Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Oh my....

Thanks for such a great response to the Sock Yarn club!  I've been quite overwhelmed over the past 24 hours getting everyone enrolled and sending out the insane amount of orders for the new SSYC special edition colorway and other yarn.  It's been a whopper of a day!  The club has a few spaces left, and I'm putting a small link on the bottom of the homepage, b/c some internet browsers are blocking the links in the e-mails I sent out.  I just want to make sure that those of you that want to be a part of it can get in before it fills.

If you haven't already, e-mail service@simplysockyarn.com with your shipping address if you enrolled in the club.  This is just a way of double checking the records and making sure that those that are in the club will get their yarn at the right place. 

I'll be away from the blog for the next several days trying to keep up with all the questions and orders from the past day.  But when I return to blogging next week, I'll show pics of my completed Sockapalooza socks!

Have a great weekend!

SSYC Sock Yarn Club and more!

Alright, sock knitters- the SSYC Sock Yarn Club is now available!  Due to the nature of the sock yarn club, there is limited space available.  This club focuses on three small yarn dyers, so each skein takes time and effort to produce, thus making large numbers of participants more difficult.

The details of the club are provided in the links below, but also know that to be enrolled, the club can be the ONLY thing in your cart at Check Out.  If you want to purchase other items, then it has to be in a separate order for your club order to actually be counted.  Also be sure to e-mail service@simplysockyarn.com with your shipping address once your place your order.  This will help me double check that everyone is enrolled properly.

I'm so excited about the colorways that Dream in Color, Spunky Eclectic, and Sleeping Dragon are designing specially for the 3-month club.  I just can't wait to knit them up!  And I have to say, I think the cost of the club is quite reasonable.  It's only $82 for US customers (more for international b/c of the shipping), because I chose to focus on the yarn, and not on patterns or gadgets that you can get anywhere, anytime.  There are so many free patterns available on the internet, and rather than upping the price so that the yarn comes with a pattern, I thought it better to keep the price low so more knitters could afford to participate.

Click here for the sock club that ships to the US

Click here for the club that ships outside of the US

Since our 2nd Anniversary arrives in early June, I'm now making available the Special Edition colorway from Cherry Tree Hill!  Only 100 of these will be available.

And there's more.... SSYC has the latest Opal Collection- Crazy.  It's different from other collections because not only does the pattern on the socks run horizontally, but also diagonally.  It looks very interesting!

For those of you looking for a great deal, check out the Sale section.  I've just added more Opal yarn, as well as Online Highland and Walking color.  I was able to get some good deals on yarn, and I've passed it right along to you.

Socks for you?

I've finished my Sleeping Dragon socks in the Roses and Chocolate colorway!  What do you think? All 16 of the Sleeping Dragon colorways should be here in about 2 weeks.  I'm really happy with how this yarn knit up.  It striped slightly, but in an unpredictable manner- and for a colorway that just has two colors in it, I'm pretty pleased with that.  I knit these socks using US 1 DP needles and I did something similar to the Thuja pattern, only a cast on 56 stitches, I believe.  These are for (approximately) size 7 feet, and since my size 10 feet are not going to fit these, I thought I would give them away!  So if you have feet on the small size, around a size 7 or 7.5, then leave a comment below before Friday and I'll randomly choose a winner from those who comment.  I'll then announce the winner at the end of the week.

I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday weekend (it was Memorial Day, for those not in the US).  Did you grill out?  Spend time with family?  The weather here was great, so I spent two days at a friend's pool, and it was wonderful!  I felt weightless and unpregnant... until I stepped out of the pool and the full weight of being this huge hit me.  I'm almost in my 9th month.  I really am feeling good, except it's getting harder to sleep at night.  And I want to eat all the time.  I'm never full!  I'll eat just about anything at this point.  In fact, I think it's snack time now...

Oh, and the Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn? Selling out quickly.  Many of the colors are gone, but more will arrive again in late June.  I wish I would have snagged some for myself before it sold out!

Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn

Ah, Dream in Color yarn.  It really is wonderful.  Look at it all snuggled up together; though I have a feeling it all won't be so tightly packed in there by the end of the day.  But I ordered quite a bit so that you wouldn't be searching for yarn that had already sold out.

