~ Sock Dreams ~

Folks say that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, and maybe that’s why it has two birthstones, Aquamarine and Bloodstone. The daffodil and Pisces round out the other symbols for March.

The aptly named “water of the sea” Aquamarine is turquoise beryl (its deeper green cousins are emeralds!). Now, we’ve got a lot of things that are turquoise, it’s a very popular colour (although, I will confess, it’s a real bear to colour correct!)

Clockwise from top: Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks, Nuova Baby Ribbed Wool Socks, Harajuku Arm Warmer, Classic ToeToe Socks, Harajuku Scrunchy Socks, Layered Tulle Petticoat.

But March gets two birthstones! The second is Bloodstone, also known as Heliotrope, even though it is totally a different colour than the Heliotrope flower. Deep, dark green with flecks of red, it’s sort of the perfect counterpoint to the clear blues of Aquamarine. Green and red don’t appear together on socks very often, but I think we can capture the ideals of Bloodstone pretty easily.

• Dreamy Striped Tubes •
• New Zealand Bedsocks with Stripes •
• N Stripes •

I always forget that March’s flower, the Daffodil, is properly called the Narcissus. Frilly and yellow and already flowering in my yard, they’re harbingers of spring, reminding us that sun is around the corner. I was a little worried about picking styles to represent these flowers. Yellow, despite the recent popularity of mustard as a colour, isn’t a common shade of sock, but lo and behold I found a couple of shots where we used the Narcissus to bring out the best of lemony shades!

• White Knees •
• Sock It To Me Bumble Bees •
• Vertically Inclined Knee Highs •

Properly following February’s Aquarius sign, March’s constellation is mostly Pisces, symbolised by two fish. And we’ve got two-by-two options for you, both straight up fish:

• Sock It To Me Koi Fish •
• Mouthy Fish 3-D Socks •

And more symbolic scales (maybe your feet are the fish!):

• Lola Knee High •
• Mermaid Armor Over the Knee •

March marches on, bringing us the start of spring and sneak peeks of sunshine. Are you a March birthday? Do you pick Aquamarine or Bloodstone?

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Shamrocks and their luck are traditional symbols for St. Patrick’s day and their bonny green is associated with the holiday as well.

• Snappy Shamrock Garters •
• Lucky Knee Highs •
• Sock It To Me Clover •

Thanks to our colour search, you can find lots of green styles to satisfy any anti-pinching needs. The Green Knees are a great start, and you can find a grassy shade in a lot of the knees styles.

From top: Green Knees in Black, Green Knees in Kelly, Green Knees in Purple, Green Knees in Fuchsia, Orange Knees in Kelly, Pink Knees in Lime.

There’s a lot of history behind what colour you wear on St. Patrick’s day. Some folks wear orange, a colour you also see on Ireland’s flag. We offer a lot of oranges, from rusty shades to crayon brights.

• Extraordinarily Longer Thigh High •
• Harajuku Arm Warmers •
• Opaque Tights •

Recently (like I mentioned last year) we see folks sporting rainbows and gold.

• Rainbow Piano Knee High •
• Metallic Leggings •
• Over The Rainbow Thigh Highs •

But did you know that St. Patrick and Ireland used to be symbolised by hues of blue? From the sky tints of history to the richer shades used today, “St. Patrick’s blue” is still found in modern symbols.

• Cotton Slouch Socks •
• O Basics •
• OTK Tubes •

So many colours to pick from! But no matter what you choose, have a happy St. Patrick’s day!

From top: N Stripes in Royal & Light Blue, N Stripes in Red & Orange, N Stripes in Kelly & Lime, O Tie Dyed.

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It’s March and that means National Craft Month! We’ve given you lots of DIY options for rejuvenating socks that aren’t good for being socks any more, but what about nylon socks and stockings?

Nylon styles can be thin and anybody who regularly wears classic stockings has experienced a ruining snag. With socks you can darn holes or cut ‘em to make arm warmers, or use them as the base of fun crafts. There’s a lot more material involved in a sock than there is in a stocking. Sure, thicker and opaque styles you can turn into arm warmers (like at the end of this DIY post), but what about those classically styled, sheer “nylons”? Dreamer Zaf gave some good tips for dealing with holes recently on the Tumblr, but what about when there’s just no saving them?

Well, conveniently I collect household hint books, and even more conveniently, I’ve got one from the 1960s (reprinted in the 1970s), back when nylon stockings were a staple. Heloise’s Housekeeping Hints is pretty much my favourite household hint resource and between this old version and later versions (she’s even on the web, now!), there are lots of ways to get some last use out of snagged nylons. They’re not that craft-oriented, but they are crafty (as in sneaky and smart!). For all of these tips, use clean nylons and cut off any lace tops (especially if they have silicone grip strips inside).

Lotsa tips after the jump!

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Sometimes, even if you’re careful about checking the Sizing Tips of a style, the fit isn’t exactly right. You need a little less room in the foot or a little more stretch in the calf.

If you’re a knitter, you’re probably familiar with the ways to get a little more stretch out of a sock. High percentage cotton and wool knits can be manipulated when wet (“blocking”), sneaking out a little more room or tightening up the fibers for a snugger fit. You can’t change the stretch or size of a sock dramatically with blocking, but you can add (or remove) a little extra for a more custom fit.

