Niqkita's Sock Journal

Dearest Sweet Marcel,
I love your socks so very much!
I love them over my knees while I dream of tea in the conservatory at dawn
and I love them over my friends knees while we giggle with the dogs at noon…

All my friends love you for being so easy to get along with, in fact, I think my larger friends love you the most because your socks stay up so well on them, I often need to pull them back up now & again or use garters, not that I mind, I find it adds to the charm that is Sweet Marcel. I think we’re going to very good friends.
Love & warm toes…
always,

Valentine’s Day is coming and we’ve been getting ready… ? …have you?
Whether you are looking for some sweet & comfy socks for around the house
or some sexy stockings for a hot evening out (or in)
we have some of our favorites, including some new goodies
all rounded up & ready to go…
with even more to come!

…just yesterday Mr Natosi & I argued over whether or not it is cool to send candy to strangers. I’m not saying I don’t think it’s a great idea and I know some do it and it is received with extreme glee, it just isn’t a liability I want to take on, so instead I am offering you, our beloved Sock lovers, friends, family & fans a chance to get these
~ ::((( tasty handmade hand warmers )))::~
of which we have only a small and limited supply of…
(more…)

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.

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!

You loved them and then you lost them…
those missing socks that never came out of the dryer to meet up with their partner.
I myself have an area on the counter where we fold clothes covered with lonely single socks awaiting their long lost companions. I leave them there hoping it will be in the next pile we bring down to wash, and every so often they get moved to a box where I have accrued a sad amount of singles. Where do they all go? plenty of theories abound but I’ve yet to learn a proper explanation. I once heard that it was the basket in upright washers, during the spin cycle random socks would somehow jump ship hoping to find a new world full of hope and adventure, so I got a front loader, but my socks still vanish. Where have they gone? Our very own Amanda, sock dreamer extraordinaire and official Dream Stockings coordinator envisioned it well in the image above. A slew of sock goblins wreaking havoc on our innocent socks, chewing on their heels, tugging at their toes and cuffs, wearing them for hats, running off with them to who-knows-where. Never to be seen again…
Now there is an official day to mourn these lost socks and today, May 9th, is it. But rather than being sad over what is no more, we suggest you by some new socks, lots of them, so many you will never miss a lost sock again.

Thanks to everyone who took advantage of our Lost Sock deal!
The sale is officially over now, the code has been expired…
You’ll all have your new socks very soon!!!

Crazy are the space dyed…
by nature, all space dyed socks are unique individuals, like me, and hopefully you.
this means from one pair to the next they do not look the same
within a pair they do not look the same
…sometimes, but not always, not usually anyway.
And sometimes this drives people crazy because they want their socks to match…
eachother, or the pair they saw when they said, “yeah, I want those!”
But that’s just the way they are, nothing I can do about it
…except, maybe, not offer them at all
and we don’t want that do we? no, we don’t, because we like them.
No, we love them! and have always said these would be great for our shoppe
then you can see exactly what you are getting when you buy them
which leads to craziness because then you’ll want to see each and every pair
and this just is not possible on the website, wouldn’t it be cool if it were?
but I assure you, chaos would ensue and we just aren’t going to try and tackle that!
But all the while I keep ordering in more & more because Nouvella just has so many…
and I can’t resist them!
…terry shorties: Short, just past your heels, not quite past your ankles
…terry crews: past your ankles, maybe to your knees,
(((these just might be one of my all time fav’s)))

…and space dyed knee highs: up to your knees with ease and they’ll stay up there too!

they all come in a dizzying array of choices
and I add a few nearly every time I order
next time you’ll see the likes of sparkle, coney and space star…
what do they look like? I can’t remember, but they’re sure to be fun!

Here’s an example of potential variations…

(image links to a much larger version for detail)

Here it is! Our official logo, by the amazing Echo Chernik.
The socks are based on our Dreamy Knees, the arm warmers are these
…and the blue lotus in her hand represents Lola.
(you didn’t know Lola is short for Lotus did you?)

We packed up and headed to the coast when the holiday rush slowed down.
While there I gave my new pair of striped over the knee Toe Toe socks a try.
Tonight I’m wearing them again and loving them! When I first pull them up they are fairly thigh high, but they stay really well just above my knees.
Those aren’t what I wore for the stormy drive out though…

I wore my beloved charcoal M Squared knee highs, still a personal favorite even if they cause a little controversy. I didn’t take them off til around the middle of the second day there when I wanted to try on my toesocks and get pictures by the coast in them. Mr Natosi chose my newly acquired blackcurrant Diamond Ribbed knee highs. I love the color!!! I was coveting them for weeks before I decided I must have a pair, and wouldn’t you know it? he likes them too!

Other socks were enjoyed at the beach
and more new stuff will be showing up over the coming days including this beauty…

B.ella’s Kalana wool tights, made in Italy, totally warm & comfy!