Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

What we've finished

Heather and Rachael have finished some lovely projects lately and I wanted to show them off to you.

First, Heather knit this out of some of the Bulky weight yarn we had in the sale section from Fleece Artist last year.  I believe the colors were Ebony and Puffin. Definitely a winter sweater, but she braved the summer heat so I could take a picture. She use the Mud Season pattern, but heavily modified it (stripes, sleeves) as you can tell.

Notice her black fingernails? Guess what color she's been using in the dye studio...

Rachael knit this Flow tank using some stash yarn (which she had to alternate skeins every row or two. While it's not a yarn we carry, I think it's a good example of having the right yarn arround for the pattern, whenever that pattern may be of interest.

Rachael knit this Shawl en Mousse et Vagues for her recent wedding. She used 1.5 skeins of Madelinetosh's Pashmina in the Medieval colorway. It went perfectly with her dress.

Your recent projects

The next three projects below were brought in on Saturday by Penny.  She knit the socks with out 9th anniversary yarn, the Peasy sweater in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Lightweight in Cranberry Bogged, and the February Lady sweater in Socks that Rock Heavyweight. Stunning work.

The socks below were recently finished by Jeanne, who used the Nemesis pattern and Madelinetosh's Tosh Sock in Whiskey Barrel.

Keep all those projects coming and I'll do my best to share them.  E-mail service@simplysockyarn.com with your photos if you want to share.

Super sale at SSYC

We're making room for new dyers and lines here in the shop, as you may have noticed  in our sale section over the past month.  We're letting go of a few collections and you have seen them discounted in the sale section as "potluck sales" where we choose the color and you get a deal and a pretty surprise.  I just added a bit more today- some of our Poste Yarn, Patina in test kitchen Potluck colors for 20% off. Shown below, Multis and Semi-solids.

Now we're extending this sale to our storefront for just one day.  On Saturday, August 23 we're opening up an hour early and offering great deals from 9am-1pm on various fabulous yarns.  Included in this sale are colors of Poste Yarn we didn't release, test skeins from indie dyers, leftover singles from clubs and kits, patterns, and a lot more.  We'll have a ton of great yarn and accessories at discounts of 45% and up. I won't release details ahead of time on exactly what's going to be included. Rest assured, you'll leave with some awesome things whether you come at the very beginning or the very end. We have A LOT of wonderful goodies to share.

How will the SSYC Super Sale work?

-It's a cash and carry sale. All cash, no checks or credit cards on these items.

-Pleaes leave your coats, purses and bags in the car, as you won't be able to bring them in the sale area. Only a wallet.

-All sales are final.

-For each $100 you spend in the Super Sale section, you'll receive a $10 Sock Yarn Buck to use on purchases throughout the rest of the store on the same day only.

-There will be a separate check out at the front of the shop for you to pay, and then we ask that you take those items right out to your car so they don't get confused with regularly priced items.  Of course, you can pop back in to browse the rest of the shop. The shop is open til 4pm that day for shopping, but the sale area will close at 1pm (or at least that's when we will stop giving out numbers- if it takes longer for people to shop the Super Sale section, we will allow that of course).

-The Super Sale area will be set up in a specific area at the front, with only a handful of people able to enter that space at a time. When you enter the shop, you'll be given a number and when your number is called you can enter the curtained Super Sale area. Til your number is called, you can hang out and browse the shop (or eat pastry across the street at the fab Zinnia's Bakehouse).

If you haven't visited our shop on our once-a-week in-person shopping days, we are located at: 1315 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN  46805.

There's a parking lot on one side, extra parking in the library lot next door, and street parking as well.  All parking is free and easy to access.  Have questions? Others might have them too, so you're welcome to ask them in the comments below. 

A long weekend

I took some time off this weekend for my first trip away from my boys (in this case, I consider Joe one of the boys). I think the last time I was away from my family for more than a day was Sock Summit in '09, so I think it was time for a girls getaway, don't you? Mine included cross stitch, kntting, relaxing by a fire (in JULY. Who knew?!), not cutting up anyone's food or wiping anyone's behind, shopping in quaint stores without hearing the phrase "I'm bo-ored", sitting on the beach with my eyes closed, eating foods that don't have the phrase "-n-cheese" in them. It was awesome.

Now it's back to reality. Thankfully, I like my reality.  It's full of little pudgy little hands, shouts of MAMA and, oh yeah, all the yarn I could ever want.

I now have four-ish of these squares complete in a Halloween Sampler from this website. These ladies are awesomely talented and I may have splurged on several patterns.

Fishtown.

Joe's nearly completed sock in Jeans from this new line.

