Back home in Redondo Beach for a lovely fall day and Vintage Creations recliamed cashmere arm warmers

Today was a truly lovely day.

The weather outside is lovely, the business next door, "The Village Garden" is lovely as usual and the lovely Waki took lovely arm warmer wearing photos of the even-lovelier-than-cashmere-arm-warmers Danae which isn't really a blog topic I suppose, but the photos were so nice I wanted to share.

Full sized images and more images can be found in a Flickr set here.

To see the whole line up of original cashmere Vintage Creations arm warmers, click here!

Here's to hoping you have a nice and socksy Halloween.

-Sock Diva L

Fancy Schmancy Sock-It-To-Me Silver and Black lace / mesh knee-high socks ON MY BIRTHDAY!

So you think our socks don't get fancy??

Let me tell you bub, they do, they really really do!

So yesterday was my birthday and so we're staying in a hotel in Shinjuku with an amazingly breathtaking view.

There were fancy plans out in Ebisu (a secret to me) and it all started with me putting my feet once again in rude places in the evevator on the way down to the 20th floor lobby of the hotel.

On our way out, I swung by the ladies' room which had floor-to-ceiling glass walls facing out.
I usually get stunning vertigo when I look out glass walls, but I managed to stay focused enough to put my feet on yet more clean and pristine Japanese surfaces.

Dinner was lovely, the socks comfortable and cute.

A day well spent if I do say so myself.

To see the artisan socks product page for these Sock It To Me Fancy Pants: Black and Silver Shiny Crochet Lace Knee Socks, click here!

Little bit older Sock Diva L

Artisan Socks in Japan; The plusses and minuses of running an IT / online business and Violet Love Electric Youth Floral Leggings Footless Tights.

Here's to hoping I have enough content to make a post longer than that unwieldy headline...

One of the great thing about running a business that's I.T. focused (online shops included) is that you can literally run your businesses from almost anywhere as long as you have access to an internet connection.

That is, coincedentally, one of the truly horrible things about it as well. ;-p

So it is the day after a lovely anniversary dinner and we're on top of a Japanese mountain hidden among  trees, covered in mist from the hot spring, and we realize we really really need an internet connection.

I had dressed myself up for a stroll in the park in Violet Love's "Electric Youth Floral Leggings Footless Tights" (MAJOR PLUG) and was ready for a jaunt after we cleared a few minor issues up back at the office in the U.S.

(My jaunty Violet Love Electric Youth Floral Leggings Footless Tights Ready For A Jaunt)

Problem was, we had picked one of the few places to stay that didn't have a connection available to guests.

The closest internet connection turned out to be in the next town away reachable by train reachable by an hour one-way ride on the hotel's welcome bus.

While I didn't end up getting to walk the mountain park, I did get a chance to make my Violet Loves behave badly and earn a stern look from the very patient bus driver....

Love and Leggings,
Sock Diva L

Artisan Socks Goes to Japan! Special Days 1: Z International Legging with Buttons & Anniversaries

So I had this little prom dress kind of dress with a short skirt, and was a little shy to wear it as-is since the place we were eating had a slightly different kind of dress code...


(What People Normally Wear to Dinner in a Ryokan)

To help document my leg wear usage for you and to justify taking some of our new stock  overseas to model on my less-than-model self, I further abused Japanese rules of common decency and once again put my foot up on surfaces normally reserved for not foot bodyparts.

These tights were great; I could go really dressy and add a little funky, or pair them with a long top for an updated leggings look. The fit was great, they didn't bag or sag or stretch. These tights / leggings are a new favorite of mine.

And here's a view of the buttons in a little more detail.

And for those of you who know me and are sick and bloody tired of my silver nail polish, look! My silver nail polish!

Wheee!!!

To see these to see the artisan socks product page for these Black Cotton Button-Cuff Open Weave Ribbed-Knit Leggings, click here!

I've got another post soon with my birthday socks, until then, enjoy looking at pretty Japanese food unless you don't want to in which case, please don't and sorry to inject food into my sock dialogs.

Our Anniversary Dinner Because You Really Really Wanted To See It (hee!)

 

Sock Diva L.

Artisan Socks in Japan: Violet Love's Mixed Fishnet Knee-High Stockings Ride the Shinkansen and Have an Anniversary Trip.

I was listening to the radio a couple weeks ago and they were doing a "Top 10 things that should be sexy but aren't" segment.

Along with "Too Short Skirts" and "Body Glitter", "Fishnet Stockings" came up close to the top.
The reasoning being that they lack subtlety and kind of hit you over the head rather than whisper in your ear.

Says you! You can pry my fishnets off my cold, dead, uh, no, don't. You can't take my fishnets away from me.

So today is a wedding anniversary (mine, could be yours as well, you haven't shared that information with me yet so I have no way of knowing now, do I?)  and I wanted to primp a little for our shinkansen (high-speed bullet train) trip.

