Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Casapinka LYS Day 2023 Shawl

Details about how to get this year's pattern for free are at the bottom of this post, but I wanted to share some color ideas for this year's Casapinka LYS Day shawl, Kitation. No, she hasn't told us what the exact yarns are that she's using, but I hope that these suggestions inspire you to give it a go.

The shawl uses two contrasting colors of fingering weight yarn, one skein each. And if you want one of those to be variegated or speckled, you can do that for one skein. Here are ones I like for this shawl. 

Hedgehog Fibres Sock or Singles in Gossip and Egg Yolk, then Coral and Crybaby, Ink and Juniper, Method and Plump, Potion and Pollen

Love Emma's Yarn? How about their Sock in Cosmos and Shut the Front Door, Barbie Girl and Sugarcoated, On the Rocks and Zuni, Yarn Husband and Wish You Were Beer.

Dream in Color's Smooshy Sock (merino nylon) or Smooshy Cashmere (same but with 10% cashmere!) in Amethyst Ink and Angelica, Antique Gold and Anthing Goes, Enchanted with Pinkitude (or Do Re Me), Raspberry Blaze and Spoil the Littles

Fiberstory's colors all seem to go so well toether. I like Fave Sock in Hush and Cake for a subtle option,

Flock Fibre in Coy Koi and Larkspur, Rubellite and Happy Camper

Now, it's worth noting that all of these are hand made yarns. And while we would love to think they are perfect...nothing is. Since these include some bold hues, it's worth untwisting the skeins and soaking them in a sink full of cool water (one at a time) to make sure the dye doesn't bleed BEFORE you knit two opposing colors together in a project. Don't cut the ties that at all the hold the skein together. Just take off the label, untwist the yarn and put it in the sink to soak. Let it dry and then wind it. That way, you'll get any excess dye out of the skeins before you wash your finished project. Just take this extra step before you put all the work into your project, please. You'll thank yourself later.

I'm happy to help you come up with other color ideas. Just email me what you're thinking to [email protected] and I'll get back with you. Now here are the details on how to get the pattern:

Casapinka designs one LYS Day (Local Yarn Store) pattern a year to help shops celebrate. This year that day falls on April 29, and from now until April 29 at 4pm you qualify to get her upcoming LYS Day 2023 Kitation Shawl pattern for free by purchasing two skeins of yarn for the pattern from us at SSYC and letting us know you'd like the Ravelry coupon code e-mailed to you around April 28/29. You do have to let us know you want the free pattern after your purchase by either 1) putting that note on your order on our Check Out page or 2) e-mailing after your order (just responding to your e-mailed receipt is the easy way) asking. Then when she gives us the codes a day or two before the 30th, we will e-mail you yours. Then you go to the Ravelry pattern page (I'll include the link in your e-mail) add it to your cart on Ravelry and use the coupon code to make it free. The pattern won't be live until April 28 (usually morning), and you shouldn't expect your code until around then either. Then please do use it right away, because in previous years the code only lasts until around midnight EST on the Sunday of LYS weekend, which this year would be April 30th at midnight. So, basically she gives you a very short window to download the pattern for free. After that, you can just purchase it from her. Please do not email me about getting your code asap or before April 29 b/c this typically is a BIG event and if 300 people email me, then I spend too much time responding to emails and don't have time to get the codes out. I won't even get the codes til the 28th or 29th. It's a tight timeline to get these to you and for you to redeem them, typically. I don't have control over the quick timing of this, sorry.

SO! 1) Order 2 skeins from us. 2) Let me know you want your pattern code at Check Out or via e-mail 3) Add [email protected] to your Contacts so your e-mail doesn't bounce. 4) Wait until April 28/29 to get your code. E-mail me on April 29 if you haven't gotten your code yet. 5) Use code on Ravelry to make your pattern free! Don't wait -use the code asap b/c it expires at the end of the weekend. 6) On April 28th-ish, cast on with the big group of people on Casapinka's Ravelry who KAL together and share their progress. 7) Feel good about supporting a small business and some awesome dyers and creating something unique and awesome for yourself or someone you love!

