Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport

TWO posts in one day.... well, there's lots to say!

SSYC has received our first shipment of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, just in time for fall knitting!  This 100% merino wool sock yarn is sport weight, so slightly thicker than normal sock yarns.  Perfect for a quick knit and warm socks.  We will soon have all of the Nearly Solid colors in stock.  But you can find many of them now.   If you want to get started, any pattern that calls for sport or dk weight will do.  Here's one that I like.

The Nearly Solid colors in Sport are slightly different in color than the Shepherd Sock.  The color is more saturated, b/c of the 100% wool fiber content.  So you may notice a difference in how vivid the colors are.  For example,  The Manzanita color in the Shepherd Sock yarn is shown at left, and the Manzanita in the Shepherd Sport yarn is shown at right. 

See what I mean?  The fiber content is different, so the yarn takes the dye differently.

I've already started a project on this yarn.... I had to test it, right?!?  I'll share that in a day or two when I have a bit more done.

-Allison-

Socktoberfest Sales

SSYC is gearing up for Socktoberfest!  And to start off, we're offering several lines of Opal Yarn at 20% off until October 11!  You can now find the following collections on sale until October 11 or until they sell out:

Opal Rainforest (some colors already sold out)

 

Opal Summer Night Bouquet

Opal Petticoat

Opal Wool/Silk

Jan's College Socks

Ack, I have no projects to share!  So, instead of me boring you with my saga of sewage woes (which have now been fixed.. I hope) I want to share with you what a knitter in Indy, Jan, has been up to this summer.  Jan's daughter went off to college this fall, and Jan's been working on socks (and baking cookies) to send to her daughter and all her friends.  So far, here's what she's gotten done (only single socks of the pair are shown)- can you believe all these?!?!  I see a bit of Lorna's Laces, Opal, Fleece Artist... the list goes on.

Jan thought it would be a nice sentiment to send a package of hand knit sock and homemade cookies to each girl in her daughter's group of friends.  She's mailing socks all over the midwest: Purdue (yuck!), IU (yea!)*, DePauw, Ball State, Washington U in St. Louis, Calvin College in Michigan, U of Michigan, University of Alabama, Case Western in Cleveland, and  the University of Illinois.

Jeez, I wish someone had done that for ME when I went to college!  How wonderful is that?!?

If you have questions about yarn or pattern used, leave comments here and Jan can answer them there if she likes.  She doesn't yet have a blog, as far as I know. *Jan, if you do have one now, let me know!*

*The "yuck" and "yea" are mine, not Jan's- I graduated from IU, and the rivalry b/t PU and IU is taught to all freshman.

Chocolate Inspired Socks

In honor of the Chocolate Swap, I just finished a chocolately colored sock.  I'm using Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch in color 714, which is predominantly brown, but also has one ply that changes from green to maroon to orange to charcoal/purple.  This is my first time knitting with the Mega Boot Stretch, and I think I may use it to make some socks for Joe.  All Joe's sock so far have been Lang's Jawoll because it comes in some variegated colors that aren't too bold for Joe and aren't boring for me.  And the reinforcing tread it comes with helps the heels and toes last. Joe hasn't worn through a pair of Jawoll socks yet, so I think that's pretty good!  He's modeling it here.

These sock are going to be a Christmas gift; most likely for Joe's dad.  The 2x2 ribbed legs are 10 inches long; he's been hinting that he would like some long, warm socks.  Because the legs are longer, I did some "lazy" shaping.  I cast on 64 stitches with a US 1.5 and then about 3 inches down I switched to US 1.  That way the top portion of the sock is slightly wider to accommodate a calf, and it narrows a bit toward the ankle.  Lazy shaping.  But it works.

Also on the Chocolate Swap front, I picked up a few unique things for my swap pal this weekend.  Joe and I went to Shipshewana, IN for an overnight getaway, and had a very relaxing time.  I figure if I can't use my own kitchen til tomorrow (fingers crossed that nothing else is found to be wrong!) then I should at least be enjoying my fill of Amish food in Shipshewana.  We stayed in a nice hotel, ate too much, and relaxed in the pool and hot tub along with lots of others who were there for their 50th high school reunion!  Oh, and the pie.  The PIE.  I didn't spy any yarn stores in Shipshewana, except one whose sign boasted spinning wheels and roving- there was one wheel and only 6 colors of eyelash yarn.  What.Ever.  There was a beautiful quilt store and I bought a book that inspired me with ideas for more log cabin knitting.

Oh, and since I'm on the topic of quilting, the Gee's Bend Quilt Exhibit is coming to Indy Oct- Dec.  I'm not missing it.

