Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Ask the Knitters

Hi Knitters,

I have been knitting socks for years. Recently I started to knit toe up two at a time and LOVE IT!  I also love knitting lace.  I have a lot of beautiful lace patterns for socks, but not all patterns look right if you knit them upside down.  I have searched for instructions as to how to invert them, but can't find info.  Can you tell me how this is done and also direct me to resources that might be of greater assistance?

Thanks for taking the time to help,

Anne in Annapolis

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Help a knitter out and leave your answer in the comments below.  Have a question you'd like answered on the blog?  Simply title an e-mail Ask the Knitters and send it to service@simplysockyarn.com and your question may be chosen for this series.

Black Friday Deals...

...and more kits.  Yes, the first half sold out in 4 hours.  So I recommend snagging one now if you really want one.  And if there are any cancelled orders, I'll put them up on Monday.  I can tell by the e-mails and calls I'm getting that it is frustrating when something you'd like to purchase is gone, and the link no longer works when you go to buy it.  But since each part of the kits I design for you are hand made, I just can't get 2000 pieces or skeins of yarn for this one occasion.  As much as I'd like to, I can't chain the artisans up in a basement for four months to make things just for my small store.  Two months is just about as much as I can get away with without their families filing complaints with the Social Services.... insert nervous laughter here...  But seriously, I'm doing my best to have as many made as possible.

 

But to sooth the pain, I have some special things in the Sale Section for you on this Black Friday.  You might remember the one time I was able to get the Merino/Angel Hair bundles from Fleece Artist for 40% off?  Well, Kathryn has sent them once again.  The Merino/Angel Hair bundle is a skein of their popular Merino Sock and a skein of the Angel Hair (kind of like a fuzzy, one-ply lace) that you can knit together in the free North of 49 Sock pattern (e-mail me after your purchase) or any cool scarf.  You could also knit two separate but matching projects with the yarns.   Shown above in Seafoam, Dandelion and Fire Opal.  And if you miss out, I have more boxes stuck in customs and hope to have more colors in a week or so.

For the first time, I also have three wool-free options in the Sale Section.  All from Crystal Palace, you'll find colors of Panda Cotton, Panda Soy and Maizy (a neat-o corn fiber and nylon blend).  And if you'd like to take advantage of CP's awesome free pattern support, you'll find many ideas.

I'm off to pack up some kits and go cut down a tree with Joe and James... should the weather improve.  It's been wet and yucky here for days.  Good knitting weather though.

 

Thankful

This time of year, it seems that we all honor those things that we appreciate and are thankful for.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US, and while we celebrate by eating turkey and stuffing with our families and friends, we consider the beautiful things in our life and how appreciative we are.

I want you all to know that I am thankful for you every day.  It's not just one day or week of the year that I realize how greatly I've been affected by the thousands of knitters than I'm likely never to even meet.  That because you find the service I provide to be valuable, you pay me to give you that service, and I can help support my family and stay home with my son.  Yes, I work very long and hard.  But I work for myself and for you, and let's face it, we're pretty cool bosses, aren't we?  Afterall, we are Knitters.  That, in and of itself makes us awesome!

My family is not the only one that is affected by your patronage.  Yarn dyers, warehouse stockers, box factory workers, software designers and a myriad of others are affected by your purchases at my small store. I know of several dyers and local aritsans (and a very hard working sewing-maniac) that are having a very happy holiday because of all the special kits you've purchased this year.  And let's not forget that well over 100 people will be well fed this Thanksgiving because of the success of the Harvest Mist kit in September.

But just as important to me as supporting my family, doing what I do every day makes me happy.  When I opened the store, I joked with my family that 12-year old Allison would never have guessed that 26-year-old Allison would be opening an internet sock yarn store.  Heck, even my accountant and attorney thought it was an odd niche.  Since opening the store nearly five and a half years ago, I have never woken up the morning and hit the snooze alarm over and over, dreading work.  I have not been resentful of sacrificing family holidays for work.  I don't wonder how long I can last until I can do something new.  And I don't count the days until retirement.  I don't just work a job, I've found a career.  One I enjoy and that fuels my need to be creative, and allows my slightly ADD personality to switch from one role to another at a moment's notice.

I started my business because I saw a need in the knitting community and I thought I could do a good job filling it.  But it turns out that SSYC and my supporters have filled in need in me as well.  And for that, I'm truly thankful.

Now available...

 

The holiday kit is now available!  If the link stops working, that means the kit is sold out.  But I will have more for you by the end of the week.

Edited to add: This batch of the kit sold out in a few hours, but I'll have the remaining kits go up on Friday.  And if anyone cancels, those kits will go up on Monday.  So you still have two more chances to get this kit.  Thanks everyone! 

