Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Dream Club from Dream in Color Yarns

I have something very special to share with you.  Dream in Color has just released their new concept, The Dream Club.  What is this?  Each month from August (I got the August shipment today so you get to snag it a day early) until May 2010 I'll have for you a special "club kit" that includes a special edition color of Dream in Color yarn and a free pattern.  August's kit includes a Flash Dyed colorway called Rose Smash, dyed on the Smooshy yarn base that I adore.  What's Flash Dyed?  It's a method of dyeing that Veronica came up with to created vivid, well saturated colorways that are more flashy than her other Veil Dyed skeins.  Veil Dyeing involves a lot of layering, while Flash Dyeing features flashes of unapologetic color.

The free pattern that comes with this skein is the Airy Hat, and requires US 3 dp needles and a tapestry needle.  If you are new to hats, this is a great introduction.  Not only will you learn a new technique, but it's a way to use your favorite fingering weight sock yarns for projects other than socks. And it takes just half of the skein, so you could make matching mitts, or make a second hat out of the same skein.

 

Please keep in mind that these kits will likely sell quickly each month, and while I'd love to have enough for everyone, I don't know how it will play out.  I'm not taking any preorders at this time for the upcoming months (which will feature various yarn bases and patterns), and you don't have to purchase the whole 10 months- you can just purchase them one at at time.  That way, you can decide for yourself which ones you like best, and basically create your own little club of your faves.  I'll be posting here on the blog when each kit goes up for sale, and I'll also send out info to the e-newsletter list.  So if you aren't on that list, I recommend getting added by going here.
 

Cast your vote in the Summer of Color

 

Before I show off the beauties that have come from the Summer of Color contest, I just want to thank all of you who participated by knitting socks with Simply Sock Yarn, or simply e-mailed telling me how you didn't enter but were really looking forward to seeing what socks came out of the contest.

There were three ways to win in the Summer of Color contest.  The first way is to be the randomly chosen knitter from the Striped Category, and this person will win a $150 gift credit to the store.  The second way is to be the randomly chosen knitter from the Mosaic/Fairisle Fun Category, and this person will win a $150 gift credit to the store.  The third way, and this is where YOU come in, is the be voted the Best in Show, and this knitter will win a $200 gift credit to the store.

I've uploaded the pictures that have been entered exactly as they were given to me, with the exception of changing the size of a few because the files were way too large.  There has been no color correction or cropping of the photos.  If you would like to duplicate any of these fabulous socks, I've listed the colors and patterns, as given to me by the knitters.  But do note that the color might be slightly off, as there's been no color correcting on my part.  I've given links to blogs and/or Ravelry profile pages, if given directly to me in the entry e-mail.

Here's how you can vote.  Do not leave your vote below in the comments, though you are welcome to talk about the socks, which ones you like and why, detail the inspiration behind the socks (if you are the knitter) or whatever else you want to comment as usual.  For your vote to count, e-mail it to allison@simplysockyarn.com, ONCE per person (I will check the IP address of the e-mails, so please be honest and don't vote several times for one person or I might see fit to make changes to the contest- not that any of you would do that!) listing the one sock number that you are voting for.   For example, the subject of your e-mail would be VOTE and the body of the e-mail would read:  Socks 18.

E-mail me your vote (one time per person) by Friday August 6 at midnight EST. That will give you a week to rally your friends, browse all the entries, and cast your vote for Best in Show.  I'll let you know (hopefully the following Monday), who the 2 randomly chosen winners are, and who won Best in Show.  I can't wait to see for myself who wins!  Now go cast your vote!

STRIPED CATEGORY:

Socks 1:  Renee S knit these socks using the Magenta and Rose colors.  The pattern is the Treasure Lace (Montana) pattern by Denise Henderly from the 50 Socks- 50 States CD.  She used size 2 square dpn's.

Socks 2: Susan B knit these socks using the Black, Finch and Cerulean colors.  The pattern is one of her own design, Walk Across Texas, and Susan has written this up for you and I'll be posting it here after the contest is over.  She used US 1 needles.

 

Socks 3: Sue P knit these socks using the Lilac, Chocolate and Purple colors.  The pattern is Pi Socks- a Recipe by Susan Gutperl (Purple makes just a brief appearance in the decimal position).

 

Socks 4: Diane E knit these socks using Rose, Blush, Wasabi, Buttercup and Wheatgrass.  While she didn't use a written pattern, she improvised a feather-and-fan-type stitch.  She has shared it with me and I'll be posting it here after the contest is over.

Socks 5: Bobbi R knit these socks using Blush, Fiesta Lime and Periwinkle.  She devised her own varying-width stripe pattern.

