Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Mineville Wool Project DK is back PLUS OPAL MINIS!

It's sweater weather and prime time for a fab deal on premium DK yarn! Mineville Wool Project was able to send us more of their Merino DK, so you'll find it in the sale section again for less than $14 a skein. This a great deal, as compared to $24-28 for similar yarns in the same size skein.

We haven't been able to get this yarn since early this year. MWP specializes in procuring short runs and end lots from mills (using their contacts and relationships they've amassed over the past 40 years of the Fleece Artist family), and they sell us these skeins at a great deal and we pass the savings along to you. This means that the availability is somewhat unpredictable- sometimes we get a yarn just once (Remember those 250g sock skeins from a few years ago? Ah, memories.) and sometimes we can get the same yarn for nearly a year. It all depends on what the mill has available and if the cost to us is right.

Want some sweater ideas? Take a look at my friend Chevas' podcast. Many of the sweaters in this video are made with this DK weight yarn. Like Rachael's Fern and Feather above (in Radiant Orchid and Bad Pixie) and her Soldotna below- here's her project page. Though I believe she used the DK weight one ply and not this plied version. Same weight though and could be used interchangeably. Colors are selling out already but I do hope to get more before year's end. Woah, 2020 is coming.

Now for something crazy awesome. Opal. Mini. Balls. I haven't ever had these in the shop before so this is something really special. Each set is 28 little balls of Opal Yarn- it's kind of potluck. These sets were assembled at the Opal headquarters in Germany, so I don't have control over the colors in each set, but I see some of the most popular colors in here. To me, it looks like each has the same colors or very similar.

These would be great as scrappy blankets, to add flavor to your solid colored socks, or just to keep in a pretty bowl on your table until you decide what to do with them. I'm uncertain if I can get more, so what you see here could be the last for awhile.

I also have two new beautiful Opal collections to share today, the Schafpate 11 collection and the Freche Freunde collection. Both are very colorful and I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to make first! Opal is my go-to sock yarn when I'm knitting at a kid's volleyball game, or if my knitting mojo has waned. The colors are so addictive and just make me want to knit. Is your knitting sluggish lately? Use Opal as your triple-espresso jump start to get you going again.

Picture post

Just a tease of what's to come.... details soon!

Free Stitch Markers this week w/ purchase!

There are no tricks, just treats here in the shop this week as we give you a free set of stitch markers with each online purchase through Friday! We have given these stitch markers away once before, and they were so popular and loved that we ordered more from Katrinkles and decided to give them away this Socktober. The little ruler is great as a stitch marker and gauge of how many stitches per inch you're getting. And it's just plain adorable!

What do you have to do to get your little package of a 1" ruler stitch marker and locking markers? Just place any order online Monday through Friday this week (Oct 21-25) and we will tuck a set into your package before it ships out. It's just a token of our appreciation of you and the wonderful Socktober you've given us so far. We love this time of year, when the weather changes, we all make more time for the things we love, and craft more for the people we care about.

Winwick Mum color collection from West Yorkshire Spinners

What might you like to purchase to receive your markers? We have a stunning array of West Yorkshire Spinners for all those gift socks you're knitting for Christmas that you want to be easy care and hold up to wear. Regia, Opal, Trekking and Berroco are also fun to knit and hold up to those who might not treat their gifted hand knit socks with the utmost of care.

I'm currently knitting Less Traveled Yarn's Sport weight sock yarn in the West Fork colorway. They are just slightly thicker and cushier than fingering weight socks and I love the overall dappled color. I blogged about the apple basket inspired stitch pattern here.

Love a good deal? We have some stunning Socktober goodies in the Sale Section up to 50% off. The silk Crock-o-Dye blend from K1C2 make wonderful dress socks that hold up well to wash and wear.

And we have this super pretty, limited edition Fade Set from Lorna's Laces that's inspired by Downton Abbey.

Been waiting for more of our exclusive line of hand made, faux fur pom poms? I have lots of them in stock for you right now. These are two of our favorite hats from last year, Rachael's Circumvolute hat using Spun Right Round DK in Bug Jar with an Avocado pom. And my Lichen hat in Life in the Long Grass Twist DK in Lichen with a Coyote pom and this pattern.

