme related goodies, which is where the other artisans come in, though i'll be making a few.

The exclusive club skein 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) + £2 per skein
• Hevelin 4ply 400m (MCN - 80% Sw Merino 10% Cashmere 10% Nylon) + £3 per skein
• Sinaya Dk 212m (MCN) + £3 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 £3 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 addition £15 (standard skein) each.

Sign ups are available to subscribers of the yarn club mailing list on the 31st and will be open to everyone else with the next blog post in the first week of February.

Colourway Creation: My process

I love working on new colourways, though it isn't something I do all the time. Especially when it comes to repeatable colourways. Often when I dye for the sake of dyeing or myself I just throw colours together to see what madness comes out of it. This part of my process is very haphazard, but often informs my more structured dyeing. I like to play with colour to see how they combine in a more real way than on a colour palette.

When designing a new colourway I usually have been prompted to think about a Fandom or theme and then I tend to select the first few things that come to mind to take down the research rabbit hole.
So for example when working on the Phat Fiber samples for January with the Theme  'Dragons and Fantasy'. I had originally been thinking about fiery reds browns, colours I don't dye often, but are commonly associated with Dragons and their fire breathing ways.   However when it came to dyeing my samples I was suddenly reminded of Eragon by Christopher Paolini and thought it would be nice to play off other colours, so I was guided to his dragon in particular Saphira.

Once I've got a firm inspiration, I start thinking about how to represent this using colour and how the colours should best be distributed across the skein. For Saphira, it was really important that I looked at 3 colours, the slight brown, purple and the rich but kind of dusty blue. To create the colours I was looking for I extended my colour palette, especially as I am dyeing this colourway on Superwash yarn, I can make full use of how dyeing on this type of yarn creates a layered effect.

So with a view to the final blue, I chose an icy blue grey, to add that level of dustiness and also to neutralise the cream/ yellow colour to the undyed yarn. I then chose a warm brown and strong purple. With a final rich blue.

I then decide the strength of each of those colours I am going to use, which will determine where the colours are very deep or pale. In this case I kept the first colour as is and chose to go for paler versions of the brown and purple as they were secondary colours to the blue. The blue I decided to use at half strength.

When it comes to dyeing the skeins I think about how I want each of these colours to be represented on the skein, whether the colour has to be across the entire skein, if I just want flashes of the colour, whether it should be a completely solid colour or if in itself it should be a semi solid. This determines the method of dyeing I use for the colouway.

In this case I chose a semisolid method for both the icy blue grey and the rich blue, and the same resist method of twisting my hanks for the brown and purple to give flashes across the skein in different sections.

The final product on the Space Aran weight base!

Don't forget there is only a week left of voting time for the Themed Quarterly yarn club. Vote in the Ravelry group, Facebook or in the comments on this post . Go ahead and subscribe to the club mailing list to get first dibs on the club sign ups (which are limited in number) on the 31st of January. Sign ups will be available to everyone else  in the first week of February.

Your voting options are
1. Doctor who
2. Firefly
3. Random Fandom!

So Many WIPs... So Few FOs!

It seems since my last knitting post about the Soft Stones Pullover, I've been pretty terrible at finishing my projects :(

I certainly didn't manage to complete 12/15 jumpers in 2015. I won't be attempting it this year either but it is one of my knitoloutions to finish more WIPs (so based on my jumper WIPs, i'll be almost there!) and knit more in general.

My finished items from 2015 (a few of which are pictured above)

• Wurm hat for a friend
• 2 x Stained glass shawlettes
• Ease Jumper
• Sandshore
• Soft stones
• Swing me right round
• Cowl for a swap
• Shawl for a swap
• Hawthorne singlet
• 3 x Amigurumi vampire bats

Unfortunately my list of Works In Progress, is pretty long..
They amount to around

• 8 Jumper projects from 2015 or previous (I generally gravitate to knitting Jumpers)
• Battleship
• Blue Sand cardigan
• Skappelgenseren 
• Catskillz cardi
• SMRR KAL Jumper
• Crop top
• Super secret test tck
• Buttony
• 2 Accessories (including a scarf for a friend)
• various other small projects

In addition to my WIPs above, I have added another jumper and a few more accessories. On top of that I have several designs in the works for this year. Including the rest of the Short Row collection that the Stained Glass Shawlette belongs to. 

