Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

A rant....

What ever happened to Thank You? I'm so sick of getting my morning coffee, or an ice cream cone at DQ and someone handing me my change and saying "There you go."  Like that's the proper response to anything.  I've been keeping an informal mental tally (and I do mean informal, as my mental abilities aren't great as I'm easing my way into my 8th month of pregnancy) over the past few weeks of how gracious vendors/salespeople are... and it's not good. One would think that small family busisness would be the most kind and appreciative of customers, since those businesses (like mine) are kind of on their own- no big corporate conglomerate to bail them out if business isn't great.  But it seems that I get a Thank You more from the Big Guys like Arby's or Meijer's (grocery store).  Maybe b/c there's a script they are required to follow, maybe not.

Anyone else notice this?  I'm sure this lack of manners has been going on for quite some time, but I'm just realizing it now more than ever.  I think because I'm so used to thanking everyone all the time, I never stopped to realize that people are rarely saying Thank You or You're Welcome back.  Ugh.

Rant over.  For now...

On a cooler note- Kathy Griffin is coming to Fort Wayne, and I'm going- 5th row, baby! (I called the minute sales started)  Granted, I'm going to be about 3 weeks away from giving birth, but I just couldn't not go.  I think she's hilarious.  And from the 5th row I'll be able to see the loads of eyeliner and pancake makeup I'm sure she wears on stage.  Her reality show on Bravo is one of my guilty pleasures. 

New Meilenweit Bosco and Colortweed

SSYC has received our latest shipment of Meilenweit, so you'll now find all 10 of the Bosco colors in the store!  Also, we have two more colors from the popular Colortweed line and a replenished stock of Cotton Fantasy colors, and solid wool and cotton colors.

Also, there's a brand new colorway from Interlacements!  Color 215 is named Telemark and combines bright hues of red, orange (both a bright and rusty orange), yellow, lime green, yellow, pink and purple.  If I didn't have several projects on the needles already, I'd start a pair of socks with this.

I'm about to send out my Blooming Feet socks to my pal, but I am going to make a trip to the Cookie Cottage to put some tastiness in the package along with the socks.  If you are from this area, you know all about the wonderful cookies you can get here.  If you aren't familiar with the bustling metropolis (um, yeah) that is Fort Wayne then you need to go to the website and check out the iced sugar cookies.  I've never tasted anything like them.  But I will have me some later today- b/c you know I'm not just going to get some for my BF pal.... I'll need some too.  For quality control purposes of course.

Blooming Feet have arrived!

I received my Blooming Feet socks already!  I was so happy to find a nice little package on my front porch- I tore it open and found a lovely pair of socks knit by Margene.  The colors are perfect for me- dark blue and purple.  And the yarn, oh, the yarn, it's sooo soft.  She even knit a pair of baby socks for the little guy that's joining Joe and me in 10 weeks (yikes- that seems so soon)!  Aren't these just wonderful?  Margene also included other tidbits, including some Sleeping Dragon yarn (at right) tasty chocolate which was gone in 2 days... and no, I didn't share it and I didn't get a chance to take a picture.  I'm disappointed to say that these socks will have to be worn after the baby arrives, as my feet are sausages right now- even wider than usual.  And I don't want to stretch out these lovelies.

Thanks again to Amanda for hosting this exchange.  Even though she's super busy with her husband, kids, and many interests, she still finds time to organize Blooming Feet and Toasty Toes.  Without her, I wouldn't have met many of you.  It's odd how you can know so many people, but never meet them.  I've sent (and been sent) pictures, comments, e-mails, patterns, tips, and encouragement from so many knitters over the past couple years.  Each time I participate in a new exchange or comment on a new blog, I end up making a new knitting buddy.  It's something I didn't expect when I starting blogging about my store and knitting, but it's the best thing about it.

