This just in

Are you always looking for good things to do with your extra sock yarn? Shirley made her new IPod a hoodie. Is that cute or what?

Newly dyed yarn

I spent much of the Thanksgiving long weekend dyeing more yarn. Some of these are a little different from ones I have done in the past. They are variations of one color, to give a heathered look. They are great for lace patterns, but also make beautiful plain knit socks. You can see some of the variegated yarn in front of the basket. Go to the website, societysocks.com, to get a better look at these yarns. I'll bet you know someone who would like one of the instructional DVDs, The Zen of Socks, and a nice skein of yarn for Christmas.

Emily's mittens

Emily is a newly graduated geologist with a penchant for working in cold climates like the Alaskan ice fields and far northern Norway. So, when she decided to take up knitting, she picked felted mittens as her first project. She knitted two strands of wool worsted together, one red and one blue, on size 10 1/2 double pointed needles, casting on 24 stitches. We sort of played the pattern by ear, and finished off the top of the mitten with Kitchener stitch. When she was done, the felting process took only about 20 minutes. As you can see, it was a complete success! She already has plans for two more pairs of mittens for Christmas presents - I'll bet she makes it.

Bug dyeing

A friend of mine, who is a professor of Entomology, invited me to learn to dye fabrics with cochineal dye, which comes from bugs that live on cactus plants. It makes the red color you see in fine Mexican rugs. Of course, I jumped at the chance. You can get many different colors from just one dye bath, depending on the mordants you pretreat the fabric with. These are silk scarves. It was really fun. I can't wait to try it on sock yarn. Look for red yarn sometime soon.

The Zen of Socks goes to Germany

My hand dyed yarn is getting away from me before I get it photographed for the blog. However, I did get a photo of Tibor and the yarn he bought (along with a DVD) to take back to Germany to his mother. Tibor was an exchange student 13 years ago here in Moscow, and came back to see how we were all doing. He is a corporate lawyer in Berlin now, and a charming young man. I'd like to think his time in Moscow had an influence.

New "Knitting" notes cards

I do not post often because I am too busy running my web design business, BuffaloGirlsProductions, and/or knitting. But it is time to properly introduce myself. I am the producer and the graphic designer for The Zen of Socks. Not only that I created the fabulous Zen of Socks DVD, but I also designed the Society website, this blog, the store, photograph the products and create all the graphic and PR materials.

I am an avid knitter: hats (all hats have been sold) and socks and recently venturing into sweaters. And now for something new: I created these beautiful note cards with a knitting theme. Visit the Society socks store to view these original cards. Purchase one to send to your knitting buddy or purchase the set of 7 as a gift for your favorite knitting girlfriend.

Cheers
Lida

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.