Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

The Big Week is Almost Here!

Thank you so much for your wonderful support with our Cyber Monday sale. You have kept us really busy since Small Business Saturday, and your continued orders show us that you appreciate what we do and how we do it. It means everything!

Next week is a big week for us as not only is it our week long Holiday Yarn Party, but it's also the week we are releasing all the wonderful holiday goods that our makers have created for us. This includes Zip & Knit Kits (mug, yarn, notions), Knit Kits (bag, yarn, notions), holiday themed Sock Sets and mini sets, limited edition SSYC Hat Sets (yarn+pom), limited edition holiday skeins and more. Seriously, Santa's filled his yarny bag with more that we've ever had. And that's good, because you've given us such a busy fall so far that I know we'll need it.

Yarn Love put together color packs to make this popular hat! That way, you don't have to purchase full sized skeins to make it, but have just the amount you need. 

As usual, I'll preview all of the holiday wares a couple days before they all go live at our Kits & Clubs link. We are thinking Tuesday or Wednesday of next week (usually mid-morning EST) is when they will all go live, so you should see the blog post preview here on Sunday or Monday. I can't wait to share everything with you. 

Cyber Monday = Stitcher Monday Deals & Coupon Code!

I have some stunning deals and features for you today, fiber friends! Not only do we have a first ever deal on Malabrigo, but we have also added the extra clubs balls of SSYC Splash Sock yarn we have from last round in the Sale Yarn section (check page 3). AND we have a coupon code for you that's valid only today through Wednesday for items in the Sale Yarn section! That's right, if you use code StitcherMonday at Check Out, you'll see 10% come off the sale yarn in your order. This includes the Malabrigo yarn that we have in the Sale Yarn section too AND the full sized bags of Trekking XXL that I have a few left of! I've reposted last week's blog post at the bottom so you can see the details of that amazing potluck Malabrigo deal.

I want to also share that I have today some one-of-a-kind 5 skein fade sets from Hedgehog Fibres. Beata, owner and head colorista, coordinates these sets and each is unique. I have some in Sock and DK - and the DK is a first for us (we get these sets only a couple times a year). These are wonderful for those who want to do a fade project (perhaps a sweater or shawl) but aren't comfortable choosing skeins online. It's also great for breaking up into smaller projects - each individual skein is stunning but putting them together into fades just makes them magical. Just know that one of the best in the industry chose these combos and they are even more stunning in person than our pictures show. The nuance in color just can't be adequately expressed a picture, even though I do my best. We also have the original 7-skein fade set back that was used in the popular Andrea Mowry pattern that started the obsession.

I have a very special kit from Madelinetosh too! Of course, we will be doing our own SSYC Knit Kits next week in the BIG holiday update, but this one isn't so much holiday-ish as simply awesome all around and celebrates the upcoming Willy Wonka movie. It's a great deal too. For $44 you're getting Tosh's December-Color-of-the-Month Pure Imagination on Twist Light Sock, a Della Q sock project bag, and the Gobstopper Sock pattern. And the reason they are called Golden Ticket Bundles is not only because they are inspired by Wonka, but also because a select few will have a Golden Ticket inside that entitles the winner to a prize like a skein of yarn. And just ONE winner will receive the Grand Prize Golden Ticket, which gives them the chance to co-create a brand-new Tosh color w/Team Tosh. Cool, right?

Now, back to Stitcher Monday. It's worth noting that you might want to put the StitcherMonday coupon code in the coupon field in your Cart after you add your first item. Some of the fast payment options like Paypal and ApplePay breeze you through so fast that you miss the coupon code area. If you think you missed it, you can always respond to your receipt and ask me to apply it afterward. But it's only valid Monday through Wednesday of this week (nov 27-29). Of course, our sale yarns are a fab deal anyway, but that extra 10% off is a nice treat, right?

