It has been all sorts of busy busy busy here at the Dragon Den this last week. We are currently packaging up our annual Christmas At Hogwarts Advent Calendars, and it's been a mad dash to get everything together! (The house elves were definitely on overdrive this year!)
I'm so excited to be able to get these wonderful calendars out this week, and continue working on our other two advents going out next week: A Lonely Mountain Christmas, & Fade Into Fae Yule advent. -- This year, I may have dyed up a few extra of each, due to be available soon!! (subscribers to this newsletter will know first!!)
Stepping Outside The Comfort Zone
Dyeing advents is always an exciting experience, because it allows for total creative freedom with colors. As a dyer, I know I gravitate to colors that match my aesthetic. However, advent calendars allow me to play around with different combinations that help expand my color comfort zone. I think, in any field of interest, it's important to push yourself in order to grow as a maker.
Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in different arenas can also help with self care. I know for me, I can find myself in a creative rut, and lose inspiration fast. When this happens, I play with colors, or listen to audio books with design in mind.
Also, looking at the social media feeds of other makers/designers can help you look at things from different angles. For instance, The Rose Cardigan by Andrea Mowry, has a different type of construction than I would think to use for one of my sweaters. By looking at this design, it reminds me that there are no set rules when creating!!! You don't have to start at the top or at the bottom. You can come in with an idea from sideways, and make something incredible!!
A few things that have inspired me this week were:
1. Obviously.... Lulu needs a Christmas and Yule sweater.
2. Listening to The Hobbit on audible, and thinking up amazing colorways for the future.
3. Working on mini patterns to release during advent.
A little Self-Care Never Hurts!!
One thing I have been working on recently, is trying to release a pattern with kits available once a month. This last month, I was working on releasing my Lehabah sweater and sweater dress patterns, but fell short on time. Normally, my gut reaction is to push myself to get it done anyways, no matter the amount of stress it put on me mentally or physically. - Instead.... I have decided to push the release date to December 1.
By doing something as easy as changing the release date, I have set an attainable expectation for myself that still pushed me to finish everything early. It also takes the unrealistic expectations that I put on myself off, and gives me mental energy to work on other short term goals first.
Sometimes, we all need that little reminder to put ourselves, and our mental health first. So here is a little reminder to you.....
You deserve that cup of coffee!
You deserve that skein of yarn!
You deserve that 5 minute break!
You deserve that chocolate bar!
You deserve a new cast on!
You deserve to put something off!!
You deserve to not count your WIPs and consider them Marley's chains instead of the magical bags of creation that they are!!
Surprise Release!!
Lulu is here to tell you about our brand new pattern that's coming out!!
Due to the excitement surrounding our Salem Sweater coming out on Black Friday, we wanted to create a matching hat pattern to get you excited for it!! With this hat pattern, you will be able to try out the cable and bobble section from the sweater, and practice it with either mohair lace or suri lace held with fingering weight.
I know a sweater can sometimes seem daunting because of the technical details in it, but it shouldn't hold you back from trying!! The Salem Slouchy Hat will be a perfect intro to help you practice the skills needed for the Salem Sweater!! We will be releasing the pattern and kits this Friday @1:00 PM MDT! Watch for the pattern and kits here, and the pattern on Ravelry! (soon to also be on Ribblr)
I hope you all have an incredible week, and find time to dedicate to yourself!!
Watch next week for some more sneak peeks of what we'll be bringing out for Black Friday this year!! We have so many fun kits and exclusive collections that we will be releasing!!
Trysten
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Welcome back to the Dragon Yarn Den! I thought it was about time for a check in.
Around this time of the year, it can get a bit crazy with the holiday prepping, and I wanted to share some holiday knitting I've been working on recently. Every year, I try so hard to be able to do some hand crafts for presents for family and friends, and always end up running out of time. This year, I have mapped out an idea to make all my family members a pair of socks!!
To be able to get them all done (11 pairs), I was able to save up and purchase an erlbacher gearheart speedster sock knitting machine. It was a big splurge, but I'm excited to see the results (once I figure out the machine...). I have a huge self-striping collection that I'm excited to use up, as well as some of my holiday yarns that will be coming out this coming weekend!! Some of my favorite hand dyed self-striping yarn is made by Nomadic Yarns, as she has curated some incredible sock bases, and always has fun themes. An affordable alternative to hand dyed is a commercial self striping yarn from Knit Picks. I am always in love with a few of their quarterly colorways in their Felici Base!