Right now, we have all 24 colors of Smooshy Sock Yarn in the 100, 200 and 300 series.  It's really hard to capture the subtle color differences with a two dimensional image.  When you get this yarn in your hot little hands, you'll know what I mean.  While the pictures well represent the colors in the yarn, the nuances and slight variations are somewhat lost to the lens.  The yarn colorways really are nicely designed and dyed.  And NO pooling!  Really!

Already, I've finished on of my Dream in Color socks for my Sockapalooza Pal.  What, you want a pic?  I'll post one soon, I promise.  It looks like lots of the 1000 people that are participating in Sockapalooza are quite a way through their socks right now, if not already finished!  Leave a link to your socks in progress below cuz I'd like to check them out!

**The CTH Special Edition colorway and info about the sock yarn club will be here on the blog and e-mailed out in the middle of next week, so check here or your e-mail boxes!

New Online Supersocke Tropic Color Yarn

I've added another Online Supersocke collection to the store, the Tropic Color Collection.  This is a wool blend in bright, fun colors.  The cost of Online yarn is going up a bit (about 50 cents) because the USD isn't doing so well compared to the Euro, but Online's 100 gram skeins are still a great deal- it's about $2 cheaper than Meilenweit 100 grams skeins, and about $6 cheaper than Opal 100 gram skeins!

I've gotten lots of e-mails inquiring about the tiny mention of the sock yarn club in my previous blog post.  Here are a few answers: Yes, I'm serious- I'm not going to tease you like that. After almost 2 years of suggestions that I do a sock yarn club, I'm doing it!  It will only be a themed 3-month club, open for a limited time, so check the blog or sign up for the newsletter here.  And like all other info about sales and new yarn, I post first on the blog, and then send out e-mails to the newsletter list.  Blog readers always get a head start on stuff.  It's just a perk of reading my boring ramblings!  Because I expect the club to sell out rather quickly, I am not putting a direct link to it on the SSYC website.  You can find the link here on the blog or if you are on the e-mail list, and I will likely post it in a couple forums.

More Sock Yarn....

I'm so glad you all are as excited about the Special Edition Cherry Tree Hill Colorway as I am!  And to answer your questions, there won't be preorders, but the yarn will go the website in about a week (before June).  I'll give you a heads up here before I sent out e-mails to those that are on our list.  You might also want to keep your eyes peeled for news about a Sock Yarn Club.... and that's all I'm sayin'....

I want to clue you in to another new sock yarn that SSYC will be carrying in a couple weeks- Dream in Color, Smooshy Sock Yarn.  Have you heard of it yet?  If you read the Harlot's blog, then likely you know about this yarn.  What's unique about is is the hand dyeing process used; it's veil dyed, which creates a yarn that, according to the ladies at Dream in Color, doesn't pool or landscape.  Aw, yeah.  Take a look at all the lovely colors that are available- and soon, SSYC will have them all!

I'm really excited about this yarn.  As I've mentioned numerous times, I prefer to knit with sock yarns that don't pool in a very noticeable way.  Partially because I like to use lace and other sock patterns that don't show well with pooling and striping, and partially because I just like a random color distribution.  And I've been knitting up a sample for the past couple days, using a mock cable pattern, and SEE, NO POOLING!!!  Not even as I increased and decreased for the heel.  Mark my words, this yarn will be in many an online store in a matter of months- especially after it's shown at TNNA (a trade conference) in early June.

As much as I want to keep this sock, while knitting it I realize that the color (330- Dusky Aurora) would be perfect for my Sockapalooza pal.  She mentioned that she doesn't mind thicker socks, and Smooshy Sock Yarn is definitely on the thicker side of fingering weight.  While I normally knit with a US 1 needles, I knit this sock with a US 1.5, and even went up to a US 2 for the slipped stitch heel (my pal likes a little extra room so I cheated and just used a slightly larger needle).  I could have easily knit the whole sock with a US 2 needle (which is unheard of for me), but I wanted a dense fabric so the socks would really hold up to wear.  The pattern I used is the Yarn Over Cable from Sensational Knitted Socks.  I've knit that same pattern before, about a year ago, when I first knit with Schaefer Anne, though I used a US 0 for that sock. This one is obviously going a quite a bit faster!  And that's good, b/c I want to get these finished well before the end of June, so that I can get them to my pal before the baby puts a kink in things.