No knitting, no recipes, just poo

Yes, you read the title of this blog post right.  There's really no knitting content, as I haven't done much knitting this week.  No nice recipes or cooking being done.  Only poo.  Why?  B/c half of the sewer system in our house has decided that 90 years is about as long as it will remain in tact and so we are replacing it.  Bleh.  I haven't been able to use my kitchen in 3 days... which means eating out (not so bad, eh?) and it won't be usable until Monday or so when the plumbers come to either tear up the concrete in our basement floor or run new pipe along the wall. I really don't understand much about sewers, so I'm just hoping for the least costly and cleanest solution.  *And I'll spare you pictures in this post, as they would just be of poo.  heh.

Notice a lack of enthusiasm today?  I guess I'm just in a kind of "meh" mood.  Maybe caffine or chocolate would make it better.  Or a newer house.  I mean, I like my old house a lot, but every month it's something different!  Anyone else have old house woes?  Please, tell me I'm not alone.

Zucchini Bread

Okay, so I'm currently obsessed with cooking and putting things up for the winter.  2 gallons of tomato sauce, 9 pounds of frozen meatballs.  Now zucchini bread.  Oh, how I *heart* zucchini bread.  My mom made bread this time of year while I was growing up, and she would slather each piece with butter and then cut it into little squares for me to spear with a toothpick and shove into my mouth.  I'm not sure what I loved more, the bread or the butter.  Real butter, not margarine.

Zucchini is plentiful around here this time of year.  Huge squash the size of an arm. Everybody who has more than one plant is trying to pawn off their zucchini.  So far, I have baked 16 loaves of zucchini bread- using 40+ cups of zucchini!  None of this zucchini came from our garden.  We learned two years ago not to waste precious space (on our postage stamp sized lot) on squash when each summer everyone else is trying to get rid of theirs.  Mom loaned me her loaf pans ('cuz what 28-year-old has accumulated 8 loaf pans?  Martha, I'm not.), and also gave me her Zucchini Bread recipe, which has been tweaked over the years to be a oh-so moist and tasty.  And simple.  And here it is.  It's worth the time.  Trust me!

Marlene's Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups white flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup oil (I used 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup applesauce instead)

1 1/2  t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup splenda)

2-3 cups shredded zucchini

1 t vanilla

3 eggs

** 1 cup nuts or 1 cup raisins are optional

Combine all dry ingredients together.  Combine all wet ingredients together.  Then add wet ingredients and zucchini to the dry mixture.  Combine well.  Pour into two loaf pans and bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

Schaefer Anne

Our first BIG shipment of Schaefer Anne yarn and patterns have arrived at Simply Socks Yarn Company!  Our webmaster probably won't get the links on the sidebar until Monday, but you can get an early look at all patterns and yarn now.  We were able to get 16 skeins of the colors that are part of the Schaefer's Memorable Women collection, and only 12 of the colors that aren't part of that collection.  The Memorable Women collection colors are ones with names like Eleanor Roosevelt, Clara Barton, and Elena Piscopia (all shown below).

The ones that we only have 12 each of have descriptive names like Autumn Sunset, Silver Lake and Jewels (shown below)

Socktoberfest 2006!

Lolly is now taking names for Socktoberfest 2006!  If you like (*ahem* love) knitting socks, are new to it, or simply want to be a part of this group and meet new people, sign up!

Three feet down, two to go

I've made quite a bit of progress in my International Scarf Exchange project!  And I'm surprised at how much I like this color now.  Not that I didn't like it before it knit up, but it scared me.  It's almost fluorescent in color, and that's something that I don't usually go for.  But my pal does, and so I went with it.

What I like most about this Interlacements Toasty Toes colorway is how it's dyed.  I like the tiny lengths of yarn where the colors overlap a bit, creating colors you don't really notice until you knit.  The way the blue and pink overlap to make an inch of purple.  The combination of the orange and blue into a reddish brown.  How the orange progresses from yellow/orange to rust to red.  It's just something that picture of a wound up skein doesn't show.  Makes me want to knit up more of this Toasty Toes in other colorways to see what other jewels I get.  Quite addictive.  Oh, and again the color is 206- Las Vegas Brights, and the pattern is the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf.  I'm going to have at least 50% of the skein left too.  Maybe a matching hat?

While I'm on the subject of Interlacements, our backordered yarn arrived in the Tiny Toes colors.  402-Taiga, 219-Scottish Lichen, 201-The Blues, 202-Carbon Dioxide.   Due to high demand, Interlacements has been out of their base yarn for a couple months, and they got it in and dyed up our order. Yea!

