~ Sock Dreams ~

The Nutcracker Ballet is a classic winter tale and there have been many interpretations. So we thought we’d have a go at reinterpreting The Nutcracker in socks. If any of the principal players strike your fancy, links to the styles are scattered throughout the narration. Let’s begin!

The scene opens on the Sockerhaus home, the tree of green DreaM Stockings has been decorated for the holiday in lights and ornaments with stars on top. Marie and her brother Fritz admire the trimmings.

The clock strikes and a mysterious figure appears. It’s Herr Drosselmidcalf!

He’s brought with him a wonderful toy, a fanciful nutcracker shaped like a soldier.

Marie is charmed by the nutcracker.

Fritz, to spite Marie, breaks the nutcracker. Fritz is a jerk.

After everyone else has gone to bed, Marie goes to check on the poor nutcracker still lying under the tree. She falls asleep.

The clock strikes midnight and Marie awakens, to find the tree grown crazy tall and the nutcracker bigger than she!

Suddenly, an army of mice appear, led by a ferocious king mouse.

The mice attack the nutcracker, overwhelming him.

Marie thinks fast and throws a slipper (well, she’s a slipper—so, herself) at the king mouse, knocking him out. The army of mice run away.

But what happens next?  Tune in next week for the socktastic conclusion of The Nutcracker Sock Ballet!

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With the first book of her adventures published in Sweden in late November, 1945, Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking (y’know, Pippi Longstocking) turns 67 this year. And I bet she’s still mismatching her socks.

If you’re not familiar with this little whirlwind of a trickster, Wikipedia is a good jumping off point to all the books, translations and movie adaptations (and there are a lot!). They may be children’s books, but folks of all ages love the super-strong little girl with sticking-out pigtails.

And of course, she never matched her knee socks. Not in the movies,

From Pippi Longstocking, 1969. You can get the look with a pair of solid red and solid green knee highs, like the Opaque Nylon Trouser Socks in Olive and in Rust.

Or even the cartoon!

From Pippi Longstocking, 1997. You can get the look with a pair of orange and yellow stripes and solid purple over the knees like the Extraordinary Stripes in Ochre & Spice and the Extraordinaries in Plum.

Some of you might be hearing (well, reading) “Pippi” and thinking of a particular kind of sock. Not one worn in one of the dozens of incarnations of the famous character, but a sock named after her. One of the styles lost along with the Original Bootsocks when EG Smith’s machines died were the 28 and 42 inch Pippy Longstocklings.

From the Sock Journal, October 2004.

Thick and scrunchy, pretty much super (and super-duper) long bootsocks, the Pippy Longstocklings were wildly popular and we often had trouble keeping them in stock even before the bootsock troubles.

Though EG Smith has brought back their Bootsocks, we don’t expect them to bring back the Pippy. But that’s okay, because Schoolgirl Long Socks and the Schoolgirl Extra Long socks are pretty much as fabulous.

Most recently linked to in March 2012, when we were talking about what a scrunchy sock is.

The Schoolgirl Long Socks are 30 inches long and the Schoolgirl Extra Long socks are 40, making them roughly the same lengths as the old Pippy styles. The knit pattern is practically the same, the only real difference is the fiber content. The Pippy Longstocklings were 99% cotton and 1% spandex and the Schoolgirl socks are 50% cotton, 20% acrylic, 18% polyester, 10% nylon, 2% spandex.

Hmm, if grown-up Pippi were to wear the Schoolgirl Long Socks, what would she mismatch them with?

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Just like you’d think, boot socks (whether you leave a space between the words is sort of up to you, but you’ll get better results in our search if you use the phrase “bootsocks”) are pretty self-explanatory. Boots are hardcore shoes and need a strong and sturdy sock with a decent thickness.

Coverage-wise, boot socks tend to be either midcalf or knee high—just like boots. And just like boots, there some shorter versions. These three are closer to that nebulous crew height (see What is a Crew Sock for more info on that!).

• EG ECO Hemp Birdseye Bootsock •
• EG ECO Random Stripe Rib •
• Organic Nuby Crew •

We like bootsocks a lot. Our Dream Stockings house brand even has two boot sock styles! Both have terry inside for extra durability and cushiness.

• M Bootsocks •
• Authentic Military Bootsocks •

So sure, those are some bootsocks, but what are the factors that define a bootsock? Find out after the jump! Read more »

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It’s pretty clear that we Dreamers are into Halloween and costumes. I know this. Yet, when I put a call out to fellow Dreamers for pop and modern culture costume tips, I did not expect that I’d get so many awesome ideas from pretty much everyone. I am going to do my best to share everybody’s recommendations, so pull up your socks, we’re going in.