This collection explores the use of short rows as design features, and the way they can be used to provide structure and shaping. It will consist of the Shawlette, a Shawl, Wristwarmers, a Tank top and a Jumper. These will be released to the collection at different points this year so stay tuned to pick up a fantastic discount on the collection when the first pattern is released.

What are your knitoloutions or craftoloutions for 2016? Share them in the comments :)

New Year, New Things and the Quarterly Yarn Club

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2016!

We've lots of new and exciting things coming up this year, more shows, new bases, new designs and of course, more yarn!

We are starting a Themed Quarterly Yarn Club. Sign ups will be limited for each quarter but will be 100% worth it!

The first quarter runs from January to March

The first month of every quarter (in this case, January) you get to vote on your favourite theme from a shortlist of themes. Subscribers to the Yarn Club list get to go first and have more weight in the decision (they also get first dibs on sign ups). So subscribe to the list now if you're interested: here

At the end of the first month the theme is announced and sign ups are open through the second month, these are limited though, so don't wait!

In the third month the club yarn goes out!

What do you get?

Each Club membership of £42 gives you a skein of yarn exclusive to the club (and club members) for the year, a set of mini skeins and some mystery theme related goodies and accessories.

You are able to choose one of the following Superwash Merino bases for your exclusive skein of yarn.

• Companion 4ply
• Echo Dk
• Space Aran

You also have the option of picking one of our luxury bases for a little extra

• Tesseract Lace (55% Sw Blue Faced Leicester 45% Silk) 
• Hevelin 4ply (80% Sw Merino 10% Cashmere 10% Nylon)
• Sinaya Dk (MCN)
• Selkie Dk (50% Sw Merino 50% Silk)

Please note that our Ship's Mechanic Sock base will be available but will take the colours slightly differently from the superwash merino and BFL bases above.

There will be an even more limited number of just the exclusive skein sign ups for £16 available as well.

So without further ado get voting in the comments!

1. Dr Who
2. Firefly
3. Random Fandom!

Or head over to Facebook to vote in the comments there, don't forget to include your email address when commenting on the blog, so we can contact you when sign ups go live!

In the meantime check out the shop update!

The Festive Season Begins - A gift from me to you!

It seems to have crept up on us without us even realising, The countdown to Christmas begins with less than a month to go.

Have you got all the presents that you're giving or are you a last minute shopper?

Buying or Making? Are you the main Fibre Artist in your life or do you have friends or a partner that fills that role?

Either way we've got lots of wonderful Yarnie and Geeky themed gifts for the yarn lover in you or those you care about.

To make it easier on the wallet at a time when there are loads of presents to buy, Third Vault Yarns is being a bit American and offering you some Black Friday to Cyber Monday deals, and because this weekend is such a rush and you may need a little selfish shopping time after, we've extended our offers to end Midnight GMT Tuesday 1st of December.

We've added loads of new things including project bags, which can be bought individually or as a discounted set with yarn and our new knitting needle sleeves, and of course lots of new yarn!

10% off Purchases over £40 with coupon code: Cunning10

15% off Purchases over £60 with coupon code:  BIGDAMNHERO15

To round it all off every order, yes EVERY order will get a chance to win a free mystery gift packaged with your order.

Happy Shopping!

Techniques for Swing Me Right Round: Short Rows and Grafting #backtofrontKAL Part 2

There are a few techniques in the pattern that are not necessarily standard to all jumper patterns, though are really handy to know how to do. There are links to tutorials for all these techniques in the techniques section on the first page.

