If You Can Read This Knitin Word Funny Taco Socks
We are doing one last free shipping coupon for our Sweet Soxteen Summer Celebration! If you'd like to treat yourself to a bit of fibery goodness this week, just enter coupon code FreeShip at Check Out and you'll see that your US shipping is free through Thursday, Sept. 2! What might you like to purchase this week?
Beach Bash is the only color I have available from our summer Sweet Soxteen celebration, where four dyers created birthday inspired colors to celebrate our 16th. It's a super fun and vibrant color and would look great with the Slip Away sock pattern. It comes with some cute beach ball stitch markers too!
I'm super proud to share that for the first time I have over 300 colors of Madelinetosh in stock in Tosh Sock and Tosh Merino Light (one ply for sweaters, shawls, accessories). I don't think I've ever walked into a yarn shop and see THREE HUNDRED colors of anything before. It's a lot. Many of these are formerly retired hues that the new owner (well, two years in now) have been slowing bringing back. And, of course I ordered more Amnesia because I'm knitting that myself right now into my Picnic Blanket socks. I now have one sock finished and the cuff of the second one going.
We also have a stunner of a batch of Dream in Color. So many lovely hand dyed hues. Plus we have the September Sock-It Set shown above.
Love Malabrigo? We all do. I have all the new colors of Sock and Mechita, plus restocks. Consider a pair of socks in the Life's a Peach pattern. Or an Emerger Cowl. Shown below new color in Under the Sea.
Want more minis? These sets, shown above, from Fiberstory are divine. I also have minis from Wonderland Yarns, Sweet Georgia, Stitch Together Studios and Six and Seven Fibers. And the Opal Yarn mini ball sets are always loved.
For those of you who are feeling sad about missing fall fiber festivals for the second year in a row, I have for you a fresh batch from Miss Babs! Her booth is always one that people make a bee line for, and the line can go on seemingly forever. If you are missing that feeling of snagging something unique and awesome, then head to the Babs section as I have five bases in stock. Yowza DK (twice the yarn!) and Yummy 2ply Fingering are the most popular, and Putnam is her newest sock yarn base. And if you like a rare sparkly sock yarn, try Estrellita.
Other new goodies and restocks? Check out Cascade 220 Superwash, Heritage Sock, Heritage Silk and Heritage Prints (color 89- Mod) shown above. I have ALL the colors. Also new colors of the more rustic feeling sock yarn Tenderfoot and the dynamic sport weight gradients from Queensland, shown below.
Appreciate a fab deal? Check Out the Sale Section for the best discounts we've found in over a year, like this worsted weight sock yarn - great for thicker winter socks. Or get several balls of the Regia Silk or Regia Alpaca to make a simple, lightweight sweater. It's soft, luxurious and machine washable!
We have some super goodies coming for fall - new Opal Yarn and Regia collections, a rare batch of Flock Fibre, and some super cool surprises. As always, you can learn about these things first here on the blog, or get news directly to your Inbox by signing up for our e-newsletter at the bottom of our website.
Thank you for helping us celebrate our 16th anniversary this summer! It's been a blast and we greatly appreciate your support and loyalty over the years. Whether you shop with us online or in person, or you haven't shopped with us yet, we appreciate you. Oh, and if you haven't been to the shop in person before or lately, check out this recent interview and shop tour from Krissy Glass. It's a fun way to see the shop!
Just a quick note to let you in on this week's bit of awesome. We have a super colorful restock of all things Dream in Color, including Smooshy with Cashmere shown below. We even have a contest going on that you can enter on Instagram or Facebook to win two skeins of your own.
We also have new gradient hues of Queensland's Rainbow Beach, a lovely sport weight gradient that I can't wait to knit up some Christmas presents in.
Also, Tenderfoot in restocks and new pastels. This is the more toothy/rustic sock yarn that I found for us when many of you asked for a less smooth texture. It's been super popular not only b/c of the texture and price, but because all the colors look so good together.
We also have a restock of Madelinetosh that I'll have more details on soon.... which includes a new hue and about a dozen colors that were formerly retired under the previous owners, and brought back with the new (two-ish years ago) owners. Super happy about these.
