Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Week Long Holiday Open House!

Typically this time of year we are getting ready for our Holiday Open House, which is an in-person yarn party when we have treats like cupcakes or cookies, sometimes do a Christmas craft and show off all the goodies you might want for the holidays. Like last year, this year we have decided that instead of having a big, busy day at the shop (we sometimes see a few hundred people in just a few hours) we want to space things out again. So we have decided to instead replace that big party with a week long Holiday Open House, being open to the public next week Monday through Friday, 10am-2pm each day.

A week of open days was a first for us when we did it last year, but we found we like space out things a bit so we don't have a couple hundred people descending on the shop at once, and we think that being open for a week straight (we are typically open to the public one day a week, and ship the other days) will allow us to help you better choose things you need to knit for your holiday gifts and get little gifts and tokens of appreciation each day from us at SSYC. Plus if you're bringing a friend or two with you, you have more days to fit into your busy schedules.

What can you expect next week? If you shop in person with us, we'll have various treats we will give out here and there.

Monday through Friday, December 5-9 10am-2pm - Free cotton tote with purchases each day, shown below. We'll have our "fishbowl contest" that you can enter to win each day, meaning if you put your name in the fishbowl all five days, you have five chances to win the prizes. In addition, each day we'll be offering the following:

Monday, 12/5 - Free hand made stitch markers with purchase

Tuesday, 12/6 - Free hand made stitch markers with purchase

Wednesday, 12/7 - Cookie Cottage cookies for all!

Thursday, 12/8 10am-2pm - 15% off three US dyers Urth Yarn, Laneras Yarn Co. and Miss Babs. (regular stock, not sale items)

Friday 12/9 10am-2pm - 15% off three imports from three different countries - Hedgehog Fibres of Ireland, Uschitita of the Netherlands and Qing of London

The discounts are only available in person and not before or after the day offered.

Do come see us at 1315 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN during this week. And if you can't make it for the celebration, check out our hours that we have posted through March.  We are open our normal Saturday, Dec 3 from 10-4, if you'd prefer to visit on a weekend day.

Holiday Goodies & Knit Kits are LIVE!

Now's the time to grab the special batch of holiday goodies  at the Kits & Clubs link, including our Holiday Knit Kits. Two weeks ago we released our first batch of holiday wares (some are still available here with the new), and this post shows our second batch that just went live this morning. It's worth noting that I'm still waiting on two imported lines to arrive Flock Fibres with sock sets from Canada, and more of the West Yorkshire Spinners holiday colors from the UK. This includes the new Gingerbread color that we had and sold out already. Both lines are en route, so hopefully by next week.

First our two Holiday Knit Kits. We've been doing these for well over a decade now and they have become a very popular part of what we do. Each Knit Kit comes with a hand made bag, a limited edition skein of yarn, three hand made polymer stitch markers and two Soak washes in the Wild Mint scent.

First, we have our Howliday Cheer Knit Kit. I don't even own a dog and I'm snagging one of these for myself! This drawstring bag is a linen canvas fabric, so sturdy and very high quality. It easily holds a three skein project and even has three pockets to hold your accessories. Each is handmade by Vickie at Bird Leg Bags.

Dream in Color dyed up the limited edition Howliday Cheer colorway to go with. It's dyed on their Smooshy yarn, which is 420 yards of fingering weight superwash merino/nylon. You get one of these with your kit, but if you need more for a larger project, please e-mail me because I usually have two or three extra skeins.

Then you get three polymer clay stitch markers (like the ones in the Countdown to Christmas set- though those are even more detailed and intricate) made by our artisan.

Then I have the Kitschy Kringle Knit Kit, which includes the same high quality linen canvas bag with interior pockets, and the fabric is just the best, isn't it? It invokes all the Christmas cookie baking feels, doesn't it?

This Knit Kit also comes with a limited edition skein from Dream in Color, two Soak washes, and three adorable mitten stitch markers. As always, the amount of Knit Kits we have is limited, so please don't hesitate if you really want one.

Waiting for holiday stripes? We have those from Freckled Whimsy all these striping skeins come with a solid colored mini for toes and heels. And if you want non-holiday colors, those are all here.

Knitterly Things is back as well! We have lots of Julia's striping colors for you including Joyful Noise, Holiday Celebrate and Son of a Nutcracker... and lots more. Plus a restock of her non-holiday hues here.

