shopping guide - socks edition
it’s time for the midsummer shop update to get us ready for heavy knitting season (and eventually cooler days here in the north). and this update is all about the socks! we’ve got a brand new all-natural sock yarn base dyed with all local dyes, the very first pattern from this year’s sock collection to accompany the skeins, introducing the new lanolin-rich sock soap bar, and also a joint joy kit featuring all things knitter’s joint formula to maintain those bods as needles pick up speed.
the update will appear at 8am winnipeg time this friday, so let’s get into your previews so you can plan out your purchases. the sock yarns are one of a kind, but the other products will be available on an ongoing basis/can be restocked if they’re popular enough (i’m thinking specifically about the joint joy kits, which will be appearing with a limit of 6 kits, but i’ll be able to restock them easily enough if they sell quickly).
locally dyed hill & down sock
hill & down is a shift for me in being a 2ply sock yarn - i normally like a good 3ply for a good amount of bounce and twist. however, when i showed up to long way homestead with some skeins in hand, anna pointed out that 2ply is exponentially easier to deal with on the mini mill machinery (makes sense, of course), so we might have quite a few 2ply sock yarns joining us in the coming years! this one was sourced by kalea from albertan farms and is comprised of 70% north country cheviot, 25% canadian arcott, and 5% black welsh mountain x charollais for a little bit of heathered goodness. it spun up at a generous 440 yards (400 metres) to 100g skein, so even if you want to extend your the empress socks, you’ll be able to get a large pair out of one skein. i love these seasonal sock collections because they let me play with smaller local harvests in a really satisfying way. i’m still amazed by the rainbow i got from this year’s collection and am excited to see them go to their new homes!
the socks featured in the yarn photos are very intentional - we’ve got a new pattern appearing on friday as well and it uses one skein of the hill & down sock to knit up! the empress socks will kick off this year’s sock collection, and if you’re thinking, hmmm that stitch looks a little familiar, you’d be right! swatching the tarot will be taking many different directions over the coming years, and we’re starting with sock collections from the major arcana. volume 1 will be available on december 1 with the fool through the lovers, and you’ll be able to purchase the patterns individually or as a collection. the empress socks are kicking us off first on friday and you can buy them on their own or pre-order the full volume (access right away to the empress pattern with the other 6 patterns coming to you on the collection launch date of december 1). i’m already enthralled with the collection, and excited to start digging into volumes 2 and 3 after i get volume 1 sorted! what can i say, the aries visionary in me loves a good plan.
introducing sock soap!
since i started making my own soaps a few years ago, i was content enough with a good all-purpose bar for most things and then liquid wool wash for giving my knits a good soak. handknit socks get pretty gross compared to the occasional freshening up of a shawl post-winter-snot-fest though, and i wanted to combine the richness of lanolin with a solid bar to get a good scrub possible. it took a couple of tries and tweaking the recipe, but i’ve developed the perfect offshoot of my original all-purpose soap bar formula for the brand new sock soap! you can use this soap on any of your woolen goods, of course, but it’s called “sock soap” because i especially made it for giving the dirty bottoms of handknit socks a good scrub. not gonna lie, when i was testing the first batches, i was both shocked and disgusted with how much schmutz came out of my socks despite washing them between every wear. they look almost like new, which is exciting, and it’s extremely satisfying to see all the dirt come out in the water (unsurprisingly, i wash my socks in smaller batches now). the soap comes in two options - unscented (with a mild sheepy scent from the lanolin) or tea tree essential oil for a fresh smell and antibacterial cleaning boost. the bars come out with a nice creamy feel but they’re still good and solid in your hand with a decent suds level. i’ve got sweater armpits and about two months’ worth of socks to clean up next now that the weather is cooling off every now and then!
and to round out the update, we’ve got the joint joy kit. this shop update is the one that my non-turtle island customers will want to be shopping for winter/summer (if you’re in the southern hemisphere) holiday gifts. the next big shop update will be mid-october, which should still be perfectly fine for canadian and american orders to arrive in time, but probably not so much for other continents. so the joint joy kit fills two important purposes - one, the perfect consumable gift for your friend/partner (massage bar and oil, hello)/parent/etc and two, the perfect stock up for you as we head into heavy knitting/making season once more. it’s important to keep our bodies in good shape, and this kit combines my ever-popular knitter’s joint salve, the knitter’s joint massage oil, and a massage bar made with skin-loving ingredients like cocoa butter, the knitter’s joint massage oil (because why not give it some extra oomph), and my tiny coven coffee beans, which are both delicious to drink and great at digging into those knots.
the update will go live on friday at 8am winnipeg time, so be sure to set your alarm!
curious about how to take care of your naturally dyed all-natural socks long-term? you can find the natural dye care guide in the creative coven community as well as natural dyeing 101 now, and operation sock drawer is available for download in the shop. my newsletter subscribers have been getting sneak peeks - it’s definitely the best place to stay informed with new products, upcoming shop updates, the latest news, special discount codes, and more! you can join the coven for your weekly news round-up here.