Short rows

Short rows are a requirement in the pattern to work the shoulder slopes on the back and the front of the jumper. There are many different short row techniques out there including wrap and turn. However the recommended short row method in the pattern is either Japanese short rows or German short row. This is because these methods are simple and less noticeable in the fabric, in fact there are many times that I have gone back to look at my knitting and I can't see where my short rows end, because it blends in so well. Of the two methods in the pattern German short rows are the simplest and easiest to do, they don't require any extra knitting supplies like stitch markers or pins and they are easy to work both when doing the short row and closing it.

German Short Rows

On the WS Side
German short rows on the wrong side are created by purling to the last stitch before you turn your work (or if you are adapting a wrap and turn pattern, purling the stitch you would have wrapped) and after turning to the RS bring the yarn to the front between your stitches then slip the last stitch from your LHS needle to your RHS needle.

 Lift the yarn up and over the LHS needle, so it carries the stitch below upwards and continue knitting. You will now have what looks like a double stitch on the needle where you turned.

On the RS side
To do a German short row on the right side all you need to do is knit to the last stitch where you turn (if in a wrap and turn pattern, knit the stitch you would have wrapped), turn the work and slip your last stitch. Lift the working yarn over the needle as if you are doing a yarn over from front to back and bring the yarn back to the front. Then purl up to your next turning point.  There will be a what looks like a double stitch on the needle where you turned.

These double stitches are useful for showing you where your turning points are and are worked as a single stitch. The beauty of this is that the lifted stitch closes any holes between the two different levels of stitches at your turning points and also creates a smoother step. It is also less visible from both sides of the knitting when picked up. So when you go to incorporate your short rows into the fake shoulder seam, you only have to knit or purl as you normally would treating the double stitches as one single stitch. Nice and simple, and very neat.

Grafting

Grafting is also referred to kitchner stitch. The wrap front of the jumper requires grafting in the centre if you elect to knit the pattern as written either bottom up or centre out with the bottom half of the jumper being knit first. Whilst grafting requires patience, it is actually relatively simple to do neatly in plain stockinette and in a ribbed pattern.

Lucy Hague's instructions for grafting in pattern are amazing and can easily be translated here, for this particular pattern the stitches that you will be grafting in pattern are

p1 k1 p1 k1 p1 Knit x stitches p1 k1 p1 k1 p1

To prepare your knitting for grafting, Get another cable needle and pick up the stitches from the provisional cast on/ or waste yarn left at the back, this should match the amount of stitches you have left on your other needle after joining the left and right wrap sections together. This ensures you have two sets of live stitches, For the purposes of grafting your front stitches will be the bottom and the top stitches will be the back stitches. So when you hold it up the RS of the bottom will be facing you and the WS of the top will be facing you behind the bottom.

With 2-3x the length of your row of yarn for grafting, add your sewing needles and follow the instructions below by when the instructions say purl, pulling the needle and yarn through the centre of the stitch from behind, and when the instructions say knit pulling the needle and yarn through the centre of the stitch from the front.

Here is a useful grafting video showing you the stockinette method.

With this in mind you follow the instructions like so

1 p st, 1 k st on F
F: purl off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on
1 k st, 1 p st on F
F: knit off, knit on
B: knit off, purl on
1 p st, 1 k st on F
F: purl off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on
1 k st, 1 p st on F
F: knit off, knit on
B: knit off, purl on
1 p st, 1 k st on F
F: purl off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on

Then
2 (or more) k sts on F
(Stockinette grafting)
F: knit off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on

until you reach your last knit stitch before the next purl where you will then

1 k st, 1 p st on F
F: knit off, knit on
B: knit off, purl on
1 p st, 1 k st on F
F: purl off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on
1 k st, 1 p st on F
F: knit off, knit on
B: knit off, purl on
1 p st, 1 k st on F
F: purl off, purl on
B: purl off, knit on
1 k st, 1 p st on F
F: knit off, knit on
B: knit off, purl on

All credit goes to Lucy Hague for the grafting instructions, I have only organised them into the order used for grafting in this pattern.