The fire I sat by in the evening in Northport, MI. A fire in JULY. What the heck, nature? I'm not really complaining, but it certainly wasn't expected.

What was your first trip away from your family? Was it something awesome like Paris? Or something closer to home like the shore? Do tell.

Oh, Zitron. Thank you.

I have for you great new colors of Trekking XXL.  But also. ALSO. 6 Ply.

Oh my.

I may, MAY have already snagged one of these to start on a pair later tonight. OK, so I may have started it yesterday. You, too, may need to grab one immediately. Or more. Who am I to judge? There's plenty in a ball for a very large pair of socks. Warm, thick socks that knit up quick, dyed in the Trekking XXL colors that we adore.

Knitting inspiration

You all knit the best things, I swear.  I love when you send me photos or wear your projects into the store.  I wish I had time to share all the lovely photos you send, and I think I'm going to take more time to do that because you all really are a talented bunch.

Chevas knit this sock in Trekking XXL color 538. She cast on in a multiple of four, and after a rib she did a seed stitch rib.  Row 1, knit 3 purl 1 all the way to the end. Row 2, knit all stitches. This brown stripe is a great addition to any wardrobe, don't you think?

Gretchen knit this Eiku in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Lemon Pesto colorway.  It's just lovely, isn't it?

Judy brought in her Vodka Lemonade sweater knit in Madelinetosh Pashmina in what looks like either Esoteric or Manor. It's so soft and the glazed solids of Madelinetosh really shine in large pieces like this.

And WOWZA, this Old Town cardigan is gorgeous, isn't it?  Knit in Dream in Color's Smooshy in color 046-Fern Slipper, this is wearable any time of year.

Finally, a beautiful Tripinnate shawl knit by Brenda using two skeins of Malabrigo Sock in Zarzamora. She alternated skeins every few rows, because as most of us know Malabrigo skein rarely match, even within the same dyelot.  But it's so pretty that we just curse and deal with it as best we can. I think she did a great job blending these two skeins throughout the shawl, don't you?

Want to show off your projects?  E-mail pictures to service@simplysockyarn.com and I'll do my best to show them some love.

Knerd Totes

Want a snarky way to express yourself? Check out the canvas totes from Knerd Shop.

Do you think one of these would express some of the senitments you feel or others express toward your craft?  I think I need a bag that reads "yes, I know I can buy socks at Walmart." What about you?  Can you think of other phrases that we need on bags?

Four cowls and a sock

My team and I do a lot of knitting. It's our livelihood, our craft, our hobby.  So I thought I'd share with you what we are currently knitting or have just finished.

Heather, our dyer and shop manager, is one of the more prolific knitters I know.  She's always working on a stunner, an then it's done and the next project is done and, well, you get the idea. I don't think she sleeps.

This Zuzu's Petals is one that she finished last week and i think she's already working on another one in a worsted weight. It's knit in Madelinetosh Pashmina in the Dr. Zhivago's Sky colorway.

Here's the project she's currently working on, this Lilac Wine cowl in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL Superwash in the Tea and Alchemy colorway.

And another one, Clincher, she recently finished using Madelinetosh's Merino Light in the Holi Festival colorway.  The edge is a little bit of her hand spun, I believe.

Next is Rachael's Variance cowl knit in Miss Bab's Cosmic in the Shining City colorway (we're out of Cosmic in that color, but it would look fab in the Tarte base of the same color). I think the pattern really shows off hand dyed colors well.  This is one of those projects you can knit with those single skeins you can't help but purchase, but aren't sure what you had in mind to knit with them.  It's a great knit for those impulse buys, don't you think? Rachael said she has barely used half the skein in this cowl.

I'm currently working on a sock for Joe from the new Regia Denim Look collection.  This color is 4390 Jeans, and I usually knit my basic vanilla sock adapted from this pattern. The color in this photo doesn't show how nice and blue the color is.

What are you working on right now?  Feel free to leave links to your currently projects on your blog or Ravelry if you want to share!

Newest Opal Collection, For Ladies and Gentlemen

Opal has released their latest collection, For Ladies and Gentlemen.  The collection includes four bright colors and four more subdued colors.  Each of them a great knit and perfect for gifts as they can be machine washed and dried.  What I like about this collection is that there are four options for someone like my husband who doesn't wear bright colors.  But I would LOVE IT if he would.  I'm so envious of the knitters who come in and purchase bright colors for people in their lives.  For husbands who love to wear color, for wives who want orange socks, for grandkids who love bright fluorescent stripes.