If you weren't part of our last club, or you were and you want more Splash Sock, I have a few leftover balls from the dye run of those colors and they are only $12.50 each. They are listed as SSYC Splash Sock "number" in the Sale Yarn section, so likely page three since things are listed alphabetically there. Above is color 1315 and the socks were knit by Stacey who says "Here’s a picture of my first dip into my Splash Sock Club stash. I used Rebekah Sanders’ Twizzler pattern which I think was one you suggested with one of the club shipment notices. It was a fun stitch -the yarn and the end product took me back to my youth in the 1970’s."

I'm knitting color 1511 right now myself. I chose to do this one this week because it reminds me of an evergreen winter scene with the greens and browns and a touch of snowy white. I'm unsure who will be getting these socks for Christmas yet, but I'm thinking 16 year old James.

Reposted from last week, details of the potluck Malabrigo deal in the Sale Yarn section:

I'm so excited to share the super deal we have for you on some special skeins of Malabrigo! We have four bases for you and hundreds of skeins of potluck colors of Malabrigo. These are skeins that came directly from their studio in Uruguay, and these are ones they call "unique, single lots" which means that they are similar to their normal colors, but different enough that they aren't selling them in their normal line up and instead offer them once in awhile to a shop to sell at a song. That's right, a sale on Malabrigo. 30% off these skeins.

These are being sold as "potluck" colors, meaning we choose the color for you and you get a surprise and a deal. But we've narrowed them down to "cool", "warm", and "neutral", meaning that you get a bit of a choice in what they look like instead of a complete surprise. Here are pictures of some of the skeins we have, so you have an idea of what you might get when you order.

Mecha is a bulky weight, 100% superwash merino and it's wonderful for winter accessories and blankets. Here are some of the colors we have. This yarn is superwash treated, but if you use hot water or agitation it will likely felt over time because of the single ply nature- so handle with care.  It's perfect for quick, soft knits and crochets.

Then we have Malabrigo Lace which is the finest merino spun into the softest lace weight. It comes in 450 yard/50g skeins. And it will be just 7.35 a skein. For real. And yes, we have multiples of these skeins, so if you need three or four for a larger project, you can tell us and we'll do our best.

Malabrigo Worsted is their popular single ply yarn that started it all. It's a stunner, is super soft, and will felt if you wash in warm and agitate. It makes lovely scarves, sweaters, blankets, you name it. You can grab it for just 9.45 a skein.

Finito is a fingering weight 100% merino of the highest quality. It's super soft, hand wash, and comes in 50g/200 yard skeins for just 11.20 (regularly $16!). It would make perfect sweaters, accessories, and heirloom quality items for sure. Here are some of the colors we have.

Now, as usual with our potluck sale yarns, you are welcome to tell us in the note/comment section of Check Out if there's something you're hoping for. Like "hey, Allison, I'm hoping to make a sweater with Mecha so if it's possible to get 5 skeins in the same color, that would be appreciated", but knowing that we will still fill your order with what we have if we don't have that. We won't cancel orders or contact you about preferences because it's "potluck" afterall and we expect to be super busy and need to work as fast as we can to do these kind of specials. But we're happy to take preferences if we can. And if there's something that you're really hoping for, you'd want to place your order online ASAP because that will give us more to search through and choose from. Please don't send emails or notes on order like "I want it to look like Polar Morn, so don't send it if it's not", because that's now how "potluck" works. Potluck is ultimately a surprise for a deal, so please only order if you're ok with that. And nearly every one is, which is great!

Details of SSYC's Holiday Party Week

Come party with us in person 10am-2pm, Monday through Friday Dec 4-8th and you'll be treated to a variety of goodies, gifts, contest and sales each day! What can you expect? If you shop in person with us, here's what's going on.

Monday through Friday, December 4-8 10am-2pm - 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, 12/4 - Cookie Cottage cookies & free hand made stitch markers with purchase

Tuesday, 12/5 - Free zippered sock project bag with purchase & 10% off Addi needles

Wednesday, 12/6 - Sale on a sale - an additional 10% off our already reduced sale yarn

Thursday, 12/7 10am-2pm - 15% off three US dyers Dream in Color, The Sheepy Shire, and Hue Loco (regular stock, not sale items). And likely more Cookie Cottage cookies.

