Niqkita's Sock Journal

Light, bright, colorful and pretty, it’s all I see when I look around
right down to our newest Dream Stockings
a paired down Vertically Inlined in white
…knee high!!!

as pretty as these are, I’ve always secretly wished for a shorter version
and these pretty spring colors are too sweet to resist.
Upon my first wearing I wasn’t convinced though
too loose around the ankles and frequently creeping down my legs.
I’m happy to report that a warm machine wash & dry made them perfect!
These past two days they fit and stayed up fantastically.
Everyone around here has liked them so far, loved them even.
Hurray for spring!!!

one of the first socks I bought and sold were the Pippy Longstockings.
Always a favorite, they are the ultimate comfort sock.
But even early on availability was sporadic at best with at least a couple of dry years when no amount of begging the folks responsible for EG Smith seemed to help. Then it did and they became plentiful, once again, sporadically. And all the while it has been my quest, to have them made in greater variety, longer, different patterns, textures, but no one, but one, seems able to do these just as they are, let alone better…
longer, better top stretch, colors? We have obtained and distributed an amazing variety of really cool socks, some of them pretty darned close…
but these remain just out of reach.

Last spring I was offered the real thing, made for us, longer, under our label and I jumped at it, along with the original length, leg warmers, stockings & tights.
The labels are gorgeous, by the way, wait til you see them.
As some of the most promising things in life go, we never did get that one item I wanted, the one sock that I made the whole deal in hopes of obtaining never showed up in a big box too heavy to lift. Lots of these did though, and leg warmers, OTK stockings (soon to be added) & Lemonade Stockings (we still need to cut those lemons & mix in the sugar, but the first batch will be up & ready for a picnic soon enough).
As of this past week I found out that we could not get the longer version afterall, the sample of the replacement version was not at all the same sock so I rejected it based on quality and cost. But this quest, and many other sock dreams, are far from over.
and now, a little flash back…

It was a gorgeous day today…
dense fog in the morning, followed by a day of sunshine.
I was doing some work in the warehouse when I heard footsteps overhead.
I snuck up the ladder and peeked out over the roof…

and there I spied Liz
with two of our coworkers posing in socks.
You see, we have new Dream Stockings
and Liz, leader of the Dream Stocking section
is getting pictures of them for you…
what you don’t see is that Sixten is off to the side
in the new & improved M Squareds
and sock garters, because Lily, our resident sewing ninja
is sewing up oodles of sock garters so we may finally stay in stock
and we need pictures, lots and lots of pictures.
More on these latest items in the days ahead.

Sock Inspector Lola says: Get down from there at once!
…surely being so far from the ground is a safety hazard.

The choreographer/director of the dance video in the last post sent me this still image this weekend. I love that they are all wearing our striped Dream Stockings!
I don’t get a chance to post every worthy picture people send us.
…but some are just so charming I can’t resist.

Now, to start our week…
two nice letters I found in feedback this morning:

Message:
I just received a variety of your socks/thigh highs from my hubby. I love the socks & your site and have added you to my bookmarks. I sense an addiction brewing ;)

Sincerely,
Rachel

Message:
Just found your site… where have I been. Thank goodness there are others who share my passion for socks. My faves are stripy ones - there used to be a store here in my town called Socks Appeal, but they have long since closed down, so I was left to scour the shelves during Halloween mostly to try to find some comforting socks… I had almost given up hope. Thank you again - soon to be a very loyal customer! :)

Malena

and an odd one…

where can I get info on mens floppy socks

thank you

Brian

Can anyone tell me what “men’s floppy socks” are exactly?

11/28/07 update, loose socks was what he sought.

Liz & Amanda recently dreamed up a whole new batch of stripy combinations…

Last week they all arrived here at the warehouse
…so we set about trying them out and taking pictures

Liz did the photography and write up (”copy”) for this style
and I was beckoned to join them for a group shot to use for the thumbnail
…it was a welcome break from my daily doings! We both had cameras so I shot a few from my perspective. They are pretty colors, unusual combinations I wouldn’t have thought up myself, and the usual old-fashioned fit, like the other striped Dream Stockings have. Someone recently referred to this as being “from the days before lycra”. Actually, they do have a touch of lycra in them, just not that snug, hold onto your every curve, kind of lycra content most socks have, and many of us like it that way. They go over our knees and stay in our dreams, they may not stay up perfectly or fit everyone and we love them just the same! if you love our various colored knees combos or our M Stripes these are a cornucopia of yummy new choices!

