Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

My newest project

I've started my gift knitting.  Yes, you read that right, I've started.  As in just begun knitting for a holiday that will be upon us in less than three months.  How many items will I be gifting my family this Christmas?  Well, that remains to be determined.  It all depends on how many items I complete.  But I promise you this- I will not cause myself any stress about it.  Knitting is my retreat and my meditation.  If I get several projects done, that's awesome.  And if I don't?  Well, I'll just order something awesome from Jen.  I've ordered many things from her, for myself and gifts, and I adore everything she creates.

Last year, I knit just for myself.  After finding my own sock drawer in sad need of filling, I decided to make myself a priority and warm my own feet.  This year, I've knit a couple pairs of socks for myself, but the majority of the projects I started have become store samples.  So while I might wear them one day, for now they are inspiration for others.

 

When I picked out the Decay colorway from the new Black Trillium Fiber Studio, I did it with purely selfish intentions.  Until I cast on the cuff of the sock, I intended on knitting much wider socks that I did.  But at the last second, I decided that I was going to gift these socks to someone who I have yet to knit a pair of socks for.  Since the Merilon sock yarn base is so durable (a very tight twist in merino/nylon) and soft, I knew that it would hold up to machine washing and drying well enough to be a good gift sock.

Because I soooo adore the socks Deirdre sent for the store, I knit the same Kalajoki sock pattern.  Since it's written for heavier weight yarn, I simply cast on 6 more stitches (these are for someone with a narrow leg and foot), two on each needle.  The above picture was taken at t-ball, my first time knitting at my child's game!  I feel like I've hit a parenting milestone!

Saturday marks the first day of October, widely known to sock knitters as Socktober.  So you can expect that rare Saturday post, maybe with a special sale.  And definitely sharing the October color from Dream in Color which is not only dyed on a brand new base yarn, but pairs a perfectly autumnal colorway with a beautiful shawlette.  You don't want to miss this one.

Landscape

When I lived in the city, I would take walks nearly every evening.  I'd stroll down the street, listening to the sounds of the crickets or a TV through an open window; I'd feel the wind on my skin and smell fabric softener coming from dryer vents.  It was such a relaxing time to get out of my element and see the changes in my neighborhood- the new shutters on a house, the sprouting bulbs, and see who is cooking what on the grill.

Now that I live in a more rural area, I rarely take walks outside.  There are no sidewalks, and not-nice dogs who like to chase.  Instead, I seem to enjoy my morning drive into the city for the same reason- I get to see what's going on in my neighorhood and watch the changes in my surroundings.  For instance, recently I've watched baby horses grow from wobbley little foals into lean and graceful animals.  I've watched the progress of a new pond being dug with a deck extending out halfway in (and a diving board off that deck!).  I've seen an Amish neighbor put up a brand new barn in what seems like less than a week, and I never actually saw a soul working on it.  I can tell what's going on with my Amish neighbors just by what colors they are wearing, and what horses are pulling their buggues.  And today, I saw the coolest cow- nearly all white with just four small black spots on its rear, and one black spot on its face.

These images all pass by so quickly, but I still get a wonderful glimpse into the lives of those around me.  What things catch your eye when travelling to work or walking around your home?

SSYC Sample Knit- Malabrigo Lace Ribbon Scarf

I cast off this project several weeks ago, and I have to admit that it's been hard to keep on display at the store and not on my own neck.  This is the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty, and I used just one skein of Malabrigo Sock in the Candombe colorway.  I have a really nice color selection in stock right now in Sock, so it's a good time to pick out a color for someone special in your life.  This is the perfect gift knit- under $20, fits all sizes, and is a simple yet impressive design.  Definitely something you can mindlessly knit while watching all the new fall TV shows.

 

This is the second time I knit this pattern, and the first time I used one and a half skeins of Casbah.  But this time, I wanted to show a great one-skein project in the store, and so I knit the pattern until I had a few yards left, then skipped to the bind off. I love how the color knit up- no obvious striping or pooling.  I blocked out the scarf to show off the lace, but it seems to have un-blocked itself over the past few weeks.  Perhaps I didn't let it dry all the way?  I have to admit, my blocking talents aren't great.  So if you have any tips, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

SSYC Sample Knits- Black Trillium Trinity Sock

I have a new offering for you from Black Trillium Fiber Studio, Trinity Sock.  Trinity refers to the three fibers in the yarn- merino, cashmere and nylon.  And the hand dyeing on each skein is truly beautiful.