Allison's Pecan Pie

The first time I baked a pecan pie, it become my fave.  The combination of butter and brown sugar and pecans is like no other.  But over the past year or so, I've changed a basic recipe into one of my own by adding a bit more flavor.  I prefer a complex flavor, so if you do too, I think you'll like this pie.  The ingredients don't differ much from the traditional pecan pie flavor, but I think the slight changes do make for a more caramelized, bold flavor.

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 cups pecans, roasted for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then cooled (chop them if you want the final pie to be cleanly cut when served)

- 1 pie shell

- 3/4 c dark corn syrup

- 1/2 c dark brown sugar

- 1 T vanilla extract

- 2 T unsulfered molasses

- 1/8 t salt

- 3 eggs

- 1 T whiskey or bourbon

The How To:

Prepare a pie shell or use a frozen one.  Blind bake it for 12 minutes at 375 degrees.  Let cool.

Mix together all ingredients and pour into cooled pie shell.

Bake 45 mintues at 350 degress.  Pie should be set, but middle can be very slightly jiggly.  Yes, jiggly is a technical term.

Let cool and then eat a piece and hide the rest in a cabinet.  Or share it with those you love, if you are feeling generous.

 

I realize that I forgot to share with you a picture of James dressed as Super Why (a PBS cartoon) for Halloween, so here it is!  My little three-year-old-superhero.  I didn't take many pictures, as we were having too much fun running from leaf pile to leaf pile. 

I also flaked on announcing the winner of the prototype skein of STC!  The randomly selected winner is Cate who said that "my favorite costume ever is the teabag.  Clear plastic trash bag, cut legholes, step in, put some leaves in the bottom, cinch at the neckline.  (Obviously, weave over leggings + shirt.)  You can make a little tag, with saying on it if you're being Salada."

Congrats Cate!  E-mail me for your skein.

 

SSYC's Fa La La Sock Kit

Last year was the first time I put together a special holiday sock kit for the store.  It was such a hit that I've put three more together this year- one for Valentine's Day, one for the store's anniversary, and one on Labor Day to raise money for the Second Harvest foodbank.  Over the past few months, I've worked with artisans to create a special holiday kit for you, and it will be available this coming week.  Now, keep in mind that numbers are limited because there's only so much time one artisan can devote to my small store.  But I have a bit more of these for you than I've had of any kit in the past, so I hope that each one of you who wants one will be able to buy one.  That said, the last kit sold out in less than 24 hours.  But I'm doing my best.

Each item in the kit was designed or made by someone's hands, so each piece takes time.  I think that's one reason why SSYC's kits are so popular- you know you have found something really special.   And I know that each person invloved in the design of these kits is very appreciative of you- because you value their work, they have more money in their pockets to make this holiday very special for their own families.

 

When these kits come out next week, they will be coming out in stages, so if you see them sell out quickly, you'll still have a chance to snag one in the coming week or so.  It's just not possible for me to kit all these up at once, even though I've finally hired someone to help out on a regular basis. (A wonderous decision that I'll post more about later.  It's changed my life in an awesome way.)

So what will this kit include?  Caitlin at String Theory Colorworks dyed up a striping red green and white sock yarn for you.  It's the one I gave you a sneak peak of a couple weeks ago.  It's just so perfect and I'll show off my project to you in a few days.  It stripes in 6-row blocks of white, grass/lime green, forest and berry red.  I *heart* it!

Stacey at Silver Moon Studios has been sewing up the adorable and fully reversible project bags for you.  One side features a festive Fa La La fabric, while the other sports a coordinating red snowflake pattern.  Super cute.

A local artist designed three cool bottle cap magnets for you to put on your fridge or filing cabinet to hold up your favorite holiday cards.  The images on the magnets were hand drawn to coordinate with this kit, so they are truly special.

I intended to finish the kit there, but I wanted to contribute something myself.  I designed a very useful little gift card for you that you can include with your knitted gifts to your friends and family.  On the front, the card reads "Knit With Love" and on the inside there's a "To:" and "From:" space, as well as plenty of space for you to write your care instructions for your gift.  Each kit includes an 8-pack of these cards so you can use them for all your gifts this year, or dole them out over the year.

 

I'll post again here on the blog as soon as the kit goes up on the website for sale, and if you are on the e-newsletter list, you'll be notified as well.  The cost will be $58 and you are welcome to order other items along with it so that you qualify for free US shipping with a $70 purchase.  Or if you are not shipping to the US you can cram your order with as much as possible and take advantage of the reasonable flat rate shipping shipping I offer.

