Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Closed til December 5

Simply Socks Yarn Company has now been open 6 MONTHS!  After 6 months of hard work, it's time for a short break.  All work and no play makes Allison a.... well, you know.  And if you haven't seen The Shining, then rent it and you will know.

So, as I mentioned before (and is posted on the homepage and your Check Out page) the store is closing November 30 through December 5th.  We will reopen on December 6 and ship all orders then.

You can still place orders during this time, but orders will be shipped starting December 6 (which means they would arrive starting Dec. 9)  Also, any e-mailed questions directed to service@simplysockyarn.com will be returned when we reopen.

Done!

After a weekend full of knitting and eating (more later on the eating), I have finished my socks for the holiday sock exchange.  I just have to weave in a few ends and do a quick wash and they will be shipped off to my secret recipient!  I used Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock Merino yarn in the colorway Peacock (which SSYC recently sold out of!).  I deviated from a simple rib that I usually use with handpainted yarns (I like to keep it simple) and instead opted for the following pattern which continued to the toe: Rows 1 & 2: Knit.  Rows 3&4: K2, P2.  Repeat.

I like that it still has the give of the rib, b/c since these aren't for someone whose foot I have seen, I know that the rib will be somewhat forgiving and accommodate a more slender foot, if needed.  These socks are 10 inches from the top to the bottom of the heel, as the person I'm knitting for prefers longer socks.  And I still had plenty of yarn in the skein.  I'm quite pleased with the results.

My Thanksgiving weekend was very nice.  Joe and I traveled to Indianapolis to visit my side of the family.  We had an enormous dinner and it was mighty tasty.  It was a total dessert free-for-all, and I had pear/apple pie and cheesecake and multiple peanut butter cookies.  It was a great day.  And to think- only one thing caught fire the entire day... (the kitchen towel at left is the only evidence)

I ended the weekend with quite a bit of shoe shopping.  My sister was in from Philadelphia, and everytime she's in town, she drags me to Roberts shoe store.  Roberts is a fricken huge local shoe store known for great deals.  I'm not much of a shoe shopper, b/c as I have mentioned, I have very large feet.  But I managed to come away with several pair.  Which is a problem, b/c I went shoe shopping earlier in the week.  So last week, I purchased a total of 9 pair of shoes.  What?  Oh, whatever.  It was worth it.

Silk/Cashmere Just In!!

Wow.  SSYC just received our newest silk/cashmere yarn shipment of yarn from Fleece Artist's Handmaiden line. I have never been so in awe when I have opened a box of yarn.  First, the colors are gorgeous.  The dyers at Fleece Artist really know what they are doing.  Pictures on my computer screen just don't do these colorways justice.

Midnight is one of my favorite colorways in Fleece Artist's merino yarn, so I couldn't resist ordering it in the 4ply silk/cashmere this time.  And I am so happy I did.  It's a deep purple/blue with a slight tinge of amber.  I think it would make a lovely shawl, as well as socks (the footie pattern still comes free with purchase).

We were very low on the Paris and Vintage colorways, and now have more in.  We also have added Midnight, Moss and Amethyst to the store, so we have a total of 7 colorways of this yarn now.  Take a look at the new offerings!

Opal Petticoat Sock Yarn

The US is getting more Petticoat sock yarn from Opal, so if you are a fan of this great yarn, we will have a limited amount soon.  Petticoat is one of Opal's most popular sock yarns, and we haven't been able to get it yet, as it sells out so quickly.  I'm told the order should arrive in early December. 

Simply Socks Yarn Company will be closing for one week, starting Wednesday, November 30 and ending December 6.  While you can place orders during this time, nothing will be shipped until December 6.  Just wanted to let you know so that if you need some yarn for holiday gifts, you can order it before we close.  This info will also be posted on the homepage and at check out before you confirm your order.

Toasty Toes Sock Yarn Just In!

Simply Socks Yarn Company has just received a beautiful shipment of Toasty Toes sock yarn from Interlacements.  If you are looking for a DK weight sock yarn that offers vivid colorways, then Toasty Toes is for you.  Each 8 ounce skein is 500 yards, which is enough for two pair of women's socks (unless you have man-feet like me, in which case you'll get one pair and a child's size pair or footies).   The yarn is machine washable too- Interlacements does recommend a quick rinse pre-knitting or before washing with other garments, because of the dye.  That's probably a good recommendation with many a handpainted yarn though, right?

Toasty Toes now comes with a free pattern.  And we all love free patterns.  We're carrying all the colors we originally stocked 3 months ago (yeah, they sold QUICKLY) plus three more shown below: 201 The Blues, 206 Las Vegas, and 211 Renaissance.

New Socks

As I have finished several sock mates lately, I have decided to start on my socks for the Holiday Sock Exchange that I'm taking part in.  My sock pal expressed a liking for jewel tones and not bright colors (did I somehow get myself??) and so I'm making her socks out of Cherry Tree Hill's supersock merino in Peacock.  I've been wanting to knit with this colorway (maybe I just WANT something out of it myself) so I thought this would be a great chance.  I'm glad my sock pal and I have similar taste in colors.

