Layers are key to warmth, and the best first layer is something extra cozy, like fleece-lined tights or leggings.

• Lined Micro-Fleece Tights •
• Fleece Lined Leggings •

Warm and wooly socks in any height also go great lengths in keeping your toes toasty.

• Lexy Wool Boucle Stripes•
• Cronert Ribbed Wool OTK •
• M Bootsocks •

These and other warm and snuggly styles in our Warm! collection should take care of the physical downers of the season, but what about bright and cheery things to get you through sunless stretches?  Well, I’ve got some eye-dazzling options for you after the jump.

 Rainbows are an obvious option for a dash of colour, and these rainbows will help keep you warm too!

• Tie Dyed Fingerless Gloves •
• Furry Rainbow Leg Warmer •
• Tubular Ladybug Socks (in rainbow!) •

For solid colours that come in a rainbow of hues, the Harajuku Super Loose Socks and the Acrylic Slouch Socks both have bright or sunny options.

And there’s always our Novelty Sock collection, with silly styles to make you smile, no matter the weather.

• Smiley Faced Socks •
• Trifecta of All That Is Awesome Knee Highs •
• Loving Horses Crew •

So don’t let these last dark days of winter get you down.  Start looking towards spring and keep warm until you get there!

We list the washing instructions for our styles in the Fiber Content area on each product page.  More often than not, how you wash a sock can be matched to one of three approaches: stockings, cotton socks and wool socks.

It’s a lot of information, so I’m posting it after the jump.  There’s some great reference that will help keep your socks in their best state as long as possible.  Everybody has their own methods, but these are some basics that most of us Dreamers follow for keeping our socks happy and healthy.

Stockings:

By “stockings” I mean high nylon content thigh highs and over the knees (though a lot of trouser socks could qualify too), like the Two-Tone Red Cuban Heels.  Stockings, nylon tights, fishnet, or any of the more delicate styles need to be hand washed in warm or cool water and hung to dry.  Hand washing is pretty simple.  Use a mild detergent like Hosiery Mate and focus on more soiled areas, like the feet.  You want to treat them carefully.  Talking with other Dreamers, we use a couple of different approaches, depending on the delicacy of the stocking and how dirty it is.

For general washing, “kitty paws” and swishing in a bowl or sink of sudsy water is enough.  Just gentle poking and mild agitation, in a gentle imitation of a washing machine.

For a little more washing, follow the same movements you do when washing your hands, but with the stocking between them.

If you’ve got a trouble spot, careful rubbing with thumbs helps you spot treat any stains.

Once the stockings are sudsed up, rinse in cool, clear water until all the soap is out.  You can gently squeeze them to remove excess water, but don’t wring them.

Hanging up to dry is as easy as throwing the stockings over a towel or curtain rod, with a towel underneath to help soak up water.

Niq went over her basic washing process in the Sock Journal in 2005, using a hosiery bag.  Thicker nylon styles can go in a hosiery bag in your washing machine on gentle cycles, but the thinnest style most of us Dreamers feel comfortable with washing this way are the Color Tights.

Cotton (and cotton blend) socks and tights:

Most socks are a cotton blend and their care is pretty easy.  You’ll see, looking in the Fiber Content and on the label, that most cotton blend socks like to be washed in cool or warm water and then tumble dried on low.  Tempurature-wise, “cold” or “cool” is 65 to 85F° or 30C° and “warm” is 105F° or 40C°.  A lot of labels show a symbol for what kind of wash cycle you should use.

These are some common washing instruction symbols.

One of my favourite washing reference sites is Laundry Essentials.  It’s a great way to reference just which thing means what.

Drying instruction symbols are pretty similar to washing symbols.  One dot means cold, two dots mean warm, three mean hot.  Two lines underneath the symbol mean gentle cycle.  But a lot of us Dreamers don’t even tumble dry their socks (I do use the dryer, I will admit, but I wash all my clothes the same way: wash cold, tumble dry medium) and a lot of washing instructions don’t recommend it.  Here are some symbols to keep an eye out for:

When you see the symbol for drip dry, it often is indicating that you shouldn’t wring excess water out of the sock as you can hurt some fibers pretty badly that way.

Gentle detergents, washing with like colours and not over-drying are more ways to keep your machine-washable socks in good condition longer.  Cotton blends, acrylic and bamboo all are washed about the same way, but keep an eye on that Fiber Content and any tags, to make sure that you treat each sock as it would like to be treated.  High cotton content socks, like those in our cotton category, with 70% or higher cotton content, do need to avoid hot temperatures, because they’ll shrink up and the fibers will wear out much more quickly.

Wool:

Wool socks are wonderful, but depending on their blend and what kind of animal fiber they’re made from, they need to be treated specially.  What happens when you don’t wash wool carefully? It felts and shrinks and becomes not much use to anyone.  I haven’t done it to socks yet, but this sweater used to be an adult’s XXL.

