Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Being Thankful

I bet Wendi is thankful of something right now, because she's the winner of the Country/City contest to win a skein ofSeacoast Merino/Tencel sock yarn!  Wendi, pick your color and e-mail me!  I just looked at Wendi's blog and she has all the pictures posted of the yarn from the last SSYC Sock Yarn Club- so if you want to see them all (one is shown at left), take a look at her blog!  Then sign up for the new club!

Perhaps its the crappy economy, or recovering from the food poisoning I had earlier this week, but I'm super thankful for many things this Thanksgiving.  First, I'm thankful that I'm able to keep working despite a weary US economy, that my business is strong, and it helps me provide stability for my family. I'm thankful that my 104 temperature from Monday is GONE and I feel superhuman- isn't it weird how you feel amazingly wonderful after you recover from sickness?  I'm thankful for my family- a wonderful husband who packed boxes until 1am this week, after working a full day and putting a toddler to bed, b/c I couldn't move.  I'm thankful that I have a ridiculously happy, healthy son who lights up everytime I walk in the room.  I'm thankful for every one of you who helps support me and my family by reading my blog, shopping at my small store, talking about your service on your blogs/Ravelry/at local knitting groups.  Many of you have made a huge difference in my life by being vocal and telling others about my store, and I really can't thank you enough.

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday.  And if you aren't in the US, I hope you just have a relaxing, knit-filled weekend- keep in mind that this is a long holiday weekend (from Thursday through Sunday) and your orders will be filled on Monday.  I will be spending time with friends that I haven't seen in a decade, and family that I see often.

I do have one question for everyone- what one Thanksgiving dish do you really look forward to?  For me, it's Joe's mom's roasted hubbard squash- heavy on the butter, salt and pepper.

Christmas colored sock yarn

I'm really flattered that so many previous club members and so many new ones have signed up for this new club.  To me, your interest means that I'm doing something right- that you liked the special edition colors you have received in SSYC's past clubs, and you have passed word along to others knitters.  I'm just really pleased with the notes you have sent about how many of you are looking forward to knitting up what this new club has to offer.  I'm really anticipating knitting up the new yarn as well!

If you haven't signed up for the club and want to, please take a look before it sells out.  I hope to keep the sign ups open for several more days, until it sells out.  But if the link stops working, that means that the club has reached its limit and sign ups are closed.  You are welcome to then e-mail me to be put on the waitlist, in case I can add a few more space.

 

At your request, I have several Christmas colored sock yarn options for your holiday knitting.  I have plenty of Lorna's Laces Country Christmas (which is variegated cranberry, natural and pine- all those colors are available as solids, if you want to coordinate) and two offerings from Beyond Basic Knits (both striping): Peppermint Twist (red and white) and Christmas Wish (red, white and green).  All are quite lovely.

I promise to reveal the winner of the recent contest early next week!

SSYC Sock Yarn Club now available

Sign ups are now open for the 4th SSYC Sock Yarn Club!  I'm so pleased with the e-mails I continue to get from many of you about how much you have enjoyed participating in my store's sock yarn clubs.  I really appreciate your feedback on colorways you liked, especially when it's a colorway that I helped design.

I had a hand in color ideas for this club as well, which features solids at your request.  Many of you have e-mailed that you would like to see solid colors (more commonly called semi-solid when hand dyed, since it's nearly impossible to get completely solid yarn when hand dyed), so that you could use the yarn for more intricate sock patterns like cables and lace.  So I'm working with Jen at Seacoast Handpainted Yarns, Mary at Conjoined Creations, and Kathryn at Fleece Artist to design exclusive semi-solid colors for you, all available only through this sock yarn club.

The details are available at this link, but if you have participated before, you know the details already.  Over the course of three months (January, February and March), you will get a specially dyed colorway each month, totalling three skeins over the course of the three months.  I avoid including littlge gadgets, patterns or candy because I want to keep your cost as low as possible, and because we fiberholics really aren't addicted to those little things.... we are addicted to FIBER.  Soft, squishy little skeins of art that are appreciated from the moment we cast on, while watching that leaf or lace pattern develop, until we finally finish the toe and slip the socks on our feet.  I can't wait!

The club ships to US knitters and the other countries listed in the SSYC shipping policies.  Don't see your country listed and want to enroll? E-mail me.