Friday 12/8 10am-2pm - 15% off three imports from three different countries - Hedgehog Fibres of Ireland, West Yorkshire Spinners and Qing of London (regular stock, not sale items)

This event is also a great time to CHOOSE your Malabrigo sale potluck colors that we just got in for the first time ever. That's right, you get the 30% off sale price on the potluck sale but b/c you're there in person, you get to choose your own colors and still get the deal! Details on those four yarn bases are here. It's a fab time to stock up. And if you shop on Wednesday, as you can see above that's "sale on a sale day", so you get another 10% off!

I hope you come and see us during our party week, or any time we're open. Bring your friends, make a car trip out of it, stay at a local hotel and eat tasty food. Treat yourself! 1315 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN. There's typically plenty of parking in our parking lot and side street, but there's also library parking one building away too.

We will celebrate online too next week with our big holiday yarn drop! Santa's bag is full to the top with holiday yarns and we'll share all those here on the blog soon.

Upcoming Malabrigo Sale

I'm so excited to share the super deal we'll soon have for you on some special skeins of Malabrigo! Next week, the hope is on Cyber Monday, you'll see all these goodies in the Sale Yarn section of the shop. We have four bases for you and hundreds of skeins of potluck colors of Malabrigo. These are skeins that came directly from their studio in Uruguay, and these are ones they call "unique, single lots" which means that they are similar to their normal colors, but different enough that they aren't selling them in their normal line up and instead offer them once in awhile to a shop to sell at a song. That's right, a sale on Malabrigo. 30% off these skeins.

These are being sold as "potluck" colors, meaning we choose the color for you and you get a surprise and a deal. But we've narrowed them down to "cool", "warm", and "neutral", meaning that you get a bit of a choice in what they look like instead of a complete surprise. Here are pictures of some of the skeins we have, so you have an idea of what you might get when you order.

Mecha is a bulky weight, 100% superwash merino and it's wonderful for winter accessories and blankets. Here are some of the colors we have. This yarn is superwash treated, but if you use hot water or agitation it will likely felt over time because of the single ply nature- so handle with care.  It's perfect for quick, soft knits and crochets.

Then we have Malabrigo Lace which is the finest merino spun into the softest lace weight. It comes in 450 yard/50g skeins. And it will be just 7.35 a skein. For real. And yes, we have multiples of these skeins, so if you need three or four for a larger project, you can tell us and we'll do our best.

Malabrigo Worsted is their popular single ply yarn that started it all. It's a stunner, is super soft, and will felt if you wash in warm and agitate. It makes lovely scarves, sweaters, blankets, you name it. You can grab it for just 9.45 a skein.

Finito is a fingering weight 100% merino of the highest quality. It's super soft, hand wash, and comes in 50g/200 yard skeins for just 11.20 (regularly $16!). It would make perfect sweaters, accessories, and heirloom quality items for sure. Here are some of the colors we have.

Now, as usual with our potluck sale yarns, you are welcome to tell us in the note/comment section of Check Out if there's something you're hoping for. Like "hey, Allison, I'm hoping to make a sweater with Mecha so if it's possible to get 5 skeins in the same color, that would be appreciated", but knowing that we will still fill your order with what we have if we don't have that. We won't cancel orders or contact you about preferences because it's "potluck" afterall and we expect to be super busy and need to work as fast as we can to do these kind of specials. But we're happy to take preferences if we can. And if there's something that you're really hoping for, you'd want to place your order online ASAP because that will give us more to search through and choose from. Please don't send emails or notes on order like "I want it to look like Polar Morn, so don't send it if it's not", because that's now how "potluck" works. Potluck is ultimately a surprise for a deal, so please only order if you're ok with that. And nearly every one is, which is great!