Julia also made three special speckled holiday colors for us, and I also have a restock of Emma's Yarn minis that would look great if you want solids for toes and heels too.

Merry Woofmas would look great with Foxy Lady, Don't Call Me Peaches or Freshly Cut. Or, heck, get them all for a larger project.

Merry Mint would really be set off by Stiletto and Tealicious

Cheers! would be fun with Securrrity, Grayscale or Love + Leche

Then I have some really cool Madelinetosh holiday skeins. We've asked them to bring back skeins that we haven't seen for years, and some of them I'd never seen before, here they are: Warm Woolen Mittens, Frost Bitten, Mint Condition, Grinch, Mistletoe, Frosty, Fireside, Caroling and What's Your Poinsettia. All these are shown on Tosh Merino Light, but will be available on Tosh DK, Tosh Sock and Twist Light Sock too. And as a side note, with adding these holiday colors, this brings the tally of Madelinetosh colors we've ever offered to over 500! Can you believe that? We've offered over 500 different colors of Madelinetosh over the past decade! No wonder our offerings are literally head spinning.

Finally, for those who haven't grabbed one yet, or did and wanted another, we have more of the 12 Days of Stitch Markers ready for you!

If you're interested some holiday cheer, check the Kits & Clubs section now to get yours!

Oh, and I want to share that I made the Hat Set Club sign ups inactive for a few days on accident and it's now back up for those who want to sign up. If you haven't yet, it really is a great gift for yourself or someone you love for the holidays. The club ships in mid Dec-Jan-Feb and you get three months of goodies- each month a skein, pom and pattern to make a hat. They are all surprises to you, but I'll share that one is a hand dyed stripe and I just saw it knit up for the first time and it's AMAZING. Don't miss out if you want a treat!

Free Gift w/ Purchase thru Saturday

Thank you for allowing SSYC to serve you for 17 holiday seasons! To show our appreciation, we are giving you a gift with purchases placed online Thursday, Friday and Saturday.... so Nov 24-26. You don't add it to your order or have to request it. We will automatically tuck one in your order if it's placed online during these three days. Contactless Pickup works too, but please know that orders placed this weekend will be put out on Monday, not this weekend.

We have two bags to give away, so if there's one that you'd prefer, just tell us in the note/comment field on the Check Out page. Otherwise, we'll choose one for you - either this sunny zippered sock project bag or the cotton tote.

It's hard to believe that's we've been serving you for nearly two decades now! To celebrate the season, we'll be releasing our second batch of holiday goodies on Monday (I'll preview the wares on Friday), and this includes our two Holiday Knit Kits.

What might you want to purchase today to get your free gift? Well, we released our first batch of holiday yarns two weeks ago, and you can see those here.  Shown above is the Regia Celebration collection which I'm knitting right now, and shown below is the super festive Candy Cane striping sock yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners.

We have a huge array of sale yarns right now, a full selection of Emma's Yarn in Sock and Mohair so you can knit the new Casapinka sweater, and a huge array of Madelinetosh - including the new assigned pooling colors to go with these patterns. Pairing Tosh Sock or Hedgehog Fibres sock yarn with the Mohair would be nice too, and we have hundreds of color options in stock and ready to ship. And don't forget about Malabrigo Sock which can be paired with their brand new Mohair for the sweater.

We also received more Freckled Whimsy striping sock sets and Knitterly Things Vesper for those that love hand dyed stripes - the holiday colors are released on Monday. Shown above is Vesper Striping Sock in Live in Technicolor.

Want Opal Yarn for gift socks that are fun to knit and hold up to wash and wear? We have the last part of the Van Gogh collection (which was re-released after a decade and they are already dyeing more to keep up with demand) and the beautiful Holidays collection.

Thank you so much for allowing us to serve you for another holiday season. We are having a week long party starting on December 5-9th from 10am-2pm. Each day in the shop we'll be doing contests (you can enter every day), and different give aways or sales of the day. I'll share all those here on the blog next week. But it's definitely a great time to wrangle your friends and drive to our shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana if you haven't before - 16 tons of yarn is a heady thing!

Assigned Pooling Yarns & Pattern Ideas

We have received a ridiculous amount of yarn in the past couple weeks, and much of it I know many of you have been waiting for - options for assigned pooling patterns like those of Dawn Barker.