I am also planning on baking banana bread to go along with each pair of socks for each recipient! Though I'm guilty of not being a huger baker, (or one who eve cooks all that much) I made some killer banana bread this year that killed me!! I can't wait to share it with family members!! It's a great beginner recipe if you are anything like me and needs all the help you can get, or even just a mindless yummy treat for all you pros out there!
If you follow us on instagram @dragon_hoard_yarn you will have seen a few new additions to the Dragon Hoard Yarn team!!
My husband Eric has been able to start working full time with us, and is helping me by prepping all my dye days, and maintaining the studio. He is the reason that we are going to be able to create so many amazing new kits and colorways in the New Year!!
As a 'thank you' to him, I sneakily (over the course of 4 weeks) was able to go meet and pick out a cute new coworker for him!! I met Lulu at 3 weeks, and she was able to come live with us at 8 weeks!! She is a little black and white French Bulldog, and will get to be about ten lbs. She has now been with us for almost a month, and has taken over!! Our other older dogs are getting used to her, but we are still definitely in the adjustment stages. Because she is so small, I (obviously) had to knit her a few sweaters!!
With Utah getting to be cold right now, she is so grateful to be sporting her hand knits on the way to the studio every morning. I am using yarn from dyers that I have met and adore like Leanne if Forbidden Fiber Co, and will be using an Aran weight by Hole in the Wool for her next one. I am planning an Autumn Court Sweater for her to match mine of course, But that might have to wait until she is finished growing!!
We are excited to announce that we will be working on our Holiday Collection this week!!
Every year around the holidays, I feel drawn to reading and listening to all The Chronicles Of Narnia books, and none more so than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. We have decided to create six (or more) new colorways based off this series!! The collection will be due to release on November 1 @10:00 AM MST!
Here is a sneak peek at two of the colorways coming!!
I can't wait to show you all the other amazing colorways we have planned, including: Mrs. B's Teacozy, Father Christmas, Tea With Tunmus, and Jadis. We will be showing sneak peeks on our Instagram page, so make sure you have those notifications on!! Everything will be available on Nov. 1.
Bases include:
Lore Fingering, Myth Fingering, Fairytale DK, (possibly) Lore DK, Goblin Slub Fingering, Pegasus Mohair, Nymph Lace Suri Alpaca, and mini sets in our Sprite Gold Stellina, & Fae Single Ply Fingering.
We are still planning on releasing an exclusive Christmas Sock Set, and Yule Sock Set this year, closer to Thanksgiving, so stay tuned for more info on those!! We are planning a very Fae-type of feeling to both of those!!
I hope to see you all getting your hands on some of our Holiday goodies!! Stay tuned next week for a sneak peek at what we are planning for Black Friday!! And as always, thanks for coming by and sticking around!! Love to you all!!
Trysten
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Hey everyone!!
As you may have noticed with the shop, and on Instagram, there have been MANY new things happening at Dragon Hoard Yarn and with Dragon Hoard Designs.
First off....
Thank you so much for helping with this fundraiser! I seriously cannot believe the love and support we have been shown over the past few days!! I will also be donating a few copies for the #SOLIDARITYSWAP on instagram, which is a yarn/yarny goodness swap, helping to bring us all closer together! So if you have joined in that swap, you may be getting your own copy!!!
With the release of the Spellman Sweater, I have released my new YouTube channel, "That Crafty Dragon"!! It is mainly to talk about my new designs coming out, tutorials for stitches within these patterns, and all my vlogs for my yarny adventures!! .... You may also see some tutorials for cosplay creation, and geeky vlogs in the near future as well!!
I will be having preorder kits available in the shop this Friday @10:00 AM MST! Previews are going to start coming in this week on instagram, so if you wanted to get your own kit, check out my instagram feed!!
Next.....
There are a few more exciting designs in the process right now, and I can't wait to share them with you when I get back from EYF!! If you are going to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in Scotland, I will be there the whole weekend. My mom and I will be hosting the podcaster area from 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM for The Girls in the Yarn Cafe!!
The next two shows will be coming up in May!!
I will be there in person for both of these shows, so come and say "Hi"!!!
Wow.. I didn't lie when I said there have been a lot of things going on at Dragon Hoard Yarn!!
Thank you all for continuing to be a part of our journey! This year has been incredible already, and I can't wait to take you all along for the rest of the journey!!
To stay more up to date on Dragon Hoard Yarn, and our upcoming events and releases, follow us on Instagram @dragon_hoard_yarn
First off, The release of the "Velaris Socks" is going to be on Friday, January 11, 2019. For being a subscriber to the monthly newsletter, I wanted to give you all a free copy! Use code: totaldragon to get your free copy through the first release weekend!!
