Niqkita's Sock Journal

It’s Monday morning again…
I’m sitting here in my fuzzy purple slippers, wishing I had another cup of coffee (I’ve had one and will have another after I get to work and help pull the morning orders).
I am finally trying the new split toned tights that Foot Traffic was nice enough to send us samples of. I had a few girls here try them a couple of weeks ago and got our pictures ready so we could order them in. We love them, but they are not as super stretchy as the solid tights FT makes (those are amazing, and yes, we have convinced them to make a truly plus sized version of those, more to come as that story develops!). So I put my pair on this morning, the hold up was that I knew exactly what I wanted to wear them with but the weather hasn’t suited me for wearing it in the past two weeks and now that I am I have decided I love these tights! a totally new way to wear an otk without it ever falling down. I’ll be putting on tall black boots and heading out the door shortly. When I get back this afternoon I’ll work on finishing the batch of photos we took at the end of last week so that you can get to the tie dyed bamboo crews and cotton slouch socks, plus at least a few other goodies I should have edited over the weekend. Where does all the time go???

…Featuring Trina…

Genuine Super Loose socks from Japan, thanks to Tabbisocks!
as you may know, we’ve tried as many super loose styles as we could over the past several years with the EG Smith version being the classic. Unfortunately EG Smith stopped making them and all of their boot socks & leg warmers until they get their new mill running so I finally put in an order for this version and WoW are they great! super soft and amazingly stretchy. When I first put them on they went right uyp over my knees, no surprise there, but they felt as if they’d go over anyone’s knees. They didn’t stay up on me by themselves for anything, not even just below my knees, they drooped all the way down…

(of course I can get them to stay up with adhesive or sock garters)
As various sock dreamers here tried them on my suspicions were confirmed…
they fit over everyone’s knees!

and they stayed up just below the knees on several of the girls here! Trina could get them to go thigh high and they didn’t dent a bit!
check out these awesome new garters will be making live this week…

Several of our most dedicated sock addicts have already snagged a few pairs for themselves and for the rest of you, if you like this style these are worth getting!
We love them and just might do some custom colors since that is an option with these. But first, we still have a few dozen more new styles to test and shoot. If you happen to be in the Portland area now is a great time to go to our store because new stuff is being added weekly and often is available in our store before it goes online.

I don’t usually take sock shots in the sunlight, but when I woke up two Sundays ago to a bright sunny morning I decided to give these pretty new knee highs a shot in the sun. We’ve been getting some really pretty stripes lately and I can never pick favorites so I wore one of each of these with one of each of the new Dreamy Knees…

it made me happy all day

That afternoon, after staying up late the night before finishing a batch of Strange Monster arm cozies for us Rene & her partner Cameron dropped off what would become our last batch of these beloved cozies.

a few days later we learned she passed away the very next day.
A sadness fell over us that was hard to shake. I’d barely gotten to know her in the past few months since we’d met as we mostly exchanged emails and talked briefly during her drop offs. We were about the same age and I loved that she wore pigtails too.

If you own a pair of her cozies treasure them forever because she really did make each and every one of them herself. If you don’t own a pair you best grab some while we still have some. Today it’s grey and we’re finally going to get some rain…
so here’s to the rainbows and sunshine to come.

EG Smith is one of our original suppliers and still among my personal favorites…
so when I was told Eric was creating a “green line” I was ecstatic. I thought it would just be a handful of environmentally friendly styles like our beloved Two Brothers Organics. Instead it is 40+ items! So I’ve been ordering them in small batches to get us started, beginning with the ones I found most appealing…

These Slinky Knees were most certainly the first one I wanted to try…

But first, just what was recycled and where did it come from?
I asked our rep Frank and he spoke with the resident yarn expert for the company in charge of EG Smith and it turns out that our recycled yarns are actually regenerated yarns. The mill takes the scraps from cotton jersey manufacturers such as HANES, and breaks them down, reweaves them and produces new product, it is recycling waste, but it comes from products never worn and cleans up the end result of “scraps” which in the old days would have made the rag bag or the dump. Also on the information highway, the uncertified cotton they are using as blends in the ECO socks comes from Poland and China and is reported to be Organic (they are working on Certification), which gives us an even better Green Product. They are also starting to blend in ECOFIL yarns (plastic water bottles recycled into polyester fill yarns). So they are recycled, regenerated, and still PURE enough to satisfy even the most ardent organic mavens.
So there you have it, the official explanation of the origins of our lovely new socks. More of these will be added this week, and over the coming weeks and months…
They are all pretty awesome!

This has been my absolute favorite pair of socks since they arrived as a sample pair a couple of years ago. Knowing you’d all want them in thigh highs we started ordering them. And while I love those too, these have remained my one truly dreamiest sock, just over my knees, often hanging out just under them. They get softer and softer every time I pull them out of the dryer.
Now this great length is here for everyone to enjoy.
Many of the days since they arrived you can find at least a couple of pairs being worn around Sock Dreams so it seems they are well loved by many already.

I was super happy when the timing worked out perfectly for taking them up on my little sock getaway in Seattle with Raubynn last weekend…

We had lots of fun running around town taking pictures in our socks.

Surely some people thought us mad

I was mesmerized by the hibiscus, such pretty colors!

When I came home I found out the last couple of colors were in so I put them on

and climbed my favorite tree…

We also got this new color that we happily ordered in both lengths…

some said they looked like patina, some preferred antique. In honor of Amanda officially taking over the Dream Stocking section I gave her the final say…
antique it is, and gorgeous too!
~~~{:::=:::}~~~
I nearly forgot to add this one from before my trip…

These are indeed dreamy as a knee high on fuller legs!

Made in the USA, to our specifications…

Traditionally a men’s sock garter, we think they are equally practical for girls…

downright sexy on ladies…

…and just plain fun!

They haven’t been the easiest item to find…
at long last we have secured a source for classic sock garters!
with stripes & without stripes
Thanks to my determined crew we’ve received, tested, photographed & labeled a slew of these for you and will be adding variations in the future (more colors and hardware options including clips and faux-leather!!!).

We even made one a few inches longer in case you have extra large calves or want to wear them at your thighs…

Lots more Dreamy news to come!

This isn’t even all of it…

We have among our latest arrivals being tested & shot this week:
E.G. Smith Eco line of Green Socks
…made of recycled & organic yarns
Strange Monster Arm Cozies
…snug and oh-so-lovely!
K. Bell’s Soft & Dreamy socks
…with a name like that we better be selling them!
but do they live up to it? yeah, they’re pretty scrumptious.
These will start showing up on the site Monday…

and what you don’t see above are…
Classic Men’s Sock Garters

and an in-store exclusive of Betsey Johnson:

Don’t worry though, we’ll definitely offer our favorites online soon too!
But in store exclusives aren’t a bad idea either…

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…

Toe-less and shimmery
above your knees or below them
scrunched down til they ruche …or not
These are very much like some high-end styles we’ve seen in magazines. From one of our newest suppliers who offer so many cute styles it makes our teeth hurt. Made in Japan with super cute labels and great quality for a good price. But truth be told I did not personally like this style for myself, I knew I wouldn’t, but did give them a try (that’s me in olive on their page). I did really like how they looked on the rest of the girls though and definitely think they are a cute style worth checking out, especially if you like showing off your toes. They are a bit snug so larger legs beware or wear them as knee highs. More cute shimmery stuff to come!
and now for the answer to the burning question….
the shoes! I found them on Etsy, if you have not been there recently I highly recommend you go, it is a wonderful place to find some of the coolest non-mass-made items around, miss bunny made the shoes and they were worth every shiny penny!