SUMPTUOUS Sock Yarn Club

June's "Teaser" & Brief Hiatus

2009-06-23T10:48:00.005-04:00

Ah, cashmere, here we go again! I did a darker colourway this month to transition into the winter months for a cowl or scarf if you like! This month is 100% cashmere in DK weight and is luscious! Enjoy!

In other news, this club will be on a brief hiatus and will re-open for registrations in September for October, November and December's shipments. Since we have moved to all cashmere for this club, this fibre definitely lends itself better to winter knitting so we'll take a wee break for the summer months.

Thank you everyone for your support and see you in September! Enjoy your summer :)

May's "Spoiler"

2009-06-22T12:12:00.003-04:00

A lovely blending of red with burgundy for this scrumptious yarn made of 55% silk and 45% cashmere. Yum! The colourway is called Nastrium after the flower that has both of these colours in it! Enjoy!

May's "Teaser"

2009-05-22T21:43:00.003-04:00

This month I decided to do a two-tone colourway and I think it turned out lovely! Hope everyone enjoys it too.

This month is a cashmere/silk yarn in fingering weight and really rather lovely. I can see a lovely scarf or a small shawl with this yarn. Enjoy!

April's "Spoiler"

2009-05-21T10:38:00.002-04:00

Here we are! Isn't she lovely? This colourway has overtones of brown and undertones of black/grey - yum! Hope everyone likes it...isn't the cashmere yarn lovely too? So soft and so squishy. Enjoy!

April's "Teaser"

2009-04-22T19:17:00.001-04:00

Wow, here we go! The first shipment of cashmere has left the building and here's a little teaser. This month's yarn is 100% Mongolian Cashmere in fingering weight.

I decided to do something lush to start so I hope you enjoy this colourway!

Next Round!

2009-04-10T10:47:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone and thank you for joining in for the next round of yarns! As I speak, my first shipment of cashmere has landed already and soon I'll be dyeing up the first batch of yarn for this round. Hope you're all doing well...I'm anxious to get my hands on the cashmere again and extra-excited that we'll be doing 3 full months of cashmere this time. Love the cashmere! More to come soon...stay tuned!

February's "Spoiler" & Registrations Open

2009-03-16T09:58:00.005-04:00

This month's yarn is a truly decadent one made of cashmere and silk. The yarn dyes up beautifully and the silk gives the colourway a lovely sheen. Enjoy! This colourway is called "Clay Pot".

Registrations have re-opened for this club and the first mailing will be on April 22, 2009. Come join us this round as we will also be including at least one month of DK weight so clubbers have the option of knitting a cowl or a small shawl. It also allows us the opportunity to send cashmere with every shipment. Yum! Deadline to register is April 8, 2009.

February's "Teaser"

2009-02-25T20:22:00.005-05:00

Gone and in the mail already as I write! Here's a little teaser of February's colourway which was inspired by Spring that will be coming soon! Hope everyone enjoys this blend...it's a lovely blending of cashmere and silk and is a really dreamy fibre to work with. Please enjoy!

Also, I invite you to come subscribe to my new blog where I chat about dyeing mostly and a bit about anything else I can think of!

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January's "Spoiler"

2009-01-30T20:54:00.003-05:00

This month's yarn is a super luxurious blending of superwash merino, bamboo and silk! Ultra soft to the touch, it will indeed make a wonderful pair of socks or perhaps a nice scarf or even a cowl.

Feel free to knit something other than socks with these yarns...they are luscious! Enjoy!

January's "Teaser"

2009-01-14T15:30:00.003-05:00

This month I opted for a cool, soft colourway since I did a dark colourway last month. On this yarn, it looks lovely and I hope everyone enjoys this luxury yarn too! It's a wonderful blending of superwash superfine merino, bamboo and silk which gives it a lovely sheen while being super soft to the touch!

Everything mails early on the 16th instead of the 22nd as scheduled because I'm about to be quite literally swamped in yarn for a large project so I wanted to get everyone's yarn out to them before that happens :)

Enjoy and happy knitting! If you aren't in the mood for socks for this yarn, a nice scarf or cowl would be a lovely consideration for this yarn too.

December's "Spoiler"

2009-01-06T08:28:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are! It's a brand new year and I'm so glad I restarted this club. Nothing is more yummy than cashmere :) I enjoyed dyeing it so much, I've decided to carry a few cashmere yarns in the store (under luxury yarn) on a regular basis - the store will carry DK weight and fingering in 100% cashmere and a cashmere/silk blend so if you are loving the cashmere, drop on by and see if there's something there that strikes your fancy too! :)

December's colourway was a fun one to dye - I decided to do a purple that hinted toward blue slightly so some of the skeins will end up showing a bit more blue than others but I hope you like it! It'll create a nice tonal variation when knitting! So what are you plans for this yarn? I love socks but maybe a scarf or cowl might suit you too! Enjoy and Happy New Year!