Whether you’re looking to add some more stretch in the body of the sock or shrink the foot a little, you’ll need a small towel, hot water (Be safe! Wear rubber gloves if you need to and keep the water about the temperature of a hot bath) and a place you can splash a little. And of course you’ll need the socks you’ll be working on. I’ll be showing you the process using O Basics.

If you’re looking to stretch the body of the sock, you’ll also need something to stretch around. Coffee cans are pretty perfect for this, but anything sturdy and round can work. Use a measuring tape and find something that’s just a bit wider around than the sock can stretch now. Or you can go around putting the sock on things to see what just barely fits. That is more fun.

Wet Stretching

Right now there is a lot of variance in the calf stretch of O Basics, so sneaking a little more stretch out of this style is pretty useful. Wet the area you’ll be working on by dunking the body of the sock into your water. Get it thoroughly wet, somewhere between dripping and just damp. I’m mostly concerned with the calf area, so that’s the only part I’m getting wet.

Now gently but firmly stretch the sock over whatever you’ve picked to stretch it over.

Now you just wait a couple of hours (or longer, depending on how humid where you live is). Once your sock is dry, slide it off and check it out.

Before stretching the body of these O Basics stretched to just barely 16 inches. On the can they were stretched to about 16 and a half inches. Now they stretch to 17 inches! How much you can get out of wet stretching depends on the fiber blend, the colour of the sock (some colours just have no stretch, it’s crazy!), a lot of little variables. But you can almost always get a half inch more. Keep in mind that you’ve reduced the elasticity a bit, so your stretched-out sock may not stay up as well as an un-stretched sock.

Shrinking the Foot

This process is more of a try and try again sort of procedure. You’ll notice that for high cotton content styles like the O Basics we recommend that you “Machine or hand wash in cold to cool water, tumble dry low or hang dry.” If you’ve ever had a pair of high cotton or wool content socks sneak into with a load of bathtowels you know why—they shrink in the heat!

Unlike some of the other DreaM Stockings (like any of the striped “knees” styles), the O Basics have a smaller foot, which we recommend for “Women’s shoe size 5-10, maybe even bigger.” But it’s loose on a size 5, so let’s see if we can make them work better. They’re starting off at about 6.5 inches from toe to heel, unstretched (my measuring was a little more accurate than this picture!).

WARNING: doing this is going to shrink the body of the sock a little too, so if you don’t want to lose any calf stretch, you might be better off using this awesome sewing method we linked to on Pinterest from Little Porcelain Princess.

The first step is just getting the foot thoroughly wet in hot water. Just get the foot wet (and the ankle, if it’s too baggy on you), unless you’re trying to shrink the whole sock.

Now throw it in the dryer on medium, with towels or some other bulky stuff. If you can (although it’s a waste of energy and quarters), dry them with things that aren’t wet or damp, so the body of the sock doesn’t get wet and shrink as much as the  foot. As the sock dries the fibers contract. Now the foot is about 6 inches unstretched! Not a huge difference, but it can mean a lot to little toes. We did try getting the foot wet and letting it air dry AND getting the foot wet and putting it in front of a hot air heater, but they didn’t create any noticeable shrinking.

Remember, wet stretching doesn’t totally transform the fit of a sock, it just helps you get that extra perfect fit. Read those Sizing Tips and remember you can always drop us a line for more in-depth sizing info.

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I know a lot of folks born in February. In fact, I think three (!) Dreamers have had birthdays already this month. February’s symbols aren’t hearts, cupids and lace though, they’re the very stately and fabulous Amethyst, Viola and Aquarius.

Amethyst is a super fascinating stone, used for protection in battle, as a ward against drunkenness and for intaglio carving, its soft purple hue lends a calm beauty to goblets, amulets and jewellery. Found in a range of purple (one of the definitions of Amethyst is “purple” qualified by “any purple”), some of amethyst’s more common shades are rose, mauve and lavender.

• Wrinkle Press Knee High •
• Check Pattern Footies •
• Harajuku Scrunchy Socks •

The most valuable amethyst, however, is deep purple, with tinges of violet. I think what we and our suppliers tend to call “plum” is a good match.

• Super Ms •
• Soft & Dreamy Knee Highs •
• Boy’s Socks •

Because people have always loved to coordinate, violets (more properly, “violas”) are February’s flower. Tiny and purple with a distinctive five-petal shape; their larger, hybrid form is called a “pansy.”

• Polonova Flower Trouser Socks •
• Bunch of Pansies Over the Knee •
• Tibetan Flower Crews •

February’s dominant constellation is Aquarius, the water bearer. Symbolised by layered waves, it’s also part of a song title I bet you’re trying not to get stuck in your head. I think Nouvella’s Space Ocean colourway is kind of a perfect match—and the wee baby sock version way more fun (and cozy!) for little folks born this month than rocks and flowers.

• Dreamer Jacquard Ripple OTK •
• Space Dyed Terry Baby Booties •
• Dreamer Diamond Wave OTK •

So far February hasn’t tricked me with a sneaky nice day that pretends spring is around the corner, but we’re only about at the halfway mark of this short little month. There is plenty of time for one surprisingly warm day to make me think I don’t have to work so hard to stay cozy.

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