But I'll leave you for the week and hope to see you in the shop this Saturday and Tuesday during our shop-in-person hours. I do want to share that COVID-19 rates in Indiana are really on the rise and it could be that we suspend in-person shopping again if it continues. I'm hoping that's not the case, as I've really enjoyed connecting with you in person since we reopened a few months ago. But we will continue to ship safely (and still offer Contactless Pickup) if we are compelled to shut down to in-person shoppers. Please do come in soon if you haven't yet or need to just in case we do. And please bring your mask, as usual. As I did before, I'll post on our Shop in Person page if we change things.
Last week, Donna sent me this e-mail:
I'm sorry, this yarn color is not what I expected. The color name should have clued me in. I would like to return it and I will order something else to replace it please.
Then the next day, Donna must have decided to take a bit of a chance because this is what happened next.
I received the following e-mail and note:
It is so pretty knitted up. I'm using NCL's Play with Magic Pattern, but putting in the broken rib stitch from the pattern Flores. This colorway knits up so beautiful, I just can't tell you how surprised I am! Thanks again for offering such great yarn!
Isn't this just so great? She tried something a bit outside her normal range of colors and it turned out to be a wonderful surprise! This makes me so happy to see. I don't take too many color chances myself, so I'm going to remember Donna's story (shared with permission) the next time I waver in coloring outside the lines.
We have over 300 colors of Madelinetosh's Tosh Merino Light in stock and ready to ship right now - most of them in sweater quantities. This includes the Umbrella Sky Grunge Donna used (that was formerly named Holi Festival-Grunge). We have never had more than 300 colors of any yarn, so this is a big deal for us. SSYC really isn't that big of a shop- we are a small staff that houses quite a lot of yarn. But to have more than 300 different colors in a single hand dyed yarn is stunning, even to me. I'm quite proud.
Today's contest is basically a choose-your-own-gift because two commenters will win a $50 gift certificate to SSYC!
It's been a rough year for all, right? And I'll be the first to admit that I've soothed my woes with food/yarn/chocolate/Netflix/online shopping. So let me gift two of you with something that will help you on your self care journey. Just answer the following question below and I'll randomly choose two commenters to win $50 to shop online with us. If you're a local, you can use it too to shop in person. Tell me: What's your go-to Potluck or Carry In dish? Is that even a thing where you are? I mean I know it hasn't been for the past year, but in the "before times" what was your go-to dish? Mine is this chocolate cake and Mexican layer dip. Here's how I make my dip, as I find my version to be superior. I sauté half of a finely chopped, medium sized yellow onion, and then add in a can of vegetarian refried beans, taco seasoning (just a few pinches - I make one similar to this one), and a 1/3c of green salsa and 1/3 cup water. I let all that cook together for five minutes and then put it into a 9x9" Pyrex in the fridge to cool for an hour. Then I layer shredded cheddar (2/3 of a block), sour cream (using the squeezable kind is easier to layer - like 2/3 a Daisy pouch), guacamole (I use one store bought mixed with two cut up avocados and a squeeze of lime), more cheddar (the rest of the block) and dab red salsa on the top. Sometimes I add the corn salsa from Trader Joe's as another layer after the sour cream, if I have it. YUM.
I hope you've enjoyed our week of contests here on the blog! If you haven't entered all five contests, you can still scroll through and enter each because I won't be choosing winners til next week. Thanks for sharing and playing!
We've been offering Dream in Color for 15 of the 16 years we've been in business, as they just opened up a few months after we did. I believe I was even one of the first shops to test it and then offer their Smooshy Sock Yarn, which has seen only one small change in 15 years (which is the addition of nylon to their previously 100% wool sock yarn). This line has stood the test of time and is well loved by thousands and thousands of knitters. I still remember the first conversation I had with Veronica, who then owned a yarn shop in Chicago and decided to start offering yarn she was dyeing too.
This is Veronica, the lead dyer and owner (along with Nancy) of Dream in Color
Their newest colors arrived recently and includes some beautiful sherbet summer hues, shown below on their single ply (good for shawls and sweaters) Jilly. These are Sundance, Peachy Keen, Mint Drop, Lime on Ice, Sonoran Magic and Enchanted.