*BTW, a new shipment has arrived from Malabrigo!  But remember that the club has to be ordered separately from anything else.

New colors from Dream in Color

A few weeks ago I shared that I'm expecting new semi-solid colors from Dream in Color, but I now am able to show you pictures!  Veronica sent me pictures awhile back, but it pained me b/c I wasn't to share them quite yet.  So the new colors are below (listed right to left in picture to the left):

01-Crying Dove, 02-Black Pearl, 03-Grey Tabby, 04-Tea Party, 05 Absolute Magenta, 06-Purple Rain, 07-Romeo Blue, 08 Bermuda Teal, 09-Shiny Moss, 10-Gold Experience, 11-Cinnamon Girl

The below picture doesn't show the yarn in any particular order b/c it's from Veronica several weeks ago.  But I think that the white background shows off the colors nicely.

 

I'll let you know as soon as the new colors arrive in Smooshy, Baby and Classy yarns.

Flat Feet sock yarn by Conjoined Creations

Alright... you can now stop e-mailing me and asking if I'm going to carry Flat Feet sock yarn b/c it's finally here!  To learn more about this unique sock yarn, keep on reading.  Or just check it out as I'm offering an Introductory Price of $22.50 a flat (that's 10% off) for the next week.

Flat Feet is a new concept in sock knitting, in that instead of putting up the yarn in skeins or center-pull balls, Mary and her Conjoined Creations associates put it up into flats.  By machine knitting the undyed yarn into rectangles, Mary can apply color in strips, squiggles, dots, splotches, or any combination of these, thus producing what looks like a wild flat, but knits up into a beautifully unique pair of socks.  How the yarn looks on the flat only indicates the colors you'll find in the final socks- not how the colors will lay once knitted up.

The flats are available in 12 color schemes.  Colorways are: Cool, Warm, Neutral or Kaleidoscope.  And within each of those there are three (only two in Kaleidoscope) variations in the intensity of the colors: Pale, Subdued and Bright.  There is also a Camo color, which is really cool splotches of bold color on a pastel background (shown at left).

Flat Feet's even going to be part of the next SSYC Sock Yarn Club.. oh wait.. did I just reveal something?  That's right, the next series of the SSYC Sock Yarn Club is all ready to sell and will likely be available next week.  I'll post here and also send out a short e-mail to those of you on the newsletter list (and those who have been in previous clubs).  This 3-month club is focusing on solid and semi-solid colorways, all hand dyed.  If you haven't participated in a SSYC club before, they sell quickly.  I'm going to add a few more spaces for the club so that it will likely stay open for about a week before selling out.  B/c they yarns are hand dyed (and special edition colors) I can't impose on my dyers for hundreds and hundreds of skeins so I have to keep the numbers somewhat low- usually somewhat in the 150 members range.

*Check out new additions to the sale section (like the Lexie Barnes needle case shown here), more Fleece Artist BFL and Casbah, and the sale I'm having on CTH Organic sock yarn- 30% off!

Yarn, yarn everywhere

I'm really gearing up for all your holiday needs, and so much yarn has made an appearance this week that I'm having a hard time finding time to blog!  But I did promise pics of James as Darth Vader, and that's something I'm happy to show off.  Of course, he looks like he's wearing a dorky black sweatsuit b/c he refused to wear the felt "helmet."

(Take a look at the sale section, b/c there are some more great deals there right now.  Also CTH organic yarn is on sale 30% off.  More new yarn later this week.)

James shows those leaves who has "the force."

 

James gives us "pretty eyes" for more chocolate after throwing the helmet on the floor.

Opal Rainforest 4, Harry Potter and EVEN MORE YARN

As if last week's Malabrigo sock yarn shipment didn't keep me enough on my toes, this morning the UPS man brought 8 huges boxes of the spankin' new Opal Rainforest 4 sock yarn, and the newest shipment of the Opal Harry Potter sock yarn.  Both the new Rainforest and Harry Potter yarns have been greatly anticipated, so I'm happy that it's all finally here and will make many sock knitters happy! 

The previous 3 collections of Opal Rainforest were so well loved that a new Rainforest collection is now available, featuring the 8 self patterning colorways shown below.  Want a closer look?  Take a look at the store, or click on the image below to enlarge it.

