Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Step One: Done

We have officially finished painting the family room.  I love the color.  My first thought was to duplicate the Lagoon color from the last Sock Yarn Club, but we decided to go with something much more pale and green- something that reminds me of beach glass.  I adore it.

Now, I have to consider curtains. We have a couch and chair, but now that the room is a different color, the couch just looks like ash tray sand next to the walls, instead of the loden green it once did.  And I agree with several of the comments from last week's post- that you wouldn't put drapes on the windows. We get very little traffic on the road in front of our house (cars and buggies), and we have been without any window coverings for the past year and a half, so I know I could do without.  But I think I'm going to go with some gauzy, white, floor length sheers on the window.  The only thing giving me pause is the kind of hardware that should be used.  There are odd angles between all the windows and I don't think that normal rods with finnials would fit there.  There just isn't enough room between windows.  Anyone have any creative ideas for this? Or ideas on where to find a nice array of window hardware?

Lest you think that I haven't moved the furniture back into the pictured part of the room... there is no furniture there.  Most of the room is empty, as we have only a couch, chair and James' little kitchen in the back part of the room.  I'm thinking a piano would look fabulous in this area surrounded by windows. I grew up taking piano lessons, and when Joe and I moved in together I sold my piano to pay the bills.  I'll have to scour Craig's List for the next few years to find a cheap one b/c it would be really nice to have that hobby in my life again.  I would like James to take lessons too, should he want to.  What age did you start your kids (or did you start) piano lessons?  I think I started when I was 6, but I know I've seen younger kids playing well.  Did you "force" them to practice?  I remember having to practive every day, and I think I had to be sternly encouraged to actually do so.

View from Today's "Desk"

Finally, finally, FINALLY.  Spring has really arrived.  It's almost 80 degrees here in NE Indiana today, and boy am I enjoying it.  I've decided that today's a good day to work outside, now that I've got all your orders packed, so I've got my laptop outside and can work while enjoying the be-a-utiful weather.

Isn't it great how a gorgeous day can completely change your mood?  How spring rings of promise and opprotunity?  My parents and Joe's were all teachers, and so summer brought with it a complete change in lifestyle.  And because Joe is carrying on that fine tradition, he too has the summers off.  I hope summers are a magical time for James too.

When I was a kid, my summers revolved around water.  Weekdays were spent biking to the pool and eating licorice rope and Sweet Tarts at the neighborhood pool, and weekends were spent with my grandparents at their cottage on Coldwater Lake.  And even through high school and college, summer was a time for change; a fun new job or internship, friends to come home to...   I like looking back on those times, but much prefer life now.

This summer we have planned our first "family vacation," and I can't wait to introduce James to Michigan lakes.  What are you looking forward to this summer?

Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

When you gift a pair of socks, how do you fit them properly for the person you are knitting them for?  Do you sneakily ask a question about shoe size?  And once you get their shoe size, is there a chart available somewhere or a resource that tells a knitter what size shoe is what length sock?  Preferably a reliable one that you have tried before.

Help!

Stuck on Sizes

*                     *                       *

Help a knitter (or in this case 'knitters' as I've had this question several times recently) out and answer the question in the comments below.  Have a question you'd like answered here?  E-mail service@simplysockyarn.com and title it "Ask the Knitters."  Your question could be chosen for the blog.

Finally taking the plunge

I've finally chosen a paint color for our family room.  Didn't I write about this over a year ago?  How our entire "new" house is builder beige and I can't take it?  Well, I've finally chosen colors for the three main rooms on the first floor of the house and one would think that one could just start painting, right?  Well, not so much.

Our last house was almost 90 years old.  With that came a host of problems- from crumbling plaster walls to sewer overflows in the basement.  And we thought that buying a newer home would alleviate those pesky problems.  Turns out.... not so much.  We have more drywall problems in this house than we ever had in our old one.  It could be that in our old house we didn't care as much; we considered that the "charm" of an older home.  But since this is likely to be our foverer-house, we are making things perfect from the beginning.

We have many windows in the family room of the house (10, or 16 if you count the double windows separately- anyone know where to get cheap curtains?!) and in each corner between the windows you will find a corner that has busted drywall.  And none are right angles.  Needless to say, we hired out the job of fixing these walls, even though Joe prides himself on being able to do all the work on his house.  I had a lot to do with this decision... I just knew that if the corners were wavy in any way that I would pester Joe about it for the rest of his life. And no marriage needs that.

So after 4 days of drywall work, we are finally at the painting stage.  And I have to say that this is the least painless work I've ever lived through on a home.  It's not nearly as dusty as I expect, and I can see how perfect the corners are.  And our plaster/painted guy (do they have an actual title?) is meticulous.  That makes me very happy.  So hopefully by next week, the family room will be complete and I can enjoy my freshly painted room.  Or move on to the kitchen....

If you've lived in both old and new houses, have you found the same thing as me: However old your home is, there's always something that needs to be done.  Do you ever just sit back and relax and enjoy?

New Sock Yarn Club!

I'm so happy to tell you that I've ironed out the details of SSYC's newest Sock Yarn Club, and it's now available on the website!  This newest club is dubbed the Coveted Club because I've managed to secure three dyers that seem to be the ones that you most want from me right now.  Each dyer is designing a special edition multicolor skein that will be available only through this club.  One of the featured yarns will be Dream in Color's Starry yarn, but the other two won't be revealed until you open your box!

