Good morning! For quite awhile now I’ve been preparing to introduce a new luxury yarn base to my shop, and now I finally get to actually show it to you!

This is my new Dream Sock yarn base, and oh my goodness, it is so incredibly soft. Everything in my shop is soft, but this takes the cake. Touching it is like stroking a kitten or a bunny. I wish I could send the feel of it through the computer!

It’s a sock-weight yarn made of 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere. Each skein has 437 yards. This would be wonderful for that super special project you’ve been wanting to find just the right yarn for. I should warn you that it is not superwash, so it will definitely need to be washed by hand.

Now, the price of this yarn base is a bit higher than my other bases, so to help with that I’m including an introductory coupon for the first week. I’ll tell you about that at the end.

First I’d like to show you the colorways I’ve made so far. First up is my own favorite colorway, Smitten:

One thing I found surprising about this yarn base is just how softly it takes the dye. Every base is different, and there’s always a bit of a learning curve with each new yarn base, but the dye colors are softer by far on this one compared with any of my other bases, which makes sense because of the 70% baby alpaca.

You can see what I mean. I actually made Smitten on Sparkly Merino Sock as well as Dream Sock, and here’s the difference between then:

That’s a pretty dramatic difference, isn’t it?

I made two semi-solids to go with Smitten. The first is one of my favorites (wonder why), Perfect Purple. Here it is:

I think this one lives up to its name, don’t you?

The other colorway that I made to go with Smitten is Forest Green. I’ve been wanting to add this colorway to my shop for quite awhile, and the introduction of Dream Sock seemed like the right time. Here it is:

Here’s another example of just how differently different bases take the dye. I’d say Dream Sock is at one extreme while Sparkly Merino Sock is at the other, but I actually dyed these in the same pot:

The colors are so different in depth and intensity that it’s tempting to give them different names, but that just makes everything complicated, so I’ll just allow you to use your imagination based the variety of different forests you’ve visited.

This next colorway is one that goes outside my typical comfort zone, but I love it. I’m calling it Pebbles on the Beach. It’s a soft cream-colored yarn with silver, gold, and copper accents. I think it would make a beautiful sophisticated top or cowl, don’t you?

The last colorway I dyed so far on Dream Sock is one I’ve been wanting to make for so long. It’s one of my regular art batt colorways, but this is the first time I’ve made it as a hand-dyed yarn colorway. It’s Eowyn’s Mantle, and the name and colorway came from the cloak Faramir gives Eowyn in The Return of the King by Tolkien. Here it is:

In the book, the mantle is described as the blue of a summer night sky with silver stars. I took a little artistic license and added gold as well because…well, because I wanted to. I used my Ikat method on this one. The blue has some variation in color just like the night sky, and then I alternated short stripes of silver with short stripes of gold. If you knit or crochet with this yarn, the silver and gold will show up as little dots or stars in the blue fabric. Eowyn’s Mantle and Pebbles on the Beach would go well together.

I also have several new colorways on Sparkly Merino Sock, and I’m in the process of dyeing up some new things on Sock Perfection well. You can see all of the Dream Sock as well as the other new colorways in the New This Month section of my shop.

Now, there’s one more thing I want to mention. Dream Sock isn’t an inexpensive yarn, but I think it’s worth every penny. I took quite a bit of time choosing the most luxurious, wonderful yarn base I could, and this was the one. Then I took more time to figure out the lowest price I could charge for it, After all, my goal is to help you make something beautiful and bring more joy to your craft while you make it as well.

In order to give you a chance to test it out, I’d like to offer a coupon for $5 off each skein of Dream Sock between now and the 21st of July. I’m confident that you’ll love it as much as I do. The coupon code is 5OFFDREAMSOCK, and it’s good for as many skeins as you care to try. If you click on this link, the coupon code should be applied automatically when you check out.

On a personal note, our oldest daughter is getting settled in her new house, and my hubby flies home from helping her tonight. Hurray!

Until next time, have a beautiful summer filled with joyous fiber artistry.