We also have these new hues and restocks of nearly everything on Smoosh Sock and Smooshy with Cashmere. Want something super special? This summer we are doing a series of Sweet Soxteen colors to celebrate our 16th birthday, and Dream in Color did this one below. Isn't it bright and sunny and fun?
We also have the August Sock-It set, which is a full sized skein and a mini that Veronica typically releases four months a year, August - November. She has this to say about this color: This month's color is inspired by a place that I really love! In downtown Chicago, in-between the "bean" and the lakefront there is this little 2.5 acre garden called Lurie Garden. I've never really been a big city gal but something about that little patch of color always made me wish I lived downtown so that I could take a daily walk there. On of my favorite memories is going to Vouge Knitting Live and after lunch walking around there. Weird how the little things stick with you. Even though it was fall it was a gorgeous sunny day with flowers still blooming.
And if that's not enough for you, Dream in Color developed an exclusive sock yarn just for us last year, to commemorate our 15th Anniversary, and we've continued to offer it in our Sale Section. It's such a stunning deal that we will keep getting this big skein for as long as we can - we get a shipment approx every 4-6 weeks and some colors sell within a day. It's very popular. Colossal Sock is awesome, isn't it?
Want a chance to win some Dream in Color? We're giving one luck winner three skeins of their choosing! All you have to do is answer the following question in the comments, and I'll choose one winner next week: What hand dyer embodies "hand dyed yarn" to you? Is it a family that's been around for four decades like Fleece Artist? Someone new and top-of-mind like Hue Loco? Do tell who really speaks to you and why. And if you need a bit of a refresher, go to our Yarn section to see dozens of hand dyers' offerings.
When I think of the term "hand dyed yarn" Fleece Artist and Dream in Color typically come to mind. Of course, Googling "hand dyed yarn" will result first in Miss Babs and Sweet Georgia, so they are on my mind too. Thinking about this just makes me feel so lucky to know these ladies and offer the work that they create. I love that we can get a glimpse of their mind and artistry in a skein and buying a hand dyed skein makes me feel like I've secured a piece of art. That they started the process and now I get to decide how that art continues.
Don't forget to check out Insta and Facebook this week too, as we're doing contest there as well. Our summer long 16th anniversary party isn't over yet, but will likely be by Labor Day, and we're doing all sorts of goodies and giveaways all summer long to celebrate it. Like another gift and maybe a free shipping day!
Fiberstory is about as local a yarn as we have here since we closed up our own Poste Yarn studio last year. Yes, our back studio (now holding more of other dyers' yarn) was about as close as one can get. Now Detroit is! We can't get enough of Sarah's fiber goodies, and I can't tell you feel the same way since the late-spring batch we had sold down fast. Especially the minis.
So today I'm featuring all the goodies that we currently have from Fiberstory. We have a slew of full sized Fave Sock skeins so you can make a fade like this one
And the above fade I came up with was so popular that Sarah dyed us up a mini version too! Take a look at the new Curated Mini Set No. 7!
She also dyed us up a few more Curated Fade Sets (which are basically me saying to her "I like the idea of something built around this color story" and she magically makes it happen. Like a boss.) - I think we have a dozen total PLUS her gradient fade sets. Here are just a few and you can find them all here.
Want to win some Fiberstory? Answer the following question in the comments and I'll randomly choose one winner next week to win a full sized skein PLUS a mini set. Just tell me: Are you part of a knitting group? If so, have you met since pandemic restrictions lessened? Or perhaps you're part of a virtual knit group? If not, do you want to be in one and haven't found the group yet? (Hint- if so, check the Ravelry groups for your city.)