It's worth noting that I don't work on Sunday, so if you want the codes, please make sure you order and ask by 4pm EST on Saturday April 29. I will not be emailing codes after that time. 

It's LYS Week! Free patterns with purchase!

Hey all, if you're still waiting on your Casapinka code and it's past 4pm on Saturday, just know I'm doing my best to email them asap. I have to send individual emails with the individual codes she just sent, and the pattern just went live today. So I'll be sending codes throughout Saturday late night. Please don't email and call over and over to ask b/c that just takes time away from me getting these codes emailed out. Thank you for your patience! The response is huge as usual and we love it! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this).

LYS(local yarn store) Day is this coming Saturday, but we're celebrating all week long online at SSYC! How are we celebrating? We're featuring artisans in the industry that we want to highlight and giving you free patterns and deals!

With any purchase this week, I'll e-mail you two patterns from a designer that I learned about recently, Designs by Ellyndria. If you order now thought Sunday, I'll email you the The Text(ure) Me Socks & the Text(ure) Me Cowl patterns (give me end of week to do so please). Her sock patterns have caught my eye because of her great use of scraps and mini skein sets in creating something that's just yours. As my own knitting evolves, I've found that I still love knitting small projects like socks most of all, but I strive for ways to make my knitting even more unique. Yes, much of time I'm knitting simple socks using Opal Yarn while watching kids or a movie, but when I want something tangy, I like patterns like the ones I'm gifting you this week. 

If you want to choose yarn for your patterns today, it looks like the sock pattern calls for 100g of fingering weight yarn for the main and 5 coordinating colors, 42 yards each. So you could use scraps for your coordinating colors, or you could use mini skein sets like we have from Fiberstory and choose one full sized skein, Dream in Color's Smooshy for the main and a mini skein set, Emma's sock yarn and minis, Sweet Georgia and their Party of 5 Sets. And if you want a greater range of solids for your main color, look at Cascade Heritage or Berroco Vintage Sock. These two are the same weight as the minis I linked above so can be combined with any of these mini skein sets for the look you want.

If you want to knit the cowl, you'll need 100g of main color and appox 10g each of 6 different coordinating colors of minis. You can make the cowl longer or smaller if you want too. As shown, there are 24 stripes. Each stripe uses approx 2g of the coordinating color.

If you need help choosing your colors, please feel free to email me, Allison, at [email protected] and I'm happy to help as usual. We're great at being your "virtual" personal shoppers!

Bonaire on Tosh Merino Light

Madelinetosh is offering two things to celebrate LYS Week - a free pattern with purchase AND a special colorway! Bonaire is available on several bases yarns (find them all this week in the Kits & Clubs link) and it's just a beauty, isn't it? I love it on all the bases. It would make a stunner of a Vanilla Sweater in Tosh Merino Light, wouldn't it? Or I think the simple Hermione's Everyday Socks would make it look perfect in the Tosh Sock (100% superwash merino) or Twist Light Sock (sw merino + nylon). And if you like just a tad bit of glitter, I have the Tosh Merino Light + Copper version, and there's just a smidge of glint in it. Less than usual, so just a touch, and looks great in the light.

You get this Vinea Scarf pattern with any Madelinetosh purchase. It's a Ravelry coupon code that you'll use at this link to make it free after you add it to your Ravelry cart. I'll email the codes to everyone at the end of the week, or you can respond to your emailed receipt if you want the code sooner than that. The pattern uses one skein of Tosh Merino Light and we have more than 300 colors in stock, but you could use Tosh Merino Light + Copper, Twist Light or Tosh Sock b/c they are all the same weight. Again, you get the code with any Madelinetosh purchase from us of any base/color you might like.

Dream in Color's mini skein sets

Want a deal on some fab yarn? This week only I'm offering you 10% off your online order of Dream in Color, Life in the Long Grass and Trekking XXL sock yarn. Just enter coupon code LYS2023 in the coupon code section at Check Out. Sometimes the quick pay options like ApplePay and Paypal breeze you through too quickly to notice, so if you forget, just respond to your receipt and ask me to apply it for you.