I chose to wear my Violet Love mixed fishnet knee-highs in an Asian-inspired print becuase it was fun to me.

Check me out getting all sassy! (<-- Does it make you want to slap me with newspapers when I write stuff like that? Is it way too "forced hip"? Yes, I agree, I'll tone that down so I don't end up irritating us all with my enthusiastic sock gushings..)

The getting ready photo:

The running-for-the-bullet-train-very-staged-except-for-the-guy-in-the-background's-reaction photo;

Here are my Violet Love's riding the bullet train and then getting off at the hot spring (onsen) in a mountain area called "Nasu Shiobara". (Once again, I don't condone putting of shod feet on inapropriate surfaces and neither scuffed nor harmed the back of the train seat. I promise.) 

(Click the image on the top if you want a good idea of what "mixed fishnets" look like up close.)


And just in case you're wondering about the shoes (OMG SHOES!) they are my wonderful Fluevog Arabicas in Cherry Caviar. Whee!

As you probably know, shoes come off inside Japanese houses and Ryokans, and hotel rooms.

Here are my Violet Loves in slippers checking in to the wonderful little mountain hot springs hotel, snuggling up to the Mr.'s feet on the day of our anniversary. Awww! <3 <3

 I need to go get changed into a robe so I can go soak in the springs and then have dinner, see you later!

To see the artisan socks product page for these Violet Love Mix Fishnet Hosiery Sweet Melon Knee Highs, Women's Socks click here!

Sock Diva L.

Artisan Socks Goes to Japan! Day One: Ozone Bunched Dots socks

*taps mic*
Hello? Does anybody read these things??
I hope so, and just in case they actually do, I'll try to make it a little interesting.
;-p

As you may have read on our top page (www.artisansocks.com), or if you know me have heard probably waaaay too much about lately, we came to Japan do do some super secret Japanese sock buying and to celebrate some events along the way.

We first went to a section of Tokyo called "Ueno" that we like for its closeness to the airport liner and the reasonableness of the hotel rooms and the yumminess of the plethora of restaurants in the area .

I'm also fond of Ueno because one of my favorite university experiences was the Nikki Kai art exhibit in the art Museum in Ueno park that I helped out with every October.

Before I left for Japan, I shamelessly borrowed (ok, took, not "borrowed" but paid for so we're cool, right?) some of of the socks and stockings and leggings we carry on our online sock shop, and promised to flaunt them about here and there and then give a little blog love to each of the fine pieces of leg wear I took with me.

I started out by wearing Ozone's Over the Knee  Bunched Dots socks in black with multicolor bunched dots.

Jeeze, I couldn't have said that any more boringly than that, could I?

Here are a few photos of the socks in action. But before that, I must say, I love the Ozone line so much it hurts me to only have two legs.
I want to be an octopus, but with people legs so I can wear more than one pair at a time except that would be creepy so scratch that.

Anyways, here are my Ozones getting dolled up in the hotel getting ready to go out and walk all around a surprisingly hot October Ueno.

What? You absolutely have no idea what you're looking at??

Fine, I have more Ozone sock photos, better too!

Here they are on the way to a train station to ride a subway to our super secret sock buying trip:

 

Oooh la la!

Want to see what other kind of fun my Ozone O.T.K. socks had that day?

Great! Because I just happen to have more photos. (Why do you look so unsurprised??)

Like this one of my way tired but still really funky fresh feet and legs waiting to go to the, ahem, Ladies' Room here:

(I promise that I didn't pick this izakaya out because it matched my socks, I just get lucky like that ;-p)

And while absolutely un-sock related, I'm happy to report that even though the lol cats in Japan are pretty analog:

The ordering is all digital to save you from actually having to talk to a hovering waitperson or something.

Thanks for reading today's entry!

Stay tuned for more Artisan socks in Japan!

To see the product page for the Ozone BUNCHED DOTS BLACK Dotted Angora Over The Knee Socks (OTK) please click the link.

Sock Diva L

**DISCLAIMER 

While I'm sure most of you know this, I feel a need to mention that putting your shoes and legs and stuff on tables and such in Japan (as well as most of the remainder of non-neanderthal societies) is highly HIGHLY frowned upon and to not to try that at home or in your mother's kitchen or in mixed company and such as it can offend and confuse. I promise I not only exercised the utmost in caution while taking these photos, I wiped all surfaces down after to prevent spreaditude of my legular tissue as well as to not insult my temporary host coutry's sensibilities.

Welcome To Artisan Socks

I can't tell you how excited we are to get our new artisan socks site up and running.

We're buying and sizing and trying and testing socks and leggings and leg warmers as we speak. As I type?

Well, I'm not actually multi-tasking that much, but we're doing it all right now.

We'll keep you updated,

Thanks for visiting,

Artisan Socks' Sock Diva L.