five questions for: Allison from Simply Socks

I always enjoy knowing the person behind a business, especially when it's a small company. I like being able to say, "Oh, I'll order that from Allison tomorrow." Much as I love Amazon, I don't get the same warm fuzzies shopping there as I do when I can picture the face of the small business owner.

Simply Socks started as a web only store, and has grown into a large retail location as well. They have a huge -- and I do mean huge -- selection of sock yarn, in yarns that range from more basic stash enhancements to the best of the indie dyer and luxury fiber world.

Allison, like me, also spent time remodeling an old building to house her store in. Isn't this gorgeous?

Anyone up for a road trip to Fort Wayne, IN?

For now, I'll have to settle for this view, which is awesome in and of itself.

If you click on the picture above and then choose Sock Yarn from the menu on the left, you'll see what I mean about selection.

Here are my five questions for Allison VanZandt, the creative brain behind Simply Socks.

1. Why and how did you get interested in knitting socks? What made you want to start a store centered around sock yarn?
I started knitting when I was 7 or 8, but it wasn't until I was out of college that I started knitting socks.  Nearly 7 years ago, I started Simply Socks Yarn Company because I was obsessed with knitting socks and I couldn't find what I wanted at local store.  When I found what I wanted online, I couldn't find everything I wanted in one store, so I ended up spending a lot on shipping charges to many stores.  I thought, I can do this better myself, and started the online store ( www.simplysockyarn.com)  in one small bedroom of our home. 

We later moved out to a rural area with a great barn where I could have more room.  BUt after a few years, I really missed our old city neighborhood and decided to open a larger space back in the city.  It just so happened that the building my husband and I adored, a dilapidated 1940's post office, was vacant.  At first, the project seemed too large, but we revisited the idea a few months later.  From demo to move-in, the building's restoration took just 5 weeks, and that was with tearing out a second floor to show off the 14' ceilings, all new electrical, flooring, ceiling, and everything in between.  It turned out to be the perfect space for us and our 3500 sq ft sock yarn store!

We are still mainly an online store, shipping 6 days a week all over the world, but we are now also open to the public one day a week (hours and times on the bottom of our homepage at www.simplysockyarn.com).

2. Running a small business in a tight knit industry isn't easy -- I like to say that one of the perks of owning a yarn business is that I get to choose which 16 hours of the day I want to work. What are some of the biggest challenges you face?
For me, the biggest challenge is managing growth.  SSYC has grown so much over 7 years, and while the store could have grown more and branched out into other types of yarn/crafts, I'm sticking to my mission of providing a one-stop-shop to sock knitters and crocheters.  I have 4 year old son and a baby on the way, so I work early hours according to my young family's schedule.  I'm lucky to have a small crew of hardworking employees who make my life easier.  It's a fast-paced work day, but when I leave for the day, I really feel like I've accomplished a lot.

3. I was a high school teacher before I transitioned into working at Three Irish Girls full time. What former careers have you had? Do you feel that they prepared you for what you're doing now?
Before I owned the store, I worked as an Environmental Educator for local municipalities.  Lots of writing, public speaking, program management, and a little web and graphic design thrown in.  I feel like every work experience I had was helpful in my career as a small business owner.  But what I do day-to-day certainly isn't what I thought a yarn shop owner did.  Every day is a frenzy of action, there's always something new (and and never-ending backlog of bookkeeping), and there's never time to knit a stitch.  But I thrive on it and wouldn't have it any other way!

4. What are your favorite kinds of socks to knit? Do you even have time to do that anymore?
My favorite kind of socks to knit right now are what I call my plain-ol-vanilla-socks.  Colorful yarn paired with simple stockinette.  I have just a few hours a week to knit and I like to do it while watching TV at night.  With a simple sock, I don't even have to look down at it.  It also helps that I can't lose my place when a four-year-old gets out of bed or wants my attention!  If I continue at this pace, my baby won't have one hand knit item!  With my son, I only knit him one hat and it was my supportive customers who kept him in hand knits!

5. Tell us three interesting things about yourself that others might not know.
-- I adore science fiction (Doctor Who, Star Trek, etc.). 

-- I live in an Amish area where my sluggish internet connection is bounced from a water tower in the town over to a small satellite on my home. 

-- My son's middle name is Danger.

Allison had a few questions for me over on her blog today, too -- click here to see them, and then be sure to stop by her store and pick up some instant gratification.

A question for the ages

I recently posed this question on our Facebook page, and want to ask here, too. My reason for asking is sevenfold:

1. I am avoiding painting my dining room for the 19th time, and would rather sit here by the fire creating polls on my laptop than get up and do it.

2. I am a naturally curious person. I like to know things. Knowing things is sometimes more fun than doing things, like painting my dining room.

