Hygge

It's a middle of calendar winter. We are lucky to live in a warm climate but I remember those times when you just want to crawl under the blanket with a good book to read and a cup of tea.

Despite the warmer weather, I am still cold when the sun goes down. I love my warm clothing and my absolute favorites to stay warm at home is a knit socks and an oversized sweater. What's yours?

Oh, and by the way, it is a winter clearance sale in my shop, 25% off on selected items. Stop by to see if you'd like anything, socksandmittens on etsy. This sale will last until January 31st, 2019.

Winter sale at socksandmittens, February 5-26, 2018

Winter sale in my socksandmittens shop on Etsy! Get 10% off on selected items (think of next year Christmas!) on February 5 through February 26, 2018.

We have lots to offer for hygge enthusiasts. Colorful scarves, socks, gloves and mittens, home and holiday decor items, you can never have enough of cozy stuff.  While it is pretty warm in Arizona right now it is still cold in many places so you might want to get some warm accessories for less, for your gift gifting occasions or for yourself.

Please visit us at socksandmittens.etsy.com to see the selection.

Winter sale 2017

We are having a winter sale at socksandmittens on Etsy! 25% off on selected items - please visit my shop to see if there is anything you'd like to get!

Offer expires on February 28th, 2017

Irish knits and St. Patricks Day

I love St. Patricks Day and I always start to think of it in the middle of winter. It is my way to wait for spring. I am taking lots of Irish inspired photos and going through Celtic knot images. Isn't it fun to learn their meaning?

Last winter I had many customers contacted me with request for a slouchy socks and aran knits. So, to answer these and also make my tribute to St. Patricks Day, I added some new items to my shop. There are some long socks in traditional off white color and also new fingerless gloves in oatmeal and gray shades.

The patterns I used for these were a combination of diamonds and cables. Not the easiest ones but so pretty.

Did you know that every cable pattern had a meaning on the Aran Islands? Like with many other folkloric designs, it reflected a people's daily lives or activities. There is much more behind every knit aran pattern then just a pretty stitch. 

So please stop by my socksandmittens shop to see our new hand knit aran items. I know you will like them!

How to measure your arms for custom arm warmers

In addition to my previous post on how to measure your hands for custom made gloves or mittens, here is how to measure your arms for  custom knit arm warmers.

We will need 3 measurements to ensure a good fit.

1. To find out your arm warmers circumference, please measure your dominant hand (the right if you are right handed, and the left if you are left-handed) with a tape measure or a piece of string. If you are using a string please lay it on a flat ruler to see the result.

Place the tape measure around the knuckles of your hand around the fullest part, excluding the thumb (measurement A):

 

2. Measure the circumference of your arm about 2"  below the elbow (measurement C):

 

3. Measure your wrist circumference (measurement D):

 

Write down your measurements and contact us for your new custom made arm warmers. We are always glad to hear from you!

Inspired by harvest

This Fall we are just in love with color. It is colder here this year and the yellow leaves are already falling. We already harvested our herbs, watermelons, lemon Meyers, sweet Hawaiian peppers and Indian eggplant. They are so colorful (and delicious!).

 

That's when we decided to pull some bright yarns out of our stash and knit some new gloves!

I don't have more of these yarns so some of them are impossible to repeat. The colors are so rich and pretty that sometimes I don't even know how to explain the shades in words!  

So please visit our socksandmittens shop to see the selection. 

New at socksandmittens, Fall 2014

This fall we are adding some new items to our collection at socksandmittens.

 

They are shawls, bolero's and some lovely gloves in pretty colors for ladies and some lighter versions for our men's fingerless gloves in wool and acrylic blend yarn. 

 

They are mostly made as a single pair but might be available for a custom order so please ask us if you'd like a similar item in a different size or color. 

We are already getting booked with custom orders, it seems that the holiday shopping season is already on!

You can never have enough quality yarn

I was searching for more quality yarns another day and found this lovely peruvian shop BelPunto on Etsy. Marisol, the owner of this shop is offering lovely baby alpaca and puma cotton yarns in pretty colors and gladly accepting custom orders to accommodate the customer's needs.

Alpaca yarn is one of the finest yarn nature has to offer and is made from the hair of alpacas, a domesticated species of South American camelid. They are kept in herds at an altitude of 11,500 ft to 16,000 ft above sea level and resembles small llamas in appearance. Alpaca yarn is soft, warm, fire and moisture resistant and naturally hypoallergenic. 

 

Baby alpaca yarn  is the most precious and finest type of alpaca yarn. Alpaca wool is light weighted, stain resistant and durable. What better natural fiber can you think of for a making adult and baby clothing!