Wonderland Yarn's Assigned Pooling Colors

We have a full restock of the assigned pooling colors from Wonderland Yarn and they are already flying off the shelves! In all honesty, these all haven't even made it onto the shelves yet and are instead just going from the shipping bags to your orders. Here are the ones we have back here on Cheshire Cat (100% superwash merino) and Mary Ann sock (merino/nylon). These come in the 4 ounce skeins that all dyers used to put up yarn in a decade ago, but now use 100g (which is about .5 ounces less). So you're getting around 500 yards in a skein instead of 400ish. A good deal too.

Getting Your Kit in the Air

Finding a Hidden Field of Flowers

Perfect Parking Spot During a Downpour

Soaking Up the Sunshine

Small Victories on a Monday

Rainy Day Rainbow

Wildflowers on Your Bedside Table

Wishing on a Shooting Star

Tranquility of a Fresh Blanket of Snow

Dandelion in a Sidewalk Crack

City Lights on Wet Pavement

Blue Skies & Rainbows

An Inkling of Something Brilliant

Splashing Through Puddles

A Brush with Fate

An All Night Diner in the Middle of Nowhere

A Refreshing Moonlit Swim

Want pattern ideas? Fizz, Pop, or browse through any of Dawn Barker's popular assigned pooling patterns and looks for ones that call for fingering weight or sock yarn. We also have a slew of the Dream in Color assigned pooling colors that I featured awhile back too, should you be inspired to look at those too.

Wonderland Yarn's Confetti Sock

This is the most party I've seen in a skein in a long time! New Confetti sock yarn from Wonderland Yarn! Not only do you get all their whimsical Lewis Carroll inspired colorways, but they are now dyed on a base yarn that has rainbow colored tweed AND glitter. And no, it's not to much. It's just right.

I'm in a pretty big sock state of mind with this yarn. Mainly using it for the main color of a sock and using Emma's Yarn mini skeins for accents like in Christmas Sweets Socks from This Handmade Life

Photo courtesy of This Handmade Life

Wouldn't the Confetti sock yarn be perfect for this pattern as the main? We have a slew of solid colors to use, and then you can accent it with whatever you like, making it holiday-ish or no, right? Perhaps using Emma's Yarn Minis since we have such a fab color selection. Summer Vibes would be a good pattern to use too.

I'm obsessed with examining Confetti up close. This is it on the Lil Bat (basically, black) color. It shows you that not only is the tweed in rainbow colors, but the sparkle is too. I mean, come ON. Isn't this just fab? And it's not like it's a crazy amount either, it's perfection. I should have ordered more. Sigh. I already have more on order, but their lead time is like 3 months. Gah.

SSYC's 2023 Holiday Open House Week!

It's nearly time for our week-long Holiday Yarn Party! Join us!

For those who are newer to SSYC, we've done an in-person Holiday Open House every year since we opened our larger storefront 13-ish years ago. A few years back I realized that the one-day event had gotten pretty darn large with Check Out lines reaching the entire length of the store, and it would serve y'all better if we made it a week long party. So now we celebrate for a week, being open from 10am-2pm and we feature a different special or sale or gift each of the days we are open. We spread the party out for a total of 20 hours instead of 6, and it allows us to slow down, enjoy the time, and have a bigger overall event. This year, the SSYC Holiday Open House Week is Monday, December 4 through Friday, December 8. Come from 10am until 2pm each day to party with us!

For those of you who can't make it during the day on the party week days, we are still open our normal Saturday, December 2 from 10am-4pm or any of our other in-person shopping days here. 

It's worth noting that Team SSYC will be taking a bit of time off the end of the week/weekend of Thanksgiving, as usual. We are not open to the public on "black friday" or "small business saturday", as that's a weekend where we typically take time off to instead be with our families. But we will be back at shipping things on "Cyber Monday" which I think we should rename "Stitcher Monday" don't you? We will have some fab specials from Malabrigo that day and I'll detail those soon so you can plan your attack. It's definitely attack-worthy.

I typically share the holiday week's features here on the blog the week before the event, so check back next week for that list of what's going on each day. You know it's gonna include some Cookie Cottage cookies!

Fleece Artist's Thrummed Sock Kits!