December's "Teaser"

2008-12-18T09:51:00.004-05:00

Yay! All the yarns are dyed and ready to be mailed. Shipments go out today (early by 4 days! yay!) and I'm hoping some of you just might get your cashmere before Christmas - fingers crossed! This is the 100% Mongolian Cashmere in fingering weight and oh-so-divine.

Also, when you're winding this yarn, please be extra careful as the cashmere is very delicate and can easily break. If you line it all up properly on your swift, it should come off no problem without any snags or breaks but it does need a bit of care when winding into a yarn cake.

Enjoy everyone and Happy Holidays!

Registrations Closed & First Yarn!

2008-12-08T10:15:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone...registrations are now closed and will re-open again in February for March's shipment.

I am really excited to send out the first yarn to everyone - it'll be 100% Mongolian cashmere and will be 400 yards of fingering weight lusciousness! Don't let the lightness of the cashmere fool you - 2 oz is a lot of cashmere and one of cashmere's distinctive properties is it's lightness but warmth. I hope everyone enjoys the first yarn - gosh, it'll be hard to let cashmere go out the door! More info to follow including a teaser pic when the yarns have been dyed. Stay tuned and thanks to everyone for joining back this round - it's a pleasure for me to dye cashmere for everyone and welcome to all the new members for this round!

Registrations Open!

2008-10-30T09:38:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's been a really long time but I've decided to re-open this sock club for another 3 month term starting in December for 3 shipments as follows:

December 22, 2008
January 22, 2009
February 22, 2009

If you'd like to join, please click here. You can also subscribe for 3 monthly payments in the sidebar to the right. Looking forward to painting some cashmere and silk blends...thanks again everyone for your interest!

Designer Drive-By!

2008-01-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

Hi! I'm Alyson, your Daydreamer Sock pattern designer!

I hope everyone enjoys this pattern very much - I went through a number of different incarnations in my head on this one before I settled on this. The allover stitch pattern used is pretty basic, and the reason for that, as explained in the pattern, is that the suggested cashmere fiber yarn can by its very nature be at odds with fitted objects. When we knit, our cashmere is usually reserved for items that don't necessarily have to hold shape: shawls, scarves, etc. That's because cashmere isn't a very memory-heavy fiber, and it'll stretch and relax pretty easily. A lace rib pattern allows the sock to fit snugly, while still having a little bit of pizzazz. And I wanted to do a toe-up design for two reasons: to be able to use up every last drop of this wonderful fluffy stuff, and because toe-up sock fans don't always get the love. This design would be very simple to convert to top-down, however - the stitch pattern is pretty basic, so flipping it upside down won't mess with your head.

And the flowers? Okay, when I first thought about adding them to the sock, I thought it was maybe a bit too...twee. Too cutesy. But I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, so I went with it, and figured for my own pair, I'd stitch them on loosely for the photos and then pull them back off....which is definitely NOT what I ended up doing. Can I just tell you how much I love these silly little flowers?? I want to knit them for all my items, hide them in hems and cuffs, just as a sweet touch. The flowers take literally five minutes each to create, and were such fun to me that I kind of went nuts when I first pinned them to the sock. It's only thanks to my husband's, "Uh, don't you think that's a bit much?" that you didn't receive a pattern directing you to attach ten flowers to the cuff, three to the heel and one to the toe. (I maintain that I think one on the toe would be adorable.) But I figure you're not likely to cram your cashmere-besocked feet into a pair of shoes, so slap those flowers on anywhere you like! (I finished this pattern right around the time the Yarn Harlot started her leaf socks, so I was definitely feeling her on the sudden and inexplicable obsession with knitting dozens of tiny objects to be slapped onto a sock.)

I know you're all thinking that knitting cashmere into socks is insane. I know you are. And it's just a pattern, so you can use whatever yarn you like to knit them, I know! (Any Zen Yarn Garden yarn, of course!) But let me talk you into the cashmere ones, won't you? I have a tale:

So when I was test-knitting - I test knit all my own patterns, especially the ones in cashmere, don’t ya know – the fluffy look was irresistible to people who would constantly reach out and touch the socks and ooh and ahh over the feel of them. My reaction inwardly was "Don't touch! You'll fuzz them!!" but my less over-protective outward reaction was to just agree that they were to die for. Knitters, however, always said the same thing: "Cashmere SOCKS?? Are you NUTS??!!?!" And my response for the first 2/3 of the sock was, "I know, I know, I'm writing a pattern, that's all." But then I tried the thing on. I put it on at work, after working a bit past the heel at lunch and I sat at my desk for two hours, finding excuses to not get up. There was a ball of yarn sitting on my desk, anchored to my foot by way of a half-knit sock. I couldn't take it off. I'd even knit them a few sizes too small for my own feet, just to ensure that I'd not wear them and either give them as a gift or put them under glass on display. Now I'm thinking that them being a bit small just makes them nice and snug and they’ll get plenty of wear. There's no way this yarn wasn't meant for socks! Just give them a try!