Socks 6: Nancy G knit these socks using Chambray and Navy.  This is a pattern that she designed to cleverly use up leftover yardage from knitting her entry in the Mosaic/Fairisle category.

 

Now for the MOSAIC/FAIRISLE FUN CATEGORY

Socks 7: Wendy S. Knit her socks using Chartreuse, Periwinkle and Cerulean.  She utilized the Tiptoe through the Tulips by Stephanie Pearl McPhee from Knitty and changed it to make it more to her liking.

Socks 8: Lynn H knit these socks using Pink and Caribbean.  The pattern is modified from a Ravelry pattern called Royal Garden.

Socks 9: Nancy G knit these socks using Chambray and Navy.  The pattern is Montgolfiere by Stephanie van der Linden.  She used 2.5mm Addi Turbos for the cuff and body and switched to 2.25mm circs for the toe.

Socks 10: Amy R knit her socks using Blue Skies, Natural, Black, Wheatgrass and Wasabi.  It's her own pattern featuring tiny little sheep, basing the construction on Ann Budd's sock in The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns.

Socks 11: Gwen P knit these socks using the Sunlight and Blue Skies colors. The pattern is from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.  She used size 1 dpn's.

Socks 12: Janelle W knit her socks using the Turquoise, Chartreuse and Deep Sea colors.  The pattern is Fjordland by Chrissy Gardiner's Toe Up book.

Socks 13: Mary B knit her socks using the Cherry Red, Natural, Bittersweet and Pink colors.  It's called the Fiesta of Color pattern, which she designed herself. She used US 2 (2.75mm) needles.

Socks 14: Susan B knit her socks using Blue Violet and Periwinkle colors.  She used the mosaic Maze pattern by Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks book, making a few mods.

 

Socks 15: Christina H knit her socks using Black and Slate.  Her Groom's "Luis Vuitton Inspired" Socks pattern is one of her own.

Again, thanks to all the knitters who are showing their sock-love by voting or by entering the contest.  Aren't these all awesome socks?!
Edited to add:  Just a reminder that if you are commenting below and want your vote to count, you need to e-mail it.  Comments are awesome for conversation and sharing yoru love of a particular sock, but in this case only e-mails count as votes.  I don't want to accidentally count votes twice, thus I'm accepting them just one way.
 

New this week: Patterns, Faux Fur GoKnits Pouch, and STC

While I'm organizing the post for the voting of the Summer of Color contest, I realized I should let you in on of some new things in the store this week.  First off is a really cool new bag from KnowKnits that's part of the GoKnit pouch line.  There's a spankin' new faux fur option for this bag, and it's super cute and soft.

   

Clara Parkes recently wrote about the new accessory in Knitters Review, "Few accessories prompted quite as much excitement as the new faux fur GoKnit pouches from KnowKnits.  The fabric is actually quite soft and silky.  It weighs almost nothing yet when filled with a project, takes on the feel of a cuddly teddy bear."  I agree and have already snagged one for myself.

 

I also have for you a restock of the popular Continuum striping yarn from String Theory Colorworks.  Included in this is the most popular color, Dark Matter (shown above), as well as three new colors: Graviton, Ion Propulsion and Witch Head Nebula, shown below.

The cool thing about Graviton is that it stripes with a thick brown stripe, and the alternating stripe is a variegated plum and mulberry. Witch Head Nebula stripes similarly- a thick black stripe alternating with a stripe that is a variegated gray/lilac/pink.

I'm now carrying Cookie A's sock patterns in the store.  These are superbly designed socks, some challenging knits, some simple with a big impact.  I highly recommend snagging some for knitting with Simply Sock Yarn or Lorna's Laces Nearly Solids, which will really show off the nice patterns.  Ooh, Alchemy's Juniper in the Elements would be awesome too.  Or Kitchen Sink Dyerworks.  Ack- I'd better stop daydreaming or I'll never get  the Summer of Color voting post finished!

 

Shown above is the Mingus pattern using Dream in Color's Smooshy sock yarn color 210-Beach Fog.
 

Gone fishin'

It's that time of the summer when I close the store for a week (well, only three days in this case) and take some time for family.  What's this mean for you?  If you place an order from now until July 25, it will ship on Monday the 26th when the store reopens.  It also means that you have the chance to win some yarny goodness in the form of four skeins of Simply Sock Yarn so you can knit the new Mad for Plaid pattern in Knitty or any other pattern you wish!  It also means that you should check back next week to start voting for the Summer of Color contest winners.

How do you win this prize?  Simply comment below telling me what knit or crochet project you are working on right now and link it if you like- that would make it easier for others to see it and be inspired.  And if you aren't working on any project right now, just tell me ones you are thinking about starting or why there's nothing on your needles.  I'll randomly choose one winner by Monday, July 26th.  Simple as that.