Do you have more people in your life that like subdued socks or bright ones? Since two of the people closest to me are little ones whose feet grow very fast, I don't knit socks for them.  But I"m sure they'd prefer bright ones. Since I mostly knit socks for myself, I knit pretty much whatever I want.  But I do knit for Joe and others as well... but I'll admit I choose who I'm knitting for based on what I want to knit at that time.  If I see a Trekking XXL color that I want to knit up, I choose a person in my life that I think would like them for a gift. 

New Regia, Pop Art and Denim

I have two new Regia sock yarn collections to share with you today.  Above the Pop Art collection.  Six colorways that deliver just what you'd expect, random pops of fun colors.  Definitely on my to knit list.  Right after I finish the socks I started last night for Joe in the Denim Look color below 4390, Jeans.

These socks are knit up samples that came from Regia, but that didn't stop me from casting on my own pair in the exact same color.  It's a color that Joe will wear but won't make me want to poke my eyes out when I'm done.  Though I will admit that because I knit while watching TV at night in a darkened room, it was hard to look down every once in awhile and see my knitting to make sure I hadn't dropped stitches.  Instead, I counted the stitches every few rows to make sure I still had 24/24/20. 

Where do you find yourself knitting the most?  On a morning commute? In a favorite chair while watching TV in the evening?  Most of my knitting is done on the couch in our family room once the boys are in bed, from 8-10pm. This time of year the sun is setting behind the clouds and the sky is beautiful. I watch TV and rarely look down at my knitting, which is why simple socks like these are the perfect evening project for me.

Christmas in July

At least, that's what it seems like with some super specials that will make you want to celebrate.  I have some wonderful deals for you right now in the sale section. The one I know you'll be quite interested in is the worsted weight option from Mineville Wool Project (which is a new branch of Fleece Artist).  They dyed up for me a special batches of a worsted weight wool and you'll find it in the sale section for just $11 a skein.  Yep, half of what you'd expect a comparable hand dyed yarn to be.

This yarn could go quickly, so please don't hesitate if there is something you like.  Especially if you want multiple skeins for sweaters and baby blankets.

This yarn is perfect for sweaters, blankets, or accessories like scarves and hats.  While it is machine washable, I wouldn't machine dry it. I would flat dry this one.

SSYC's shop manager, Heather, has this list of projects that she's considering for this special sale. I have to admit that after looking through them, they are all going in my queue.  Some of these are so adorable that I just can't take it.

Coline

Staccato

Ease

Remnant Striped Cardigan

Dark and Stormy

Old Forge

Bracken

Spate

Juneberry Triangle

Oscar

Seedling Dreams Hat

Watercourse

For free patterns, she is considering these:

Ink Flare

Fibonacci Cardigan

Beatnick

February Lady Sweater

Fuss Free Baby Cardi

Saroyan

Leg Warmers

Pine Bough Cowl

Also in the sale section are three potluck (we choose the color, you get a deal) options from Dream in Color. They are changing their bases for Everlasting Sock, Everlasting DK and Classy.  So if you love a great deal and a surprise color, then take a look at those options.  And if you are a big fan of these yarns, get them while you can because Veronica is changing the base yarn for those and I'll let you know when the new versions are available.

Allison's Coffee Cup Wrap

This weekend, I decided to start using up my leftover bits of sock yarn sitting on my UFO shelf.  The most prized bit of leftovers I have right now is from a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Lightweight in the adored Free Range Chicken colorway. So I decided to make a few coffe cup wraps.  I first made one with WAY to many stitches cast on (56 I think) so it was too big to stay put on a to-go coffe cup, but will work well for a 24 oz Ball Jar.  So I modified what I first did and instead came up with this, and it works perfectly for me.

Materials needed: US 2 needles, leftover bits of fingering weight yarn, tapestry needle.

How to:

Using a set of US 2 double point needles, cast on 48 stitches, distributed 16 sts across three needles. Join into a round. 

Row 1 (only row): Knit 2, purl 2. Repeat til end of row

Repeat Row 1 20 times, then cast off.  Weave in ends.

That's it, friends! I have a great wrap that I can use each morning that I stop and get a cup of coffee from my local shop, and I don't have to waste the cardboard wraps that they give me each monring.  Instead, I have an awesome, hand dyed, hand knit creation.  And it took just an hour.

This would be great for a quick stocking stuffer for all those loved ones who stop and get a cuppa each morning, don't you think?  I don't know why it's taken me over a decade of knitting socks to finally cast on a coffee cup wrap.

I also might have gone to Indianapolis this weekend and did a bit of yarn shopping. There's nothing like a gorgeous yarn shop to make a quick summer day trip exciting!