--alyson--

January's "Spoiler"

2008-01-30T11:11:00.000-05:00

I am quite sure most of you have received your packages - at least that's my hope! Here's the spoiler and if you don't care to look at the photo up close and personal, don't click the photo! :)

Our wonderful designer will be dropping by the blog to introduce herself to the group and to write a bit about the surprise in January's package. Alyson has a fabulous way with patterns that's for sure! I now need to learn toe-up so I can try this design too :)

Has anyone cast on with the cashmere yet?

January's "Teaser"

2008-01-20T15:15:00.000-05:00

Oh me oh my, here's a little teaser for you to whet your appetite! I am so wanting to just curl up with all these cashmere yarns and am having a heckuva time letting them go out the door tomorrow! Oh yes, the surprise too...so nice and I hope everyone likes it...I'm beyond pleased with it - just fabulous. We will have a guest appearance by the person responsible for the surprise too so keep watching the blog for more info in about a week's time.

I'm putting the club on hiatus until about March/April due to some pending commitments but have a few ideas brewing for when I re-start so stay tuned! It'll probably involve a club name change and a bit of re-focus but I'm hoping everyone will enjoy the idea too - it will, of course, still focus on luxury yarns :)

In the meantime, have a few cashmere dreams because these beauties are on their way tomorrow! Ahhhhhhhh, cashmere!!!

December's "Spoiler"

2007-12-31T16:13:00.000-05:00

Hopefully everyone has pretty much received their yarns by now. Mail was sure slow with the Christmas holidays.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's filled with yarny goodness :)

December's "Teaser"

2007-12-19T19:51:00.000-05:00

Off they go in the mail tomorrow! And that's all I'm going to say other than to show you a teaser photo of the yarns - colourway inspired by the holiday season!

I hope you all enjoy this one - you can use it for socks if you like because it does contain superwash merino :) It's a brand new yet-to-be-released yarn base which I thought would be nice for the sock clubbers to receive first before they end up in the store.

January will be our last shipment and last but not least will be the ultra-soft 100% Mongolian cashmere which I know you're all anxious to receive but I had to wait until January so I can include the surprise with the package - it will be ready in January :)

Almost Time for Shipment #2!

2007-12-18T08:04:00.001-05:00

Wow! Is it really time for the second shipment already? It really is! Time flies so quickly these days. I hope everyone is doing well and all the best to everyone and their loved ones for a wonderful holiday season.

This month's yarn is a nice one too but you can knit socks with it! It's not as fragile as the cashmere/silk combo so it will be fine to put on your feet :) The colourway was inspired by the season that we're all in.

Packages will ship on Thursday, December 20th. I'm hoping for quick delivery but with all the parcels going out for Christmas, most of you will probably receive your package just after Christmas and hopefully before the New Year.

Have you seen the projects in our Ravelry group page yet? Click on over and take a look! Feel free to post your projects on this blog too :)

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year everyone!

November's "Cabernet" Spoiler

2007-11-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

This is the next fun part of the month where I show a spoiler on the blog! If you haven't received your yarn yet, please don't click unless you want to see the yarns up close and personal. This yarn was just as heavenly to dye as it was to pet until I had to dye it. Ahhhhhhhh, cashmere....and the silk addition sure makes it glow too. I really tossed and turned on how to dye the yarn and what colour but something in the red wine colours seemed appropriate....wine and yarn seemed quite sumptuous! And I think I named the colourway "Cabarnet" but I really meant the wine "Cabernet"...LOL Oh well, it's surely a unique name :)

If you're on Ravelry, don't forget to click on over and join the group there too. I'm looking forward to everyone's posts as your projects unfold.

Off they go...

2007-11-20T14:22:00.000-05:00

This is the fun part of the month where I show you a picture that doesn't really tell you much...it's just meant to tease a little and to tell you the yarns are in the mail...LOL The colourway name is Cabernet if that helps you to guess what the real colour is of the yarns! I'll be impressed with anyone who knits socks with these yarns - I think I'd just set this on my desk and pet it forever - it's that soft!