And even though life is hectic and the coming baby puts a time crunch on things, I've joined the Knitters Tea Swap for the second year.  I really had a great time with the last one, I received some great gifts from Susan, and I got to know Cynthia better b/c she was my pal.  I couldn't not join this round!  And who do I get for my exchange pal (it's not a secret!), but DAVE!  I swear, Dave and I are linked cosmically somehow because he's won blog contests here before, and he was the person I shipped to for the last Yarn Aboard.  So I'm going to search the cultural mecca that is Fort Wayne for luscious teas and cakes.  It's not going to be hard though, because we have a really nice tea shop here (and I worked there in high school and college, so I know what's super tasty).

Seacoast Handpainted Sock Yarn

I mentioned in last night's post that Seacoast Handpainted Yarn would soon be available, and it now is!  You can only find it though the blog right now, as the links one the SSYC website won't go up til later.  So here's where you find the Panda Sock and the Merino/Tencel Sock a bit early.  I think all the colors are quite nice, but my favorites are below: Merino/Tencel in Silver and Gold, Panda Sock in Coal and Fire, and Panda Sock in Reef

And here's a super cool preview for you.  You might remember last year that Fleece Artist dyed 100 skeins of a special edition colorway to commemorate Simply Socks Yarn Company's first anniversary.  This year, Cherry Tree Hill has done the same, and dyed 100 skeins of a colorway that they interpreted from our logo colors of chocolate browns and pinks.  This will be available in early June.  I'm smitten.  What do you think?

Better get a bucket...

Oh my.  Have you ever eaten so much that even drinking a sip of water seems like its going to put you over the edge?  Like in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life when the gluttonous man at the table eats so much that the "wafer thin" mint makes him, well, you know.  And if you don't know?  Rent it.  And then you'll understand the title of this post.

Joe and I just returned from Pizza Hut.  Not just any Pizza Hut... the Pizza Hut dinner buffet.  Where, for less than $7, you eat greasy pizza like a freak.  I'd never been to the dinner buffet before, but apparently I felt like going nuts, because I just finished eating 5 pieces of pizza, 3 cheesy breaksticks, a salad, and part of a piece of dessert pizza.  I think that the baby has probably been flattened to the size of a pancake.  And I'm fine with that b/c it was go-od. 

The friendly woman working the counter at the Hut says to me, "Wow, there are all sorts of you pregnant ladies here tonight!"  Cuz we're all hot, tired, and want copious amounts of food to choose from and no clean up to do afterward.  And if we're really lucky we have a Joe who goes up to the buffet for you to fight the line cutters to get the piece of cheese pizza that actually has cheese on it.  He was actually elbowed out of the way by a 7 year old boy whose mother did NOTHING about it.  Ah, love.  Had that happened to me there would have been a smackdown.

So I have new yarn to share with you, likely tomorrow.  Seacoast Handpainted Yarn in Panda Sock (merino wool, bamboo and nylon), and Merino/Tencel (which is just what the name says).  I chose cool and unique color combos for our first batch from Holly, who is an indie dyer in New Hampshire.  I'll let you know when it's available!

Some new things...

I have a few things to share today, first off... the Spring Newsletter!  I'm really happy that I got the chance to interview Alison Hansel, author of the Blue Blog and the new book Charmed Knits, in this newsletter.  And she's also the person who invented Sockapaloooza, which I (and many of you) are participating in this year.  To learn more about Alison, check out the newsletter below, and then surf over to her blog, if you haven't before.  Looks like today she's knitting one of my favorite patterns, Embossed Leaves from IK.

Download Vol3Issue2.pdf

If you haven't noticed already, we have many colors of Crystal Palace Panda Cotton back in stock, in both solids and multicolors.  I'm expecting even more colors (new ones!) to arrive in a couple weeks too.

I'm sure you have heard about the increase in USPS postage, which went into effect this week.  Not only is the USPS raising prices across the board for stamps and package shipping, but boxes are now charged by their size and weight, not just the weight.  Not good for yarn, because while it may not weigh much (good for the old program) it's lofty and takes up quite a bit of room in boxes (bad for the new program).  I'm reticent to increase SSYC's shipping rates drastically right now, because until I can analyze exactly how this increase is going to affect SSYC, I'm not going to assign an arbitrary price to our flat rate postage.  It's not fair to anyone.  Especially international customers (who are really going to be affected by the USPS rate increase).  So I'm going to analyze how this rate affects SSYC over the next month before making significant changes to the international prices.  Here's the change you might like to know about right now:

USPS Priority Mail is free with orders of $50 or more (as it has always been), and for orders under $50, shipping is now $4.60.  Shipping used to be $4.05, but the USPS increased the minimum Priority Mail rate from $4.05 to $4.60.