Purple text is ALL about the Casapinka LYS Day pattern, which is typically a huge event and knitalong hosted here. This year's shawl uses two full sized (400 yard-ish) skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting hues, one solid and variegated as shown here. You can use two solids if you want, but only use one variegated/speckle so the pattern shows up. Want color ideas? Casapinka doesn't usually say what exact yarn she uses, but Dream in Color and Emma's seem to be used a lot and Cascade Heritage or Heritage Silk are also popular for solids. Also look at LITLG, Fiberstory and Hedgehog Fibres. I'll post color ideas in the next post, so scroll down to see.

Casapinka designs one LYS Day (Local Yarn Store) pattern a year to help shops celebrate. This year that day falls on April 29, and from now until April 29 at 4pm you qualify to get her upcoming LYS Day 2023 shawl pattern for free by purchasing two skeins of yarn for the pattern from us at SSYC and letting us know you'd like the Ravelry coupon code e-mailed to you around April 28/29. You do have to let us know you want the free pattern after your purchase by either 1) putting that note on your order on our Check Out page or 2) e-mailing after your order (just responding to your e-mailed receipt is the easy way) asking. Then when she gives us the codes a day or two before the 30th, we will e-mail you yours. Then you go to the Ravelry pattern page (I'll include the link in your e-mail) add it to your cart on Ravelry and use the coupon code to make it free. The pattern won't be live until April 28 (usually morning), and you shouldn't expect your code until around then either. Then please do use it right away, because in previous years the code only lasts until around midnight EST on the Sunday of LYS weekend, which this year would be April 30th at midnight. So, basically she gives you a very short window to download the pattern for free. After that, you can just purchase it from her. Please do not email me about getting your code asap or before April 29 b/c this typically is a BIG event and if 300 people email me, then I spend too much time responding to emails and don't have time to get the codes out. I won't even get the codes til the 28th or 29th. It's a tight timeline to get these to you and for you to redeem them, typically.

SO! 1) Order 2 skeins from us. 2) Let me know you want your pattern code at Check Out or via e-mail 3) Add [email protected] to your Contacts so your e-mail doesn't bounce. 4) Wait until April 28/29 to get your code. E-mail me on April 29 if you haven't gotten your code yet. 5) Use code on Ravelry to make your pattern free! Don't wait -use the code asap b/c it expires at the end of the weekend. 6) On April 28th-ish, cast on with the big group of people on Casapinka's Ravelry who KAL together and share their progress. 7) Feel good about supporting a small business and some awesome dyers and creating something unique and awesome for yourself or someone you love!

It's worth noting that I don't work on Sunday, so if you want the codes, please make sure you order and ask by 4pm EST on Saturday April 29. I will not be emailing codes after that time. 

Berroco Sox 14232 (new color!)

What might you want to purchase this week to get your free patterns? Well, I already shared ideas for the patterns we're giving you. So I think now's the time to share the new things and restocks we have in the shop! I'm totally into the new Opal Yarn collections we've gotten. We have new hues of Berroco Sox, and restocks of Comfort Sock (no wool).

Hue Loco has released the 2023 Backyard Chicken Collection, and the colors are gorgeous! These are great for socks when you want the toe to be one coordinating color and the heel to be another. Also great for a Spring Thing using one of the mini skeins for the edging and one for the tassles. Want to peruse more Hue Loco? The Merino Sock and Tweed Sock are faves here.

I'll add a few more new things here when they arrive this week- like the new colors of Cascade Heritage Prints. I saw these for the first time months ago and I'm so glad they will be here in a day or two!

Want a deal? We have some great ones in the Sale Yarn section! Like the Violet Fields skein shown above that is perfect for the Field of Violets scarf.

Thank you for your support of us over the past 17 LYS Days! You all have helped SSYC grow from a one-bedroom shop in my home in 2005 to a gorgeous restored 1940's post office that now houses nearly 20 tons of yarn and allows people from all over the world to come shop in person. And not just sock yarn anymore! Your guidance has opened us up to all sorts of easy care weights from lace to super bulky. We love what we do and I hope it shows!