Fizz shown above in Seated Ballerina, Pop shown below in Marilyn

What do we have in the shop for you? First, Dawn Barker's new collaboration with Madelinetosh! She and Tosh came up with four new colorways that work quite nicely with her patterns and you can find them at SSYC! These colors are Seated Ballerina, Marilyn, Comic Book Art and Everyday Objects. We have these colors available on Tosh Merino Light and Tosh Sock so you can do fingering weight projects, and Tosh DK if you want a squishy and thicker DK weight project.

Aren't these all lovely? Shown above and Comic Book Art and Seated Ballerina, and shown below are Marilyn and Everyday Objects (all on Tosh Sock).

Then we have the colors that many of you have been waiting for, the Color Burst Collection from Wonderland Yarns. These are also intended for assigned pooling colors like those of Dawn Barker.

The Color Burst Collection skeins I have right now are on Cheshire Cat (fingering weight 100% superwash merino) and Mary Ann Sock (fingering weight superwash merino/nylon) - I have some colors on each of the bases, so if you don't see the yarn in one line, check the other. It's also worth noting that I show two skeins in one photo and while the skeins might look a bit different, as in you see more of one color in one skein than another, they are the same and look the same in person, they are just twisted slightly differently or show the back of the skein.

A Brush with Fate

A Refreshing Moonlit Swim

An All Night Diner

An Inkling of Something Brilliant

Blue Skies & Rainbows

Cash in the Pocket of Last Winter's Coat

City Lights on Wet Pavement

Crackling Fire on a Rainy Day

Dandelion in a Sidewalk Crack

Rainy Day Rainbow

Splashing Through Puddles

Tranquility of a Fresh Blanket of Snow

Wildflowers on your Bedside Table

Wishing on a Shooting Star

I especially like these with Turn it To the Max by Joanne Bint, shown below.

Want a few other pattern ideas? Take a look at Sunrise Sunset in Wishing on Shooting Star, Little Buds in A Brush with Fate or Splashing Through Puddles. Or Glide with Blue Skies & Rainbows.

Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

It has recently been shared with me (by a bold and honest daughter in law) that my entire family does not enjoy the hand knitted socks I've been giving them. They don't wear them. Obviously, I don't want to waste my time knitting for those who don't use what I'm making. Rather than get down about about, I'm deciding if I want to find other projects they might actually like and use (I'm thinking not), or if there are organizations that might appreciate my talents.

Can you relate? Do you have advice on how I can turn this frown upside down?

Thank you, Knitters!

Debra in Dallas

 

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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 [email protected] . Your question could be chosen for this series.

 

Holiday Goodies Part 1, Now Available

Today is our release of our first batch of Holiday Treats! That's right, we will do two different days where we release our yearly holiday and Christmas themed goodies. What's all included today in the Kits & Clubs section?

Well, two of the collections we have already released because most of you requested that we add them as soon as we get them rather than waiting. Those are the West Yorkshire Spinners holiday colors, which includes the new Gingerbread colorway shown above AND the Regia Celebrations collection. I couldn't wait on the Celebrations collection either, as I already started knitting mine last weekend. I highly recommend stashing one of each of the eight colors.

What else can have you been waiting for? Our exclusive Kenyarn Vintage Vixen color back again in fingering and DK weight. These sold out within hours the first time we had them for Christmas in July. If you miss out, we will get them again.

Then we have the awesome Gettin Blitzen, Santa-gria and The Naughty List from Dream in Color.

More hand dyed yarn? Yes, please. We have those five gorgeous, earthy tweed inspired colors from Less Traveled Yarn on 757 Sock (merino/nylon) Tweed Sock and Tweed DK. All at the Kits & Clubs link.

We also have the two holiday hues from Less Traveled Yarn, Mistletoe and Sleigh Queen. Aren't these AWESOME?? Kits & Clubs section, friends!

We also have more of our 12 Days of Stitch Markers sets, which are just the most adorable 12 hand made polymer clay stitch markers that are so detailed and perfect that many of your have purchased more than one set. They are all packaged in tiny envelopes that are beautifully numbered so you can use it as a garland until you're ready to open yours. Or you can reuse the garland as a special package for 12 little trinkets. The markers are a surprise until you open them, but if you want to e-mail me, Allison, at [email protected] to ask me to send you a picture of one, I'll do that so you can see the quality and detail you can expect from your 12 different markers. Check Out this video here. I have gotten wonderful e-mails from many of you who bought yours during our Christmas in July event and ended up buying several because once you saw them you had to get more. Thank you so much! I love that our artisan's attention to detail is appreciated.