I hope you all have a lovely week!

It's summer

For teachers, summer is a time for relaxation and change.  My husband and tens of thousands of teachers around the US have almost 3 months off to take on hobbies, spend time with family, relax and repair from 9 months of overfilled classrooms and the politics of teaching, or take on side jobs to supplement their income.  For spouses of teachers, like me, it means that I get a bit of a more "real life."  Instead of working in 3-hour increments throughout the day and night when my toddler allows, I get to work "normal" work hours during the day while Joe is caring for James.  I get to be done at 5pm (at least that's the intention) and spend the weekends with my family instead of catching up on a backlog of work.  I get to cook real meals and throw parties because Joe isn't working three jobs and I'm not trying to work 60 hours a week while still giving undivided time to my toddler (James looking at jellies below). 

Now, don't get me wrong- I completely appreciate where I am in my life.  I love what I do, and I love that my husband is successful in what he loves so that he's offered so many teaching opportunities and his art is appreciated.  What I don't appreciate is that there are only 24 hours in a day and no matter how much I want to, I can bend space/time.  But this is where the summer comes in.  Joe is home and isn't working at all this summer, so I'm finding that I actually have time to think.  I mean really think.  Consider the things that I've been putting aside for the past three years since I had a baby, moved to a labor intensive house and property, watch my business grow in an uncertain economy and decided I could have the good life and still do everything myself (ha).

So what am I thinking about?  Me.  I'm thinking about all the things I haven't been able to do that I used to do and enjoy.  Taking walks.  Going to movies.  Kayaking.  Spending time with friends.  Getting a pedicure.  Cooking good meals.  Getting a magazine subscription.  Exercising.  Taking care of ME.  It's just slightly ironic that we bought a house on a bit of water where I could actually use my kayaks easily, yet I haven't used them even once since we moved here. 

So I've been doing just that.  Trying to live a balanced life this summer.  I'm trying to put myself at the top of the list and a big part of that is taking time to become healthier.  I've realized that my life is too hectic to leave the preparation of meals to chance and that I need to amass a list of healthy meals and and ingredient list that will help me to shop easier and have everything I need to cook easily.  I want to be able to just grab five index cards before leaving the house for a grocery trip, and come back with everything I need to cook a healthy dinner after work.

As much as I'd love to eat cake like this (James' b-day cake, an awesome pumpkin spice cake) everyday, that's just not good for anyone.  So this is where you come in.  Are there certain healthy recipes that are your go-to meals?  Or books or magazines that you've used so much that they are dogeared and splattered with sauce?  I've found Weight Watchers' Make it in Minutes to be a great book- simple, easy recipes that use whole ingredients and not the jello/cottage cheese/cool whip I thought WW to be.  I also love Eating Well magazine and website where I've found the best waffle recipe.  And another one that freezes really well.  And these muffins, which I know I've posted here at least three times before- I love them that much.

I'd love your suggestions.  Recipes, tips to make healthy eating easier, encouragement.  I'll take what I can get.

Mad for Plaid socks

Another wonderful designer has chosen Simply Sock Yarn Solids for a design in Knitty!  First the interesting diagonal design of the Twisted socks, and now Kate Atherly's Mad for Plaid.  Kate's a seasoned Knitty contributor with the Vampire Boyfriend socks and the Socks 101 article that helped many a new sock knitter understand sock construction.

Kate chose Lavender, Blue Violet, Wheatgrass and Tangerine for the socks above, and the below.  And she explains in the pattern how she got all four of these socks out of just four skeins of yarn by not making them matchy-matchy.

I haven't done any colorwork knitting before, other than simple mosaic, so this may be the perfect project for me.  Afterall, it's simply horizontal stripes accented with a few thin vertical strips.  Even I can't mess that up, right??

I'm so proud to see another design using Simply Sock Yarn in Knitty.  I also feel really good about Kate's opinion of the yarn:

"The yarn is very good- I liked it a lot.  I like the colouring- the subtle shading is a nice change.  I do love fun variegated yarns, but sometimes you need something plainer, and you are filling a hold in the marketplace.  And I definitely appreciate the nylon in the mix- hugely important, IMHO."

Kate really touches on what, to me, sets Simply Sock Yarn apart from other solid sock yarns and the reasons I created a new yarn line (read more here).  A wide array of colors is hard to get and keep in stock at all times unless you are in control of its production and distribution.  And not only is this yarn available in a huge array of colors with complete colorcards, but it's hand dyed.  That means that each skein is its own little work of art.  The bold colors are more solid and saturated, and the paler tones are semi-solid and more dynamic.  And in being hand dyed, you know that someone special has put work and artistry into your specific skein.  Not only is this yarn beautiful, but with the nylon content along with the premium merino, you get a workhorse yarn that is a joy to wear and knit.