What's expected later this week? A huge amount of Malabrigo, more DK from Mineville Wool Project in the Sale Section, and the new Regia collections.

And for those who missed out on the Spooktober Knit Kit earlier this month, there were several duplicate orders (which sometimes happens when people try to snag it quick before it sells out) and I have a handful of those left... while supplies last. Thanks for your interest in the special kits we offered this month! Last week's kit went fast too, and I look forward to sharing what we have coming for the Christmas holiday.

Pattern Pondering

Do you have sleepless nights or wake early? When you do, what do you spend your time doing? Knitting? Watching TV? I usually sit on the couch and work and watch TV. But last night (ok, very early morning) I decided to figure out what I was going to make in a yarn that I've been wanting to start on since it arrived a month ago, the West Fork color of Less Traveled Yarn in their Sport.

When I was photographing this yarn for the shop, there was just something about the color that really spoke to me. I love that it's a fall-ish color, but that it reminds me more of an apple orchard or apple picking. It has pops of bright red and green without getting too muddled in the dye pot. So I thought a pattern that looked like one of those bamboo apple crates would be cool with it. Kind of an orchard basket sock for a orchard-like color. 

So this is what I'm thinking for the stitch pattern. It would be an eight row pattern. I'm thinking I'll cast on 60 stitches on a US 2.5. I usually cast on 68 for fingering weight for my own feet on a US 1.5.

Cast on 60 stitches. Join in round.  k2,p2 rib for 12 rows. Then start the following stitch pattern.

Row 1& 2: knit

Row 3 & 4: knit 2, purl 4 (repeat to end)

Row 5 & 6: knit

Row 7 & 8: purl 4, knit 2 (repeat to end)

I think I'll continue the stitch pattern on the top of the foot too, depending on how squishy a fabric this pattern makes. If it's too bulky, I'll just do the entire foot with no pattern.

I'm hoping to have time tonight or Friday evening to cast on. I think this will be my weekend project and I'll report back on how the pattern above works out. I'm sure I'll post on Insta too, if you want to see if I make changes or completely scrap the idea, which is completely possible since I thought this was a good idea in the way-early am!

Thank you for a wonderfully lovely and busy day yesterday! The Oh-My-Gourd Knit Kit has sold out and many of you are taking advantage of the lornaslaces code at Check Out. And our sale yarn is flying. You are made of awesome and I'm planning a gift at the end of Socktober to celebrate!

SSYC's Oh-My-Gourd Knit Kit now available!

If you want to celebrate fall in knits, then take a look at our Oh-My-Gourd Knit Kit that just went live!

This kit features the Oh-My-Gourd colorway that Madelinetosh dyed just for this occasion on their Tosh Merino Light+Copper sparkle yarn, a perfectly matching sock project bag from DnA Designs, a leather cuff from our upcoming shawl cuff line, and a bag of Poptique popcorn.

If you want extras of the yarn, you are welcome to purchase one or more to make a larger project. This add-on is only available to those also ordering the entire kit, so please don't add it to a cart that doesn't have the kit, as I will have to take it off for someone who qualifies. And if you want to add a skein of a coordinating or contrasting color to your order, these are our suggestions. In TML+Copper we suggest Ayo, Asphalt, Barbara Deserved Better, Love the Wine You're With, Danger Will Robinson, Fate, Flannel Blanket, Thunderstorm, Superb, Nocturne, Onyx, Keshi, Mars is Bright. If you don't want to coordinate with a sparkled skein, but instead a TML skein with no sparkle you can also go with one of those colors, or one of these: Librarian's Dream, Cousteau, Esoteric, Carbon Dating, Cosmopolitan, Cardinal. Seance, Worn Denim, Undergrowth, Tart. Like Rachael said when I asked what colors look nice with the kit color, "Ok, so pretty much everything." It's that versatile.