Want traditional red and green stripes? We have Urth's Christmas striping yarn back in Sock Kits (shown below with 2 matching 50g balls of yarn) or worsted weight (below that) to make cowls like I do for people for Christmas gifts.

Want our exclusive Hat Sets? We have our Jollyville Hat sets with a red or green pom. This festive speckle is dyed just for us by Madelinetosh and you'll find them at the Kits & Clubs link. I also have the Jollyville color for you on Tosh Merino Light and Pashmina there too.

We also have started up our monthly hat sets again, and you can find the three I have available in the Kits & Clubs section. If you haven't seen it, we have also released our next three month Hat Set club. Do sign up this week if you want in - it's a great value for yarn, pom and pattern each month for three months. It's a great gift too- if you want to share this link with a family member who might want to know what you want for Christmas this year.

Want something easy care for gift items? I have more of the Holidaze color from Cascade in Heritage Wave and the Prints. The Heritage Wave colors are great if you want a pair of socks that looks like they are made from hand spun yarn, and the Prints are super festive, self patterning colors. And the price point is unbeatable.

In addition to all these awesome holiday goods, I have two other things that I know are of interest. First, you'll find some lovely colors of Dream in Color's Colossal Sock in the Sale Section - these are the 150g skeins that are 45% off the typical price for that much. I have extra of the cool Andromeda Watercolor colorway that was for our Halloween Knit Kit, so if you wanted more or weren't able to get the kit, you can grab the skein here. 

Then I have a Christmas special for you - Madleinetosh's Silk Merino skeins for 50% off - they are now just $18.50 a skein. These are all potluck, meaning that we choose the color for you and you get a surprise and a super deal. If you order more than one skein, you'll get more than one color. These pictures show just some of the dozens of color options we have available. You're welcome to tell us your preferences in the comment field on the Check Out page, but please know it's potluck and if we can't fill your request, we will still send your order from what we do have. As in, if you say, I'd like two contrasting colors to make the Eschers Dream Cowl, we will do our best but if we don't have anything that suits your note, we will still send the order with skeins we have b/c it is Potluck. Other pattern ideas for one or more skeins of this great yarn are the Tied Knots Hat, Chloe's Crown (a cool headband for a quick gift knit), Tinsel Mitts, emPower People (a simple bandana), and Nightfall Cowl.

What can you expect in our second Christmas release in a couple weeks? We will have holiday striping hues from Knitterly Things and Freckled Whimsy, sock sets from Flock Fibres, two of the coolest holiday Knit Kits I've ever put together, special holiday hues from Madelinetosh and likely more that I'm just not remembering right now. But I wanted to offer these goods in two batches so that a) you could start your holiday knits leading up to the season, and b) so we can better manage this busy time. We are a small crew and this is wonderfully fast-paced time for us. We want to serve you without a several day wait. I can't wait to share all the wonderful delights that our makers created for you.

If you're local, or want to plan a holiday trip with your friends, we are spreading out our typical-one-day Holiday Open House- instead of one party day, we'll be open for 5 days starting Monday, Dec 5 through Friday, Dec 9! Bring your friends and come celebrate the holidays with us from 10am-2pm on Dec 5-9th. Each day that week we will celebrate with different sales or giveaways PLUS contests and all will be detailed a week before in our e-newsletter and here on the blog.

SSYC 2nd Hat Set Club

Last year we did a first for us, a yarn club that wasn't intended for socks. Our Hat Sets that we release mid-month in the winter months (yes, I'll start that up again soon) were so popular and sold out so fast that many people missed out before they even saw they were available. So I decided to do a Hat Set Club so that you wouldn't have to wait and click and refresh over and over to get some of that good stuff. 

And one of the questions I got most often over the past few months is "Are you doing another Hat Set Club? And WHEN??" And the answer is yes and now.

If you sign up for this club you'll get 100g or a bit more of yarn, a hand made pom pom and a pattern every month for three months in mid/late December, January and February. You don't need to stalk our website to see what the monthly clubs are (but you might still want to to see what we release each month). Instead you get your own special hat set just each month. You pay now for all three months to save your place.

Have questions? Feel free to e-mail me, Allison, at [email protected] or leave comments here. If you're local, you can choose contactless pickup and I'll refund $10 from your order. And if you're international, it's worth noting that like the last club if shipping goes up a lot (like it has this month) you'll be contacted to see if you want to wait to have everything shipped together or if you'd like to pay more to have it shipped to you every month. Right now, one international shipping fee won't cover all three shipments. It's just the nature of shipping outside of the US right now and I'm being transparent about that right up front.