 

Also new?  This month's Special Edition colorway from Cherry Tree Hill, Pilgrims Progress.  It's a lovely combination of muted jewel tones, and it coordinates with the Special Edition solid Fig. What do you think?

Finally, I received a couple shipments from Fleece Artist, and I hope to have them up on the website Tuesday or Wednesday.  These shipments include a restock of the popular Casbah (wool/cashmere/nylon) sock yarn and our second shipment of the new BFL sock yarn.  Most of the BFL sock colors sold out quickly when it was first in stock, so I ordered a bunch more this time.

Am lagging a bit....

Thank you so much for all the orders you've placed over the past two days!  It's a good thing that I ordered so much of the new Malabrigo sock yarn, b/c boy is that leaving here fast- and my energy level is leaving with it.  There are so many hundreds of orders for it (and the Monica Knits patterns) that I won't have the time to blog more this week.  I just wanted to THANK YOU!  A couple colors have sold out, and it's likely that you'll see others disappear in the next few days as they sell.  But I have an order already on its way here to replenish my stock.

I do realize that I haven't posted a picture of James as mini-Darth Vader yet, but I do plan on doing so next week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I want to live vicariously, so if there's something you are going to do with this unseasonably warm weather we are having (at least here in Indiana) leave me a comment.

Malabrigo Sock Yarn, OMG is gorgeous

Yes, the Malabrigo sock yarn is now in stock.  It's gorgeous and well priced at just $18.50 a skein!  I have all 24 colors in stock (at the time of this post), and I have alot of each of them.  I even have a second order already on its way here, should some of the colors sell quickly.

I think I tested my double-tasking to the limit today.  Waited in line and then voted with a rambunctious 16 month old in tow.  (Note to new mamas- a toddler will stay in place for a long time if he can keep reaching in your purse for Goldfish crackers.)  Then photoed and put all the new Malabrigo on the site while trying to devote myself to listening to CNN.  I think that any one of these things would take all your undivided attention, but I seem to have succeeded in getting all done.  Now let's just hope the website doesn't crash....

Country livin'

I am really enjoying reading all of your responses to my last post!  I find myself identifying with many of you- wanting my natural food store and coffee shop close by, yet wanted solitude and a quite landscape.  Unfortunately, the town I live in doesn't have a natural food store or a nice coffee shop.  Though we do have Bob's (home of great pie and some very tasty mac and cheese) and a wonderful new library, I find myself hoping that someone will open a cafe with amazing omelets, or a small grocer with fresh, organic fruits.  I am lucky that there are so many Amish farms very close by where I can find great seasonal fruits and veggies, an organic eggs year round.  And Fort Wayne really is just a 10 minute drive away with all the big stores close enough for everything.  And Target, oh Target, is just 17 minutes.  Yes, I know exactly how long it takes.

If you haven't had a chance to read through the comments, you might like to take the time to do so (and enter the contest).  It's so nice to read how others live and what you enjoy (or don't) about where you live.  What you hope to change in the future, or what you wouldn't change at all.  And, Carolyn you live in a city with 22 lakes? I'm not going to tell Joe about that b/c he's afisherman and would want to move again.  And, Janet, living in Billings sounds like the perfect mix to me.  And Sarah?  I want a small, local theater too.  Something that doesn't have the work "plex" in it.  But I know that if there is demand for a theater, that there are so many people in the area that I've likely lost all my solitude.

One of the reason I didn't want to move out of the city is b/c I didn't want to have to drive my kids (assuming we get to have more than one) all over creation just to see their friends/go to ballgames/get to school.  I guess I'll tackle that when I get there.  I'm also thinking about preschool, should we send James to one.  Since I work from home, I don't know if I'll be sending James to a preschool, but I kind of assume that it would be a good thing for him to get out a couple days a week once he's 3 or 4.  I have several friends who I see once a week or so and they have kid/s James' age, but I bet a preschool would be a good idea eventually.  Obviously I haven't thought too much about it though.  What do you think about preschool?  Have you sent your kids to one, even if you are a SAHM?  When did your kids start?

Malabrigo Update: I expect the Malabrigo Sock yarn to arrive this week.  So keep your eyes peeled to the blog, or your Inbox, as I'll send out a newsletter when all 24 of those gorgeous colors arrive.  As this is a completely new yarn, I really don't know how quickly it will sell out, but I bought lots for us.