I was walking around the warehouse last week taking the pictures for why the building isn’t green. And there she sat, outside the side door on her lunch-break, wearing these super cute shoes, she adorned them with lace herself, and one of the buttons was knocked off when she as hit by a car recently (don’t worry, she is fine, thankfully!). Laura is one of many fun sock lovers working among us here at Sock Dreams and I was happy to see her back at work, and wearing one of my favorites. But are they other people’s favorites? it seems some people do not like them and find them too thin, or think they fall down too easily. And since we are currently out we wondered, should we get them back? I think so, I really like mine, maybe we just need to describe them better? It will be so nice when the day comes that we can have customer comments & feedback right there with the items in a special section (that time is coming!) I know we really do have more on their way this time…
but what if we really did discontinue them?
…would you miss them?

Naomi was, as usual, late for her own party…
Kimi had been waiting for what felt like days, weeks even, for her best friend to be ready. For the umpteenth time she was changing skirts and threw another shoe across the room. “Maybe I should just wear pants!” Naomi announced in frustration as Kimi stared out the window of the warehouse replying “why don’t you just put on some tights so we can get going? you’ll be able to stay up longer anyway if you do…” “I’m perfectly capable of staying up on my own you know” Naomi replied smartly as she slipped on some cowboy boots and marched towards the door continuing, “just because I don’t have those cool stay ups in my top like you do doesn’t mean I’m going to come tumbling down anytime soon, besides, I’m marled!”

The latest in the seemingly never-ending bevy of beauties sent our way by Biella.
She is tall and sophisticated…
ribbed like her little Angora sister Jaimee & nearly as soft.
She is 81% cashmere with enough nylon to help her keep her shape nicely.
She isn’t cheap and she isn’t shy. But don’t worry, if she isn’t your type, her taller sister Kimi and Kimi’s best friend Naomi are coming to town next week. Like most B.ellas these girls are from the USA, but they have a nice cousin arriving soon from Italy. A pretty little crochet cotton tight, she knows how to dress up in style…
Oh how I love fall in the world of socks!!!

and so is a chill, with Fall near, tights weather is here!!!
We just restocked the EG Smith tights with the three missing colors due back soon. The quality of these tights seems better than ever this year as a new company has taken responsibility for their production and is also working with Eric (the E in EG Smith) on an exciting new line of green socks, not green like my new pair of chartreuse tights seen here, but green as in organically grown cotton dyed with natural dyes all made here in the US for what just might be the earth-friendliest socks ever! They should arrive by spring so stay tuned for that ~:) but for now, back to tights… EG Smith Bigger Better tights were not on the order list for awhile and that really upset us! sure these original “Leg Therapy” tights are supposed to fit up to 6 feet tall and 200 lbs, but not all proportions are comfortable in them and prefer the BBs. Better news? I’m asking them to make more colors in bigger better, including space dyed and heathers, and while we’re asking for stuff, how about some bigger better leggings? if you’ve tried to find genuine plus sized leggings you know there is room for improvement here. So here’s to dreaming up more ways to stay warm in the cooler months! Great for women and men alike, totally opaque with a nice roomy double-seamed rear and a few fresh images of the same old classic colors.

By request…
Originally I didn’t think “slouch” socks were dreamy enough to bother with, one of those things you could just as easily pick up cheaply at a department store or sports shop I figured. But people kept asking so I started ordering some. We’ve tried quite a few “slouch socks” over the years since then & though you can slouch a whole lot of socks that are not specifically called “slouch socks” we have two main favorites…

1. the EG Smith Original Bootsock: thick with so little elastic in their tops that they will fall where they may with the greatest of ease.

2. our Cotton Slouch Sock: a little thinner than the EGs and with enough spandex to keep them knee high if you prefer or push them down for alot of little scrunched folds around your calf/ankles.

We’ve had a longer version of the EGs off and on for most of our sock dreaming & fetsihizing years in the Pippy Longstocklings and now we have a longer version of our cotton slouches with a little modification… Before committing to them we requested samples of a longer version of the slouches as they currently are and a shorter version of our original Ribbed M Stockings which are thicker with nicely padded feet.

When the samples arrived we all tried them on and overwhelmingly agreed that for this sock thicker was better. Pulled all the way up on larger legs they are just a knee high, but the ribbing is very solid and looks great! On smaller legs they reach nicely over the knees, either way you can scrunch them down for lots and lots of wrinkles and cuteness for being sporty, sexy or just plain comfy! They seemed to work pretty well on smaller and larger feet alike, but we could be convinced to do a little more modifying in the future…

About the future, there are also two more variations of the pippys up ahead, one that is being made for us and us alone. And, I’m told the long-coveted Japanese version will soon be available to us! I’ll give more info on that as soon as I have some…