Since SSYC opened, we've seen two increases in postage from the USPS.... ah, remember the days of a Priority Mail box only costing $3.85?!  Next thing you know eggs will cost $4 a dozen.

New Lexie Barnes "Flo" Bags

Take a look at what just came in and tell me that these aren't cool!  SSYC sold out of the fabrics we preciously carried of the Flo bag, and now we have three new fabrics from Lexie Barnes.  Not only are they cool, but the bags are 25% off now until the end of May, or sooner if I sell out and can't get more in immediately. So if you are in the market, or just can't go without, a cool project bag for your sock project (or two, or another medium sized project) then I've got something for you.  The three fabrics are below: Baja, Bali Hai, and Viona

Want a deal on yarn?  Then check out the sale section, because Cherry Tree Hill found more of last year's dyelots of Supersock Solids in their warehouse, and sent them our way.  So find them for only $13 a skein.  Again, as before, this is first quality Supersock merino yarn, it's simply from 2006 and so you get a deal.  Shown below: Amethyst, Nantucket Red, Cherry

I have so much more to share- a new shipment of Crystal Palace Panda Cotton that will likely be on the site tomorrow, the Spring SSYC Newsletter, and project progress (wait, is there any??)... but I'm exhausted at the moment and am having trouble typing!  It's been quite a looong day of shipments coming in and out, new yarn, new accessories....trails... off... eyes... drooping...

Single Socks Looking for Mates

I'll probably get all sorts of spam from the faux provocative title of this post, but oh well!  I really do have two single socks right now without mates, and I always try to finish up a pair of socks before starting a new pair because I know me... I'll just "forget" about the single sock for about a year so that I can keep trying new yarn!  I would never get a pair done if I didn't give myself little rules.

So what do I have on the needles right now that is keeping me from starting my Sockapalooza socks?  First, a new superwash merino yarn that SSYC will be carrying in about a month, Sleeping Dragon Yarn.  It just so happened that around the time Margene gifted me with a wonderful skein of Sleeping Dragon yarn in dk weight, that Karen (the talented dyer in Utah behind Sleeping Dragon) send me a sample skein of her fingering weight yarn in the colorway Roses and Chocolate.  I immediately started knitting the yarn up that night and I placed an order for all 16 of her hand painted colorways because it's just really, really nice.  One of the things I like about this sock yarn is that even though this colorway is basically just 2 colors, there isn't lots of pooling or striping that you would expect in a colorway that isn't broken up by several colors.  I mean, there is some striping, especially in the second sock (not shown yet), but I like that the way this is knitting up is unpredictable and each sock, while from the same skein (a generous 450 yards!), has it's own "flavor."

The second mateless sock I have going is for my OBGYN.  Seriously.  There can be quite a wait when going to my frequent baby-check-up appointments, and so I always have a sock project with me.  My doc showed interest every time I was in there, and particularly admired these socks, so I asked what her foot size was and I joked that I'd knit her socks in exchange for a baby.  Surprise, surprise, actually getting that baby is still going to cost me a pretty penny.  Who'd a thunk that I couldn't just trade a pair of socks for 10 months of specialized care?  So I'm knitting for her a pair of socks using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Poppy.  The pattern is the Waving Lace Socks from IK's Favorite Socks book.

Thanks to those of you participating in Sockapalooza who left links in the last comment section.  I'm looking forward to seeing what others are doing.  I swear I'll get going on mine as soon as I get these other two projects wrapped up.  FYI, I interviewed Alison Hansel (who started Sockapaloooza and wrote Charmed Knits) for the upcoming SSYC newsletter.  She has a brand new baby, twins, a super-popular blog, a new book about Harry Potter inspired knit patterns, another book project planned, and still finds time to knit and indulge admirers like me with an interview.  I'm tired just thinking about her past year's accomplishments.  The newsletter will be e-mailed out early next week and I'll also put a link to it here on the blog, so don't miss it!

Interlacements Toasty Toes is Back!

