Tweaking things, and Treats too!

Well MrB has been busy back at cranking out socks for our next market, And I have been revamping and  tweaking the web-site, trying to fix our facebook page, coming up with some organizations ideas to improve upon some things for 2014.  Together MrB and I are working on getting a database spread sheet going.  MrB is the head honcho with this, as he is educating himself to set it up.  He does have the most patience of the two of us, for learning new tedious things!  No wonder he is so good at sitting behind the Erl for hours upon end!

MrB deserves a treat now again, and I bought him some yummy yarn to try for Christmas! Bag of colourful treats indeed!  Someday he will get around to cranking it into socks for himself.  I am anxious to see how the yarns knit up for him.   Now if I remember correctly, I got him some Lorna's Lace, some Zen Yarn Garden (Canadian)some Brown Sheep~ Wildfoote and some from yarn from Switzerland called, Lang Aktion.  It' all superwash yarn.  The Lorna's Lace is handpainted and the colours are very appealing with Mulberry, mint green, dark teal, taupe, dark taupe brown and some dark grey! Definitely very unique!  The Zen is also superwash but has some cashmere in it.  The colours are very rich red and burgandy!  The Wildfoote I choose reminds of deep Autumn colours.  The last one looks and feels like Opal and I hoping it cranks through the Erl like butter as well.  It is in shades of greens with a splash of medium blue thrown in for good measure, perhaps. I am betting that when MrB does get around to cranking these out for his socks, that he will pick the Zen to knit  first!

MsB can't go without treats either!  She was very fortunate to get 3 pairs of socks for Christmas too!  Even cooler when I get to pick out the exact colours I want and kitchener them too in advance.  The trouble is that I did them ages ago and actually forgot what colours I did pick.  And MrB the prankster he likes to be on occasion tried to claim he lost them or could not remember where he put them.  I was very happy to see them under the tree for me.  I picked soft mauve colours in one pair, candy floss colours in another pair and lime and grey in third pair.  They all will go great with clothes I have, so 2 pairs will definitely make a fashion debut to our market stints in January.  It is wonderful to continue to have an endless supply of socks in my sock drawer  to draw on to sport and show off!  Socks have become very important items in my wardrobe these days!  

Happy New Year to All ~ May you have a prosperous and happy year in 2014!

Best Wishes going your way from both of us~ MrB and MsB

 from

Socks Made On 88

2013 soon coming to an end!

Wow what a year this has been with Socks Made On 88!  We had a fabulous year with much cranking and much learning too.  It amazes me how our markets just seem to get better and better with some small minor adjustments here and there.  This was our 2nd Christmas in which we sold our socks at our regular home market.  We more than doubled our sales this year, and not quite tripled them for much success!!!  Not sure how many of our customers read the blog but I want to shout out a huge Thank you to ALL who were customers, repeating and new! You have made our markets all a success, and not just the Christmas Market! THANK YOU!!! There will be many happy feet out there getting Hugs from their Socks Made On 88 Socks!

There are also many blog readers who do not have an opportunity to purchase our socks.  But I too, want to thank you for reading my blog or following it.  It is truly amazing to see how many blog entries have been read since conception, January 3, 2012.  It is soon approaching 2 years Jan 3, 2014 and close to 8000 viewers!  I would have never imagined the blog would create that interest, so Thank you to you too!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and All the best to all of You in the New Year of 2014!  

I will be back blogging in 2014, so hope to connect in some fashion then, take care, Thanks again...MsB 

The "HAT"

This is showing one side, not yet rolled up!

Here is the same side now rolled up!  This is the way MrB debuted the hat at the market!

Here is the other side, inside out if you prefer to say it that way, not rolled up yet!

The second side rolled up, and it is like two different hats in one!  They are both great colours with great character too!

The Cat and the Hat, no.....

It is MrB and the Hat!  He made a hat from what we call our deranged yarn which is left overs of left overs from cranking our one of the kind sock pairs.  He wanted a hat that showed some colour and character and a hat he did create.
MrB wore the hat at the market not to advertise but to keep his head warm.  He could have sold it right off of his head though.  He had inquiries if he had made on the CSM.  Not sure if he will go in the direction to crank-out more, but it was very interesting to get the positive feedback. I do have a picture of the "hat" to share, but it is on my little substitute model,

and he does not give the hat as much justice as MrB does! Here is my old Little Buddy Doll wearing MrB's New Hat! Oh I must mention too that the hat is knit in a tube and is reversible.  Double layered means extra warmth also!
Perhaps I should go take a picture of the tube.  Good idea, that will be my next blog entry, see you then....bye for now MsB! 