Each hat set is a surprise until you open it, but I will share a few tidbits today.

• The price is the same as last year! Even with the cost of everything going up, I was able to keep the price the same. It's a Thanksgiving Miracle - LOL!
• For the first time, we have a DK weight hand dyed striping yarn made just for the circumference of hats! So cool.
• All yarn is heavier weight - think DK or worsted weight- and made in the US.

The hat sets pictured here are ones we've done over the past year. None are the same as what you'll get in the club. The hat shown above was knit by me for my lovely mama. Hats shown below were all knit by shop friend Holly.

 

Regia Celebrations Sock Yarn

I have a fun new Regia sock yarn collection to share today - Celebrations! 

Schachenmayr says this about their newest collection

Dark green, blue, red, silver, dark pink, green, gold and the pastel shade grège - as colorful and different as the colors of the new REGIA Celebrations Color are the occasions that are celebrated around the world at the end of the year: Whether winter solstice or Christmas, the Hindu festival of lights Diwali or the Mexican Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving or Hanukkah - knit your favorite socks for your favorite holiday.

I absolutely adore the colors in the Celebrations collection. They are modern and fun and the patterns created aren't the typical ones you see in self patterning yarn. Love love LOVE.

I started knitting up this color already, and posted a picture of my yarn barf on Insta and FB and woah, the comments! Hundreds of comments about your experiences with yarn barf and some really good ideas on how to find the middle of the ball of center pull yarn. If you have thoughts on yarn barf, leave yours too!

If you're looking for other fun, colorful and easy care options to for gift knitting, I have other ones for you too. Consider the new Arne & Carlos collection and the 6 ply colors we just got in. I LOVE all these tweed colors in fingering and 6ply too. Don't forget all the West Yorkshire Spinners colors that we got in from the UK. These colors are flying right now, especially all the holiday ones. Definitely great for gifts too, as they are easy wash and wear.

Cascade Yarns, Heritage Sock Highlighter Hues!

It's worth noting that Cascade Yarns has released some really nice neon/highlighter colors in their most recent release of Heritage Sock!

5775 Highlighter Green

5774- Highlighter Yellow

5776 - Highlighter Violet

5772 - Highlighter Pink

5773 - Highlighter Orange

I think these would look supremely awesome combined with black for some super cool striped socks, don't you?

This brings us to over 100 solid colors of Cascade Heritage sock yarn right now, in stock and ready to ship! That's pretty darned awesome, I think.

Easy Holiday Gift Knits, Week 2

Have any of you started or completed more holiday gift knits since last week when I post about it? No? Me either. But. BUT. I have started at least pondering gift ideas. And that's something, right?

Twilight

Today I want to share some DK weight projects using the yarn that we just got back in stock, Laneras DK. Laneras (recently renamed from Vrinda) is the company known for creating yarns that use the "opposing ply" spinning method to create a more durable yarn with out using nylon. One of the four singles is spun in the opposite direction so that when the four are plied together the opposing strand gets tighter. The resulting yarn is more durable and takes the dye differently, creating the subtle barber pole effect seen in the finished yarn. 

Free Soul

I think this yarn is stunning paired with Janina Kallio's patterns. I knit two of her shawl patterns in the past year and I see no reason why I should stop myself from knitting more. She has some nice DK weight patterns that would knit up faster than their fingering weight cousins, and one of them, Orbit, uses just one skein of yarn.

Project photos courtesy of Janina Kallio/Woolenberry

How nice is this little shawl? I think every person needs one of these in their wardrobe, right? Just a bit of color peeking out from the neckline. Just enough fabric to keep our necks from getting cold this winter.

If you want to combine two colors, you could go with Sara. Just one skein of each would be plenty for this pattern. I like Pier 39 and Saruman, or Romance and Tuscany's Gold.

Or you could go with a three skein project and make a Northern Sky. Just the idea of cozying up with this shawl makes me happy. Especially in such a dynamic yarn like this DK.

I hope this helps propel you toward your gift knits, if that's what you want to do. Or I hope it just inspires you to give this gorgeous yarn a try. It really is quite lovely and knit worthy! I'll keep posting holiday gift knit ideas in the coming weeks.