I'm really proud of this kit. Not only is it perfect for someone who wants to celebrate the wonderful colors of the season, but not in the orange/black combo way, but it features something new to us- a glimpse at our upcoming leather shawl cuff line. These cuffs are ideal for keeping your shawl in place if you like wearing it wrapped around your neck or shoulders, but are sick of it falling off all the time. Plus it just looks darned good! Here's my friend Diana wearing hers in another color (yes, we will have a wide array of color options later this fall). The one in this kit is a warm, medium brown leather.

If you want to add more to your kit to qualify for free US shipping at $100 or to fill your international flat rate package as much as possible, I recommend taking a look at the Sale Section and Lorna's Laces. We are offering 10% off Lorna's Laces through Friday (like we did on the trunk show in shop on Saturday). Just enter the coupon code lornaslaces in your Cart or at Check Out. You may have also seen the fab Socktober deal I have right now on silk blend sock yarn. 50% off solid and variegated colors of Crock-o-Dye from Knit One Crochet Too. This stuff is perfect for dress socks, scarves and shawls. It has a wonderfully soft texture and is durable enough to gift to someone special.

And if you're like me and love a surprise, I have some potluck skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock for you at 30% off in the Sale Section. These are various skeins that LL owner Amanda said are from color tests, skeins that didn't exactly match the dyelot, club color tests.... basically all those beautiful skeins she had that didn't exactly match a particular colorway. I have those in multicolor batches and tonal batches. We choose the color for you and you get a hand dyed skein for less than $20!

Lorna's Laces Trunk Show & Sale

I had such a fun day in the shop on Saturday with Amanda of Lorna's Laces, She and her hubs drove over from Chicago, filled their car with goodies, and all were on display throughout the day on Saturday. Many of you got to meet and chat with Amanda, show off your Lorna's Laces knits and pick out your next project. Here are just a few of the great pics from the day, and check out this video too.

Shoppers on Saturday enjoyed choosing Soctober one-off and mill end colors and you can find in our Sale Section for 25% off (potluck options) later this week- starting hopefully on Tuesday. You can also get 10% off your Lorna's Laces yarn Monday through Friday (Oct 18) noon EST by entering code lovelornas (all lowercase, maybe just copy/paste it to avoid errors) in the coupon code field on our Cart or Check Out page.

This Christmas themed Simply Joys String Quintet set will also be available on Tuesday.

Sweaters shown are Sipila, Sock Arms and Zweig. Shawl worn is Goldfish Memory. 

Take a look at last week's post to see 20 sock colors knit up.

Spooktober Kit Live + Fashion Show

For those who wanted to grab one of our Spooktober Knit Kits, it's now live. Our Halloween and Christmas kits tend to sell out the fastest, so please don't hesitate if you really want one. We will have the Oh-My-Gourd Knit Kit next Wednesday and several Christmas ones after Thanksgiving that I can't wait to share.

If you wanted to add more to your cart to take advantage of free US shipping at $100, we have more Life in the Long Grass than ever before, the Christmas Robin color from West Yorkshire Spinners back in stock (as this sells out this season, we will continue to get more, so check back if it's ever gone), plus the four new Winwick Mum colors shown below. Winwick Mum (aka Christine Perry) is a popular UK crafter and she was asked to design a collection for West Yorkshire Spinners. I'm betting you'll agree that these colors are super cute.

And now onto something super fun. I often attend a local knitting group, and sometimes we get together at a local coffee shop, or have drinks together, or meet up at someone's house. I met these ladies over 8 years ago when one of you suggested that I come knit with her and her friends on a weekend morning. I did, and some of these ladies became some of my closest people in the world and have changed my life forever. Sometimes we see each other once a week, sometimes I go months without catching up. We have vacationed together, worked together, play volleyball and cards together, knit baby blankets for each other and our kids are growing up together. We have talked/cried/argued/drank through the mountains and valleys of our lives sharing advice and stories and support. Some have moved away and we miss terribly and visit virtually, some of us will never leave. These are women that I just happened to take a chance and share a few stitches with, and they have changed me for the better.