Purple Mustang- new from Lorna's Laces

I have for you the eighth Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock colorway from their Color Commentary series, Lorna's Purple Mustang!  The ladies at Lorna's Laces work with special yarn authors/designers/celebrities once in a while to create a special colorway.  You can see the whole selection in the multicolor section and the nearly solid section, and the Color Commentary colors are marked so you can tell easily which ones they are. Clara Parkes of Knitter's Review and Amy Singer from Knitty are just two of the ladies who have created special colorways for the series, and they are now joined by Lorna Miser, the designer and creator of Lorna's Laces.  She sold her company to Beth eight years ago, and since then Lorna's Laces has grown into a popular must-knit for yarnaholics.

It's worth noting that Lorna's Laces has just changed over their Shepherd Sock skeins from 50 grams to 100 grams.  So for this color, you need to just purchase 1 skein for a pair of socks, unlike the other colors I have in stock, which are still 50 gram skeins.  This color is double the size, and double the price.  So just buy ONE of this particular color for a pair of socks.

 

The color's inspiration comes from her vintage '65 Mustang and her favorite color, green.  Joking.

It's such a lovely color, don't you think?

 

The ladies at Lorna's Laces say that the story behind Lorna's mustang is as follows:  The '65 Mustang has always been her dream car.  She's had "Sunshine" for 9 years now.  However, the car has not always been purple. That's a change Lorna made to her a year ago.  Why purple?  Many years ago Lorna liked lots of coors and she wore them all (except orange) and she dyed them all.  Then she had to pack for a trip.  She couldn't fit all of her matching outfits into a suitcase so she decided to narrow down the colors in her wardrobe.  Purple seems to compliment her fair skin and natural (Loreal #5 !) auburn hair.  So purple and black and a little denim and white stayed.  All other colors were banned.

After a few more years, purple had definitely become her trademark color  While she tries not to become the "crazy old lady in purple" she does now own a purple couch, purple bedroom, and yes, a purple '65 convertible Mustang.

Thanksgiving approaches...

Time is flying, isn't it?  It was just Halloween, and now all of a sudden it's time to plan and shop for Thanksgiving.  My family is celebrating Thanksgiving a week early this year, so in just a few short days we'll be loading up the car with child and food and spending a day with the fam.  My contribution to this year's dinner is salad and pecan pie, both my specialities. 

Are there particular foods that you must make for Thanksgiving?  I'm particularly interested in hearing about the non-traditional foods that you make part of your celebration.  Anyone eat quesadillas or gyros instead of turkey?

 

James received his "midterm assessment report" today from pre-school.  It seems his strong suits are cleaning up, his numbers and letters and shapes, and various coordination-type things.  Things that need practice?  Sharing and listening.  Basically the skills he needs to be a part of a group, he's "learning."  I'm not taking anything seriously (he's only three), but thinking this is pretty typical from a three-year-old boy, right?    One of his teacher's comments was really on-point and make Joe and I laugh, "James is very smart, but like most little boys he doesn't like to focus long enough to prove it."  Ha!

I have a restock of the awesome Everlasting 8-ply sock yarn from Dream in Color.  This includes a few new colors, Angel, Fortune and Gilt shown below.

     
 

 

Striping yarn galore

Muahahaha!  I have you all intrigued with the yarn I teased you with on Monday.  Yes, it's STC's Continuum in a holiday striping color.  Something that will be part of this year's holiday kit.  You'll have to wait another week or so for more info, but I couldn't wait to show it too you.  It's something that Caitlin and I put together a few months ago and she's been dyeing up in mass quantities so that I have enough for the kits.  I'll show off my project-in-progress soon.

I also want to share that I'll soon have some new colors of the popular striping Mini Mochi.  And I found this cool ruffled scarf pattern using 1.5 balls of Mini Mochi in one of the soon-to-arrive new colors, 121-Berry Compote.  I think it would be a really nice, quick gift.  Don't you?  And if a ruffled scarf isn't for you, then maybe one of these other patterns is.  Crystal Palace has really wonderful, free pattern support.  Photo courtesty of Crystal Palace.

I have a restock for you in several lines.  Fleece Artist/Hand Maiden's Casbah has been replenished in the popular colors like Salt Spray, and there are new colors like Beach House, Bronze and Snow Crocus.  Also take a look at Knit One Crochet Too's Crock-o-Dye, which is a very nicely priced silk blend yarn.  Restock on all colors, and new color Skyway.  If you want a more blended look instead of a striped look of the scarf at left, this would be a really nice choice.

I'll be taking off Friday for a family event, and Thursday is Veterans Day, a federal holiday.  As usual, you're welcome to place orders during this time, but they won't ship until Monday.  Same for e-mails and calls- returned Monday.  I hope you all have an awesome autumn weekend!

 

Sneak peak...

...of something to come.