 

New Collections from Opal Yarn

I'm so, so excited about the new Opal Yarn collections we have in the shop! These took their sweet time trickling through Customs, but all are here now. Five new collections and restocks of Black Dragon, Uni Solids, 6 Ply Rainforest, Schafpate, Cats & Dogs and Water World. These are not full restocks of the whole collections, but I got what I could. As you may know, Opal typically makes collections once and then moves onto something else. So I get what I can while I can and then its no more. They did bring the Van Gogh collection back last year (after a decade) and then again early this year. It's their most popular collection so I do hope it's around for another year or so.

First, Country. It's less of a stripey, jacquard look, and more dappled in color. It's a departure from what you typically see from the German company, and I really like it. The colors are bold and saturated, and the colors are fun and wearable. I think it's perfect for people in your life who love your hand knit socks but might like want the in-your-face crazy colors.

Sweet Kiss is a bold self patterning collection that I've already chosen two colors in. To me, it's the type of collection where I just want to knit to the next color repeat - like 11262 which is mostly green, but then I imagine myself wanting to knit til I get to the purple part. 

Then there's the rare sparkle collection! I haven't seen one of these come out for a few years, so it's nice to see one again. Opal picks a series of their more popular colors from the past few years and ads a bit of glitter to it. You don't feel the glitter and it's just as easy wash as normal Opal. It just ads a bit of flair.

Want a thicker yarn? I have two options for you. The sport-to-DK weight 6ply Fantastic Sky collection and the light worsted weight 8 Ply Wilder Winter. Both give you quick gratification in your knits and super cushy, warm socks.

I hope you see something here that makes you want to knit all weekend. I certainly see many that will keep me up later at night than they should, and I can't wait to get started on them! If you're coming to shop in person this Saturday and want to see them, make sure to ask b/c I want to make sure you see them all!

Shop Show and Tell

Our yarny friends have brought in some super lovely projects recently, and I just wanted to show them off! First, Pressed Flowers by Amy Christoffers. this lovely shawl used two contrasting colors of Laneras DK, and it's super stunning in person.

Then we have a Missoni Accomplished sweater in Asana Sport. Cascade Heritage 6 and Tweedy DK would also be great options.

And the sweater that made us all *swoon*, the Ilya sweater  that uses several colors of Tweedy DK. OMG, right? We were all surprised at how soft the finished fabric is too. Just so sumptuous. It was hard to stop squishing it!

Then there's the shawl that ends all shawls, this stunner of a Fragmentation that uses seven different Tosh Merino Light and Tosh Merino Light + Copper colors. I see Life on Mars, Leaf Fall, Dahlia, Birch Grey, and Pardon My French to name a few. What a gorgeous way to keep warm this spring or fall, right? I love the little bit of sparkle that TML+Copper adds to this. If you want some help putting together seven colors for yours, just e-mail me, Allison, at [email protected] with a few colors that you like, and we can help you put something special together. With 300+ colors of TML and nearly 100 of TML+Copper, we can put together a perfect combo for you, for sure.

And how about I share one of my projects? I had some leftover yarn from the socks I just made myself using this and this, and so I just finished one for Henry using Hermione's Everyday Socks. I knew I'd likely run out of the main color, so I weighed it before, then knit down to where I had half left and then switched to the yellow. Yes, it means that switched to the coordinating color well earlier than the toe (about three inches from the foot) but Henry doesn't care and that means that we have "matching" socks. Now that our latest Opal shipment has gotten through Customs, and won't be knitting my leftovers much longer.... I'll share those new hues later this week once we get them all unpacked. Can't wait!

Then I just have to share the socks that James' friend wore over this past weekend. The boys were all sitting on the living room floor, playing video games (Ultimate Chicken Horse, to be exact - it's fun, and not overly complicated so we play it as a fam too) and I noticed that James' friend was wearing hand knit socks! They look like fish! Cool, right? Someone loves him very much.

Free Shipping This Week!

I think it's time for a yarny spring treat, don't you?! Place your order online as usual, April 10-16 and use coupon code ShipFree and you'll see you'll receive free US shipping! 