If you haven't worked with these yarns before (I won't say what it is but it'll be obvious when you get your packages LOL) don't be surprised by the size of the skein - that's the wonderous properties of this fiber - it's oh-so-light and lightness means a smaller skein. Have I given it away yet? LOL

I hope you all enjoy this month's yarn and I can't wait to see what everyone does with the yarns.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA and for everyone else, have a great weekend...see you when you get your yarns :)

It's a good day...

2007-11-18T15:02:00.001-05:00

For dyeing yarn for everyone!! It's sunny outside and the weather isn't too bad and I'm in the dye pot as we speak. I am pleased with the colour coming out and the yarn is shiny! Yes, it's a silk blend for the first round!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Here we go...

2007-11-08T07:48:00.000-05:00

Woohoo, registrations are now closed for this 3-month round and I'm off to order the first batch of yarn...only 12 days until the first shipment comes out! Can you believe it? Time surely flies! Stay tuned...

UPDATE: I talked to my yarn supplier and she doesn't have enough of the cashmere in stock for the first shipment, however, I have another fabulous yarn coming that'll be oh-so-nice and the 100% cashmere will be for the second month! We will get our Mongolian cashmere but not until December...can everyone hang on until then?? It'll be our Christmas yarn...ahhhhhhhh... :)

Patience

2007-10-26T12:42:00.000-04:00

I love the colors from the Semi Solid sock yarns so I can be patient and wait. And these yarns are mine. The socks will be for me. I have the right to be like that when it involves cashmere. And I can always use bed socks since I can wake myself up with my own cold feet.

Excited for November?

2007-10-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! Getting anxious for November to roll around? It will come quickly and I can't wait. I have had the chance to play around a bit with the Mongolian cashmere and well, yum...LOL It is light and soft and well, let's say, if there were a yarn heaven, it'd be up there... :)

One comment about the cashmere...I'm sure everyone knows this already but I thought I'd reiterate it here anyways. Since the cashmere is up there on the soft meter, I'd recommend bed socks or lounge-around socks if you do decide to do socks. Cashmere is a short staple fibre and won't withstand hard wear. It also is fragile because of the short staple so when you're winding it into cakes for knitting please be ultra careful - it can easily break if tugged too hard. Ahhhhhhhh, the things we do for softness! Cashmere's exquisitely soft luxury feel also makes it warm and light to wear. Cashmere has the highest warmth-weight ratio of any fibre. Amazing!

If my supplier has enough Mongolian cashmere in stock, this will be our first yarn - I can't think of a better way to start a luxury yarn club! :)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Welcome!

2007-10-13T08:44:00.000-04:00

I wanted to say a quick welcome to the new members! I really appreciate your being here and I'm excited to get to dyeing some cashmere and silk blend yarns! I hope you're just as excited to knit with them too. I can't wait to see what people create!

I've had a question or two about colourways so thought I'd elaborate a bit here. What I had in mind was doing a couple of dye techniques so as to minimize pooling and flashing of the colours. That will mean yarns with colour but done a little differently. It's hard to explain as it's in my head (LOL) but I'm excited to try it out and I hope you will enjoy it too. The yarns will vary from variegated to blended in colour.

What about colours? I'm very much an inspiration dyer so when it comes to colours, I can't say specifically what they will be but I can tell you they will reflect the season we are in now so think warm tones - it's cold out there and we need some warm colours! Of course if you're not in North America or in the southern USA, "cold" doesn't apply to you but please think warm tone colours.

Will there be anything else in the packages? Right now I'm focusing on the yarn to help keep costs down (and it's cashmere/silk - yum!), however, depending on how many join, there may be a surprise or two. I've been known to do that!

Club Introduction

2007-10-12T18:47:00.000-04:00

In the mood for knitting with luxurious and exotic yarns? Want to wrap your feet in pure luxury? This is the sock club for you!

We will be offering 100% Mongolian cashmere as well as silk blend yarns for this club. All club yarns will be enough yardage for a pair of socks but if you don't prefer socks, don't let that stop you - how about a pretty lacy scarf or shawl? The possiblities are endless!

Colourways will be blended (like the merino/silk yarns pictured) so as to minimize pooling and flashing and will be reminiscent of the seasons.

Won't you join us? Spots are limited for this club and the deadline for joining is November 7, 2007.

We are happy to ship to Canada and USA with this membership and should you be in another country and want to join, please email us at zenyarngarden AT yahoo DOT com and we'll be happy to make the arrangements for you!

YARN SHIPMENT DATES:
November 20, 2007
December 20, 2007
January 20, 2008

Memberships are for sale at:
http://zenyarngarden.com/zencart/
http://knitnpurlzen.etsy.com.