And all that is BRIGHT!

More Left-Overs just off the Erl!
Available for sale at the market Saturday, the last few days before Christmas!

Can you get any brighter than this?

On the Fence

This picture was taken at the market yesterday.
On the Fence were these Men's Left-over socks, but our customers were certainly not on the fence, they were very eager to purchase sock pairs.  We had a fantastic market yesterday.  Thanks to all our customers, returning and new!

Christmas is a coming...

MrB is steadily knitting away each day!  Not because he has to, but because he wants to, and his passion of cranking is continuous! You may see him knitting for the market, or you may see him knitting Christmas gifts for our family.  We have three more markets before Christmas and we are ready!  He will only knit now what he wants to replace for what we sell each time now.  He has been knitting, stock piling all summer for this time of year.  That seemed to work well for us, and we have organized our not only our time, but our other duties well.  Every so often we sit down and have mini-meeting to make sure we are both on the same track, sometimes not, but after the meeting we are going the same direction.  MrB of course handles all cranking.  I try to direct him in which yarn to knit when and what colourways .  When it comes to making Left-Over pairs now I set out bags of six balls and then he can go to town creating.  I wonder what he is up to today?  I think I will venture down to the Cranking Cave Studio and see if I can capture an Erl-moment!  This is what I found.

 

No matter what way you put them or turn them ...

MrB is very proud of this particular pair of socks!  And they just happen to be his!  They were time consuming, trying new techniques that were successful, and he will be sporting them some day soon.  Personally they are one of my most favourite pair of Left-Overs that he has created.  I did give him some influence though with the bag of left-over yarn I left for him to do his magic.

Our little Hat model

Hunter, my little two month old grandson, modeling the grey hat I posted previously, that MrB made for him!  Who is the most adorable... the baby or the hat?  Together they make a good pair all set ready to take his evening walk, harbourside in the fresh air.  But Hunter will be toasty warm. Thanks MrB,

our little model wears the hat well.

My Newest Good Karma Socks

MrB finally got my yarn cranked out that I dyed at Good Karma in June.  I think he thought since its 100% wool I didn't need the socks till now.  I am very happy with the colour they turned out to be.  Good timing too as I just blew heels out of two pairs this week.  Jim said they should last a year and they have been a year and half for lots of wear, so they did good by me.  MrB tried his hand at darning one pair for me so I will have to see how that stands up. That pair has not been completely lost.  I wore my new Good Karma's yesterday and they always feel so good on the feet!  MrB loves his Good Karma socks as well.  They are soon becoming our winter favourites.

These look like they will serve me well while out camping in the summer.  Heavy for some warmth but light coloured to welcome the spring and summer colours of my wardrobe.  I match what I wear to my socks!

new Christmas hats?

Had a little visitor yesterday, and while he was here we wanted to try out our new Christmas Baby Hats on him.  We were surprised to see that our 2nd smallest size does not fit him any longer and has moved up to the next size.  I gave him this red and white one to sport,

around Christmas time.  He got a grey one too, but it was feeding time and he was just too cranky to model it for a photo. 

Apple Fest at Market yesterday

Here are a couple pictures I took at the market yesterday since it was Apple Fest Day!  Alexander Keith statue is holding an apple and not cheering with his imaginary beer.  I also took a picture of the raffle table as I was very intrigued with the Historic Farmers Market apples! I learned how they did the printing, and always excited to learn of new techniques.   The raffle was a success with money going to help the food bank, and the farm that contributes fruit and vegetables to the local food bank. A good cause and a good turn out.  It was a good day also with some upbeat entertainment.  The market looked great today with a very good feeling....I hope that this

is a sign of the good things to come for our market

more "Deranged" again

We will have more "Deranged" sock pairs available at tomorrow's market.
Come take a look!

Off the wall left-overs!

More Left-overs...and I like these with the solid toes and heels in Red!

The ODD pair!

This pair made from left-overs, I call the ODD pair, but I love them!

Blockers

While MrB and I were out and about the other day taking a fall drive, investigating a yarn shop and doing some antique looking, I came across these!

I have wanted a pair, not to use as blockers primarily but to use as a display function.  So my new blockers will be used as a blockhead too! Hahaha!  Next market I will be displaying a pair of socks that match with a hat, hence the term blockhead!

two from Le Petit Prince

Another new Rainforest IX colourway for us

This one is called, Lucy the Pianist.  I like it and think it is a good unisex colour and pattern.