The code works twice per person this week, so if you forget something on your original order, you can ship again on us. If you forget to use it (or use one of the fast Check Out methods like ApplePay that sometimes breeze you though too fast to notice), just respond to your e-mailed receipt after and I'll take care of it. International shipping rates continue to climb, so we aren't able to offer free shipping to shoppers outside of the US, but at least we've kept our flat rate shipping for you down to the same rate for the past several years, even with the increase in cost for us! We're trying, but dang, shipping costs just keep increasing.

What might you like to treat yourself to this week? I've been loving my current Opal Yarn knit, and the new collections have just started to trickle through Customs. We hope to have more by the end of the week, but right now we have all of the 8ply (light worsted weight) Wilder Winter series, and most of the Sweet Kiss series. We also have more of popular of collections like Black Dragon & Van Gogh. See everything we have here. Want to try something you might not have seen elsewhere? We have a great selection of Canadian dyer Fleece Artist right now. Jana and her team have been dyeing yarn for over 40 years now, so this one is the staple in hand dyed yarn. We have a cashmere blend, an organic wool and nylon blend (the only one I know of), and also thrummed mitten kits so you can make the warmest mittens you've ever worn. Shown above are the thrummed mitten kits and if you like the color that's pictured knit up, it's this one.

Fancy Like Applebees

Love a great hand dyed stripe? Knitterly Things and Freckled Whimsy are dyers that I'm super proud to have in the shop. Hand dyed stripes are labor intensive to make, and their color selections are fab. I even have DK weight striping sock sets from Freckled Whimsy. And when's the last time you saw that way of a superwash merino/nylon stripe WITH a mini skein for toes and heels??

Want the look of hand spun at a much lower cost than some of the boutique brands? Cascade Heritage Wave (fingering weight for socks) and 220 Superwash Wave (worsted weight) are super options for less than $15. The color ranges are beautiful too. Cascade offers a lot of beautiful free patterns too. For the worsted weight 220 Wave, consider this kid's sweater, this shawl, or this infinity scarf. Want fingering weight pattern options for the Heritage Wave? These socks are super cute, as is this shawl.

Love a great pom pom? We do too! Our artisan recently made us dozens of new faux fur options (like the lovely Lynx Cat shown above), and you can see them all here. Pair them with a skein of Tosh DK (yes, our selection of 300+ colors is quite dizzying), this pattern, and you've got the coolest hat ever. And if you aren't sure which pom goes perfectly with your chosen color of Tosh DK, just e-mail me, Allison, at s[email protected] and ask. I'm always happy to help!

This project of the year for us so far seems to be the Field of Violets shawl. It looks amazing with Dream in Color's new Assigned Pooling Color Collection (which we have all back in stock now, and you can see the list of them here). We also have the Violet Fields color shown in the pattern on Smooshy with Cashmere, Smooshy Sock Yarn and our exclusive Colossal Sock base yarns for ya. Colossal Sock is in the Sale Yarn section, where you can find all sorts of great deals right now.

Want to make some Herding Cats socks or any of Stone Knits awesome colorwork patterns? We have Cascade Heritage in every solid color for your main colors, and it's so low cost it's great for the colorwork too. Or get Emma's minis. Both can be used in the same project together to great effect.

Photo courtesy of StoneKnits

Finally, we have the gradient colors of Malabrigo Sock, and I don't know of any other shop that has these right now. I made a stunning Herald Shawl out of one ball of Starry Night last year, and it's my favorite knit of 2022.

I hope you find something that energizes you and your knitting! Local Yarn Shop Day is coming up soon, and you know we'll be doing something awesome for that too. Often we do something like free pattern with purchases, or little gifts. I'll keep ya posted!

Spring Break Knitting

My kiddos are on spring break, so there's been quite a bit of movie watching, snuggling and knitting going on here. A bit of card house building too. Low key good times.

I finished my most recent project, and I have a feeling that Henry would snag them if they weren't too big for him. So I'll likely let James have them, since they were made to fit me but definitely fit his 15 year old feet too. So now I'm knitting another similar pair for Henry's 10 year old feet.