 

Gifting 2010

As the end of 2010 draws near, so does my vow to knit only for myself.  This year of selfish knitting has gone a long way toward filling my own empty sock drawer.  At the end of the year, I'll tally exactly what I've accomplished, but I definitely feel good about all the fibery goodness that I've knit.  While I did technically break my resolution once, you all assured me that the project was really knit just as much for myself, as I really would have regretted not knitting this one.  I agree.

But now that the holidays are approaching, obviously I have no Lepidoptera Mitts knit up for my friends like I did last year, or any Noro Wave Scarves like I had the year before.  In fact, I have ZERO knitted gifts to give this year.  So what's a girl to do?  Turn to Etsy.  I like the idea of shopping on Etsy because for every item I've bought over the last few years using the Etsy website, I've had a good experience.  Many of the items I've purchase through Etsy artisans have been for others, but my most recent purchases have been for myself.  Several months ago with some art, and last week I splurged on some jewelry.

I don't wear much jewelry.  In fact, the only item I wear is my wedding ring.  I have a few nice pieces that Joe has bought be over the past 10 years, but I don't often wear them.  Precious stones don't really go with yoga pants and college t-shirts, if you know what I mean.  But with holiday parties and weddings coming up, I wanted a couple pieces that were colorful and hip and unique.  I found them from Jen's store, Blue Room Gems. (Click on the pics below for nice close ups.  But I warn you, you'd better have your credit card ready, 'cuz it's just going to make you want to buy jewelry.)

I picked out a necklace...

 

...and a bracelet...

 

.... and I adore them.  They are so me.

I ordered these on a Sunday and Jen shipped them on Monday.  And while she accidentally shipped them to my PO Box instead of my home, she gave me a small store credit to make up for dragging a kicking toddler into the city... which was very smart of her because you know it's impossible to leave a store credit sitting for long, and I'll now be purchasing 10 times more than the credit is worth.  And when I asked if I could get an extender for the necklace, I got a thumbs up on that too.  Like every Etsy seller I've worked with, she's accomodating and speedy.  And whilte I'm sure you can find something cheaper at a big box store, it's not going to be unique, and it's not going to support a small business whose profits go directly back into their community (or your own).  But who am I kidding, I support Target too- that store is addictive.

From all the orders coming into the store, I know that most (if not all of you) have been buying yarn to knit special projects for your loved ones for the upcoming holiday season.  And I'm VERY grateful.  Are there certain Etsy sellers or other small vendors that you are frequenting for your non-knit gifts this year?  Or do you have a website of your own?  If so, please tell us all about them in the comments!  I still have so many gifts to find and I could really use some suggestions.

 

For those of you who wanted one or more of Joe's mugs to make a set out of the mug you got for the store's Fifth Anniversary Kit, he's made a few more.  Those of you who have been waiting for an e-mail from me will get one shortly.  At $18 each, these mugs are definitely a good gift idea too (they are dishwasher and microwave safe- I should know, I use one everyday).  E-mail me at allison@simplysockyarn.com if you want to reserve one or more.

Dream in Color's Dream Club for November

Hurray!  The first Starry selection in the Dream Club has arrived!  I adore Starry.  It's just such a unique sock yarn; merino flecked with a tasteful amount of silver.  So not only is the yarn soft and druable, but the silver gives it a little bling.  Dream in Color isn't able to get this base yarn all the time, so I try to order large amounts when I can so that I can keep it for you in the store.  But it's rare that you'll ever see all the colors available because I've waited over 6 months before for an order.  Click here to see all the Starry colors I have in stock right now.  I have over 30 right now.

Dream in Color started this monthly Dream Club in August and they will continue to release a specially dyed skein and an accompanying free pattern each month through May 2011.  It's basically like choosing your own special sock yarn club because you don't need to subscribe to all 10 months.  You simply buy them as you like them!  But so far it seems that many of you are buying each and every selection, and I don't blame you.

  

The November colorway is a veil dyed combination of mauve with pinks and violets.  It's quite a dynamic color, and very feminine.  The first selection in the Dream Club featured pinks as well, but that one was flash dyed and was more red and salmon in tone.  This is is nice for those of you who like a purple-tinged pink.  And because it's veil dyed, it the colors won't pool or stripe in a way that could distract from cables and lace.  The featured free pattern (just e-mail me with your invoice number after your order, or respond to your receipt e-mail) is a cable rib.  I have to admit that the picture DIC provided doesn't really show off the pattern well.  I'm betting that those of you knitting this pattern will show off much better pictures on Ravelry.  You might also consider knitting the Impatience cowl with this yarn.  Or even the Lepidoptera Mitts. 

For those of you who want to purchase enough to qualify for free US shipping, you might take a look at the sale section, as I've received some new colors of the beautiful Araucania Itata.  Also new colors in Schaefer Nichole and Alpaca Sox in kettled dyed and variegated.  I think it might be time to knit another Lace Ribbon Scarf. Swoon.