Uncategorized Archives - Triskelion Yarn | Hand-dyed yarn from Wales

Posted on August 10, 2018July 10, 2019 by Caerthan — Leave a comment

Announcing Scylfing Sock

We’re very pleased to announce Scylfing Sock, an addition to our range of British wool yarns. Spun to our own specifications, it’s a yarn with a single purpose in mind – hard-wearing, eco-friendly and dazzlingly beautiful socks.

Scylfing Sock is a blend of 50% Bluefaced Leicester, 25% Gotland and 25% Wensleydale. The fibre is from British sources, non-superwash, and the yarn is spun by Laxtons in Yorkshire. It’s a 2/7Nm yarn (the same as our Scylfing 4-Ply yarn) but spun at a higher twist than normal, which makes for strong, long-lasting socks with great wearability. The yarn is firm and crunchy in the skein, and knits up with a smooth, squishy handle at 8 to 10 stitches per inch, giving a chunky fabric with a wonderfully woolly character. The combination of three lustre longwools gives Scylfing Sock a superb lustre and colour responsiveness, with the grey Gotland fibre giving the colours an unparalleled depth.

Initially, Scylfing will be available in 18 colourways. Most are based on our current Scylfing production colourways, but we’ve adjusted them a little to show off the Wensleydale bling. Expect a little brighter, a little more intense. We’ve also included some neutrals for formal business and more understated socks, and a handful of colourways inspired by Pantone’s Fall 2019 palette for more trendsetting toes.

Scylfing Sock will be available from the Triskelion Yarn website from Monday 13th August, and will be available in person at the Swansea Festival of Stitch, where we’ll have a stand at the Maker’s Market on the 18th and 19th August in the National Waterfront Museum.

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Posted on September 9, 2016September 9, 2016 by Caerthan — Leave a comment

Some Pricing News

I’ve had a couple of emails and social media questions about whether or not my prices will go up, now that the pound has been somewhat devalued post-referendum.

Over the last year or two, I’ve been building up my yarn bases to include yarns which are spun in the UK – Arthur, Elmet, Olwen and Elen being the key ones. Obviously, as these are all ‘in-house’, as it were, being British fibre spun in the UK, the cost of buying these yarns from my suppliers hasn’t gone up. Also, all my dyes and sundry items are also bought in the UK, and as yet I’ve not seen any changes in my suppliers’ prices.

Many of my yarns, though, while all being British wool fibres, are spun elsewhere. Some in Italy, some in South America, some elsewhere in the EU. The prices charged by my suppliers for these yarns have indeed taken a hike – some sharper than others.

Now, while the non-UK yarn base prices on their own would probably necessitate a rise in my retail and wholesale prices, I’m happy that my investment (continuing investment!) in a solid base of UK spun yarns will be able to buffer those non-UK price rises enough for me to be able to absorb the hikes myself.

In short, I won’t be putting my prices up due to the post-referendum fall in the value of sterling.

As always, I’ll be reviewing my prices in the new year, but for the moment it’s business as usual with no added surcharges.

Some good news, for a change!

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Posted on September 5, 2016 by Caerthan — Leave a comment

Triskelion Retail Partners

A bit of news for you all, and an update on some of the things happening at Triskelion in the coming weeks.

Firstly, I’ve been having a close look at the business and creative direction of Triskelion. It’s been a very good few years, and the business has grown hugely, to the point where I’m about to employ a part-time worker on some of the admin and the unskilled parts of the job. This has given me the time and space to address retail partnerships with shops, designers and other stockists. So, there’s been a little bit of a reorganisation. As of Yarndale at the end of September, my Idris (British superwash BFL), Gofannon (Peruvian baby alpaca) and Emrys (British BFL) product lines will be available solely through retail partners.

This is a great move for both myself and Triskelion’s retail partners for a number of reasons. Firstly, we won’t be treading on each other’s toes at shows or in our online shops, as those particular yarn bases will only be available through retail partners, and I’ll have my own yarn bases solely available through the normal Triskelion channels. Secondly, the retail partners’ colourway palette (a 21-colourway palette based on the current one) will stay constant, which means I have more freedom to play around creatively in the Triskelion booth, and the retail colourways will only be available via Triskelion’s partners too. Thirdly, it’s a great move for retail partners, as the ‘economy of scale’ on these yarns will allow me to give them a full 100% retail mark-up.

As mentioned earlier, this is starting for Yarndale. An initial selection of colourways on the Idris DK base will be available from Sarah and Jonathan on the Purlescence stand, and will be available via their website at some point thereafter. From the beginning of October, starting at the Ally Pally Knitting and Stitching Show, Idris DK, Gofannon 4-Ply and Emrys Lace will be available from Janie Crow, again available thereafter on Jane and Andy’s website. A couple of other shops will be following later on in the year, and a few are pencilled in for the new year. Any retailers, yarn shops or show outlets are more than welcome to contact me for details about stocking Triskelion yarns in future.

As for the Triskelion show booth and website, there are some fabulous new yarn bases on their way, in addition to some old and new favourites (Arthur, Elmet and Elen are staying with me), and some new Triskelion colourways will start making their appearances at Yarndale.

All the best, and I hope to see you at Yarndale or at Yarnporium in November!

Caerthan

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Posted on April 29, 2015April 6, 2016 by Caerthan — Leave a comment

Elen Sock and nylon

I was asked a few times at Wonderwool why I’d discontinued the Rhodri bases (DK and 4-ply) and the Taliesin Sock, which had the nylon in for sock knitting. The problems highlighted in this article are why I changed to the high-twist 100% BFL Elen Sock. I know a small dyer like me changing over to a high-twist non-nylon yarn is a drop in the ocean (haha), and it’s certainly not a “my green credentials are better than everyone else’s” statement (because I still sell superwash yarns which are hardly environmentally friendly). However, I wanted to at least start reducing my own footprint even if I’m small beans.

In any case, I’ve been using a pair of welly socks, knitted using Elen Sock, when I’ve been working around the farm for the last couple of months (yes, they have been occasionally washed). They seem to be wearing at least as well as the previous nylon blend socks, and I’m quite hard on socks, so I’m confident that I’ve made a sound choice. And at the end of the day, everyone can still get beautiful colourways on quality nylon blends from other indie dyers, so no-one is going hungry

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