I wanted to know more about Marisol and her BelPunto shop so I contacted her to find out more about her. Here is what she is sharing with us today:

"I do not remember the first time I held knitting needles, but I have been knitting my whole life! This is a past time that my grandmother passed to my mother and she did the same with us. When my son Renato was born, and many people admired the clothes he was wearing - made by me and my sisters - we decided to start a baby clothing company, which we called Renattoni. 

I love using these beautiful fibers and am now starting to write some of the patterns, in order to share them... there is only so little we can knit, so much else can be done!!!"

So if you are looking for some quality yarns for your new project please stop by BelPunto shop to see if there is anything for you. 

Or, if you are looking for already made children clothes made with either pima cotton or baby alpaca wool please stop by Renattoni shop. Marisol and her sisters will be glad to help you with your order!

Children with llama

Winter season at Socksandmittens

This fall and winter we added some new product to our socksandmittens shop on Etsy. For men, we created a new line of fingerless gloves made of undyed wool contained lanolin oils.

This yarn comes in two shades, oatmeal and brown so we played with it a little and made 4 different designs with it. 

 

The gloves made with this yarn are very pretty and can be a nice thoughtful handmade gift for a natural fiber lover.

For ladies, we tried some new yarns also. There are gloves and arm warmers made of very soft alpaca, extrafine merino wool & angora yarn  and we just made a couple of new wrist warmers of colorful Noro yarn. Please stop by to see them in our shop!

As always, please remember how to care for your garments made of natural fiber. Hand wash it in lukewarm water and lay flat to dry on a surface covered with a clean colorfast bath towel.

 

This winter was so cold in many areas. Please stay warm!

How to measure your legs for your legwarmers

Leg warmers are great fashion accessory. They were widely used by dancers and aerobic enthusiasts once but they came back as a pretty and practical outfit for your legs. 

 

Your leg warmers can be worn in many ways. They can be loose or tight fit, knee or thigh high. They can be worn with boots or high heel shoes. It is up to you what color or type of yarn to choose. Either way they are pretty!

 

If you would like to order a custom pair from us we will need your measurements. Here is how to measure your legs:

measurement A - measure the circumference of your ankles where the joint is ( where the bone sticks out)

measurement B - measure the distance from your ankle to your knee (above the knee cap for thigh high leg warmers, or at the narrowest point just below the knee cap for knee high)

measurement C - measure the circumference of your calf at it's widest point

The price on custom orders will vary and it depends on chosen type of yarn and size of the finished product. The regular order completion time is 3 to 4 days, and it might take longer November through December due to the high volume of custom orders.

Leg warmers are a wonderful piece of cold-time-clothing and are something to consider for a regular wear during chilly months.  

Think holidays

I wish I would take some photos of colorful leaves and pumpkin patches but we don't have them here. Instead we are finally spending more time outside where the garden is in full bloom. The weather is really pleasant and comfortable now.

We count the plants we lost this summer. A beautiful apple tree and some vegetables did not make it through the 115'F summer heat. So we replaced the apple tree with pecan and also added a fig and pomegranate trees, hoping that these will tolerate the heat much better.

When the pomegranate tree was finally planted I went outside and immediately notice that even thought it's not the right shape and kind, it still resembled a Christmas tree. The red fruits were covering the tree and it looked like Christmas ornaments.

 This simple fact put us in a holiday mood so we created some new items for our shop. Some colorful socks, some soft fingerless gloves and cute bottle covers that we made this November and are listed in our socksandmittens shop on Etsy. 

Hope you will like them!

What's new at Socksandmittens? July 2013

It has been a very busy summer for us. We are making more pretty items for you to wear this Fall and Winter or to give as gifts.

Since we are taking short trips from time to time we are not listing much at this time but wait until the middle of August! We are making new designs and more of the existing ones that are loved by many.

This year we will be adding some more crochet items,  cowls and scarves. We are also working on seasonal holidays items for the home and warm knits to wear.

Please visit us often this Fall and Winter to see what we have. 

Summer knits at socksandmittens

Every spring we are making a small amount of summer knits for our SocksAndMittens shop on Etsy. 

Not too much since we are working on our winter assortment at the same time, so just a couple of items right now. 





This year we are offering a new lace summer top, knit from white cotton yarn.

This tank is great for wearing on a hot summer day or for the trip to the beach. 

It is designed to be short and roomy at the bottom. Very nice and breezy!

We made 2 tanks, one in medium and one in large size. 

 

This item is already available for sale in our shop, so please stop by if you are interested!