Niqkita's Sock Journal

Though it’s been warmer, it has been a less-than-awesome week thanks to an icky little virus that has been going around and keeping us down. I am a little behind in my editing and have been ignoring phone calls and emails completely for days.
One of the bright spots, and there have been a few, was a new batch of tie dyed socks from Tie Dye Eric. This time, O Basics! next up, fingerless gloves and bamboo crews. Plus, lots more O Basics because we’re sure to sell through these quickly.

And in the non-tie-dyed arena we have several additions being worked on…
from technical sports socks to sexy stockings and a few other fun things.
But for now, bring on the pretty colors!!!

We here at Sock Dreams have been cutting up socks for years. It’s a great way to add new life to damaged socks and tights and it’s surprising how few things unravel upon being cut, not that we guarantee that most socks won’t unravel but we sure can attest to many that won’t. So when Ozone came out with their Cut-Up Jambière I had to bring them in, if for no other reason to encourage everyone with a creative spark to try this. They even give you guidelines…

Our own talented Flaura has done really cool things with our Lemonade stockings for our little shop here in Portland (I was just sure I had pictures of her creations, but I can’t find them, sorry ’bout that!). She’s done neat stuff with other socks she’s modified too so I let her pick her color and give these a try…

Hand warmers, knee warmers, toe-less anklets and a bracelet, quite cute! she’s wearing them over grey tights and highly recommends cutting along the straight lines, much fraying occurred where cut through the pattern, but no unraveling.

In previous years Ozone has had an angora jambiere that was quite popular.
This year they’ve made a mohair version and wow is it warm!
thick, soft and really toasty, especially if you wear them over a pair of cotton or bamboo tights (try MP cotton lined wool tights or leggings for the ultimate warm combo). I wasn’t sure I needed a pair of these mohair socks til I tried them, then I thought about it… long ribbed mohair socks that are actually made in France and only cost $45. I know, times are tough and we’re all watching our spending, uncertain what the future holds. For $45 I can stay warmer without turning the heater up, I can enjoy wearing skirts on chilly days, and they are really stylish not merely functional, suddenly they are sounding like a very good value. But I hate itchy wool things and don’t always want to layer to lessen the itch. …that’s okay because I wore these over bare skin on a very windy day with a cute skirt and a light velvet overcoat and I was totally comfy. Only had to pull the socks up sporadically, not every step or every five minutes, just once in a while. Plus, uncuffed they went just about to the tops of my legs! of course, your results may vary, but my body double Dara (I say that only because several of us often have a hard time telling which of us is in a picture of legs if there are no hints given) has longer more muscular legs than I do and they were nearly thigh high on her too, but she cuffed them down for the photos to help keep expectations realistic…

Another high end treat:
Orkney Angora leg warmers…

For years I ordered their anklets, knee highs & thigh high angora socks as well, but as they and they’re staff get older they have decided not to make those by hand anymore. Happily, they are still making us the wrist and leg warmers, though for how much longer I am uncertain. If there is still a strong enough market for $60 fuzzy warmth this winter I may bring in more colors, for now I stuck with the classics: black, brown, charcoal and olive…
Stay warm with us, and we’ll keep the comfy socks & warmers coming!

Years ago, when I still did all the sock-related work myself, and often checked and replied to sock related emails at all times of the day and night, I became friends with several of my best customers. Some I knew only by their email names in the beginning. Becky Jones always wrote me as Millionairess Rebeckah, sharing her opinions, reviews and pictures, in time I invited her to be an official sock girl and she became known here as Miss Rebeckah. I don’t think she ever revealed to me what her health condition was, but did occasionally indicate that it was a hard battle for her as her frailty became apparent in her images. I actually asked her to leave the image above out of a review she did for the chenille warmers earlier this year, but tonight I feel it should be shared… earlier today I got an email from her brother telling me she passed away on August 28 due to complications with Sarcoidosis.
She left instructions for him to tell me and wanted me to share the news with those of you who knew Becky online. Bsti has also posted on LiveJournal’s Socks are Fun.
Miss Rebeckah did 23 reviews here during the last two and a half years.
here are a few of my fav’s…
the Pirate post
Right on their heels…
Stop!…
Her last post here was published this past May.
We’ll miss you Miss Rebeckah, may your toes always be warm, wherever you are.

…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!

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…