3. I know which colors I like, but it's important to me to make other people happy with my yarn, so this is useful information. If you all say that you hate all colors and just want to be subversive, for example, I will know to just close up shop, drink a skim mocha, and cry myself to sleep each night for the next seven weeks.

4. I am finalizing selections for my new colorway collection, and this could help me if I'm waffling between two selections. If I know that 80% of you prefer jewel tones and not neutrals, that could be a deciding factor.

5. It's useful to the yarn shops I work with. Some of the owners heavily favor one palette (hey, we all do it), and it's sometimes nice to be able to say, "Well, when I surveyed my readers, they said they really like bright colors, much moreso than earth tones," (or vice versa).

6. Some of you don't use Facebook, or aren't a fan of our Facebook page, and I want your opinion to count, too.

7. You can anonymously leave comments here on the blog, whereas everyone can see who you are on Facebook. Some people feel more comfortable behind the veil of anonymity.

So, here's the question. Pick an answer. If you're having trouble deciding, go with your first instinct, not the answer you came up after doing some hard math using data from the Excel spreadsheet you use to store all your stash info.

And feel free to tell me why you picked the answer you did in the comments section. The more info you give me, the better chance I'll have at knocking this collection out of the park. (Oh, and if you answered on Facebook, feel free to answer here as well.)

You should be going to Yarnover

Because it's awesome.

And because I said so.

What more incentive do you need?

Yarnover is an annual event put on by the Minnesota Knitter's Guild, and over its long history, it's grown to epic proportions. Held one day a year (April 28th), an entire (large) high school is descended upon by knitters. As if that weren't spectacle enough, there's an amazing marketplace and a roster of nationally known teachers. I hate to name drop, but...

Anne Hanson. Sivia Harding. Clara Parkes. Annie Modesitt. Amy Singer. And a bunch more. (Yes, me too, although I am hardly worth name dropping over.)

Here's the class schedule:

I see about ten classes I want to take, but I'll be teaching all day, so I'll have to wait for another opportunity.

There's a meet and greet dinner the night before at a nearby hotel -- buy a ticket and come hang out with all of us!

Even if you can't make it for the classes, it's totally worth it to stop by for the marketplace -- I like this event because there's a huge variety of things (ahem), but it's also manageable in size. You won't spend two days walking an endless maze of convention center flooring, not knowing where to start.

Here are a couple of pics I grabbed from last year's event:

(Aimee from Darn Knit Anyway, adorable as usual.)

Class registration opens today, and some of the classes are already full from pre-registration, so I would sign up as soon as you can. You can download the full brochure, including all the course descriptions, off the MN Knitter's Guild website, here.

Or I'll make it easy for you and let you download it off of my blog, too: 2012 Color Yarnover Brochure

I don't want to hear any excuses from you. I've given you ample planning time. I've given you sufficient incentive.

You're coming.

Please and thank you.

The end.

tour of exclusive colorways, stop five

Welcome to stop five on our tour of shop exclusive colorways! I drew three beauties out of the coffee mug this morning.

First up is Peacock. Made exclusively for StevenBe/The Yarn Garage in Minneapolis.  I adore this one, and from the sound of things, y'all do too.

Love the teal, love the violet, love the multiple browns, the turquoise, the lime, love them all independently, love them together. Lovelovelove.

And here's an interesting tidbit: I actually dye this in the pattern of peacock feathers, starting with the round indigo eye and working outward in concentric rounded shapes.

Sometimes, despite my proclivity to add certain colors to everything, mother nature knows best. All I can do is imitate.

Want some of this yarn for your own? You can certainly stop by the store, which should be on your bucket list,or you could call/email. We Minnesotans are a friendly bunch. They don't call it Minnesota Nice for nothing. They can be reached at 612-259-7525, or at steven@yarngarage.com.

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Next is a colorway near to my heart, because it's for my hometown LYS, Yarn Harbor. This eponymous (fine, I used to be an English teacher!) colorway has been a hit, in part, because it combines colors that most people feel comfortable wearing and giving: blue, greens, grays, and purples.

Here's a peek at one of my earlier versions of this colorway: it had pops of lime green and rusty brown. In the end we went with the more muted, sophisticated version.

Yarn Harbor is celebrating its anniversary the first weekend in February, and we're making up a fresh batch of this colorway for the event. It would be a great time to stop by! You can also call them at 218-724-6432, or email them at yarnharbor@yahoo.com.

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And last, but not least, we have two coordinating colorways, Through the Looking Glass and Strawberry Fields Forever. (Yes, I like literary and musical references. I used to be an English teacher, OK?)