Vickie knit this sample for the store in the Butterbeer colorway and I think it would be a perfect fall project, don't you?  The color is so warm and dynamic.

 

Vickie used the Jeck sock pattern for this sock, and I think it shows off the color nicely without being too complicated.  I have a nice selection of color in stock now, and I'll even have more Black Trillium (in a 100% merino) in a few days.  And if you're a merino/nylon knitter, then I have Merilon sock too.  You can see that one knit up here.

I have more yarn to show off to you next week, but you're all keeping me so busy (thank you!) that I'm having a hard time finding time to get all these goodies up on the website in a timely manner.  But if you've been waiting for some gorgeous colors from Sweet Georgia, your wait is almost over!

And the yarn keeps coming

Skeins are not just trickling in- it's more a solid pour.  All the yarn that I intended on having here for the Grand Opening last month has instead been coming over the past few weeks because of the wait everyone is seeing for merino and cashmere.  I can't say I mind though, as I think it would have been impossible to not only move the store to the new space while also photo-ing and cataloging everything new.

So what has arrived so far this week?  I'll share that shortly- perhaps tomorrow.... neener neener.

But what I do have to share with you is a picture of little 4 year old James, warming up before his first T-ball practice.  I feel like such a parent, sitting on the sidelines and watching him take directions from his coaches.  It's adorable.  And it gives me another occasion to knit!

 
James is the one in the orange shirt, third from the right... of course he could be any of these tots, what with my not-awesome camera skilz.

Scarf suggestions, please

The weather here has definitely turned.  Gone are the horribly hot and humid days, now replaced with perfect scarf weather.  I'm totally inspired to start a scarf project, perhaps using Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label DK, but I'm open to other suggestions for fingering weight patterns.

PLEASE help a girl out and give me your fave scarf pattern suggestions!

SSYC Sample Knits- Sunnyside Baby Cardi in Grape

This lovely little cardigan arrived from Canada a few weeks ago and it has already inspred many a knitter in the store.  This adorable project takes just one skein of Tanis Fiber Arts in Purple Label (the 20% cashmere blend) for the 3-6 month size, so it would make a wonderful gift for your own baby (anyone expecting?!) or a gift.  I was gifted just three hand knit cardigans for James when he was born, and each one was worn a lot.

 
 

This Sunnyside Baby Sweater pattern was not only designed by Tanis herself, but she even knit this sample for the store.  You can get the pattern directly from her blog or queue it up on Ravelry so you have it stashed away for later use. 

This sample was knit in Grape, and the picture above was taken with a bit too much sunlight, so it's a bit more blue and bright than the actual skein.  And if you check the pattern, you'll see there's an option for a no-picot edge, if you consider that too feminine for a boy.

This morning a large shipment of Purple Label arrived in the store, so you'll find a wide array of color options if you look right now. 

It will make good insulation this winter

Package after package is arriving from all our fave dyers and lines.  While I did share with you the STC that arrived last week, there was so. much more.

Here's a peak.

New colors of Mini Mochi and restocks of faves since so many of you are crocheting this piece and similar ones.

 

Restock of Malabrigo Sock, including Persia (shown below) and Caribeno which haven't been available for 6 months or more.  Plus more of the new colors- Playa and Candombe.

 

New colors of Unique Sheep's Gradiance Sock Sets like Estivus Gammae, Roz's Garden and Moon Fleet.  Also restocks of many other awesome color combos.  If you haven't tried this line yet, each set includes four mini, individually dyed skeins that are knit one after another to create a sock that graduates from one color to another.  Very labor intensive to dye, but easy to knit up.  Shown below in Estivus Gammae.

 

A few more colors of the popular Noro Taiyo Sock.

 

And finally, a spankin new striping one-ply sock yarn, Lang's Jawoll Magic Degrade.  To me, this seems very similar to Zauberball and even a few of the colors are exactly the same.  Will make very beautiful socks or scarves.  Perhaps give a try to this scarf?

New colors from String Theory Colorworks

Caitlin at String Theory Coloroworks has dyed up some new striping colors for us!  Neon and RuBisCo are new, and if you haven't tried Large Hadron Collider, I highly recommend it.  Of course, you know I'm a sucker for blues and greens, right?

 

With the cold, wet weather we're having in the midwest, this is just the punch of color I needed to see to give me some energy.  And coffee wouldn't hurt either.

This will be the last shipment of STC I get for awhile, as Caitlin and her husband tell me that they are making some changes and it will be awhile before they can get a new space together and ramp up production.  But they promise that you'll see some fun new colors here in a few months time.