Posted by MsB of Socks Made On 88

New Market tactic

I tried a new market tactic, and it worked!
I wanted to see if I could do something to sell more of the baby hats or to get them noticed more.  I took a picture of my new grandson wearing one on our baby hats and made a hard copy of it and framed it nicely and placed it right by our display of the baby hats.  Today we sold 4 baby hats and I am so proud of my new little market tactic, and thanks to Hunter's picture he made our display so appealing.  I am not posting the pic here as I did post on here a bit ago!  But I did want to report about the success.  We had a very successful market today.  It's not hard to tell the season of fall is bringing out customers to investigate our socks and purchase them for Christmas gifts already too!
Posted by MsB of Socks Made on 88

Market going socks today!

These are the socks I wore to the market today!  Another pair of shorty ribbs.  I found them very comfortable as I am not the greatest fan of taller ribbed socks  but I do have some and I do wear them!  This pair just happen to go with so many things I own in my wardwore, and so they were fun to coordinate today.  I got some comments that they looked good with my hiking shoes also.
Posted by MsB of Socks Made on 88

PS I also was fortunate to chat with a lady who is from Germany and worked for the Opal manufacturer.  We had a great conversation and was great to meet her.

 

From Europe to Here

MrB's son just returned back from Europe.  On his travels he found some coarse Alpaca Yarn in Brittany France, and decided that would be a good item to bring back home.  MrB was requested to knit up a pair of socks for him from his proud Europe purchase.  Now the stately pair of shorty ribbed socks will be making their way to Newfoundland to test the cold winter.  
Posted by MsB of Socks Made On 88

 

One of the New Rainforest Colourways...

Here is one of the newest Rainforest IX colourways.
This particular one is called, "Martin ~ The Guitarist".
We do not tend to buy many yarns in greens or blues as we find them hard sellers.  I choose to purchase this one, as I did like it.  MrB is not keen on it, but I do like it quite a bit.  In fact I have requested a pair of socks out of it for myself for Christmas.  I have a certain outfit that this colourway will look just awesome with, and I besides I do have other clothing in lime too, not to mention my winter down outdoor vest.  It sold me right away, and I am hoping it sells to potential market buyers also.  We do have market this Saturday.  And this pair of Martins will be for sale.  They are women's size 6...I am going to be watching to see how they hang around on the display rack!  Sometimes they don't last a day and sometimes they last much longer.  No way of determining the outcome though, just a wait and see :-)

Posted by MsB of Socks Made On 88

MrB's recent lace work and cable project!

Take a look at these!  Hearts and Cables...

Catching up Folks after my grandson's arrival!

It's been a long time since I have touched base here, and it is time for me to be catching up and posting again.  As you know we took a little bit of extra time off during July and August.  September we were busy welcoming my new grandson, so just getting back into the swing of things now.  We had a market today and it was wonderful to be back there...having a great day of sales helps too.

I want to share with you a picture of my grandson as he is sporting one of the baby hats MrB made.  We found out it was perfect size and is nice and stretchable.  Little Baby Hunter has wore it many times already :-)

How precious is a new born baby snuggled in a blanket and hat?
Well this has been a great test for us to understand our hat sizing better and I want to print a picture off to go with our baby hat display on our rack for our markets.  I did not have a picture today, but I did take along my brag pics.  It was my first opportunity to brag at our market to my other vendor friends,  as our little guy is only 12 days old.  Posted by Granna, oh I mean MsB as I must get into Socks Made On 88 mode and out of Granna mode for now!

More Left-Overs (Tweedish)

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Great way to use up similar yarn as these which I call, Tweedish!  More of our Left-Over sock pairs!

Deranged, Part 2

History of our new named left-over socks, Deranged!  We wanted to make more left-over socks, and come up too with something different.  We needed a name unique to us.  So being familiar with the crazy socks, and kids wearing a different coloured sock as a pair I wanted a name somewhat similar to them.  What better way to find a name than go to "Roget's Thesaurus" and type in the word "crazy".  I started to read the word selections out loud and both MrB and I said yup, "Deranged" they are!  I came up with the concept of having 4 or more the same size and then the customer can pick which 2 socks he or she wants to make his or her individual pair.  I love this idea, but then I am off the wall sometimes and everyone else may not agree with me.  We have made our first "Deranged" selections in a woman's size 8 so that if the idea does not fly they will be mine!  I am very cool with wearing socks that do not match.  I have already done that once at the market and got lots of comments but that was on me, will they themselves go that far to buy a very unique not-matched-at- all pair!  Well we will soon find out.  We are hoping to debut our Deranged Left-over socks this Saturday at the market.  We have requests for other sizes we will certainly make them.  It's an excellent way to use of all the left-over yarn and they are easier for MrB to knit also as he does not have to worry about getting each sock similar in colour coding and counting rows to keep them the same or near same!  DERANGED... here we come!