Last week was one looooong week here (you may have noticed there was only one blog post).  I've been inundated with yarn, yarn, yarn and orders, orders, orders.  It's wonderful to see so many knitters get so much tasty yarn.  I've been hoping to snag some as it comes in the doors, but it seems that no sooner do I put that perfect color on the website... then it's all sold out!  Lot's of yarn just came in from Artyarns, Meilenweit and Opal.  The Opal yarns we were out of are already on the website.  The rest of Meilenweit's Bosco collection arrived, so that should be on the site soon.  It'll take a bit longer for the Artyarns though, as we received lots of solid and variegated colors. Getting new pics and such will take a few more days.  But I can already tell that I will be knitting a lot of socks with this new (to SSYC) collection.  The yarn and the colorways are superb.

What a weekend!

Joe and I had a fabulous weekend- we got to meet our new nephew, Kyle Jacob!  Joe's sister gave birth to (over 8 pound) Kyle on Thursday, and we drove to Pittsburgh to meet the little guy.  He's so perfect!  Dark hair, tiny feet- and oh, how good those feet look clad in soft Koigu socks knit by Auntie Ali.  But even though I like the Koigu, it's not nearly as soft and luscious as a new baby.  He was really perfect.

The trip wasn't easy, as I'm now in my third trimester and sitting in any position for more than an hour (let alone the 7 it takes to get to Pittsburgh) is becoming uncomfortable.  But seeing Kyle, as spending a tad bit of time in PA was totally worth it.  I really like the city of Pittsburgh- there are some beautiful suburbs and neighborhoods, many museums, and the city's skyline is really cool- all those bridges and interesting steel architecture.  But that's about all we had the chance to see- we were only away for 30 hours, and 14 of that was spent driving!

Over the weekend, seems the link to the Fleece Artist Sea Wool stopped working.  My webmaster is looking into it, but in the meantime you can find the sea wool by typing "sea wool" (without the quotes) into the search field on the store's website.  I've had many a frantic e-mail wondering if it's all sold out- I don't blame you, it's gorgeous yarn.  While there aren't too many of each color left, I place large orders with my dyers so that we have it for awhile and so that we have lots in one dyelot for larger projects than socks.  I hate to advertise something to you all and have it sell out in a few short hours, so I do my best to make sure that doesn't happen.

For those of you who have been buying up the Online Beach Color sock yarn, it's now back in stock.  And if you haven't tried it yet, it's about the softest cotton blend yarn I've felt.  Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Flamingo Stripe colorway is also back.  That's the yarn that sold very quickly when Lorna's Laces introduced it in January.  Lorna's Laces donates 20% of the proceeds to breast cancer research (click the image at left if you want to get a closer look).

We have a winner!

And her name is.... Stacey!  And you should totally visit her blog and check out her recent entry about her Turkish Delight socks.  WOW.  Seriously.  You're my hero, Stacey.  Want to know about her favorite vacation?

"Favorite vacation - the beach. Every year we have a family trip to a beachy location (the outer banks or Delaware coast) and spend a week swimming and playing with the kids. Fun fun."

Stacey, E-mail me what color of Interlacements Tiny Toes yarn you would like- we just got in a new shipment this week, so we're restocked- and there will be a new color, 215, up shortly.

Chances of winning this contest were greater than usual b/c we had about 1/3 the normal amount of entries!  And I don't limit the number of contests you can win- if your number gets randomly picked for several contests, then you win them- I don't limit you to just one win.  What fun would that be?

Did you sign up for Sockapalooza on Alison's blog yet?  As of this post, over 700 people have signed up and I think that sign ups are going to close soon....  Uh, and have you seen that she has written a BOOK??  A Harry Potter inspired knit pattern book.  And she just had a baby.  Whoa.

Fleece Artist Sea Wool

Brand new sock yarn is always lovely.  But when Fleece Artist comes out with a spankin' new yarn, that's something to really be happy about!  SSYC now has Fleece Artist's new Sea Wool yarn in stock in 19 hand dyed colorways.  The yarn won't be linked on the store's website until later today, so you get a preview through the blog at the link here.

What is Sea Wool?  Well, if you have knit with/touched/read about Fleece Artist's popular Sea Silk, you know a little bit about how wonderful the Seacell fiber is to work with.  FA has now combined Seacell with washable wool to create a new yarn base, and it is be-u-ti-ful.  It's soft, takes dye wonderfully, and has a nice sheen.