These two are exclusive to The Loopy Ewe, the venerable online store, and they are absolutely stunning when knit up.

See?

Photo Source

(The pattern is the Samovar Shawl.)

My inspiration for the Through the Looking Glass was this image:

I just loved the pennants on the headboard and the colors in the comforter.

Strawberry Fields Forever is the warm strawberry pink coordinate that is gorgeous on its own or when paired with Through the Looking Glass.

If The Loopy Ewe doesn't have any of these instock, you could email them at support@theloopyewe.com, or give them a call at 1-888-527-9181. They can always order you some from moi!

Did you know we had so many shop exclusives? (And there are more coming!) I didn't realize it until I actually sat down and made a list.

A note on buying from LYSs and web stores: Support them. When you buy from them, you're supporting two small businesses: us and the store you're buying it from.

I hate the phrase win-win. It's the former English teacher in me. But this might be a situation where it actually applies.

Thank you, happy trails, good night and good luck, until next time, au revoir.

Tour of exclusive colorways, stop four!

There is an online store whose wares I love to drool over. I like it for a few reasons. One is that they have beautiful yarns, all made by indie dyers, many of the brands difficult to find.

Another is that they carry colorways one large variety of base yarns, so you're not stuck buying a colorway you love on a base that's not your favorite.

It also helps that I've known the owner of this shop for years, well before she opened her yarn shop. She's good people. I would tell you that she fit back into her size 2 jeans less than 6 weeks after giving birth to twins, but you would hate her a little bit, and I don't want that.

If you haven't checked out Pulling at Strings yet, make yourself a cup or a glass or, heck, a STEIN of your favorite vice and drool over the eye candy.

Jenn gave me several colorway inspirations, all based on her home state of Maryland. The fact that I lived there for ten years helped tremendously, as it wasn't much work to picture exactly what she was talking about.

This is Chivalrous, inspired by Maryland's Renaissance Festival, the second largest in the country.

It's a courtly mix of regal purple, red, emerald, gold, and amber. 

I like being pushed to do colorways like this, because they are not ones I gravitate toward naturally. But then I'm always happy with the results and am glad I made an appearance at the party.

If you visit Pulling At Strings and enter Chivalrous in the search box in the upper right, you can see everything they currently have instock in this colorway. They even have some mini skein sets and roving up for grabs!

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Another trip to Florida brings us Sea Flower, an exclusive colorway belonging to A Good Yarn in Sarasota.

Sea Flower is part of A Good Yarn's Purl Diver collection, which are colorways based on amazing underwater photographs.

You can see the bright orange, black, and white in the clown fish <Insert Finding Nemo joke here>, and the pretty taupes and rose pinks in the rest of the skein.

This is what I call a transitional handpainted, where the colorway is designed to be conceptual and to transition from one color to the next once the skein is twisted up.

This is a labor intensive colorway, involving lots of tiny paintbrushes, but I think the end results are worth it.

A Good Yarn has this colorway instock, and they'd be happy to send you some. You can visit their web store here for easy stash enhancement.

(I adore this one on Springvale Bulky. Sigh.)

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As luck of the draw would have it, another transitional handpainted gasped for air.

This one is based on salmon. Not just the color salmon pink, but the actual fish.

Copper River salmon is said to be some of the best in the world because of its high oil content, and salmon fishing is the industry on which the city of Cordova, Alaska thrives.

When I made this for The Net Loft, I knew I couldn't just slap some light pinks and grays on Adorn Sock and call it close enough.

My bluff would be called. Who can predict the mayhem that would ensue.

Salmon -- the fish -- has marbled silvery gray skin, which I hope I captured, and the meat is actually a few different shades of pink with a yellow and brown undertone.

It's a manly pink. Because it's a pink that has its own name. Salmon.

When I'm designing a colorway, I will often settle on a color recipe (how to make the salmony pinks, which shades of gray I'll use), and then I experiment with dye application methods.

Here are a few of my earlier versions of Salmon.

This was lacking variation. It didn't say fish to me.

This is a little closer, but it seems like the salmon skin is too mixed up in the meat. It gives me the feeling of picking bones out of a piece of fish in a restaurant.

You can see a side by side comparison here.

The method I settled on uses both kettle dyeing and hand painting. Because I will rarely seek the path of least resistance when it come to yarn. I'd rather make more work for myself and have things just so than go easy and be less than thrilled with the results.

It's part of my personality that spills over into most areas of my life. My husband loves this about me, don't you, honey?

Here's one example of how it knits up:

If you want to grab some of this colorway, you can give The Net Loft a call at (907) 424-7337, or email them at thenetloft3 AT yahoo DOT com.

Speaking of salmon, I had spicy salmon sushi for lunch today. How deliciously coincidental.