I started knitting with the same group about 11 years ago. People I had never knit before and now I do everything with various people from this group - play sand volleyball, work, raise our kids, have baby showers, spend holidays together, go out for adult date nights, play euchre, go to Mexico, etc. They are some of my best people. Before then I knit by myself (or with my Grandma when I was 7 or 8), so joining this group has made a big impact on my life. It's hard to meet new friends when you're in your 30's and 40's, right? During the pandemic when everyone was restricted to our homes for a few months, we did virtual meet ups and even met up with some of the knitters who were formerly in our group and moved away. A few months ago I got vaccinated and started meeting back up with a few people in person and that was super awesome. We even went to brunch together. We haven't met up as a big group in public though for over a year and a half and I'm betting it will be super awesome when we do and we'll pick right back up where we left off. Laughing and sharing. But I'm betting it will be quite awhile. Sigh.
This is James, 13 at the time, who was basically my only knitting friend/son during the pandemic.
Oh Malabrigo, how I love thee. You are beautiful and your texture is divine. And you cost 30% less than other hand dyed yarns. Which I'll never understand because you are just as amazing as all the higher priced yarns. I adore you.
Most dyers have just tried to keep up during the pandemic, what with dwindling supplies and help, and haven't been able to release a lot of new colors lines. Malabrigo hasn't released any new sock yarn colors in about two years and now they have all these lovely fairy tale named colors like Three Little Pigs, Gepetto, Land of Oz, Fiona, Aladdin, Gobber, Ursula, Swamp, Under the Sea, Alice, Tin Soldier, Neverland and Aurora. Here are just a few of above on Mechita (Fiona, Pascal, Gris, Alice, Neverland and Aurora). Shown below are Sock in Ursula, Alice, Swamp and Legend.
I want to gift one of you with three skeins of Malabrigo Yarn - your choice of any of the weights we offer. Answer the following question in the comments and I'll randomly choose a person next week to win. Just tell me: What your go-to recipe lately? Or go-to take out? Do tell!
I've been making a lot of pancakes lately - nearly every morning I make the boys a real breakfast. This pancake recipe (I add mini chocolate chips and sometimes bananas and usually do a double batch and freeze some), this biscuit recipe with either sausage gravy (only on a weekend), or use them to have egg sandwiches. Or I make breakfast burritos with egg, avocado, green salsa and cheese. James eats each of those components separately on a plate though (he's just that kind of teenager), and Henry and I enjoy it all together. I haven't been making much dinner lately though, as afternoon/early evening light is great for photographing yarn. So we get take out or Terry will grill up something like salmon, chicken breast or brat burgers and we'll have a salad. Plus it's just been so darn hot here that I don't want to heat up the house in the evening with cooking inside. That's more of a morning thing here. You?
We've gotten so much awesome hand dyed yarn here in the past week that I'll be featuring one dyer every day this week with a contest so you can have a chance to win some! Today's dyer is Miss Babs.
Babs and her team of 12 people (at least pre-pandemic - not sure how it's changed now) work in the mountains of Tennessee. Babs typically sets up one of the coolest booths and fiber festivals and that's where her big following comes from. I mean, if you Google "hand dyed yarn" she's the first thing to come up. That's how big a following she has. She doesn't sell to too many shop though, and for a few years we were the only online shop. I've offered her stuff for 12 years now, and usually get several batches a year. Because of the issues caused by a pandemic, it's been two years since we've had her yarn and I'm so pleased we have so much to share now.
Photo courtesy of Miss Babs
Yowza DK is a superwash merino DK that is put up in skeins that are twice the typical size. With 560 yards in a skein, it's a popular choice for shawls like this one. Shown below is Deep Sea Jellyfish, which is her most popular color.
Yummy 2ply is the first base we started with 12 years ago and we didn't have it available for several years. It's her most popular fingering weight option and it's widely used by Casapinka in her designs and is really lovely for shawls, lightweight accessories and socks. It doesn't have nylon though so you do want to knit a dense fabric on the foot so it holds up to wear. Shown below is Spotted Flowers.
If you want nylon in your socks Tarte Sock (500 yards!) and the new Putnam Sock are the way to go. These both wear well and take the color wonderfully. Tarte is a great choice for things that you want a bit of sheen because it contains Tencel, a wood pulp fiber that doesn't take the dye the same way wool does so I often refer to is as "silk without the price". No, it doesn't feel like silk but that little bit of Tencel really gives it a nice sheen and drape that you don't always see. I've knit it along with Poste Yarn Patina (same base yarn) to combine Babs' Tarte multicolors with Poste Yarn tonals in a Phi Shawl. I LOVE IT together. Here's the Ravelry project page if you want details. Shown below is Putnam Sock in Believeable.