Let me know if there are any other techniques I should go over.
Have you had any experience grafting in pattern before?

Swatching and Getting Started #backtofrontKAL Part 1

This is the first part of the Swing Me Right Round Knit- along series, with tips and tricks on how to use the pattern, #knitting help and general advice to follow.

Remember the pattern is on SALE through September for the knit-along with code KALtime! and is free with any purchase of Companion 4ply or Echo Dk for the KAL.

I've previously stated the importance of #swatching , mostly because I honestly cannot stress it enough, especially if you want to knit the Swing Me Right Round Jumper. This beautiful jumper is requires essential swatching as the idea is not to knit to a standard size but based on your measurements, because of this there are some calculations involved, but don't worry there is a link in the pattern to a handy spreadsheet that enables you to input your gauge ( over a 4in square), your measurements and it does the calculations for you to tell you how many stitches to cast on for either construction option and how many stitches you should have at the important sections.

A quick note on choosing yarn - whichever yarn you choose to use for the pattern, 4ply, Sport or DK weight yarn, pick a yarn with a high percentage of wool for structure and warmth. Blends can be nice especially if you would like to add drape when choosing a thicker yarn. The thinner yarn choices will have more drape at the pattern gauge.

Lets first start with Swatching

As a knitter something you learn over time is what type of knitter you are/how you knit. I know I knit quite tightly which hasn't changed a lot, though my tensioning is certainly more consistent now as opposed to when I started out. So with an understanding of what type of knitter you are pick a size of needle you think will let you achieve gauge with the yarn you've chosen. If you haven't quite figured out what kind of knitter you are yet, that's fine too, just start with the recommended needle size for the pattern. Which in this case is 3.5mm. The pattern gauge to achieve is 21 stitches by 32.5 rows per 4”/ 10 cm in Stockinette stitch.

This colourway is gorgeous layered and gradient turquoise and greens, plus notoriously hard to photograph!

I've chosen to knit myself a second Swing Me Right Round, this time in a fingering weight yarn. My Yarn is Third Vault Yarns Companion 4ply in the Emerald City Colourway, available as dyed to order (please note the yarn is a deeper green with teal than can be seen in the photos).

Knit your swatch larger than the recommended amount of stitches, to allow for easier pinning and measuring, always measure from the inside of your swatch, as the consistency of your stitches will likely vary when closer to the edge of the swatch.

I've knit mine to 26 stitches by 41 rows, granted I did switch needle sizes in the middle. I started out with the 3.5mm needles but after 21 rows I realised that my tight knitting was getting me nowhere near gauge and I went up a size to 3.75mm needles which kept me happy (I like a tighter look in my knitting) whilst also taking me closer to gauge. Though still out by 3 stitches, which is fine as I can just put my actual gauge into the spreadsheet for my calculations.

Technically it is better to cut your yarn and once you've cast off your swatch so that you can then wash and/or block the swatch the way you would treat your garment. However I'm not a fan of cutting my yarn, unless we are steeking and that is a whole different ball game! As I will be steam blocking the garment that's what I've done to my swatch.


Taking Measurements and Using the Spreadsheet

A link to the spreadsheet is available on the first page of the pattern.

The schematic above shows where each part of the jumper should lie on the body. Use a flexible tape measure to get your measurements. You can do this yourself or ask someone else to help.

Adapted from one of the great croquis produced by www.dctdesigns.com

Measurements

• A - This is taken from where you would like the lowest point of the jumper to hit, or your hips.
• B - This is taken from your natural waist, the point where some people go inwards between their hips and bust.
• C - This is taken across your bust.
• D - This will be the distance between the bottom of your Jumper and your Natural Waist
• E - This measurement is the distance from your Natural Waist to your shoulder.