The club yarns will ship in July, August and September, and I realize this is 2 months away, but to get these busy folks to dye in the quantities I need I had to give some extra time.  This isn't mass production here; this is painstaking artistry and takes a bit of time, you know?  So sign up now to secure your space.  I'll try to keep sign ups open for at least a week, but will take the club off the website once the spaces sell out.  Keep in mind that to be properly enrolled, the club can be the only thing on your order.  Please place a separate order for other items that you might want today.

We had a nice long weekend with family in PA- a fun birthday party for our nephew, a great Easter morning (James got an entire WHEELBARROW full of Easter gifts, not just a basket from Grandma and Grandpa), and plenty of time to relax.  I finally sewed in the ends of the yarn in my Gradience sock (in the Joy colorway), and have already cast on the second sock.  BTW, I found the yarn to be on the slim side of fingering weight, similar in gauge to Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, so I used US 0 needles instead of the US 1 I usually use for socks.  It took a bit longer to knit the socks, but well worth it b/c I want a firm fabric that will hold up to wear.

And what did I arrive back to this fine Monday morning?  Several boxes from Hand Maiden by Fleece Artist.  Hand Maiden is Fleece Artist's luxury line, and I have a fabulous deal for you on their special Merino/Angel Hair bundles.  This is Fleece Artist's popular Merino Sock yarn, bundled with a skein of Hand Maiden's Angel Hair (Kid/Nylon blend) yarn.  You can knit the two together into a luxurious, soft sock.  Or you can knit two complimentary projects using the skeins separately.  There's even a free sock pattern if you e-mail service@simplysockyarn.com after your purchase.  These bundles usually go for $32 each, but I have them for you for almost 40% off- just $19.50 each!  I have 8 colorways available in the sale section now, and many more colors on the way- that is, if they don't get caught up any longer in Customs.  Shown below are Safari, Smoke and Brick, all new colors.

Closing for a few days

I just wanted to warn everyone that the store will be closing for a few days, as we spend some time with our family this Easter holiday.  We will be closing on Thursday, April  9 and will reopen on Monday, April 13.  All orders placed during this time will start going out on Monday.  Same for calls and e-mails; those will be returned starting Monday as well.  I appreciate your patience as we spend some time with our loved ones.... and watch James hunt frantically for chocolate eggs!

I received several e-mails requesting that I get the scarf pattern from my previous post.  Penny has allowed me to share it with you, and she reveals that it's very easy.  She was simply playing around with dropped stitches, and she says this,

"Oh, now I’m really going to sound stupid.  All I did was long-tail cast on of 61 stitches on size 3 needles, knit across and purl back until I almost ran out of yarn, then dropped stitches and pulled them out to leave a 1/3/1 pattern of knit stitches and whip-stitched the ends.  I was trying to teach myself dropped stitches.  The yarn really does all the work."

Why does she think she will sound stupid?!  It's a cool idea, and not only did she learn something new, but she produced a cool looking scarf that has many knitters intrigued!  It seems smart to me to put in the least amount of effort to produce the best result, don't you think? (click on the picture to see the detail)

Please note that the color, Fuschia, that Penny used has completely sold out.  She's started a bit of a craze.  I do have the other colors of Zauberball though, and hope to get more Fuschia soon.

So I'd like to know what you all do for Easter traditions.  Joe and I will definitely celebrate the whole bunny/decorating eggs/searching for eggs part of the affair (though this ridiculous SNOW in APRIL might curtail that this year), and you all always have lovely stories about things that made holidays special for you.  Are there certain things you do with your kids or things that you did as a child that made this time special?  Please share!

Unique Sheep's Gradience & Zauberball Sock Yarn

It's been a whirlwind of a week!  It began with the arrival of Dream in Color's Starry yarn, and is ending with the arrival of two new yarns: Unique Sheep's Gradience sock yarn sets and Schoppel Wolle's Zauberball!

The Unique Sheep is the small dyeing operation of Kelley and Laura.  By browsing through their Gradience Sock selection, you can see they are experts with color.  What sets their Gradience yarn apart from other small dyers is that they dye 4 small skeins, and each skein blends into the next, providing a change in color from cuff to toe.  Each Gradience Sock set comes with 4 small skeins, each 25 grams.  And there's even a free pattern (it's a pdf) available to show you how to transition from one color to the next.  You can then add your own stitch pattern if you like, to jazz it up a bit.  I'm knitting a 3x1 seed stitch rib right now in the Joy colorway.

And because I love the idea of the Gradience sets so much, I even have 5 colors of merino/silk scarf sets for you (and, admittedly, me).  Each scarf kit comes with the yarn and pattern in a tidy little carrying case.

And if THAT wasn't enough, I have all 9 colors of the new Zauberball sock yarn in stock right now!  This yarn is similar to the super popular Crystal Palace Mini Mochi (which I can't get more of for another month *sob*).  It's one-ply and slowly changes in color as you knit in the round.  Take a look at the entire collection here, and click on the small pic to see a knit-up sock in each color.

My knitting-friend Penny recently knit a scarf in the Fuchsia colorway, and she says it's "like wearing a soft tropical sunset around my neck.  This has been a horribly grey, cold, long, wet, snowy winter and the shock of color is really welcome this spring."  Isn't her scarf lovely?  And it's a pattern that she just made up on the fly.