Then if you want a little bit of sparkle in your life, go with Estrellita. I've also knit this into a two color shawl and the results are lovely. We have a nice array of colors for you too.
Want a chance to win some Miss Babs of your own? Answer the following question in the comments and I'll randomly choose a person next week to win either one skein of Yowza or two skeins of one of the fingering weight options. Just tell me: Have you taken on a new craft or increased the amount of knitting you're doing since the pandemic started? Do tell us how this time has changed your crafting life and how you feel about it. I know a lot of us greatly enjoy the connection we get here on the blog when we do contests and all share.
For me, I knit less. Barely an hour a week. Above is the Picnic Blanket sock that I'm working on now using this yarn. But I haven't knit on it for over a week (until I took the entire day off yesterday- bliss). I know it would greatly help my anxiety to knit more, but I can't find the time. It's just hard keeping up. Everything about pandemic life is more difficult. Businesswise, it takes a lot more work to get the same results. Importing is hard, getting certain yarns and tools is difficult or impossible, and I often have to change what I've planned or completely redo something, and so getting the same result as before takes twice as much time. And as far as parenting goes, I'm betting you know what I mean. Kids are in school, then out of school. Then they are struggling to learn differently. Then they are back in school. Then back out. Then they get a cold but can't be back in school until their COVID test comes back negative. Three times. Then they can't have a party with friends or see certain family, or go inside anywhere because it's just not safe. So they don't have the same stress relievers they have had and then they are cranky (and rightfully so). BUT. We are all healthy and have remained healthy this whole time. None of my immediate family, none of my staff, and none of my staff's family have gotten COVID-19 that I'm aware, so we are grateful to be doing well. Plus we have stayed open serving you this whole time, which is amazing all around. Thank you for that! So while I'm knitting a small fraction than I was in February of 2020, I'm not mad about it because I'm just grateful overall.
It's been a big week here. Not only did we share that we had a huge amount of Regia and Cascade in our sale section up to 50% off, it seems like ALL the hand dyers sent us yarn. So much that I'm going to have a week of contests next week and each day you can have a chance to win something from each of the hand dyers. Make sure you check back every day next week to win some goodies. We'll also do some contests on Insta and Facebook too.
I photographed so much yarn this week that I enlisted my kids to be my little assistants. Above is the Tosh on the table after James organized it to photo. Below is him in the process.
Having the kids home all summer is awesome and fun, but it's a lot of juggling and making all the pieces work so that I can be home with them. I'm looking forward to them being back in school so I can get more done at work rather than at home. I'm betting every mom in the country is looking forward to the same thing - it's been a hard couple years for moms and kids and we hope for a bit more normalcy. We'll see.
What has arrived? ALL THE BABS. It's been 2 years since we've been able to get a batch from Miss Babs, but now that businesses are starting to get yarns/dyes all back in stock, people are coming back to work more predictably and all over the supply chain is better, Babs and other dyers can get back to dyeing full time. We have gorgeous restocks of Yowza DK (2x the yarn!), Estrellita Sparkle and Tarte Sock (a little bit of Tencel for sheen and longevity). And we have the new Putnam Sock (a round superwash merino and nylon) and Yummy 2-ply fingering, which we haven't had in the shop for over 5 years. We hope to get more colors when they have plenty of base yarn available. Shown below is Putnam Sock in Deep Sea Jellyfish, Bab's most sought after color. I have it on the other bases too.
We also have all the new colors of Malabrigo in Sock and Mechita singles. These are all fairy tale themed and super gorgeous. Lots of tonal hues and a few speckle and variegated that I'll detail more next week but they include Three Little Pigs, Gepetto, Land of Oz, Fiona, Aladdin, Gobber, Ursula, Swamp, Under the Sea, Alice, Tin Soldier, Neverland and Legend. Here are just a few of them on Mechita (Fiona, Pascal, Gris, Alice, Neverland and Aurora).
