Niqkita's Sock Journal

(To the tune of “Wouldn’t it be lovely” from the musical ‘My Fair Lady’.)

All I want is a sock to wear,
Feet that fit with some room to spare.
In lengths that go up to “there”,

Ohhhh, wouldn’t it be Lovelies?

Lots of colors would be a treat,
Lots of sizes for lots of feet.
Comfy even in summer’s heat,

Ohhhh, wouldn’t it be Lovelies!

(tee hee)

That beautiful girl is Kaytee (my Nephew’s girlfriend who I’ve now adopted as my second niece). She came over to visit me the night I was doing an O Lovelies sock review and I was lucky to have her pose for me.

The O Lovelies fit her gorgeous legs perfectly and went well over her knees, the feet however on Kaytee were pretty loose (as where my pink shoes… She wears a size 7). She is also wearing one SD sock garter, the O Lovelies do seem to stay up decently… but as always, if they absolutely, positively must stay in place, best to grab a sock garter to be sure!

THE FEET!! These feet make me sooo HAPPY! I think they fit my size 11’s brilliantly! Prior to washing they seemed to have a tiny bit more room and I loved them like that too (and now, I know these aren’t supposed to shrink, but I swear they seem to now fit my feet perfectly after thier first bath).

I know that my Sock wishes in the future will be that O Lovelies will come in Lots of fun colors. But mostly right now I wish for a few more inches in length on the larger footed ones. On my larger and longer legs, these just barely make it past my knees (and that’s pulling on them). The difference in knit on the top band actually starts mid knee.

I’m touch obsessed with the texture of these. My memory of the sample sock was that they had felt more cottony. But my pretty pair of blush pink feels soft with an almost spongelike fluff. I can’t stop touching them! I think it may just be that sponge quality that allows them to breathe so well and be hot weather friendly. They are light and cool and look-wise Ideal for that school girl look. Oh and have I mentioned how perfectly sweet they look scrunched down around the ankles? Well, they’re adorable like that too!

And don’t even get me started on how pretty the textured vertical rib like pattern is… almost like a lacy crochet and soft like a baby’s blanket.

These really are Dreamy.

Because we’re a quirky bunch of open minded individuals here at Sock Dreams I decided to sponsor Pride this year. I thought, what better way to promote us to the community during the slow months of summer? I was thinking a banner, an ad, a mention and a really good feeling of contribution for me and Sock Dreams, but wait, there’s more! a booth at the NW Pride festival was included in the package, well, usually the mention of a booth makes us shudder, we’re kind of spoiled working out of our comfy little building safely tucked away from the masses here in the Moreland/Sellwood area, but not this time, no, we’re very excited to be out and meeting everyone this weekend. So if you happen to be in the Portland area and are coming down to Waterfront park to celebrate pride this year be sure to swing by and say hi and get yourself a pair of socks while you’re at it. Better yet, buy some socks for everyone your proud of! We’ll also have some stockings, leggings, garters, petticoats and two exclusive sock garters that we’re not selling on the site yet (Shelleopard made us some nifty little slave garters complete with D Rings and I have some lovely little green flowers on black elastic with the prettiest purple thread you ever did see). Of course we’re going to have just about every rainbowed style we carry with us too!

Some days I just like a simple cotton sock between me and my fav boots and while Sock Dreams has no shortage of comfy cotton socks to choose from, one of my current fav’s is the Organic Nuby. Short & to the point these little socks are made here in the US with US grown organic cotton that is soft, nicely padded around the feet and just enough spandex in the tops to stay up without digging in. The capris are from Via Spiga and just happen to be the comfiest and prettiest lacy capris I’ve ever had. The fit around the tummy was most excellent, didn’t dig in to my squishy parts (yes, we all have them) and stayed down below my knees with their nice flat/wide cuffs that barely leave a mark when removed. I’ve been so impressed by the Via Spigas that I plan to bring in more of their styles this fall/winter. Til then, if you fit into their small/medium or medium/large range I highly recommend these!

(little miss Lola assessing my set up before I started taking pictures)

When the first batch of solid colored Cronert OTKs were a hit I decided to order every other color I could. It had to be a large order as they are not readily available in this country at this time of the year. It arrived from Germany last week and Simone promptly brought them over for us just as we were down to our last few black pairs
~now that’s what I call perfect timing!


