Niqkita's Sock Journal

Yes, it’s really true, the end of July marks our fifth year in business…
By the end of July I had everything in place and was ready to start doing business out of a bedroom sized office that held not only my desk & computer but all of our stock.
August 3, 2000 the site went live with only 19 pages and 12 styles.
And I did it all by myself during some really trying times. I took all the pictures, built the site (my first, with no formal training or experience), bought all the socks from the two suppliers I could find on my own, packaged them up as they were ordered, at first just one or two every couple of days which I would drop off at the post office on my way to work my full time job. Oh I did take 10 months off to get the business started, but between the time I gave Trader Joe’s notice that I was leaving for awhile and the actual date I was to stop my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Inoperable small cell lung cancer, in its fourth stage. I spent most of those months making sure my mom got to all of her appointments and treatments and had all of her meds and tried my best to know which ones she was to take and when, we even moved into the tiny apartment downstairs from them to be sure I could help anytime I was needed. Needless to say things were not going as planned and it would not be the last challenge to be thrown in my direction. My mom survived two rounds of cancer, chemo & radiation and we stayed in that apartment for the next four years, one by one giving up the rooms to the business, moving what we could into other rooms or outside. By the second year there was beginning to be more than I could do alone, and Bsti quickly took notice and took it upon himself to start packing up the orders and handling shipping. Two years ago we moved into a much larger house with an entire section devoted to the business and last year we had our first major redesign of the site thanks to the talented miss Olivia. Now there are nearly too many pages to count (almost 500 just on the main site alone!) and we are once again looking to move. When we find that perfect place we will really be able to accomplish some amazing sockie things, this is only the beginning!!!

you know you hate it…
having to hand wash your delicates.
And you hate it even more when stuff only lasts a few wearings at best.
So it’s only logical that we should be offering you some sock washing help.
I got my first garment bag I don’t know how long ago, and have loved it ever since. You can put your fragiles in and toss the whole bag in the wash, when the wash is done nothing’s missing, nothing’s knotted & nothing’s snagged!
I especially like this new one we just got, it’s made of pretty lace & has a zipper:

Whether you machine wash or wash by hand, your fragiles will benefit from special detergent. And Hosiery Mate has that covered! They offer a Hosiery wash, a Lingerie wash and an Activewear Mate. I decided that the first two were good additions to our shop and have added them to the newly redesigned Washing Supplies section, which is also easily found under the accessories tab up at the tops of the pages. I’ve tested both and am really happy with the results. They are specially formulated to extend the life of your fragiles (further explained in their own words on the pages of the products). The Lingerie wash is the thicker of the two and foams up more, I tested it on a crocheted tank top with a nylon lining that I really like and had just splashed coffee on the day before. The coffee came right out and my tank top smelled nice and was extra soft. You only need a capful or two for the sink so they are quite economical even if the price is a bit high. Now, about the price, the bottle of one says $3 and I have actually found it on another site for $3 but they add shipping (alot) and at 8 ounces the shipping is easily worth the two dollars I added to the price. We also have sample sizes, you can get a sample of both for the same $5 on either page. Why $5? Because until I decide that we should start charging for shipping US orders it isn’t feasible to have anything under $5. So, are we going to start charging shipping? it is something we talk about every now and then, but don’t worry, if we do it won’t be for quite some time and it wouldn’t be but a couple of dollars.
One last thought, pretty much anything you wash will last longer if you don’t use a dryer. I usually just throw a towel over the shower rod and hang my favorites for a few hours turning and shaking as needed for even drying.

I think not!!!

Ok so at first I was skeptical about this shade of the new fencenet thigh highs. I mean come on….. its BEIGE!!!!!!Tacky carpets are beige… My grannys wardrobe is beige……

But after crawling through the heat wave to get to work the other day I found my legs barren and lonely with narry a sock being adorned. Niq had been snapping pics of the fencenet thigh highs for the site the night before so those beige scraps were sitting there before me. I pondered for a moment.. noticed they almost matched my shoes ( which happen to be TAN thank you very much!!!! :)- ) and decided to put them on.

Oh my…they looked fan figging tabulouse on!!!!!!!

Perfectly light enough and pretty for lounging in the sunbeams soaking up the vitamin D.

They stayed up well while languidly strolling about in the shaded indoors.

These wonders even managed to look mysterious and sexy in the dark cool corners of the pub.

Eeek!!! So now I love beige!!!!! Does this mean I ma turning into my granny?!!!! :)-

Yes, we found out after the fact that we were selected as an Internet Gem by Sarah on G4! It is due to show again on 7/31 at 11am ET / 8am PT, then again on 8/1 at 12pm ET / 9am PT (Thanks Chris!). If you’re not familiar with it, G4 is a cable channel devoted to internet & gaming, I’ve only just become aware of it myself having recently upgraded our cable package. Many thanks to Sarah and everyone at G4 for recognizing us!

These nylon inklined are a lighter knit shorter version of the cotton inklined. Perfect for summer or layering when you just want a nice light underlayer.

I have been wearing mine with the new cookies and cream boy socks and the black pom pom sock garters(I really want to get some of the white.. I think those would look sooooooo cute). They are stretchy enough not to need a garter to hold them up ( these are pretty snug but not uncomfortably so, but those of you who like your socks super loose might want to steer clear of these) but I still like the look of the pom poms.

These nylon inklined only come in 2 colors right now, but we should be getting a wider array in very soonly.

We have been getting in a ton of special requested for color combos and keep the ideas flowing! Its great to get all that positive feedback. And while we would LOVE to make every request we are limited right now by space. Once we get the new warehouse we will be able to get in more and more of everything and put smiles on all your faces and twinkles on all your toes!

Who needs words? I just spent the end of the day in these wonderful new tubes that were inspired by nature in nature.

It seems like just yesterday when Xilia first described this idea to me. Maybe it was last week, but today they arrived, like some kind of a dream in a box. With thier pretty colors and totally unique stripes. We discuss alot of sock ideas, so many it makes us tired trying to keep track of them all, some never materialize, some may not for ages, but these arrived so fast I still think I’m dreaming when I look at them, they are even prettier than they sounded and they fit just as wonderfully as the rest of the tubes we’ve been going on & on about this past week…
Dreamy Striped Tubes $12, 3 colors to start, more coming

More on this story later ~:P

Xilia couldn’t wait to try them on…
she LOVES them!!!

Yes, I took the entire day off!

I never once turned on the computer or touched socks (except the pair I wore). It was lovely, me and the dogs laid around watching movies all morning and headed to the park later for some ball chasing, cookie eating and general fun.

So, what are these crazy stripes??
a sample pair of our new stripey tube socks (one that we may or may not actually get in later), put on inside out, then folded back down to make a knee high. It makes for a nice thick sock with stripes on the calves and a fuzzy appearance on the ankles & feet, they stayed up and looked really fun. We might get more of these, but if you want a pair now there are two, one unworn and this pair that I wore once and would be happy to wash if someone really wants them, if that someone is you let me know, about either pair, and we’ll set you up! Now to catch up with the many letters & orders that came in this weekend…