Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Babs!

I feel like that title is enough, but MISS BABS IS HERE! Get your Yowza DK now!

I adore her stuff so much. Whenever a shipment arrives, I just want to dive right in.

Miss Babs is one of those booths at summer fairs and festivals that has a super long line. Babs and team are known for their inventive colorways, and this batch of Yowza DK lives up to that love of color. If you haven't tried Yowza DK before, it's a half-pound skein of superwash merino, DK weight. Perfect for larger size accessories or sweaters (get two or more for that,).

If you want to dive right in too, check out the 20% discount that Susan is offering on her patterns right now and use it for the Yowza Weigh it Shawl of your choice (that one links to the 4th shawl). Brickless is also a super popular pattern that uses Yowza DK. I kinda like The Fool too!

Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

I think I want to jump on the Find your Fade Shawl bandwagon. I have seen quite a lot of inspiration on Ravelry and Instagram and I've just about given into the craze. This pattern calls for several skeins of yarn and would be one of the more expensive accessory projects I have tackled, so I want to make sure I choose right.

Do "the knitters" think this pattern would be just as nice if choosing 7 skeins of yarn I like that don't necessarily graduate in color from one to the next? I have many skeins I really like together and can definitely find a few to fill the gaps at SSYC, but they don't go from one color story to another. They more-or-less jump from one variegated color to another. Do you get what I am explaining? If so, please put my mind at ease or tell me that I shouldn't do what I'm considering. I don't know a thing about color theory, but I just know what I like and don't want to start down a path that might, in the end, make me grimace at the wildness of it all.

Thanks for any assistance you knitters can provide!

- Fadeless in Charlotte

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

This just in...

First of, in case you didn't see in yesterday's kit frenzy, I have Opal Yarn's newest collection.... with SPARKLES. Yes, that's shout worthy. At least to me, since I adore a good self-patterning sock yarn. I'm loving it!

Thanks so much for your response to yesterday's two Valentine Knit Kits. I love putting these together and I appreciate the great interest in them too. As usual, they did sell out fast enough that I received many e-mails wondering if we can get more, and no, we cannot. I really appreciate how loved our special edition kits are, but there's a limit to the number of handmade items I can ask a craftsperson to make.  I have some really fun things planned for 2017, so stay tuned! I believe the next kit's preview will come mid-March.

It's been a busy two days here, and we are packing up as quickly as we can to get your orders out the door to you. We try and ship the same or next day, but please allow us an extra day or two as we keep up with all we have leaving here this week. Busy times like this are very important in keeping a small business going and we do our best to be our best no matter how busy we are.

Before I leave you today, have you seen the big Find your Fade shawl fad happening? I'm seeing such inspired color ideas on Instagram and we've been putting together ideas and sharing them on Instagram too. I hope to blog about them all soon, but until then, take a look at our feed for our latest shares!

Valentine Knit Kits now available!

Get your Flamingo Flamenco and Zombie Love Knit Kits now!

If you'd like more pictures and details before deciding, check out last week's blog post. Want to add more awesomeness to your order? These sets of our new Poste Yarn base and mini skein sold out in a day earlier this month, but we have dye one last batch for you. Next month will see a new six-color stripe and mini skein (but not at this 10% off introductory price), and the following month and so on.

Guess what else just arrived? Fiddle Knits! I have Erica's Aria Sparkle Sock and Dye-a-Tonic merino/nylon for you in all the colors you love plus some new ones. While these are perfect for socks, you can really show them off by combining the two bases in a two color shawl- perhaps with the main color being a sparkle and the coordinate being the non.

Shown in Blue Coyote sparkle and Water Fae non-sparkle.

And if you didn't already notice, we receive a huge amount of Hedgehog Fibres from Irelend! If you've been waiting for Sock, Skinny Singles, Merino DK or the sought after mini skeins sets, now's the time.

Upcoming Valentine Knit Kits, a preview

It's nearly time to debut our two Valentine Knit Kits!

I love creating holiday kits for you. I get to think outside my normal box and I get to work with new crafters and dyers and chocolatiers and bakeries to put together something special for those of us who like to celebrate our knitting. This time around, I have two different options for you- one adorably ghoulish and one sweet and trendy. First, the Zombie Love Knit Kit!