In 2019, Dragon Hoard Yarn will be doing it's first monthly yarn club! Being true to myself has been something that I wanted to embrace more this year, and bring it out in my yarn. If you know me at all, you know that I am a huge geek. From watching anime shows with my husband, to dressing up for Comic Con every year, I completely represent the geek community.
With this, every month I will be picking one of my favorite geek-y shows or obsessions, and creating a colorway representation of it. For January, I have decided to do an exclusive colorway for "Steven Universe". To be honest, the first episode of the show I watched, I thought it was going to be stupid. After watching a few episodes, I began to like it. Now, I have been able to fully appreciate the deeper meanings behind the episodes, and am obsessed.
If you have children or anyone in your life that could benefit from self-acceptance, this is the show for them. It is very appropriate for all ages, and shows how to deal with real-life problems in a respectful manner as a kid. I am very excited to bring you all my interpretation of the show.
I cannot even begin to express my excitement over this cropped sweater! Inspired by the new Netflix series, "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", this cropped sweater is perfect to go with any outfit, and to add that devilish flair into your style.
I have designed the sweater to be in sizes XS-5X, and will compliment all body shapes. I love how the cropped design follows the natural curves of the female body, because we need to showcase that more!
I am currently in the testing phase of the design process, and cannot wait to get this out to you all! Release date will be on February 12, just in time for a Valentines cast on! I will of course be making many kits to go with the sweater, and even coming up with a new colorway line to showcase it.
Along with many other new things that are coming to the shop, I have been very busy the past few weeks with coming up with some new color collections!! I have been very inspired by the idea of girl power, and wanted to highlight some of my favorite bad ass women movies and shows!
Featured this week is "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina", which is a darker version of Sabrina than we grew up with... and I am obsessed!
From left to right in the first photo:
Coven, The Cunning, Fate, Witching Hour, Ritual, Salem, The Book of the Beast, and Necromancy.
This collection will be featured this week, and may not be dyed up again until the beginning of February. If you wanted a skein or two, this will be the week to get it!! I plan on making many of these colorways into kits for the Spellman Sweater at the end of the month. There will also be limited amounts of mini skein sets available this week.
This is about to be the busiest three months of my life! I will be heading to New York City for the first time in two weeks, to showcase the new Spellman Sweater at Vogue Knitting Live, and catch up with some knitting friends. Both February and March have equally exciting plans, but we will talk about those in the coming months.
The next yarn collection to be showcased will be the Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again collection:
From left to right: When I Kissed the Teacher, I Have A Dream, Mamma Mia, The Name of the Game, and My Love, My Life.
Thank you all again for your continued support, I really couldn't do this without all of you in my life!
I will catch up with you all in just a few weeks!! Happy Knitting!!
Trysten
]]>Hello everyone,
It has been a crazy few weeks in the Dragon's Den over here in Utah! I have had the awesome experience of learning so much more about yarn dyeing and designing this last week. Inspiration has seemed to come from every direction recently, and I am trying to keep up with it. Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year, and I have been bitten by the Fall fairy! I have recently finished coming up with my new Fall collection, which will mostly be available this coming weekend. I am still waiting to release another colorway in collaboration with Hannah of thecornerofcraft . The update will include colorways: Vintage Fall, Sweater Weather, Farmer's Market, Mulled Wine, and Scarecrow.
In celebration of Fall, I have also made all the Fall colorways into mini sets! All the colorways will be debuting in this mini set this Friday at 10:00 AM MDT, including a sneak release of Pumpkin Everything (in collaboration with Hannah)! Make sure you set the alarms, because I am not sure if I will be able to release these in mini sets until after Vogue Knitting Live in September.
Another exciting new thing for Dragon Hoard Yarn and Dragon Hoard Designs has been the design bug!!! I have recently published two new patterns that are available on Ravelry, combat-socks and riddle-of-the-sphinx socks. I have become so inspired lately, that I already have two or three more sock patterns written up! One thing that has completely stolen my heart recently though, has been my new sweater design.
Find My Way
I am so thrilled that I have been able to figure out how to make something this precious, and cannot wait to share it with the world. The colorway this is knit out of is "Shadowland" and will be returning to the shop in a few weeks. I will plan on having plenty of DK weight yarn in stock for those who wish to knit this pattern. I am planning on having the pattern release be the week of September 20, just in time for VKL.
Last bit of news is about the amazing collaboration that is coming with with Hannah of The Corner of Craft! I am still waiting to receive her contribution in the mail, but I can't wait any longer to show you all. For being subscribers, you get the first official look at the "Pumpkin Everything" Sock collaboration!!