Judy Ditmore is one busy lady, but she has found some time in her busy touring schedule to dye us some more Interlacements Toasty Toes!  So check out some of the colors of this dk weight yarn that we now have back in stock, including the following: 202- The Blues, 211- Renaissance, 212-Woodland, 252- Purple, 407-Tapestry, and 402-Taiga.  All Interlacements yarn comes with a free basic pattern, and the Toasty Toes skein is a very generous 1/2 pound skein- enough for 2 pairs of socks or a small shawl.  Shown at left: 202-The Blues

So did anyone have an exciting weekend?  If so, tell me all about it b/c I would love to live vicariously.  Mine wasn't too eventful, but I'm really looking forward to this coming weekend, as my friend Lilly is throwing my baby shower!  My sister is flying in from Philadelphia, friends are driving in from southern Indiana and Tennessee, and we're going to have a fabulous girl weekend.  Of course, my weekend won't include martinis or anything like that, but it's going to be so cool to see everyone and hang out.  That and the fact that my mom is going to be there, healthy and cancer free- the weekend will rock.

Anyone else doing Sockapalooza 4?  Have you decided on yarn or pattern?  If so, link your blog below b/c I want to check out what you're doing!  It's such a huge event, that there's no way that I will be looking at all 1000 blogs (unless I get put on bedrest, knock on wood), but I would like to have 10-20 that I read and follow.

More Sale Sock Yarn!

I've just added more sock yarn to the sale section of the store! 25%-40% off some Regia and Opal yarn.  For some of these there is only one ball available, so look at the notes next to the small pics to see if that's the case for the yarn you're looking at.

And while there is a diminished amount available, there is still some of the Crystal Palace Kid Merino available in the sale section as well.  SSYC is no longer carrying this yarn, as I'm making room for more indie dyers for the summer.  There are a couple free patterns for the Kid Merino, and I've linked them below:

http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/KidMerino-socks2.html

http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/KidMerino-socks1.html

Of course, those are nice general patterns as well, not just for the Kid Merino (which you knit doubled for those patterns) but also for regular fingering weight sock yarns.  The picture above is of a child's size sock I knit a couple years ago using the Kid Merino (two different shades held together for a heathered effect) using the second pattern linked above.

Artyarns Ultramerino 4 Yarn

I've added a new yarn to the store, Artyarns Ultramerino 4.  It's a very, very nice 100% merino fingering weight yarn, comes is many variegated and solid colors, and the colors are designed by Iris Schreier, the author and pattern designer.  Iris sent me a sample skein of color 101 awhile back, and the sock knit up very well, was super soft, and didn't pool in an obnoxious or distracting way (I'll try to remember to take a picture to post here).... I know, many of you like the pooling, as it's often a result of hand painting yarn, but I prefer a more random mix of color.  So the short color bursts are a plus for me as they tend to create a sock that has a more random distribution of color- at least when I knit.  But, back to the yarn...

SSYC has over 30 colors, and I'll be ordering more.  On the website, you'll notice that for each variegated color I've listed the solid colors that I believe coordinate with them- these aren't color combos are that are suggested by Iris or Artyarns; these are my personal recommendations using the solid colors that comprise the multicolors.  That way, if you want to knit variegated socks with coordinating solid color toes and heels, or knit a shawl with a combination of variegated and solid colors, you'll know which colors coordinate without having to guess from your if-y monitor.  When I start a project, I have the luxury of seeing all these colors, and walking back and forth between them to choose exactly the colors I think will achieve the effect I want.  Unfortunately, you all don't necessarily have that option, so I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for you.  Of course, you're always welcome to e-mail me and ask questions about coordinating colors too.  And below?  A few of my favorites, colors 154, 217, and 134:

About Monday's rant and your comments- I totally agree with the cell phone thing.  I resisted getting a cell phone until two years ago, and I still rarely use it.  I do like to have it on road trips, and to take with me when I'm going out, just in case, but I don't have it turned on when I go out, and I certainly don't use it as an accessory to be seen and heard.  I think part of the reason I'm not that attached to my cell phone is that most of my workday involves passive communication. I have many e-mail and phone conversations, but in my work I don't talk to people face-to-face very often.  When I go to the bank/post office/grocery store, I get to actively engage in at least a basic conversation. Of course, there are exceptions to everything- I have an inkling that when I'm a mom and have to multitask more, that I may rely on the convenience of a cell phone.  But I hope I don't project my voice so that everyone in the post office knows that I'M SO PISSED AT MONICA RIGHT NOW BECAUSE SHE ATE THE LAST YOGURT SQUEEZE / TOLD TYLER I WAS OUT WITH RYAN / RUINED MY FAVORITE FLIP FLOPS, YES-THE ONES WITH THE RHINESTONES.