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knee highs
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Knee highs are pretty straight forward. Our Measurements & Sizes page shows how they come to just below the knee, that’s pretty much the total of their definition. But you may have encountered the phrase “knee sock” when browsing our styles and wondered how it differed from plain ol’ knee highs.
There isn’t a whole lot of difference and sometimes we do use the phrase “knee sock” when we’re talking about knee highs. But, more often than not, when we call something a “knee sock” we’re talking about a sock that ends somewhere around the knee—sometimes below, sometimes above, sometimes right there in the middle of your knee cap—depending on your leg shape. The Bess Cashmere Slouch Rib Knee Socks are a perfect example of this, you can see how they end at different spots on different models’ legs:
Since we try on all the styles we sell and almost all of the models you see in our pictures are Sock Dreams employees, we get to see how socks act on different leg types. Long legs and fuller calves mean some shorter over the knee styles don’t fairly deserve the name “OTK”. But those same socks can’t properly be called knee highs either because just as many other folks had them go over their knees. So, we started using the phrase “knee sock” to highlight that ambiguity.
It was Sourpuss’ styles that made us first start using the phrase more actively, they’re shorter for over the knee styles and even though Sourpuss called them OTKs, we couldn’t after testing them, even though we love them.
• Octopus Knee Sock •
• Galley Ho Knee Sock •
The DreaM Stockings “knees” styles are another great example of a knee sock. Available in seven variations (with lots of varieties for each!), they can be worn as over the knee socks or knee highs, depending on your legs (or on your personal taste, I prefer them as knee highs, even though I’ve got short legs).
Clockwise, from top: Purple Knees, Pink Knees, Green Knees, White Knees, Orange Knees, Blue Knees. Center: Brown Knees,
A way to find these in-betweeners is also to choose both “knee high” and “OTK” in Advanced Search then click the word “ALL” next to the header for Coverage. This shows you styles we’ve found fall both above or below the knee, depending on your leg. If you’ve got longer legs or fuller calves, you may already know the trick of wearing OTKs as knee highs, cuffing or double-cuffing to take care of any extra length.
A knee sock isn’t a style that couldn’t cut it as an OTK, nor is it just an over-achieving knee high. They straddle both coverage worlds, offering their stylish services to more leg types.
by Brenna
April 19th, 2013
Ever popular, Gumball Poodle’s made in the USA “word socks” are a fun way to label and proclaim. We’ve totally done a style spotlight on them before, but with the introduction of their crew style, they’ve now got three great ways to say it with socks. Wait, three?! That’s right, all the Gumball Poodle knee highs aren’t created equal and there are two distinctly different ways you can wear a word.
One style Gumball Poodle calls “dress socks.” You can spot ‘em by their contrast heel and toe. Smooth textured and thin enough for snugger shoes, they’re perfect at hiding under office slacks, looking like a plain dress sock at the ankle while secretly being like, a ninja.
The other style is called an “athletic sock.” True to its name, this style is rugged and ready for anything. A terry lined foot cushions and absorbs—in the copy for the athletic styles we even say “Keep in mind that they are SO cushy they bring your shoe size up by half a size, so they’re best for roomier sneaks and boots.” Their lightly ribbed body is a pro at staying up, they’re no sissies.
Beyond just style, the differences between the dress and athletic socks affect the fit. The dress socks don’t stay up as well on some legs as the athletic socks and there is no way the athletic socks are fitting into snug dress shoes. But with over forty words and phrases to choose from we know you’ll find a fit that strikes your fancy and says exactly what you mean.
by Brenna
April 5th, 2013
Sock Dreamer Zaffy & I headed over to the Oregon Convention Center just before noon on Sunday to check out the event and taste all the goodies. In my nearly 17 years in Portland it was my first time to go to the center, so that in itself was an adventure. It’s a nice building with easy indoor parking and some really cool artwork installations including a mosaic of our universe on the floor with a pendulum swinging overhead…
I wore my pair of chocolate socks so we could finally get our own shot of those up
(many thanks to Zaf for shooting them on me!)…
these are the ones we sell and they are not the ones that were sold at the event or given away Sunday morning, though we might bring in the alternate version, if we can, because they sold out on Saturday…
Inside the event it was very crowded so we slowly made our way around sampling the many treats… I think I will aim for arriving earlier next time, maybe even the Friday evening Premier night… but there will be a next time! and just in case Chocolate isn’t a good enough cause this event benefited the World Forestry Center.
By now you might be wondering how the samples were…. tiny, cute, delicious, unexpected (blue cheese brownies!?!), but most of all… the very best thing there was good old fashioned English Toffee made by a little Portland based company named Melting Pot Candy, along with their jalapeno version that kept my throat warm long after we walked away, if you can get some do… they were super tasty!
by niqkita
January 22nd, 2012
Tomorrow evening is the Rose City Rollers’ season opener, with the first intra-league bouts of the 2012 Rose City Rollers home teams’ season. We’ve been supporting the league since 2006! Time has flown by on the fastest of skates.
This summer we had some socks made especially for us by Gumball Poodle, to show off how much we love the Rose City Rollers. You may have seen them for sale at a couple derby events, but now even folks who live far away and still call Portland home can show off their pride for their derby home team with I ♥ RCR knee highs!
The images for these socks were shot for us by the lovely Taylor B photography, who not only took some snaps of the I ♥ RCR knee highs, but got some fun shots of other derby favourite styles.
from left to right
• Extraordinary Striped Thigh Highs •
• Top Striped OTK Tubes •
• Dreamy Knee High Tube Sock •
from left to right
• Extraordinary Striped Thigh Highs •
• Dreamer Harlequin Diamond OTKs •
• Extraordinarily Longer Striped Thigh Highs •
There are lots more great derby options, no matter what team you’re on. Drop us a line if you’re having trouble finding your colours or want help finding just the right socks to rock (refs, we have a lot of great black and white vertical stripes, like these!).
Thank you again, Taylor B photography and goooooooo RCR!
by Brenna
January 20th, 2012
We saw the last of the old Rock Socks labels out the door not too long ago and just recently ushered in a bunch of new, made in the USA, styles from this wordy, nerdy brand (Geek, Naughty & Nice and Chocolate are the latest!). They’re one of our favourites, partially because we have so much fun with their backstock. Below I’ve got a couple snaps of our Gumball Poodle backstock boxes. I will admit that sometimes we put things in boxes together because they’re funny rather than because they’re more efficient.
‘Cause who doesn’t want some Wicked Whiskey this time of year?
• Wicked Knee Highs •
•Whiskey Knee Highs •
And I so want to see what a Zombie Heavy Metal Derby involves!
• Zombie Knee Highs •
• Heavy Metal Knee Highs •
• Derby Knee Highs •
A couple more after the jump! Read more »
by Brenna
November 18th, 2011
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