I will show the full kit on my Instagram in the next week, like I said, just waiting on her contribution. I cannot wait to share all these amazing things with you all in the future! Thank you so much for giving me and my yarn/designs a chance, and being so supportive.
Till next time!
Trysten
]]>Dragon Hoard Yarn has participated in some very spectacular things this last week! Starting with the charity collective, hosted by Countessablaze.com, and @contessablaze on instagram. The start of this collective goes back a few months when the Countess was approached and asked to give a large portion of her stock and time for free, in order to gain "exposure" for her brand. She responded by releasing a colorway of yarn called, "If I Want Exposure, I'll Get My Tits Out". (a little brash, but it gets the message across) This message encompasses what we as makers all have a story on, whether it be a friend who wants you to make them the sweater you just made for free, or someone not approving of the prices you have to keep your products at.
When the colorway was replicated by another online shop, instead of retaliation, the countess opened it up to all makers. She relinquished the rights to the name and colors, and asked makers to create their own. In doing so, they also were required to donate 5$ to a charity of their choice. I chose to donate my proceeds to The Trevor Project, which is a non profit suicide prevention program for teens in the LGBTQI community. This last week, we were able to raise over $300!!!!
I cannot begin to thank everyone who supported me and my shop in trying to raise money for this organization! This non-profit has always meant a lot to me on a personal level, with my friends and family who have struggled with suicidal ideation in the past.
Another thing that happened this week..... I released a pattern! The Hyde Park pattern is now available on https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hyde-park-2
This pattern is in collaborations with a few other makers, in the lead-up to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (Rhinebeck), in October! We are all coming up with a few patterns as part of a "Decked Out For Rhinebeck" collection. Go check out @yarn_cafe_creations and @thecrazysocklady on instagram to see their patterns as well as they come out!
For the shop update this week, I am working on some Halloween colorways!!!! ..... as well as finishing up the Halloween Advent Calendar dyeing. (former Etsy shop) I have been asked a few times if there will be spots opening up again, and sadly... I have not written anything down and am almost finished with dyeing all the yarn. I have two AMAZING collaborative sock sets that I am planning for Halloween for sure, and coming up with some fun colorways as well. I am hoping that this will make it up to those who are missing out on the advents! haha One collaboration with be made with the amazing Sucre Sucre Minatures (sucresucreminiatures.com) and another with Lilastyles (https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilaStyles) So watch out for those awesome collaborations starting in September!
More new yarn colorways are going to be trickling into the shop this weekend, so keep an eye out!
I hope you all have a wonderful yarny week, and none of your yarn tangles!
Trysten
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There are so many exciting things on the horizon for Dragon Hoard Yarn, and I am thrilled to be able to share them with all of you!
First up, after the launch of the new site on 6/20 (baby launch) I will be having my first official update on 6/22 @ 10:00 AM MDT.
The following week, I am continuing the collaboration I have with Yarn Cafe Creations (@yarn_cafe_creations and www.yarncafecreations.com)! We have 20 total slots (10 in my shop) open for our yearly Magical Christmas Advent! Those listings will go live at 9:00 AM MDT o 6/29!
Coming up soon as well, I will be participating in the #TITSOUTCOLLECTIVE, hosted by @countessablaze. (please follow her to read up on the full story) She first came out with a colorway called, "If I Want Exposure, I'll Get My Tits Out", in response to a tasteless response of her declining to give away her product for free. (bravo!!) A month later, a customer had purchased some of that colorway, and decided to reproduce it. Being tasteful, but hurt, the countess wanted to draw attention to the matter without calling the person out or shaming them. She came up with the #TITSOUTCOLLECTIVE in response. She asked other indie dyers to come up with their own version of the colorway, and donate part of the proceeds to a charity of their choice. I will be donating mine to The Trevor Project.
Being a yarn dyed that has been around for a couple years, I have seen many up-and-coming dyers find a little too much inspiration in my colorways, and use them as a template for their own products. When you are in this type of situation, there is little that you can do about it. I don't think that it is right to publicly humiliate someone for doing something like this, or get too emotional about the matter. It is hard, and it really hurts when you put yourself into something, and another person turns around and copies your idea.
I think that how the Countess is approaching this sensitive topic is perfect!! Let's not point fingers, but let's bring awareness to this! If a maker can recognize their work in yours.... find inspiration elsewhere. I love the original thought behind the colorway to begin with, and being able to participate in something that brings a level of awareness to all of these issues is simply amazing!! I will be dying up a special colorway soon, and put it in the shop on July 1, as will all the other makers that will be involved. I cannot wait!!
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