And last weekend I also...

One of my husband's hobbies is to raise heirloom tomatoes, no mean feat in northern Idaho. We have an end-of-season tomato tasting brunch every year. After that, I get the tomatoes for my own hobby, making salsa. I have been trying for years to make a REALLY HOT salsa, and this year, I think I succeeded. The first batch, which had two cups of assorted habanero peppers, was pretty darn hot, but my son and I still ate it with pleasure. We named it Society Salsa - It'll knock your socks off. Last weekend, I made a batch that had THREE cups of habaneros - it is called Society Salsa - Pain and Suffering. I haven't tried it on my son yet, but I declare it REALLY HOT.

Guess what I did last weekend?

You're right! I spent two beautiful fall days with my yarns and dyes and now have lots of new hand painted yarn. I have tried several that are shades of one color blended to be suitable for lace patterns - I suspect they will go fast. Check out the selection on www.societysocks.com soon for best selection. Don't forget to pick up the DVD, The Zen of Socks, if you don't already have one. Happy Knitting!

New Hand Dyed Yarn

What colors! When surrounded with all these gorgeous colors use them in your creations. Ready for the coming fall evenings to cozy up and knit a pair of beautiful socks.
Mozy on over to our online store and get yourself a skein or two while they last. They do fly off our virtual shelve fast. Enjoy!
societysocks.myshopify.com/
Lida

Goodbye to a friend

This is in memory of my friend, Brad Neuman. Brad died way too young in early August. He raised beautiful Suri alpacas in the little town of Troy, Idaho. Everyone who knew Brad loved him. He was the kindest and gentlest of men, and and generous with his money, attention and skills. Brad was one of the earliest people who carried our DVD, The Zen of Socks, on his website, and was generous in promoting our business and supplying us with alpaca yarn to try out our various projects. Brad moved to Troy in 2001 and immediately became an active member of this little community. He was a strong financial supporter of the public schools, and often had schoolchildren visiting on his farm. His sister, Judy LaLonde, will continue to manage the alpaca ranch, but no one can replace Brad's smiling face and big heart. Please check out their website at bigmeadowcreekalpacas.com

Naomi's socks

This is Naomi's first pair of socks from our hand dyed yarn. I love the way the yarn naturally made rainbow stripes on the toes and heels (try enlarging the image). Naomi said the yarn was great to knit with. Very soft, didn't split, just the right amount of stretchiness. The yarn is 75% Superwash wool, 25% nylon. She used the DVD "The Zen of Socks"to learn to knit socks. Way to go, Naomi!

Karen's new socks

These are Karen's new socks. She has MS and Reynaud's syndrome, so frequently has cold feet, but can't stand anything tight on her feet. Soft socks from our hand dyed yarn turned out to be the best thing. These socks were knit on #1 bamboo needles on 78 stitches on our 75% superwash wool/25% nylon hand dyed yarn. They have a K5P1 flat rib repeat that is very formal looking and very attractive. Karen says they remind her of socks being knitted when she was a child in Europe.

New socks from Susan in California

Susan knit these socks from a skein of our hand dyed yarn. She says, "The colors are beautiful, and the yarn was easy to work with. There was more than enough yarn on one skein to make these socks following your basic pattern, using size 1 bamboo needles. I also referred to your DVD a number of times to refresh myself."
Something I did differently this time was to use nylon sock reinforcing yarn in the heel and toe. It wasn't too difficult to work with the two strands. Those sections are only very slightly bulkier than the rest of the sock.
I had two sets of needles and so worked on both socks alternately so they would finish about the same time. One sock was knit from the yarn coming from inside the ball, and one sock was knit from the end of the yarn on the outside. It was a little tricky with the reinforcing yarn involved too, but I managed to get through it without any major tangles. We've been cat-sitting for my son, and Daisy soon learned that the sock project was "paws off!" I think this is the best pair of socks I've made."