Seacell is created from cellulose and seaweed promotes wicking of moisture and the exchange of minerals between the fiber and the skin.  Basically, it feels soft, comfortable, and lets those tootsies breathe.  And here I just thought it was purty.

Take a look at a few of the Sea Wool colors, Hercules, Pinata and Rose Garden:

And as if that wasn't enough, we have the new Opal Neon line and the newest special edition colorway, Herbstmelodie (Autumn Melody).  Pictures really don't do justice to the colors of the Neon- the color saturation is perfect and the colors are vivid while not being overdone.  I'm in love with the Herbstmelodie- gorgeous autumnal colors!  Again, all this yarn won't be linked at the website until later, so you get an early peak by clicking on Neon or Herbsmelodie here on the blog.

Wait... don't go off looking at all the new yarn yet... there are new Fleece Artist Merino colorways, as well as a restocking of previously sold out colorways.  In addition to the new Peridot, Blackberry and Popsicle shown below, we also have these colorways back in stock: Autumn, Cornflower, Glacier, Lily Pond, Mermaid, Moss,  Marine,  Nova Scotia, Pale Pink, Polar Sea, and Rose Garden.  Many of these sold out within 24 hours of our last shipment!

Can you get intoxicated by fiber fumes?  If so.... yikes.

No Pringles Here....

At least not any more.  Because I ate the entire can for breakfast.  Well, let me clarify- I had a respectable breakfast of a cup of decaf, peach yogurt, and whole wheat bagel.... and then an hour later went to Walgreens and bought a can of Pringles (among other things) and then proceeded to eat the entire thing.  Did I feel bad about it?  A tad.  Am over it and pondering dinner?  Yep.

I have somehow been able to get away with not gaining a bit of weight during my first 6 months of pregnancy, even thought I felts like I was eating a lot.  Now I'm about to reach month 7, and I've gained 8 pounds in a couple weeks.  I have a feeling that all the eating I did in San Francisco helped that.  But I did tons of walking too.  Apparently not enough to balance out the chocolate croissants, iced coffee and muffins, huge breakfasts (Dottie's anyone?), and oh-so-many nice dinners.  The little guy and I ate well.

  I visited several yarn stores, and my favorite was Imagiknit.  They had a nice selection of sock yarn, gorgeous beaded lace weight silk from Artyarns, and cute accessories.  I also visited Atalier, Artfibers, and a couple others.  I was surprised to find that many places had alot of empty space and could have fit a lot more yarn in their stores.  That always surprises me when I walk into a yarn store and see bare floor and/or wall space.  I mean, most of us knitters are hungry for yarn, and I was armed with a credit card that wanted to be used.  I might have to make a trip up to Lansing to Threadbare Fiber Arts.  I haven't been there yet (only when they were in Indiana), and I hear that place is a sight to behold.

So yes, San Francisco was very nice.  I did lots of eating, shopping. walking, saw Blades of Glory (Boom!), drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, saw my first Redwood.  And while all that was great, it made me appreciate home even more- and Joe, who spent the better part of his spring break (he's a teacher, so he had spring break) painting the downstairs sunroom/den, waxing the hardwoods floors, and completing projects with fumes that I can't be around in my delicate *ahem* time.

Now that I'm back in Fort Wayne, it's back to business as usual.  Though there aren't many usual days around here anymore.  I came back to oh-so-many orders, which was wonderful!  Thank you!  And since then many of you have taken advantage of the sale yarn that I hinted about before I left.  If you haven't checked it out yet, take a look.  I also returned to find that almost a half ton of yarn had been delivered!  So that's what I'll be concentrating on this week, and I'll let you know when new yarn is up.  You'll find many Lorna's Laces colors have returned already including Blackberry, Carrot, Carol Green, Cranberry, Natural, Old Rose, Pine, Pewter, Bittersweet, Georgetown, Mineshaft, Mt. Creek, and our specially dyed colorway the SSYC Stripe.  I'm also expecting a large shipment of the Flamingo Stripe yarn, which sold out in a matter of days when it came out a couple months ago.  It's the yarn that Lorna's Laces donated 20% of the proceeds to breast cancer research.