These measurements should be put into the spreadsheet, I won't show you my exact measurements because I'm shy :P

The purple oval shows where to input your measurements

The green ovals show your calculation output, based on your gauge which is put into the sheet under the schematic and your measurements.

Depending on which construction method you choose, you will either use the Stitches at Natural Waist number (Centre Out) - which if you choose to do the top part first will be halved, or Stitches at Bottom number (Bottom Up).  This will be your number of cast on stitches.

Casting on

Centre Out - This Cast on will be a provisional cast on

I use the long tail provisional method this is a great video for the provisional method I use by PostStitch on Youtube. This link is included in the pattern.

Bottom Up - I recommend a Tubular Cast on because I love the way it looks

Tubular cast on tutorial wonderfully explained by Ysolda
Long Tail cast on tutorial explained in pictures, alternatively follow the provisional method video with only one yarn/ no waste yarn. (using two different balls of your yarn, does make it easier, as it saves you having to judge the length of tail you need), when finished casting on, cut the yarn that goes over your thumb (what would be the waste yarn).

Pattern Chart

The pattern chart direction differs depending on which construction option you pick, with Centre Out you will be knitting the pattern downwards and likely doing some increases to your hips. The measurements above show that I need to do 2 increases as I knit downwards. For best effect I will do all but two of the pattern changes shown in the chart as switch rows (where I neither increase or decrease into the pattern) where you use the stockinette stitches either side of the pattern and bring them into the pattern. The increases I will do at pattern change 1 and 4 to space it out but also to make sure that the slope of the garment is big enough before it gets too far down to my hips. If you have more increases you can space them out accordingly.

For bottom up you are likely to be decreasing instead, try to space these out evenly so do them at every other pattern row change, if you have more or less than suggested in the pattern then space them out accordingly with more decreases as you get closer to the natural waist.


Happy Knitting! Let me know what information you would like to see next about knitting the Swing Me Right Round pattern.

#yarn #wool #handdyedyarn #knittingpattern #sale #tutorial #thirdvaultyarns

Swing Me Right Round #backtofrontKAL

It's been a while since the release of the Swing Me Right Round pattern, but I decided to hold a Knit along running from September 7th to October 31st on Ravelry , to coincide with the kids going back to school and autumn/ fall weather putting us back in the mood for wool knits.

The Knit- along is being held in the Third Vault on the Left Ravelry group and projects should be tagged with backtofrontKAL

For the KAL I am offering £2 off the pattern for the first month (September) please add the jumper to your cart and use the code : KALtime!

I am also offering those who purchase/ have purchased Third Vault Yarns Companion 4ply , which incidentally is listed in the shop in some lovely geeky colourways, the pattern completely free with another coupon code, which will be sent to anyone having purchased through the shop. If you purchased Companion 4ply from Nine Worlds or through another avenue, please contact us via email or through our Facebook page. Any Custom Orders for the KAL will also receive a free gift!

The KAL can be joined any time before the end of October with no obligation to finish knitting by the end, however if you would like the opportunity to win prizes you must reach either over 50% completion or complete the entire Jumper with finished pictures. Details of the prizes are below.

Prizes

• For those who finish their jumper before or on the 31st of October and have finished pictures with their jumper on the project page will be entered into a draw to win one of three skeins of Third Vault Yarns yarn, either Echo Dk or Companion 4ply and the noughts and crosses cowl pattern due to be published end of October.
• For those that joined in but have not completed their jumper by the deadline but it is over 50% complete, the person that posts the funniest picture of them with the jumper will receive the noughts and crosses cowl pattern, with a discount code for Echo Dk

Keep an eye on the blog if you're taking part as I will be talking through the pattern and the process, with some hints and tips.

Inara and Na'vi

Hi all,

If you've been following Third Vault Yarns on Facebook or Instagram, you'll see that I've recently posted pictures of two of my colourways on the TVY Companion 4ply base.