This one has a grey and pink skein that ends in an explosion of speckles, dyed up by none other than Yarn Love. It's a durable yet soft merino/nylon blend, so it should make it through the zombie apocalypse unharmed. The adorable yet grim bag features zombies in love on one side, and bones in the shape of hearts on the other. The drawstring bag is reversible, fits two skeins of yarn and is perfect option for those of us who have a tendency to overstuff our zippered project bags and then snag our yarn in the zipper. No zipper, no snagging!

This kit comes with a chocolate tasting bar from local Debrands Fine Chocolates and a set of 2 Clover tapestry needles. This kit will sell for $56. A fab deal for yarn, a project bag, a treat and a tool.

This next one speaks to my love of all things Flamingo. If I had a Florida house, I would be the lady with plastic flamingos all over my lawn. If you feel the same, you'll adore the Flamingo Flamenco Knit Kit. These well-balanced birds are all the rage in décor right now, and I just couldn't leave them out of this year's Valentine offering. The yarn for this kit is super soft because it's Dream in Color's Smooshy with Cashmere. With 20% cashmere in this merino/cash/nylon blend, you'll definitely notice the luxurious texture when knitting it up and wearing. The color, Flamingo Flamenco (sounds like Tomato/Tom-ah-to, right?) is a combination of salmon, bubble gum, and pale pink overdyed with a subtle grey. This color would look great on most of us- a cowl worn right against the skin or a lacy shawl. Aaaand I've just gone down the Ravelry Rabbit Hole... now I want to knit this into a Reyna. Or a Starshower. Eeek- what about Appia? OK, definitely the Antarktis. *sigh* Someone stop me. Deep breath.

 

The reverse side is nearly as awesome as the flamingo side, doncha think? Bubble gum pink hearts and Love scrolled across the fabric.

This kit is completed with a Debrands caramel pecan turtle and a set of two Clover bent-tip tapestry needles. It can be yours for $55. And if you click fast enough.

These kits will both go up for sale on Monday, Jan 23. Usually I list these early/mid morning EST. As usual, I do expect them both to sell out that day. I do wish I could put more kits together for everyone, but due to the hand made nature and all, there's a limited supply. I do have awesome things planned for spring and summer, so if you miss out, just know there's always something super to come too! 

Next week's bounty of beauty

I've got some amazing hues coming your way next week from Hedgehog Fibres! Shown above is one of our Potluck (limited release) colors in Skinny Singles, and shown below is our batch of Fools Gold on DK which is so vibrant it nearly glows with color. If you've been waiting for a fresh batch of yarn to Find your Fade, check back next Monday or Tuesday. I have a handful of the 30-mini-skein sets now for those who have been waiting.

Also coming next week is a beautiful batch of yarn from Fiddleknits and info about our upcoming Valentine Knit Kits. One is adorably cute with flamingos and the other is zombie love themed.

I'll also have a new sparkly Opal Yarn collection and likely some other goodies (perhaps more from House of a la Mode). Next week promises to be a big one!

Playa Flamingo Set now available

Want to be among the first to try out our new Poste Yarn cashmere blend base? Now's your chance and it's even at a 10% off introductory price! You're getting a full sized striped skein in the Playa Flamingo strip and a half-sized semi solid skein for $48 instead of $54. I knit the socks above in a women's size 8, and I have half of the mini skein and at least a third of the striping skein left! So you have plenty for a regular sock project and a ankle pair, or perhaps an adorable hat or these mitts.

I know there is a lot of interest in this, so if you find that the link says it's sold out, we will be doing a second batch of this set. Next month will be a different striping skein and mini. Eventually we will also release single skeins (without the mini) in the cashmere blend and an array of striping colors.

Poste Yarn, Striping Cash Sock

Next week, is the debut of something very special for Poste Yarn- our first striping cashmere sock yarn.

My skeins, before winding

You've been asking us to offer something with a bit of a luxury fiber in addition to the wool/nylon option we which has been our staple for years, and after much searching and testing, we have found just the right option. The lovely 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon base we found is not only super soft, but also durable and strong enough to stand up to not only the conditions of dyeing yarn in stripes, but also the wear of your finished socks.

Just the start

See, dyeing yarn in stripes is no easy task. If it was, every dyer would be doing it. But as you can see from our website, very few dyers offer a self striping yarn as an option. It's very time consuming (we wind from cones into 60 foot skeins, dyeing precisely, drying, then rewinding into normal sized skeins so you can cake them at home), takes up a lot of space (we have a winder the entire width of our building just for the striping yarn!), and each skein sees about five times the normal hands-on time that solid or variegated yarn sees.