Because wool care has so many variables and I don’t want to totally overwhelm you, I’ll share just the basics for now and focus on wool care in another post, with the help of Zaf, the Dreamer who tends our Tumblr and has more wool socks than anyone I know.  One thing to keep in mind is that, unless they’re very dirty, wool socks can go several wears between washes.

Most of the wool styles we carry recommend machine washing cold, on the gentle cycle and lying flat to dry.  For the best care you’d want to hand wash them, but with as little rubbing or friction as possible, using a detergent or wash that doesn’t create a lot of bubbles, so the fibers don’t felt.  Remember, it’s lather and heat plus friction that makes things felt up.  So use the same, gentle “kitty paws” and swish techniques from hand washing nylons for wool.

To speed up drying you don’t want to wring the excess water out of your socks, you want to press it. Lay your socks flat on a towel and roll it up tightly.

Unroll your towel and move the socks to a fresh towel, gently pressing them back into their proper shape.  Leave them in a warm, dry place, remembering to turn them over once they start getting dry, so they dry evenly.  I also try to remember to flip the towel (or refold it), so that they’re not just sitting on a damp thing.

There are a lot of great resources for washing wool, like at How To Clean Things and at Martha Stewart.  But they all agree on the basics: tepid water, gentle touch, reshape as you dry flat.

There is the wonderful “superwash wool” that you’ll find in styles like those from MP. Superwash wool has been treated in a way that inhibits wool fibers’ felting tendencies, so products made from it can go through the wash and, in theory, even be tumble dried.  Even so, for most styles that are made from superwash wool, like the MP Wide Stripe Cotton-Lined Wool Tights whose label suggests washing warm or hot, we still recommend washing inside out in cool water and hanging to dry.  It’s better to be cautious with styles you love!

Lots of information! But if you want to keep your socks and stockings looking their best and extend their life, careful and thoughtful care is key.  And you can extend this information to any of your clothing with similar fiber content.  Because I’m sure you buy clothes to match your socks like a lot of us Dreamers do, and if your clothes wear out before your socks do, how will you match perfectly?

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!

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!

But it’s probably best to start out with a little luck.

• Snappy Shamrock Garters •
• Sock It To Me Clover Knee High •

Especially before any black cat crosses your path!

Superstitious socks after the jump!

There are cautionary superstitions, like not opening an umbrella inside the house, or catching and releasing spiders that you find inside, since killing them will bring rain.  The first one is good common sense, but I’ve never understood the correlation between spiders and rain (though I do escort spiders outside, even if they’re particularly menacing and I am maybe quietly shrieking a little bit).

• Sock It To Me Rainy Day Knee Highs •
• Spider Crew •

And then there are superstitions that you can’t do anything about, they just foretell dooooooooooom.  Such as, if an owl looks in your window or if you see one in the daylight it’s bad luck.  Poor owl, maybe they’re just trying to change up their routine!

• Owl Tabi Socks •
• Owl & Stars Slipper Socks •
• Sock It To Me Owl Watch Crew •

Birds in general seem to be bad omens, or complicated ones.  Seeing one crow is very unlucky, but then two mean good luck! Three is health, four means wealth; five is sickness and so on all the way up to ten?!

There’s about thirty-five crows on each sock of the Sock It To Me Crows Midcalf, for seventy total.  If you think the Sock It To Me Birds on a Wire are crows, it may help to know that there’s about fourteen on each sock.  Hey, they’re all multiples of seven, which is totally a lucky number!

Speaking of luck, there’s supposed to be protection against the evil eye from wearing eye symbols and patterns.  Do you think these socks have enough?

• Eye Candy OTKs •
• Eyebrid Knee High (these are going away, so grab their luck while you can! •

I know that a lot of folks who play sports have superstitions about socks—either they don’t change them during a winning streak (to which I recommend the probable bacteria-inhibiting bamboo as a sock option if you’re going to do that) or they have lucky pairs.  Do you have a lucky pair of socks?  Or any sock superstitions?

• Bottle & Pint Midcalves •
• Beer Knee Highs •
• Sock It To Me Beer Steins •

That’s right, our Vices collection of socks is full of tempting treats for your toes.  And if beer isn’t your thing, we’ve got more for you after the jump!

If you drink fancier drinks we have your feet covered:

• Martini Midcalf •
• Vodka Knee High •

How about not indulging that sweet tooth so much?  At least your toes don’t have to worry about the dentist!

• Cookie Knee Highs •
• Chocolate Knee Highs •
• Sock It To Me Cupcake Knee Highs •

Maybe you’re abstaining from Meat (or delicious Bacon) and introducing some more Tofu into your life?

However you’re trying to improve your life with your resolutions, we wish you the best—just remember that your toes can indulge even if you can’t. 

Traditionally, you tell the new year who’s boss with something sparkly! I showed off a lot of our sparkle in last year’s post, but we have some new ways to shine the new year in.  The Lurex Leggings are just the right amount of shimmer that can be worn in a fun everyday outfit without being too crazy.  The Furry Lurex Leg Warmers, on the other hand, are pretty intense, but also super-duper warm.  And they swish pretty wonderfully when you walk.