Companion 4ply is a soft squishy 100% Superwash Merino, that dyes up in vibrant colours. It's a 4 plied yarn that knits up beautifully, and is wonderful to work with (I'm knitting with it myself, I would never pick a yarn to dye that I wouldn't knit with). The base yarn is named after Companions in the Sci Fi and fantasy genre, from whatever walk of life they may come from. Be it Doctor Who, firefly or something else.

Inara 

Is a colourway dyed in varying layered purples, inspired by and named after Inara Serra, Companion by trade, friend and on and off member of crew of Serenity in Firefly and more often than not sparring partner to the ship's captain one Malcom Reynolds. I chose these colours to represent her because I see her has a vibrant character with lots of depth, and tend to associate her with the colour purple. Watch this space though as I might be adding more Inara inspired colourways in the future, based on her fantastic colourful and rich outfits throughout Firefly. If you're a fan of Cowboy's, Space and science fiction, go watch it, it's currently available on netflix if you already have a subscription or i'm sure elsewhere if you get a chance to look. 

Na'vi

 A colourway made up of layered blues, teals, greens and a splash of purple. It was inspired by the Na'vi people, and the beauty of their home world the moon of Pandora, as shown in James Cameron's movie Avatar. I loved the movie, even though I saw it ages ago when it first came out, and definitely think it's worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

These particular yarns will be coming to Nine Worlds with me on the 9th of August so if you want to pick them up there that will be your first chance, otherwise they should be available mid August in the Etsy store.

Check back for new colourways and more information about their inspiration in the coming weeks.

A Very Quick Update and Sale information

Thank you to all of you that purchased my pattern through Ravelry and outside of it, it's a great feeling to know that people like things you've made enough to pay for them. Also just in case you have yet to buy it but are considering it, the pattern Swing Me Right Round is still half of till end of Saturday, so only a few more days.

Right now I've moved from Leeds to London and am still sorting out my things. I really need to make room for myself as my space has shrunk by well over half, so I need your help to do so. Over the next few weeks i'll be de-stashing some of my yarn (I know it pains me to let it go), which will be added to either my stash trade page on Ravelry or Ebay.

Some of my current de-stash items for your viewing pleasure....

100% chunky wool singles yarn

One cone of 100% Silk DK from Colourmart

8 x Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted in Wild Violet

I am also having a sale at my Etsy shop, as I am clearing my stock to make way for a new venture. More hinting I know... So to get 30 % off , use the coupon code 30OFF when purchasing an item from ArtistrybyL.

If your interested in my yarns, but would prefer a trade i'm also open to that (can't help restashing...) So let me know :).

Today's the Day!

Remember when I said that I was working on a pattern for my Jumper? Well my jumper pattern is all written, tested by two lovely ladies to iron out all the kinks and ready for you to knit.

Having spent time knitting and writing the pattern, I now understand how much hard work goes into writing a knitting pattern that is clear and detailed, so I really thank all the designers for the patterns that they've written and I've found easy to use. So much work goes into the process.

I want to thank my wonderful testers, who have both created lovely versions of my jumper pattern, and given me advice on how to present the pattern to you. The pattern was originally going to be released as is, with the detailed calculations within the pattern for each person to do to ensure they make a size tailored to them, now the pattern will be released with a spreadsheet that does all those calculations for you. So all you have to do is take your measurements as shown by the schematic and add them to the spreadsheet. Then you'll have all your numbers returned ready for you to start knitting the pattern.

Swing Me Right Round pullover

The pattern is available for download and purchase from Ravelry here, you do not have to be a member of Ravelry to purchase, however if you are, it is best to be logged in when you purchase so that the purchase and download is associated with your account. For a limited time the pattern is discounted by £2 with the coupon code: thevaultisopen . I will be providing help and support from my Ravelry group Third Vault on the Left.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Having finished and published this one, I've been bitten by the designing bug and i'm working on another pattern which will be ready for testing in the next few weeks, details will be available about this on my group.

If you thought that was all the big news I alluded to last post, there's more! The rest will be revealed soon so stay tuned!