The weather here today is BLECH (which means good knitting weather!).  The past week of crazy wind is now over, but now the rain has started.  We live in an old neighborhood with many huge, old trees, so there are leaves EVERYWHERE.  All the leaves that were once raked into nice tidy piles are now plastered by the rain and wind onto every horizontal surface.  Everyone spent so much time raking leaves and now they are right back where they started- or in our case, across the street in the neighbors lawn. heheh. heh.

Please! Tell me what I need...

So many bloggers have been doing the "_______ needs" Google game, where you plug your name in and then do a Google search to find the ope ten answers.  Most recently, I saw this on Kerry's blog.  Hers were so good, that I decided to finally give it a try.  The only problem was that so many people have already done it, that when I searched "Allison needs" I came up with tons of blogs who had already done it, instead of non-blog websites.  I had to do a bit o' sifting through, but in BOLD are the first 10 (non blog) results; non bold are my, uh, observations of the results:

1.  Allison needs a divorce.  NOW.  Uh, okee.  I don't know what Joe will think of that...

2. Allison needs to stop taking shootout attempts.  Damn straight.  I AM the ice master, afterall.

3.  ALLISON NEEDS more good farmers to raise corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, peanuts, cattle, hogs and sheep.  I do?

4.  Allison needs to seek out customers who are already aware of and interested in chair massages.  I think that would contribute to the fore mentioned divorce, don't you?  And I am TOTALLY not giving out chair massages with yarn. 

5.  If Allison needs his member supported, I think we can stop this discussion right now.  Wh-what??

6.  Allison needs a big sister to give her encouragement that she's a special person.  Melissa, if you're reading this, take out the "encouragement that she's a special person" and put in "a good bottle of tequila."  That's what big sisters do.

7.  Allison needs to have a good thermal conduction path between the battery boxes.  Duh.  Doesn't everyone?

8.  Allison needs to understand how her students access the web and what special needs they may have.  I have no students.  No one trusts me with children.

9.  Allison needs to do a 10 minute scene.

10.  Allison needs more story.  Uh, yeah.

I'd like to read all the interesting things you need, so leave me a comment with your blog if you have done this or are going to.  It's definitely, uh, enlightening.

Fun with Questionnaires

Below is the questionnaire for the Holiday Knits Sox Exchange, so that the person making me a pair of socks for my Sasquatch feet can better know what he/she is getting into.  I would just like to say ahead of time that I take no responsibility for hand cramps that may result from the hand knitting of such large socks.

1. What are your foot measurements?  My feet are a long 9.75 inches and are 3.5 inches wide below the toes.  Any basic sock pattern fits the width of my feet.

2. Do you have a favorite sock yarn?  I don't just have ONE favorite- I like lots of them- Cherry Tree Hill, Fleece Artist, Artyarns, Koigu... but what they all have in common is that they are handpainted.  I guess I like almost anything that is dynamic and interesting in color.

3. Is there a specific pattern you favor?.... Lace or ribbed?  No, there's no particular sock pattern that I prefer wearing over others.  I like most anything. (How do you like the last two answers? Pretty vague, eh?)

4. What colors do you prefer?  Do you like solids or stripes?  In clothing and home decor I like stripes- so much in fact that when Joe (the hubby) and I are walking through a store and he sees stripes, he'll just laugh, b/c he knows I want to buy it.  But in socks, I think stripes are just OK- at least for me to wear.  I much prefer a handpainted yarn or something with some random variation.  I'm not a fan of wearing jacquards either, but I do like to knit them.  I like bold, interesting colorways or deep jeweltones over pastels or primary colors.  My favorite colors are green and blue.

5. Do you have any allergies to a specific fiber?  No.  I work with many different fibers everyday and haven't noticed an allergy.  Of course, I haven't encountered a cat hair yarn yet- that could be a problem...

6. Holiday that you celebrate?  I celebrate Christmas with my family.  I also celebrate Festivus- cause it's for the rest of us.

Holiday Knits Sox Exchange

So this is the last day to sign up for the Holiday Knits Sox Exchange at http://wicked_stitches.typepad.com/.  I'm participating in this one myself!  I usually don't commit to knit exchanges b/c I can't find the time, but I decided to make the effort and do this one.  Now that the thumb has healed and I'm back to knitting again, this caught my attention.

So there's still time to sign up, if anyone's interested!

They have mates!

Wonder of wonders, I have gotten around to finishing up mates for my recent sock projects!  The Mermaid pair (called that b/c I used Fleece Artist's merino in the Mermaid colorway), using the Dublin Bay pattern, is now complete, and ready to give to my mother.  Turns out my mother's feet are bigger than I thought..... so she has offered (instead of me frogging them) to take another pair later.  Very nice of her.  It wouldn't take much time/effort to frog and add a half inch or so to the socks, but Mom says she woudn't mind waiting.  Maybe she's holding out for the cashmere/silk blend...  Here's the finished pair, lounging on the couch, taking in an episode of BBC's Office.  And a close up pic of the lace detail.  If you haven't done the Dublin Bay pattern yet, I highly recommend it.  Easy and purty.

There is a bit of pooling on one of the socks, but it's not nearly as noticible as the picture makes it seem.  Or maybe I just wish that it wasn't so noticible.  Oh well, the pooling gives it charm, right?  RIGHT??

Next on the finished sock list is the Regia Brasil pair that's for a friend.  I really like the combination of colors here.  These, too, are relaxing on the couch.  I think I'm going to join them.