Continuing my knitting journey

So if we are going to put this much time, effort and expense into dyeing yarn that stripes, we have to start with just the right goods.

The first color we will release in the Striping Cash Sock will be a set of a full sized (100g) skein of Playa Flamingo plus a coordinating mini skein. This set will retail for $48, which is a good price for a striping cashmere sock yarn and a coordinating mini skein ($38 for the striping yarn and $10 for the solid). I'll have the first batch of this available for you sometime next week and I'm darn sure it will sell out fast, but we'll do a second batch.

Almost finished with my first pair of socks in this colorway

We will also be doing a special monthly striping colorway and mini skein each month in 2017, and this is the January color. The monthly color may be on any base, and then we will also release the monthly colors later in the year (without the coordinating mini skeins though). It will be a fun way to introduce new striping colors into our Poste Yarn line, I think.

More colors will be released on the Striping Cash Sock as the year goes on and I'll keep you posted when more are available. Thanks so much for your feedback over the years as we grow our exclusive yarn line into what you want it to be!

Knitting Resolutions

Here we are, five days into the new year and I'm still shocked that it's 2017. Wow, 2016 went fast. Or I think more that the last few months of the year seemed to move by so quickly that it then made it seem like the whole year did. I don't even want the Christmas holiday to be over yet- I still have my decorations up and there are still unwrapped toys and gifts under the tree with no sign of a change.

Now's the time of year when many are typically mid-week into a resolution. Did you make one this year? I've started eating healthier again, but I think this is more about the rush of the busy season being over and actually having a half hour to cook. I'm not really caring so much about calories or fat, but more eating real, whole foods instead of stuffing my face with cheesy poofs and krispie treats before I rush out the door for work or kids' swim lessons. I do need more fruit. While I eat plenty of veggies, I find that I can easily go days without eating fruit and I know that's not ideal. The boys have really become good eaters over the past year- eating nearly everything that's on their plates instead of complaining about meat and sauces, and so it's put pleasure back into cooking again when they show appreciation for what I make. I'm finding so many great recipes on Pinterest. I made this Sausage and Shrimp Skillet  with some cheddar grits two days ago and am making this taco & quinoa bake tonight.

As far as knitting goes, again, I am making no resolutions. Knitting is one of the few places in my life where I find respite and I don't like to put limits or conditions on it. I need that time and space in my world where I just get to do what I want and enjoy however I like and knitting is that thing for me. Do I want to stash several skeins of yarn this week that I might not use for a year or ten? Good. Am I starting another project that might sit on the needles? OK. I've realized that I'm the type of crafter who tends to start several projects one season, and then finished them all in one lump a few seasons later. And if I don't? Hey, that's fine too. Because I'm getting what I want out of knitting which is feeling like I'm supporting a community of artists and friends (and their families) who create something unique and then I get to make a three dimensional piece of cushy warmth. I'm not going to take on needless guilt about what I am or am not doing with my creative outlet.

I have nearly finished my first pair of socks for 2017 and that does give me a sense of accomplishment. But I also just love the feel of cashmere slipping through my fingers!

What are you into in this new year? Or you taking on a new hobby, renovating a space or opening up your life to new friends? What about a new sport or activity? I'd love to know what 2017 brings for you.

 

120g Super Sock from Mineville Wool Project

Were you one of the lucky ones who grabbed some of the December batch of 120g Super Sock from Mineville Wool Project? Or did you miss out b/c it went quickly? Either way, I have THREE DOZEN new colors for you today in the Sale Section! Get the deal of 2017 now!

Take a look at what I have in stock now and grab it if it strikes your fancy. I have a fab selection of speckles, solids and multicolors for you. Like super saturated? Got that.

Alcides & Navy Indigo

Like a sprinkle of bold color? I have that too.

Autumn Sparkle and Circus

Heather, Poste Yarn dyer extraordinaire, made this take (she changed it a bit and added some yarn over lace for interest) on the Ex Boyfriend scarf with a skein of Navy Indigo and some Simply Sock Yarn Solids in Silver Lining. This merino/nylon blend is definitely one you can wear next to the skin.