Recently, the group was complaining that they had so many sweaters they wanted to knit, but that they wanted to try them on and see how they'd fit before committing. So everyone got together, pooled their finished sweaters, and had a try on session/show. WITH OVER 50 SWEATERS. Different body types, different styles, but all hand knit sweaters from this group. And then my friend Chevas made a video podcast about it.

Photos courtesy of Chevyrell's Stuff Podcast

Now, here's the disclaimer. You likely know that I've never finished a sweater. I got halfway through one, gave up and passed it along to Diana who turned it into one of the sweaters in this podcast (at mark 2:45). So while I had the best of times hanging out, eating carbs, knitting this and taking pictures and videos, I knit none of the featured sweaters (though I think the yarn for 90% of them came from my shop) and only tried on one... around the 10 minute mark... in my pajamas.

If you have yet to join a knitting group, I highly recommend searching Ravelry or Facebook for one in your local area. Or give one a try at your next vacation destination. I had been a lone knitter before these ladies. And don't just try one group- if those people aren't your people, keep on trying groups until you find the right one for you. Or, better yet, convert your non-knitting friends into knitters and you'll be set!

The sweaters are labeled in the video with the pattern, but if you want help choosing yarn, just e-mail me as usual at [email protected]. These sweaters use a lot of Tosh, Malabrigo, Spun Right Round, Hedgehog and Mineville Wool Project (which we will have more of the DK in the sale section in less than a month). But if you have questions about particular colors of yarn, send me an e-mail with the minute/second mark so I can find the sweater and let you know via e-mail.

A big thanks to Chevas, Rachael, Jodi, Linsey and Diana for making this happen. It was a total blast. You all are artists and amazing women.

Lorna's Laces Trunk Show & Meet n Greet

 

This Saturday at SSYC we're hosting a trunk show and meet-n-greet with Lorna's Laces owner Amanda Jarvis! Amanda will be here showing off designs and samples, bringing new yarn and colors with her and showing off all the awesome changes she's made since moving from dye manager to business owner a couple years ago.

This is our big wall of Shepherd Sock.

I'm told that she's bringing special lots and colors too that we'll be offering on the website, plus some holiday String Quintet Sets, so check back in a week or two online to see all those.

A decade ago we did a virtual trunk show that featured a slew of their colors knit up into socks. Here's just some of them in Shepherd Sock.

Chino, Pine, Iris Garden, Flamingo Stripe, Pin Stripe

Sheridan, Wendy Knits, Old Rose, Midway, Seaside

Camo, Poppy, Ashburn, Satsuma, Hermosa

Hawaii, South Shore, Pin Stripe, Red Rover, Envy

If you're within a nice drive of our shop at 1315 E State Blvd in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I do hope you will come and join us for the day. We'll be open 10-4 and if you like you can save the date and invite friends on Facebook. Come see us!

Halloween Knit Kits, a preview

It's time to share our Halloween Knit Kits with you! These will be released one at a time, the first this Wednesday, the second on the following Wednesday. Because these (along with our Christmas kits) are the most popular of the year, releasing them separately allows us to better get these together and out to you as quick as we can (often the same day), rather than having a back log of orders that takes several days to ship. Also because we are having a Socktober Trunk Show with Lorna's Laces this Saturday, we have a really busy couple weeks here and we need to make it a bit more manageable for our crew of four.

So, coming this Wednesday morning is the Spooktober Knit Kit. With classic Halloween colors, a larger sized bag (holds a 3 skein project) and a tasty treat, this is sure to start your Halloween off with a scream... of delight, not fright.

The yarn for the kit is an awesome Halloween stripe from Julia at Knitterly Things. This Skeleton Key colorway stripes up as 6 rows each: black, white with black speckles, orange, white with black speckles. This is a four stripe repeat and it even comes with a coordinating mini skein in orange. 

This is a super fabric, isn't it? Grim fonts and spooky images with coordinating lining and a beaded zipper pull. One of my family's favorite evening snacks is popcorn, and there's nothing quite like our local popcorn maker, Poptique. You'll get a bag of Sea Salt Caramel popcorn with your knit kit.