Shown here, 402-Taiga and 201-The Blues

Secret Pal 9- I'm In!

Ack!  Somebody stop me.  I signed up for another swap.  This time, Secret Pal 9!  I hesitated about joining this one, b/c I'm the person who doesn't like Secret Santa or office holiday gift exchanges....  the idea of having to buy stuff for someone I don't know AT ALL, and getting some kind of Santa-shaped candle set in return leaves me, well, gagging at the thought.  But I feel like I know these people- they are just like me.  Crazy knitters.  Slightly obsessed with fibery goodness.  OK, more than slightly.  I'm really looking forward to this.  There are already 350 people on board, sign ups end at the end of the month, and the whole thing lasts for several months.  Which means I will get to know another great knitter or two (or 350).

I have finished my SSS short socks for Agnes- want a pic of the two socks together?  Me too.  Only I left my camera in Indy this weekend at my nephew's 7th birthday party.  I won't be getting it back for another few days, so take a look at this post if you want to know what I'm talking about.  Since I first post about this sock, I've received several e-mails about the pattern and how to get it.  So if you want this pattern, or other great free patterns, join the Six Sock Knitalong in Yahoo Groups.  You just need to create a free account, and then request to be in the group.  As far as I understand, you can participate as much or as little as you want.  Simply signing up doesn't mean you HAVE to finish the 6 sock patterns a year in a timely manner.  In fact, I've belonged for close to a year, and this is the first one I've done!  You can also join other knitalongs like the Townsend Socks group, which I just joined b/c of Leah and her pretty Toasty Toes socks.

Oh, and the fall Knitty is up, if you haven't noticed.  Tastiness.  Lots of tastiness in this one.  FOUR sock patterns.  And this.  Yum.  Obviously, I'm getting into an autumn state of mind.

Meilenweit Solid Sock Yarn

SSYC now has solid colors of Meilenweit cotton blend and wool blend sock yarn.  Lots in stock now, and more arriving when available from the distributor!  Each ball is 50 grams, and two are needed to knit a pair of socks.  Three of the solid wool colors are shown below.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here, it's starting to feel like fall!  Which is good, b/c I will soon be starting a scarf project for my International Scarf Exchange pal.  I have gotten my pal's info, and I will be knitting for someone who likes really bright colors and hip patterns. No lace.  This means that I may be able to use the Interlacements Yarn this time and not chicken out like I did for my Toasty Toes sock pal.  I'm thinking Interlacements Toasty Toes yarn, in something like 206-Las Vegas Brights.  That's about as bright as it gets!

Any ideas for scarf patterns that would show off this brightly painted yarn?

Tempting Swaps and Finished Socks!

I've just joined two new swaps, the Knitters Tea Swap 2, and the Chocolate Swap, thanks to Abigail's recent blog post.  I swear, she's got the hookup to all the sock yarn news.  I FINALLY learn about swaps BEFORE the sign ups are over!  I always seem to be behind the deadline for getting into swaps. It looks like these ones are still taking people, so take a look if you are interested.  Who ISN'T interested in chocolate?!?  And the chance to get tea from somewhere other than Fort Wayne sounds great!  Fort Wayne does have a particularly nice coffee and tea shop (where I used to work in high school!) but it's always nice to get something new.

My joining the new swaps must mean that I have finished ONE of my other swaps.  I finished my Toasty Toes pal's socks (must remember... they are HERS, not mine) with quite a bit of yarn left.  I thought that since I was knitting socks with longer legs and somewhat long feet, that I would be stretching the limits of my skein of Fleece Artist merino.  Not so.  Plenty left.  See?

And before I get questions, yep, that's Joe, wearing the socks.  On his impeccably clean feet. Oh, hush, I'm going to wash them.  The socks, not the feet.

And they match Joe's guitar!

One Busy Weekend

It was a busy holiday weekend here- and practically no knitting done!  Well, I did get to a few rounds of the Hedera sock each day- I've started to turn the heel of the second sock, proving that these will be done well before the October deadline.  After that's finished, I will start the second sock that Agnes won a couple weeks ago.

Yesterday, Joe and I spent part of the day canning our second batch of tomatoes.  Last year, we tried freezing them, and I didn't much like how they turned out, so this year it's back to canning.  So far, we have about 3 gallons (in pint and quart jars) of crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce.  So when the cold and dreary Indiana winter hits, we'll have a tasty reminder of summer.

And the log cabin baby blanket I finished last month has found a new home.  I gifted it to a friend at her baby shower in Indy on Sunday!