What to do on a rainy day?

The weather here in NE Indiana quickly turned from 97 on Saturday, to a cool 72 on Sunday.  And today it's cold and rainy.  The perfect kind of day for knitting, book keeping, or perhaps sharing some short videos of the store?

For those of you who might not be able to make it to Indiana in the near future, I've just shared a couple short (and admittedly not high definition) videos of the store's new home.  You can find them on SSYC's Facebook page.  And if you don't see them near the top of the page, then once on the FB page, go to the Photos link at left and then sort by Video to see all the videos.

I also have some new yarn to share...  Black Trillium's Merilon.

 

Kristi knit these using the Blackrose sock pattern from Knitty 2008 and the Baroness color of Merilon(which is slightly more red and less magenta than this picture shows.  She was able to knit both a pair of socks and a pair of short mitts using the same stitch design... with just ONE skein.  What an awesome use of an entire skein, eh?

And I just have to share that I just opened this box yesterday, during an in-person shopping day, and it sold right out of the box.  So I wanted to get this shipment up on the website asap so you all could grab some too.  I'll be getting two other base yarns from Black Trillium later this month, a 100% merino, and a merino/cashmere/nylon blend.

And so it begins again

Even bigger than last year.

 

This time he dressed himself, picked sunflowers for his new teacher, and chose pb&j and a banana for lunch.

And I haven't shed a tear this time.  Yet.

 

And I had to edit this 6 hours later to show the post-school picture of Captain Sleepypants, who promptly fell asleep on the couch after an awesome day.

Testing the limits of a skein

Yes, today is a US holiday, and no, the store is not open.  In fact, I'm spending the bulk of my day test knitting a very special secret skein that I will share more about in a month.  But I had to share with you a pair of socks that a knitter brought into the store on Saturday.

 

I know the photo could be better and the color is washed out, but I snatched the socks and took a quick photo with my phone b/c I really wanted to share these with you.

These were knit with Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label sock yarn in the Stormy, and I believe they are SIZE 14 (and might even be 16, but now my mind is failing me).  They used just one skein on a size US 1.  Seriously, just one 100g skein of yarn for the pair.  I could hardly believe it.  The knitter had a tiny little ball of yarn left, maybe 3 yards.  Aren't they awesome socks?

Is it time to exhale yet?

It's been one heck of a week.  If you receive SSYC's e-newsletter, you saw how much yarn has come in.  Not only did yesterday bring the first installment in this year's Dream Club (and it sold out already too, but next month promises to be awesome as well), but there have been so many restocks of yarn that it's definitely kept me on my toes. I took this picture on one of the mornings I arrived while it was still dark out.

 

Tomorrow and this coming Tuesday, Sept. 3 & 6, the store is open from 10-5, so I hope you'll stop in and see us!  And if not, I hope you have a relaxing holiday weekend.

Dream Club 2011-12 from Dream in Color

Oh, the love.  I think this September club color might be my favorite ever color from Dream in Color.  And when I phoned Veronica to tell her how much I loved what she dyed, even she admitted that this might be her fave.  When I asked how she came up with such a beautiful combination, she simply said that the colors "are just me."  I think that many of us feel that way.  There's just something about this combination of deep jewel tones and mahogany that are going to make many a fiber enthusiast weak in the knees.

 

And the fact that this unnamed colorway (simply called September 2011, according to Veronica) is dyed on a new worsted weight version of Smooshy with Cashmere, well this is going to make so many gorgeous scarves this winter.  The pattern that comes with the skein is called Fairy Mitts, and while it's a nice pattern, I know that my own skeins will be used for a larger project- something that will be worn close to my face.  Afterall, it's 20% cashmere, and I know that come winter I will want something fabulous around my neck. If you'd like more than one skein, please make sure to change the quantity in your shopping cart from 1 to however many you'd like.

Every month (except December) until March 2012, I'll be getting a special edition colorway from Dream in Color paired with a free pattern.  Each selection will go on sale on the first of the month, and once that color sell out, it's gone.  So I recommend ordering somewhat quickly, because I can't guarentee that a color will be around for long.  Last year, some went in a day, some in a week.

If you're coming to the store this Saturday or Tuesday for showroom hours (10am-5pm), I really don't know if there will be many, if any, left by then, so I recommend placing an order online if you can't live without.

And if you missed out on the Grand Opening Kit, I have secured just a dozen more that I've put back on the website.  Once the link stops working, they are gone for good.