Niqkita's Sock Journal

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!

The O Marled are among very-very favorite socks, in the top five for sure!
But on chilly days, or nights, nothing beats snuggling into a cozy pair of our
Super Marled Dream Stockings (except maybe the Super Dreamy Stockings…)
So, why were we out of these for the past couple of years? The mill we work with was having trouble getting the yarn and we could get lots more over the knees out of the supply than we could these thigh highed Super version. This year we’re thrilled to be fully stocked on both lengths!

These come all the way to the tops of my thighs and stay up pretty well for around the house. They are super comfy for pulling on first thing in the morning or for a cozy layer under your pants. They are 90% cotton and a heavier knit than the Super & O Dreamy stockings. The Dreamies, being an acrylic blend, have that super soft feel, almost a fluffiness to them, the Marled are very soft also, but it is different…
more substantial.

For my size 8.5 feets I prefer the small size
…though they both fit me, the small is just right and the large is loose. So I found it funny that I ended up keeping the large black cherry pair we used in the images and EG was accidentally sent a small pair for her size 11 feet.

I assured her that my large pair is indeed larger than the one she received
and we are sending her a new pair so she can give you the full run down on how they fit larger feet later this week or next. If only we could have merely switched pairs this morning when I read her email!

My pair is about 42 inches long from heel to rolled cuff.

One final thought before I open the discussion up for the rest of your thoughts….
the ankles can get baggy when they start to ease slowly down your legs. I tried wearing them with a pair of ankle boots so they could hang over the tops like leg warmers or leggings and it looked super cute, the top image shows this minus the boots which I had just removed before taking the picture.
(because I’m silly like that sometimes!)

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!

and oh-so-much more!!!
the black & gold fishnets are a sneak peak at the Betsey Johnson Metallic Magic Fishnet Shorties. Our full order just arrived today and will be live shortly…
The shoes? I found those on Etsy, hand painted by Hippy of Doom.
Lovely, I absolutely adore them, especially with these socks.
Oh, how I adore Betsey Johnson and her sexy styles!!!

When Raubynn & I went to Seattle last month I brought these along with way too many others, if only we’d had a whole week for taking pictures! these were my fav’s, the fishnet capris were just stunning! oh, and wait til you see the Grrr Fishnets!
They are subtle and were tricky to get a decent shot of. I loved how they looked and fit, really nice fishnet that felt great on and the pattern was evenly printed all over without gaps, overlaps or mismatches.

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!

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!

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!”