Next week on Wednesday, October 16 I'll release the Oh My Gourd Knit Kit which features a limited edition Madelinetosh TML+Copper skein, a sock project bag with this beautiful pumpkin fabric, a hand crafted leather shawl cuff, and a bag of Poptique popcorn.

I'm so proud of the yarn in this kit. Not only does this color perfectly match the hues in the fabric, it's dyed on Madelinetosh's limited edition Tosh Merino Light + Copper sparkle. For those who purchase the kit and would like extra skeins for a larger project, I will have those extra skeins available to add at the same time (can't be purchased without the kit). I'll also offer coordinating color suggestions, should you want to add a solid to your project.

Something new and noteworthy in this kit is the hand crafted leather shawl cuff, shown in use above. Later this fall, we will be offering a full line of colors of locally made leather shawl cuffs. For those of use who like to wear our shawls wrapped around our necks, these are simple and beautiful ways to secure them so that they stay in place and don't come unwrapped. The Oh My Gourd Knit Kit includes the first of our cuffs and I hope you love it as much as I do.

Our Knit Kits typically go up for sale mid morning EST. Both of these kits will be priced in the $65-$70 range. If you'd like to add more items to your order to qualify for free US shipping with $100, please do feel free to get your cart ready ahead of time. Pretty please don't ask me to combine several orders on the day of to save on shipping, as I'm unable to respond to e-mails fast enough that day or notice when more than one order comes in from one person. On normal/non-kit-days we are happy to change/add to orders to save you on shipping or change things up however you'd like. But Knit Kit days are such a wonderfully busy day, we can't make changes/holds work. Same for winding of yarn in kits- they are already assembled and wrapped up nicely, so if you request an order to be wound, we can do that as usual, except the kit stuff. Thanks for understanding as we continued to find ways to grow to serve you the best with our small but dedicated crew.

Knitting for Halloween

I have Halloween on the brain today. October has begun, I'm actually wearing a sweater today, and my kids have started hunting of Halloween costume ideas.... yep, fall is here.

If you like to knit with the season, here are a few ideas to enjoy the Halloween season in fiber. First, Yarn Love has released their Happy Jack Sock Kit. We have just a handful of these (more to come, I hope) and some single skeins of the Polyjuice Potion colorway that is the main color.

We have our own Poste Yarn, Striping Sock for you in several Halloweeny colors. Shown here are Elm Street and Camp Crystal Lake. Also take a look at Ghost Town, Bryce Canyon, Goblin Forest and Poenari Castle.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts always dyed up fun holiday themed colors, and we have several options in stock for you. Take a look at Witchy Woman, Rocky Horror, Jeepers Creepers, Grimble (shown below), Fall Frolic, Slayer, On the Vine.

And of course very timely are Socktober and Socktoberfest

And if you like a little sparkle in your life, I have several fall/Halloween colors on BMFA's Super Sparkle, which is great for socks and shawls. Shown below is Fall Frolic, I love Super Sparkle- the colors look fab on that base.

Every day seems to be Halloween for horror-loving Petra of Undercover Otter, with colors like Hack-o-Lantern and Jamie Lee (star of Halloween).

And of course, Spun Right Round with Haunts, Monster Mash, Bitten. Linked and Shown in DK, but also available in Singles and Sock.

Oh, and Part Werewolf on Sock and Singles. Wowza.

I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration for your Halloween Knitting! I knit this hat our of Haunts last year using the Wurm pattern and one of our poms,  and I can't wait to wear it again all winter.

We will be releasing our Halloween Knit Kits starting next week, so check back Monday for details. Have a great weekend!

Socktober Giveaway!

It's our first Socktober gift of the month! Order online through the end of the week (Wednesday Oct 2 through Friday Oct 4) and I'll include a set of 4 of our witty knitter note cards and envelopes! With phrases like "Yarn loves me" and "The first thing on my bucket list is to fill it with yarn", you're sure to smile when you see yours. We haven't offered these as a gift yet since last year, so you may have been waiting for this particular treat. And if you want more than one set, just place an order each day, Wednesday/ Thursday/ Friday and you can get three free sets!