• Lurex Leggings •
• Furry Lurex Leg Warmers •

In the vein of fun to wear but not necessarily something you can sneak into everyday wardrobe, the Rainbow Organza Tutu is amazing, and I think about all of us Dreamers who’ve tried it on have been compelled to skip around happily.  It’s a little blacklight reactive too!

But what about those of us who need some flash and fun for regular, every day wear? We’ve got some more sedate, but still fun options for you after the jump!

One word: layering.  With the new Color Tights, you have 17 fantastic shades to layer under geometric openwork styles.  These three styles would pop gorgeously over any colour.

• Warning Net Pantyhose •
• Open Panel Tights •
• Open Crochet Over the Knee •

If you’re a little bolder, then go for an animal print! Bold or subtle, animal print peeking out from beneath pants or under a skirt and legwarmers will make you feel awesome and look even awesomer!

• Animal Stripe Over the Knee •
• Samara Animal Print Tights •
• Leopard Texture Leggings (on sale right now too!) •

What other fun things do we have to add some pizazz to your wardrobe for the new year?  Well, digging through our Accessories collections, there are definitely some fun options that you might have missed.

The Jeanie Arm Warmers have a wee pocket that isn’t really big enough to be super useful, but is big enough to get your brain cooking with things you could put in it.

The Snappy Star Garters are not only a sparkly, starry new year-appropriate look, they’re useful! (but also: sparkly!)

These are just a few of the fun fancies that we’re filled with.  Get ready for your new year and drop us a line if you want any help figuring out what awesome, new, socky goodness to add to 2012!

Along with the month, we’re almost through with the year!  It’s crazy how fast 2011 seemed to go and I don’t know about you, but I still can’t quite believe that it’ll be 2012 in a little over a week. I also know that I fully plan on rewarding myself with a sock or two that I’ve been coveting this winter season.

You may think you have socks you’re super desirous of, but when you are around socks all day, getting to touch them and see all of the nearly thousand styles we carry—well, you should see the wishlists some Dreamers knocked out as soon as the option was available.  I asked my fellow Dreamers what socky delights they’ve been eyeing and will probably pick up before the end of the year.  They were more than happy to share, ‘cause well—we all love socks here! So sit back and get ready to scroll through some delightful sock goodness.  Consider it a mini vacation of pretty.

“My favorite socks this season are the Cronert Wooly Rainbows . . . if I was going to treat myself with one pair for making it through this year it would be another pair of those. . . they are super snuggly, soft and really pretty to look at. I have washed and dried mine in the machine, despite the warnings against that, and they came out perfect, soft and stretchy as ever…. they are like little wooly clouds emitting rainbows.”

“By now I have them all, but I was coveting the heck out of all of the mooses and deers.”  When asked if it was because of the antlers they replied, “Yes. I must have all the power of antler.”

• Knitted Moose Crews •
• Reindeer Rollltop Crews •
• Wooly Deer Crews •

“I’ve been wanting to try the O Rayons FOREVER because they feel so silky soft– I just haven’t been able to decide on a color to start with; they’re all beautiful!” (I think they should go for Blueberry! It’s my favourite, though I’m also super partial to the Lichen.)

More Dreamer covets and socks worth rewarding yourself with after the jump!

“After the Xmas mayhem is over I’m definitely going to treat myself to the new Tabbisocks Lined Micro-Fleece Tights and a pair of Bunch o’ Pansies OTK in black. They will look great with my new black party dress, and keep me plenty warm!”

“I’m all about the Dahlgren’s Expedition Knee Highs for warmth, comfort, and outdoor adventuring.”

“I’m kinda all about the Dahlgrens right now. I have to agree, the Expedition KHs look so dreamy! And, as always, me LOVES the Biella Ginger KHs! I will most definitely be treating myself to a pair or two of them as well. Yum!”

Once I got them going, it was hard to get them to stop!  Like I said, we’re kinda into socks.

“Cronert Ojos de Dios, Cronert Chain Texture OTK, Cronert Multistripe OTK, Portland Stripe Tights, Extraordinary Striped Thigh Highs, aaaand Fleece Lined Leggings. To start with.”

“mmm…crooooonerts. Pinstripe Heraldry and Ojos. oh, oh! and those Hansel from Basel Silk Thigh Highs. *swoon*”

“Cronert Shadow Brocade OTKs ALL THE COLORS, Breaux Alpaca Beehive Knit Long Fingerless Gloves in Turquoise, MP lightly ribbed wool OTKs.”

“I heart my Laurels . . . I’m gonna get more oh! & you know how I love layering my tights.”

The styles are as varied and different as we all are but the one way they’re all the same is in supreme comfort and quality.  We like to treat ourselves right (and you should too!).  I hope our favourites will help inspire you to get yourself something special.

What about me?  Well, although I have bad luck with most wool, I do okay with angora.  I’ve been eyeing the Rose Garden Knee Highs for a while and I think I’m going to take the plunge.

What socks are you coveting?  Are you going to pick up something for yourself this holiday season (or have you already)?