I really put so much time and effort into creating Simply Sock Yarn and I'm so proud that it's receiving so much interest in the knitting community.

* * *

As for the Summer of Color contest, I'm still compiling the entries, their patterns, and pictures into a post and it's taking longer than anticipated.  Don't be surprised if it takes until next week.
 

Blanket complete & gifted

I have to admit that I'm sad to see it go, this project that I intended to never knit in the first place.  Afterall, 2010 is to be the year I'm knitting only for myself.  But as I explained last month, and as you all heartily agreed with, this is a project that I would have regret not knitting, and really I was knitting it for myself- I'm the one who experienced the fun and joy of this project and I'm the one who was made happy by knitting each little stitch with love and good thoughts for the special unborn baby.

 

This project is now complete and is in the hands for the soon-to-be-mama.  This was a really fun project to knit, and if you haven't knit the Modern Log Cabin Baby Blanket from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting, well then I highly recommend it.  The endless garter stitch was meditative and easy, and the only part that could have been figity, sewing up the border of the blanket shown below, was so brief that it was inconsequential.  This is really the only pattern I've knit from that book so far, but I do anticipate knitting others when I have more time.

I used Dream in Color's Classy worsted weight yarn in colors 140, 280, 410 and 420.  I've knit this blanket before using Cascade 220 superwash, but I prefer this. It's hand dyed and vareigated so the blanket is more dynamic, but the colors don't pool or stripe because of the way Veronica veil dyes her skeins. Yes, Dream in Color is more pricey than Cascade, but the wool is considerably higher quality, the colors are hand dyed, and to me, that makes this an heirloom piece.

Usually, I wash and block projects that are gifts, but in this case I did not.  I figured that because it's for a newborn, I didn't want to wash it in anything that might irritate the baby's skin or had any kind of fragrance.  Detergents can take several washes and rinse cycles to go away and babies (and new mamas) can be particular about how they want things done.  And I no longer have any Dreft or baby-safe detergent.  So I left this to the mama to wash for the first time, letting her know that machine washing is all good, but to make this last (and pass down to other babies), not machine drying would be best.

When you gift a piece, do you usually wash it and present it in a certain way?  Do you launder baby garments before gifting them?  And if so, do you specially buy Dreft or another supposed baby-safe detergent before washing?

Birthday Traditions

As James' third birthday nears, I'm thinking about starting birthday traditions-  cooking a favorite meal, sharing a candle-adorned cake with the grandparents, opening gifts.  Are there certain birthday traditions that meant a lot to you as a child?  What do you do to make your kids' birthdays special?  This year we aren't having a big party, insteadbut we are going to have cake and ice cream with close family.  I don't want James to grow up focusing only on receiving gifts on his special day, but instead anticipating a whole host of things Mama and Daddy to to make him feel one-of-a-kind.  What are your thoughts?

It's hard to believe that the little man who was once this:

Is now this:

I wish I could go back in time and relive those first days and months again.  Experience it all with the clarity that I now have and enjoy those snuggles that I thought would never end.  When I think about that time, I'm sad because I know I won't be able to experience that time with him again.  I didn't realize that time could pass so quickly and in three short years the little baby I held would be a little boy who runs so quickly that I'd never catch up.  That he'd be putting his own shoes on his feet, screeching when he couldn't get a booger off his finger quick enough, singing entire songs and then again in jibberish.  He's hilarious and adorable and certainly has to be the best thing this universe has ever held.

*     * *

It's likely I won't be posting here for the next week, as I have jury duty (ugh.), birthdays, baby showers, and family visiting.  But when I return mid-July, I'll be getting the contest entries posted so you can all vote on the winners.  Can you bring your knitting to jury duty???
 

Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

I've been knitting socks for a few years now and mostly knit self- patterning yarns.  Opal's my favorite so far.  Last week I cast on a semi-solid pair of socks in a really bold red and I'm wondering if this may cause me laundry problems when I wash them for the first- or even second - time.

Is it common for the dye in hand dyed yarns to bleed when you wash them for the first time?  Are there any precautions I should take to protect my other garments from the dye in the socks?  Do you have any other advice for maing the color of hand dyed yarns last wash after wash?

Tons of thanks for your assistance,

Laundry Lady in Longmont

*   * *

Help a knitter out and leave your advice in the comments below.  Have a question you'd like answered here?  Title it Ask the Knitters, then e-mail it service@simplysockyarn.com.  Your question may be chosen for the blog.