These are ideal to give with wash/care instructions when you hand knit a gift for someone (which many of us are doing for the holidays), for keeping on hand to have the perfect card for our best knitting friend, or simply tacking on the wall of our cube behind our computer monitor or on the fridge to make us smile. They are also a really good way to show those close to you just how much your craft yarn means to you.... perhaps consider slipping the card that reads "Yarn is my love language" into your man's coat pocket as a reminder? Heh.

What do you have to do to get these note cards? Just place an order online Wednesday, Thursday or Friday this week and we will automatically tuck a set into your package before it leaves here. And if you're local and order online for in-store pickup, you will get one slipped into your bag waiting for pickup.

What might you want to order with this? We have a special Socktober sale. Dream in Color has assembled  Duos, two skeins of their Smooshy with Cashmere- one solid and one coordinating speckle and we are offering them for just $40 instead of $64. The sample here is knit with the La Bandanita Bandana Cowl in Chocolate Night and Blanchefleur, but this would be great with any two-color pattern like the Phi Shawl, Stripe Study, Cocentra Cowl... and you could have enough left over for Endpaper Mitts. For those who want to do the Stephen West Mystery KAL, you can purchase two of the same sets to do that. My choices for that would be Gold Experience + String & Key or Bedtime + Whisper, both shown below.

These Dream Duos would normally retail at $64, but we are offering them at only $40 through Friday. After that the price will go up, so grab them while you can. $20 a skein for yarn that's typically priced at $32 is an amazing deal, and I'm really proud to be able to offer it for our first Socktober Special. This yarn is great for socks too, and $20 for a pair of cashmere blend socks is a stunning deal.

We also have new fall hues from Life in the Long Grass (I'm knitting them myself) and even more that should make it through Customs today. West Yorkshire Spinners has released their 2019 Christmas Robin holiday color, and we even have special restocks of two of the previous holiday colors, Holly Berry and Fairy Lights. These colors will sell out soon, but I'll keep restocking them throughout the season.

Want to celebrate Socktober in person with us? We're hosting a Trunk Show & Meet-n-Greet with Lorna's Laces owner Amanda Jarvis! Join us on October 12!

It's SOCKtober!

Welcome to SOCKTOBER at SSYC! Yes, it's that time of year! For me, it means the start of fall and that dreaded oh-no-I-don't-have-enough-hand-knit-socks-for-the-winter feeling and I really get to knitting. It also means that Halloween is approaching and I know my fave dyers are going to release some more-daring-than-usual colorways to celebrate. It's also the first time I consider whether or not I should make any gifts for the holidays. Basically, Socktober is when hand knitting season really ramps up. So let's celebrate!

How? First contests and giveaways. I love giving away free stuff around here and this month is a biggie. The first contest is below.

Second, we're having a trunk show and meet & greet with Lorna's Laces owner Amanda Jarvis on Saturday, October 12 from 10-4 in the shop. If you're anywhere near Fort Wayne, Indiana on the 12th and want to see great stuff and meet Amanda, you should definitely stop in. She's bringing cool stuff with her from Chicago, like the designs shown below.

Third, our Halloween Kits in a week or two. These are always popular and this year's two options are super cool.

Fourth, special deals on amazing skeins from Dream in Color. I'll keep you updated here on the blog. Here's a tease. (Edited day later to add the link to that deal here).

Fifth, still to be determined. I'm betting all sorts of fun things will crop up last minute that I'll be sharing here on the blog, Facebook and Insta. I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet, so my mind....

Want to win something in our first Socktober contest? How about a $30 gift certificate to the shop? Tell me in the comments what goal you might set for yourself for Socktober. Do you want to try something new? Do you want to make cowl for your mom for Christmas? How about kntiting yourself a pair of socks a week this month so that your feet are warm all winter? Do tell! And if you have no goal, that's completely fine too. Just share that. Please leave one comment by noon EST on Friday October 4. Thanks for playing!