Madelinetosh sent us restocks of some awesome goodies and that includes Tosh Sock in the Amnesia color which I'm knititng up and loving so so much. I'm knitting the Picnic Blanket socks from Curious Handmade. I'm knitting the bulk of the sock in the Amnesia color and toes and heels in Silver Leaf. If you want something less subtle for your toes and heels with Amnesia, I'd go with Flashdance, Betty Draper Blues, Antler, Celadon on Tosh Sock. Or get a 50g skein of our solids in Magenta, Wasabi, Sea Glass, or Silvery Sage. That was my original intention to do a Simply Sock Yarn solid with it, but for some reason I chose to stick with Tosh for toes and heels.
Take a look at our Twist Light sock yarn section because we have so much right now. This is the sock yarn from Madelinetosh that has a bit of nylon and it's got a wonderful texture and holds up well. We even have our limited edition Hypercolor Scrunchie on Twist Light (and Vintage and Merino Light) right now, if you weren't able to grab a skein earlier this summer. This is our 16th Anniversary celebratory color and I hope Madelinetosh can continue to dye it for us because it's so fun.
I'll feature more of these dyers and others in depth next week during all the contests, but I know that many of you have been waiting for things from Miss Babs and Malabrigo and wanted to show it off. We are open this coming Saturday and Tuesday from 10-4 if you want to see all this in person too!
Kristy Glass came to visit Simply Socks Yarn Company!
Photos courtesy of Kristy Glass
She made the journey to our shop in Fort Wayne a couple months ago to do an interview and tour and you can watch it all here. It was super fun to meet her in person. Her passion for the craft is delightful and she asked some really great questions about the shop.
If you haven't been to the shop in person, watching her episode is a great way to see everything up close. She did such a good job diving into the rows of yarn and showing everything. I do hope you watch and let me know what you think. Would you be interested in me having her back for a meet-and-greet sometime?
I just wanted to post quickly this Monday to share two goodies, first the third color in our Sweet Soxteen series! Beach Bash is dyed by Dream in Color and is perfectly bright for summer, right?
It comes with some cute beach ball stitch markers and 10 locking markers too.
And then something that many of you have already found (which is why I'm not sharing more detail this morning- you have us quite busy!), the recent addition to a slew of Regia and Cascade Heritage collections to the Sale Section. Most of these are marked 50% off PLUS if you enter coupon code SummerSale now through Wednesday you'll get another 10% off.
The sale goodies include all sorts of Regia like alpaca, silk, bamboo, cotton, DK, and more. I highly recommend the alpaca, silk and bamboo for fingering weight sweaters too. Hover over the pics if you want to know what the colors are.
I have much more yarny news to share later this week, but I wanted to let you know about the Beach Bash color and the coupon code ASAP. Hope you have a great Monday! You're definitely making it a busy one for us! Thank you!
Oh, and I also added eight more spots to the club enrollment. A few of you missed out and so if you wanted in, there are a few more spots now.
If you love Six & Seven Fibers, you'll be super happy about this - Rachel is back from her maternity leave and has dyed us up a gorgeous batch of yarn and it includes all the full sized skeins of the Little Women collection on Alfalfa MCN (merino/cashmere/nylon sock) that were previously released in the mini sets!
Colors now available on the full sized skeins (shown above as the entire collection on minis) are Up in The Attic, Skating, Longmeadow Picnic, Shore Bird, Plumfield, Pansy Slippers, Home Peace, That Laurence Boy, Post Box and Currant Jelly. Of course we also have a restock of other Alfalfa MCN (merino/cashmere/nylon sock) in Rachel's other collections like the ones from Harry Potter and Monet and Anne of Green Gables. Plus all the mini collections too. And if you want to knit up all the minis into something awesome, consider the Harry Potter Sampler.
Photos provided by Six & Seven Fibers
Or the Anne of Green Gables Sampler.
Source: https://simplysockyarn.typepad.com/simply_socks_yarn_co/2021/08/index.html
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