I have a new kit for you! Fleece Artist's Thrummed Mitten Kits have been popular here for years. We typically sell out of our first fall batch fast and then get a quick restock to keep us going. Jana (she runs the studio that her mom started, that's been around for 40+ years) makes some great combos and they are different every time.

Now, Jana has introduced this slipper sock kit which gives you plenty of yarn and fleece, even if you have larger feet like me.

Grab your Honey Sock Kit now! New to thrummed patterns? It's pretty easy. You're just tearing off a little pinch of fleece and adding it to your yarn every few stitches so that you get a warm, cozy, fleece lined socks. Yarn Harlot has a good description.

Thursday and Hedgehog Fibres

Wow, the week really got away from me this week! We were open on Saturday and Tuesday, and so much yarn has arrived and here I am sitting in the orthodontist office with Henry and I think, dang, the week is almost over! I think that's somewhat typical this time of year. There's so much going on and time just flies.

Deep End & Ink

Electric & Fly

I just had to share some of the stunning skeins we got from Hedgehog Fibres. All of it has now made its way through Customs and you'll see a beautiful array of it in stock in Sock, Singles and DK. After Thanksgiving you'll also see some one-of-a-kind 5 skein fade sets in Sock and (for the first time) DK.

Hawk & Pollen

Highlighter & Sweet Pea

Electric & Pier

Of course, as I was photographing the new lots, I found myself combining them into perfect duos. Here are a few that made me want to cast on another Phi or finally cast on that Staggered Stripes I've been imagining. Is there a two color shawl or project you've been eyeing? Do tell in the comments!

Method & Graphite

Seed & Coral

Spell & Monet

We also have three new colors of Tweedy DK: Moonlit, Barley and Haze. All of the colors in the collection look so great together, don't they?

Also noteworthy: You know you've ordered a lot of Malabrigo when they send it directly from Uruguay in huge bags. This is a special lot of bases we don't typically carry which will be offered likely on Cyber Monday (which should just be renamed Stitcher Monday, right?) at a superb price.

Another Sunday Scarf in the Works

I loved my Sunday Scarf so much that I'm making another. I just love the squishiness, seeing the colors develop, and knowing that I'll have a lovely accessory to wear in a day's time.... once it's no longer 60 degrees here in NE Indiana. We got snow on Halloween and then a week later are wearing sandals again. Indiana, GEEZ. Both kids really had to bundle up this year, as it was so cold. Henry was The Reaper, and James was some sort of purple character from FNAF. He even created part of his costume (a mask part) on the 3D printer.

What's my "Sunday Scarf"? I made one two weeks ago using two skeins of Caracol. Details are here on how I did it. Super simple. Which is good because basketball season has started and I need some projects to knit while sitting in the stands watching the games. Henry's on two different teams this year which means twice as much driving. Twice as much sitting in the car during practices, and twice as much time in the bleachers watching games. I can't remember ever having as much energy as it would require to be Henry. Do you all ever remember having that kind of energy? James is nearly as busy, and he's about to get his driver's licence. After driving with him for the past 6 months or more, I can't imagine watching him drive off in a car all by himself. All the feels.

 

What's coming to the shop this week? I have some really nice thrummed sock sets that are making their way through Customs. We're still waiting for one lone box. We have mitten sets now, but these new sock kits will have more yardage and a sock pattern. I can't wait to have cozy feet all winter!

We have a brand new batch of Hedgehog Fibres in Sock, Skinny Singles and Merino DK. Every color back. And I'll soon have three new colors of Tweedy DK for you too. Wonderland Yarn has sent us some new Blossoms gradients, which I can't wait to share. These are perfect for holiday gifts, as the gradient color takes any scarf or shawlette to the next level. I'll have those up by noon today, I think. If you would like some project suggestions, consider Bloomerang Shawl, Mother of All Shawl, or Chasing Staircases.

I'll soon have some suggestions for colors of Andrea Mowry's Instafriends KAL sweater. It's the Traveller Shell which uses two strands of mohair held double. Or just use one strand of fingering weight. The stripes on this one are amazing.