The big pair is a broken rib pattern, similar to the Blueberry Waffle socks, and I used Opal Schafpate color 11194 for the main and Berroco Vintage sock yarn in 12018-Yellow as the cuff/heel/toe. I had approx 1.5 ounces of the main left after I finished, so I do think I'll have plenty to make Henry a pair too. But I've decided to use Hermione's Everyday socks as the pattern to see which pattern I like better with this self patterning yarn. I usually do plain stockinette for my self patterning socks, but I like this bit of change.

Have you been to see us in person lately? We have our open hours posted for the entire year here, including the week long 18th birthday party hours. Come see us! I know many of you are on break too, and Fort Wayne is a nice day trip, for sure. We have all sorts of great restaurants, beautiful parks to walk in, a downtown that is walkable with beautiful street art, and yarn galore.

12 Days of Sock Yarn Winners

Hello! Is it April already? Really? Well, then I think it's about time for me to announce the 12 Days of Sock Yarn contest winners..... two months later than intended LOL! Time got away from me this year, that's for sure. And if you are reading this and have oh so patiently waited for me to announce these, make sure you read to the bottom b/c there's a chance to win a treat!

1st Day winner of five skeins of LITLG - Jennifer Mc. - Congrats!

2nd Day winner of $50 to spend at SSYC - Julie who says "Such a fun question! I've loved reading about all the different foods that people enjoy this time of year! In our family, the favorite was always a cookie we simply call Tarts. They are similar to a Kolachy. My father loved them and my mother used to make batches and batches at Christmas time. We did give some away, but ate more then our share as well!"

3rd Day winner of 3 balls of Opal sock yarn (perhaps the Van Gogh collection that's all back and shown below?) is Karen.

4th Day winner of 3 skeins of Dream in Color yarn (perhaps the assigned pooling colors?) - Kim, who says "My grandkids can’t believe we actually used typewriters and carbon paper! It seems so time-consuming to them."

5th Day winner of 3 skeins of Emma's Yarn - Martha O who shared, "My first decision every morning is whether to drink coffee or tea that day. I like both but sometimes think I drink coffee (any coffee) because I really like the cream. PG Tips is my tea of choice (though I will drink any Stash tea occasionally). I buy the really big boxes on Amazon. I was always buying it at the grocery in those tiny boxes then a friend was going to England and asked what I wanted him to bring me. I said PG Tips, and he brought me a huge box. It was a joy to have so much so I decided to look on line for it and found it."

6th Day winner of 5 skeins of Berroco Vintage sock yarn - Jessica who said "My favorite project this year was a shrug a made to go over my daughter’s Spring dance dress. It matched her outfit beautifully and was perfect for a Spring evening. She loved it and it made me happy to be able to give her something so unique."

7th Day winners, three winners, each getting a Cascade Yarns surprise project pack (yarn+pattern) are Ruth, Kara and Jan who finished a whopping 64 projects in 2022!

8th Day winner of $75 to spend at SSYC - Sarah, who said that her pre-Christmas weather was "Cloudy and grey. Just waiting for the snow to come later this week in time for Christmas!"

9th Day winner of $50 to spend at SSYC and a $100 donation to the non-profit of her choice is Jeanette who says "I knit and collect scarves to donate to former foster youth who are attending our local community college."

10th Day winner of a Madelinetosh 12 Days of Tosh set is Jane J.

11th Day winner of $100 to spend at SSYC is Brittany who says "Christmas is my fav. It’s not just a day, it’s a month of celebrating with all the yummy treats and family time and hopefully snow!"

12 Day, three winners, of $100 to spend at SSYC are Elizabeth S, Paula M and Penny K.

I've emailed each winner, so if you think one of these is you, you have an email in your Inbox. If you did not get an email, well, you know the answer. Please do respond to it so I can set you up with your prize.

If you read to the end, you deserve the chance for a treat! Help me feel like I'm not the only one who procrastinates in life! Tell me in the comments what is something you hold off doing. For me, obviously it's announcing contest winners.... and kitchnering toes of socks. I often wait until I have 10 socks to kitchener and do it all at once. Leave me a comment by noon EST on April 7 and I'll randomly choose one winner to get two balls of the new Regia Day Dreaming collection. Color shown is 3063-Rosebud.