MsB from Socks Made On 88  

DERANGED... nope not us but our socks!

Pail of or Pile of...Socks!

This is what you have when you take a short hiatus, you come back to washing and drying your socks,that you used on your camping trip. 

A pail of or pile of Socks!   posted by MsB of Socks Made On 88

And then to upon returning, MrB cranks away because he wants to and doesn't "have" to as we are not doing markets every 2nd week as usual.  A little of bit of extra time gives him time to practice other things too.

More Woolies!

MrB tried some more wool sock options.  He is doing this because he recently got a new cylinder to be able to do so.  I posted a pic of the Regal Briggs and Little the other day.  Here today is another Briggs and Little sample pair, partial pair in Tuffy!  Tuffy does have a % of nylon in the yarn.  There was not enough yarn to complete the whole pair so they were finished off with some MacAuslands 100 % wool from PE. The pair next to them is then of the MacAuslands yarn.  Because there was more accessible yarn for that pair as we had two skeins ( not sure how much as they were not tagged) MrB was able to make a complete pair.  The Tuffy/MacAusland pair will undoubtably

be a new pair for MrB to add to his sock collection.  I think he will welcome them in his rubber boots shoveling this winter!  That will give them a good test 

 MsB from Socks Made On 88
for sure!

100% Canadian Wool

After spending 10 days touring around Newfoundland and seeing many, many hand-knitted socks made from the very famous 100% Canadain wool yarn from local New Brunswick, "Briggs and Little" it only seemed natural that when returning home, MrB would want to try and make a pair from the same yarn on his circular sock knitting machine.  So here are the results!  It is a very heavy yarn and he needed to use a low tension, but otherwise turned out well.  This sock pair will be on display and be

for sale, mainly to show it can be done, as we have had a few requests in market conversations.  Notice the two strands of yarn laying side by side, as this depicts the thickness of each yarn.  The orange yarn (the skinnier of the two is usually what we knit with) and the Red is the thicker being the Briggs and Little yarn.  Mind you there are different gauges of the yarn and we have used one of the thinner ones.  I just wanted to mention also that I noticed this was my 300th post!

MsB from Socks Made On 88















requests in our conversations.

With Holes!

Here is a picture of my Cloggers with holes drilled in them!
Note MrB suggested not to drill them all around the whole front as it may weaken them so he did them mainly on each side and one at the end.  These are relatively small but that is how KnittersDream had them.  I will try them and then I can always make them bigger if I so desire!  Hope they work out fine!
MsB from Socks Made On 88

Scored these!

I scored these in my last travels when in Maine.  I got them from a very cool shop called Coyote Moon.  The Butterflies are made of feathers and are hand-painted.  I thought they were a wonderful score and cheap!  I plan to put them on my Show and Sell Market Rack as they have little magnets on the back.  I think they will look great on my rack with our socks.  They will be  nice little summer time decorations for July 27th and also for our once a month appearance in August  (If our August date of 24th is still a go....because it will be ten days prior to when my grandson is due to arrive!) I love these Butterflies, don't you?  MsB from Socks Made On 88

I'm back..what's new?

I am back!  We had a wonderful pleasure trip to Newfoundland.  Upon our return I had a package waiting for me.  Before we left I had ordered some clear garden sloggers.  I have been wanting a pair of a long time.  I happened to find some on the KnittersDream website and so I took the plunge and ordered them.  That's what's new this month in Socks Made On 88.  I plan to wear them to the our upcoming market on Saturday, July 27th.  But in the meantime here a sneak peak photo of the my new sloggers!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Stock Piling for Fall and Christmas!

Some of you stash yarn!  Not us!  We are stashing or stock piling sock pairs for our markets in the fall and at Christmas.  MrB had a couple good crankin' days and now he is very much looking forward to a break!  Our next market at Historic Farmers' Market will be Saturday, July 27, 2013.  Now some time to go off and play and not work!

MsB from Socks Made On 88

Socks pairs with purple and/or orange in them are our most popular sellers!

MrB's Good Karma dyed sock yarn now socks!

They just need to be kitchenered later today.  These would be #4 on the poll!

 

 

 

MsB from Socks Made On 88

"B" is for Brigadier ~ our CSM Mascot!

Monster "B"

This monster body, arms and legs were created by MrB on the circular sock machine.  I used left over felt for his Eye and his initial crest.  His initial " B " stands for "Brigadier."  He will be our new machine mascot at upcoming markets and crank-ins that we attend. Isn't he just so cool and cute too?

MsB from Socks Made On 88