Comics

We’ve got some solid comics fans here, most notably Zaffie at our Tumblr. She’s already pointed out that Kate Bishop in Hawkeye #2 (story by Matt Fraction, art by David Aja) is wearing what looks like the Extraordinarily Longer Thigh Highs in Plum & Black.

Spiderman is a classic. And it takes some layering, but one of our Shop Dreamers dressed up one of the manequinns at our brick and mortar store in Opaque Tights in Royal, Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks in Red and the Spider Lace Pantyhose for a webtacular Spidey look.

Super heroes (and villians) are easy game when looking for good use of legwear. They have to wear something under the leotards, right? Another Dreamer reminded me of one of my favourites—Poison Ivy, specifically her character design by Bruce Timm for Batman: The Animated Series. Her simple look is all pulled together by simple lime green tights.

Of course, you don’t have to keep it simple. We’ve had (amazing!) customers pull unique, stunning looks together too (like this fabulous steampunk Poison Ivy).

TV

I know a lot of you are into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (if only because of all the drawing requests!) so you know that there are a ton of rainbow options to accessorise your Rainbow Dash costume. But one Dreamer suggests that the Furry Rainbow Leg Warmers might be just the thing. You’d be like a My Little Clydesdale!

I am going to be honest here and say that I have no idea who this character is (thank goodness for Dreamers filling me in!), but Fishnet Footless Tights and the Lace Anklet with Ruffle seem to be pretty key pieces to dressing as Robin Sparkles from How I Met Your Mother.

Another popular character is Rachel Berry of Glee. She wears a lot of knee highs and a lot of solid colour basics that can be easily matched by the Color Tights and the Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks.

Video Games

One game that a lot of folks I know are playing is Borderlands. Gage the mechromancer has some great black and white wide stripes that are perfectly matched by the Extraordinary Striped Thigh Highs in Black & Natural.

Also in Borderlands (which is looking to be a pretty sock-tastic game) Mad Moxxi rocks some mismatched stripes and Fencenet Thigh Highs. It’s hard to tell what colourway the stripes are, but the Uma Striped Over the Knee looks to be a good match.

Movies

We were pretty big fans of the Joker’s socks in The Dark Knight. Though we don’t have the Joker’s every day chaos-checkered socks, we do have a taller option in the Neon Checkered Chaos OTKs that would look fab for folks going as Nurse Joker.

Our Tumblr caught this one already too, but Sally from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas wears scrunched black and white stripes. I think maybe the Super Warmers – Short would be a great match (and give you room in your shoes for patchwork tights)!

If you want to be classically classy, one of the Dreamers points out that you can’t go wrong with Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Either the Satin Gloves with Snap Buttons or the Opera Length Satin Gloves with Rhinestone Trim plus the Sheer To Waist Pantyhose in Black with a little black dress and pearls? Perfect.

This one is a little esoteric and you need a friend to really pull it off, but you could totally channel the vibes of 101 Dalmatians with the Contrast Vertical Striped Thigh Highs for Cruella DeVille (maybe over some red tights?) and the Foot Traffic Polka Dot Knee Highs for a Dalmatian.

A far more straightforward approach would be to emulate the original horror stylings of Jaws with a 3-D Shark Bite Sock over some Bloody Zombie Thigh Highs.

Whew. That’s a good one to end on, right? I hope we’ve helped inspire you if you’re still struggling with a costume. Remember, we love when folks share how we’ve helped them make a costume perfect and our Facebook is a great place to do it! How are socks helping your costume come together?

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This weekend Sock Dreams will be trekking up the I-5 and paying a visit to the Great White North; that’s right folks, we are bound for Canada! I’ll be traveling, once again with The Jupiter Hotel to promote Sock Dreams and our shared organization, the Portland Geek Council at Vancouver B.C.’s comic and pop culture convention, Mega-comic Con. The convention will feature many Canadian comic book artist and celebrities from T.V. and movies, as well as several other vendors of a geek related nature. I am particularly excited to offer not only tax free, socks to our neighbors to the North. And, if you visit our table there, you don’t have to worry about shipping, since they’ve only got to go across the table. In addition to ALL the wonderfully nerdy socks we love to sell at comic cons AND the discounted Dream Stockings I will be premiering two brand new styles not yet available on the web site. But you’ll have to see us there to see what they are!

There are still passes available on the Mega-comic Con web site; so if you’re in Vancouver B.C., come down the con and stock up on your warm and wonderful socks for the winter.

Yes you are, sock buddies!
Clockwise from top: Harlequin Diamond OTKs, Vortex Midcalves, SITM Super Hero Socks, SITM Dinomite Knee Highs.

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