There were minor glitches with the order, no ecru til next time and the light orange are only in small (I’ve seen the small stretch to fit large feet though so if you really like the shade you might want to try them anyway). I’d love to see a better range of colors; four of these are quite similar but I’m sure there will be more in the future.

from top down: Wine, Violet, Aubergine & Pink
The wine & violet were our big favorites of these, both are gorgeous. The violet is very dark, not the least bit bright, like a black plum in the heat of summer. The wine seemed extra soft to me and are my personal pick of the batch…

We’ve had a ton of positive feedback about the fit and quality of these. If you can fit them in to your budget they will be a wise investment worthy of your finest shoes…

In the picture they were the prettiest pink & appeared to stay up without the help of a garter belt. When they arrived they were a stronger shade of pink, closer to salmon than baby, baby salmon perhaps? I signed them off to Janey to shoot on one of her models and they reported back that they don’t stay up for anything & start snagging the moment you touch them. So I decided to give them a try myself…

Out of the package they didn’t have the cheap feel I expected from such easily snagged stockings. I pulled them up with ease, so far so good, but the back seam wasn’t quite straight so I eased them back down below the knees and carefully pulled them back up paying special attention to the seam alignment. Perfect, but wait, where’d that snag come from? I didn’t even feel a slight tug on my nails, and that tiny hole, that wasn’t there a minute ago. Next I noticed that the heels were on my ankles, a quick adjustment fixed that, but they really weren’t going to stay up for any amount of walking without something holding them up so I added a pair of the panty garters, minimal support with those and it was plenty, plus, they looked perfect together!

Now that I’ve got them figured out I love them! they have plenty of stretch for the longer legged among us and with minor adjusting you should be able to make the cuban foot-bed work for a women’s size 8 up to a 12 (men’s 10), give or take a bit depending on how picky you are. I highly recommend using a wash bag and some special hosiery wash plus a pair of gloves that cover your fingers to help prevent snags from cuticles and nails. Though my pair didn’t suffer any additional damage after the initial incidents.

We might just run out of these this week, but will be ordering more immediately!

They are officially lime green, but when I went looking for somewhere to take a better picture of them I noticed a resemblance to the lilies in the back yard at work. And I don’t really find them to be the shade of limes anyway. They are a nice green, they were too pretty to take off, so spring-y and happy, they even made my toes smile because they are just so comfy! The toes actually fit (as do the Feelmax toes, but these fit just a bit better) even my smaller footed friends find the toes actually fit them (as do my larger footed friends!). In the past we’ve only carried the Toe Toes sporadically, but we’re going to try and keep them stocked this time around so I’m putting in another order today. Did you see their crazy arm\leg warmers? Super furry and really fun! The green melange would be extra fun with lime/lily toe socks!!!

Before we add more socks there are a few new tights…
These are Via Spiga’s Maxi Rib semi sheer tights.
No denier listing on the label, maybe about 25? …tattoos are going to show, scars most likely too, bruises and freckles not so much. The ribs go all the way to the tippy tips of the toes, but the panty area is brief style (no cotton liner either). This is our first Via Spiga item, I also have a cute lacy capri to test this week from them (because it is *finally* almost lacy capri season). No fancy smell with these, just fancy legs.
…plus, they’re made in the USA.

Ever had a pair of socks you wanted so bad, but kept telling yourself you’d get them soon when you had more money? I’ve been wanting these since I first saw them last year. I’ve been telling myself I’d add them to my next order ever since. Well, I finally did it and really should have much sooner. They fit so well and look so pretty! They are very stretchy, no saggy bits on the thinner curves, no winding around your feet inside the shoes. You could wear them with nearly anything and they’d make a super texturizing layer over a pair of something else. The mesh is finer at the toes and my toes never felt smooshed in them. I was able to pull them over my knees, but I think they are better off as knee highs, though they should be knee high even on legs longer & larger than mine. We’ve got three patterns (1, 2, 3) in black & ivory and are selling them for only $8 a pair, I think they are a good value and an excellent addition to warmer weather leggy attire!

This is the latest addition to our new organic sock collection and might just be my favorite so far. They are called Nuby Organic socks and are very much like the EG Smith GoGo bootsocks, but a bit softer right out of the box and the feet feel more cushiony, plus, they are $2 less! One of the many cool things about the 2 Brothers Organic socks is that the organic cotton is actually grown right here in the US, down by Texas. The only little flaw I found with this style is that the dye near the toes of the navy pair I tried was not as dark as the rest of the sock. I didn’t see that in any of the other pairs so it is most likely my usual weird luck of getting the wonky pair (this is a phenomenon that has followed me since my days of working at Trader Joe’s and sampling new foods, I always seemed to get the bug ~:P ) The feet on many of the other 2 Bothers Organic socks run small, but these seemed pretty normal fitting a women’s US shoe size 9 fine, beyond that the heels may fall short, but at least they are not freakishly small. For a nice simple summer sock I think these are really great!

There has been a huge increase in the variety of stripes available this year. We’re going to need a bigger warehouse just to make room for them all. I keep finding creative ways to come up with more space in the rooms we have now (I’ll have to get a good image tour for you before we start getting ready for the big move). These are the first of three new Ozone stripes for men. Nevermind that Ozone says they are made for men, I loved them and they fit me quite well. The colors are so pretty! way too many of them to list on each and every pair, but they go together perfectly. They were at the tops of my calves, nearly knee high. They also fit my sweetie’s feet quite well but were truly midcalf on him. He says they are lighter weight than the K. Bell men’s socks, but that the toe seam running across the tops of the toes is far comfier than the toe seams that run along the ends toes. A very nice spring or summer sock indeed! More stripes and “men’s” socks to come…