I really really really really dislike things that don’t work the way they are supposed to. We had a “glitch” with The Loopy Ewe website yesterday, that made ordering impossible. (And later, made getting on the website at all, impossible.) Granted, things have gone extremely smoothly since we got it up and running, so maybe we were due, but I’m of the mindset that we should just stay smooth and glitch-free forever. Why do we have to be “due” for a glitch? So here are some things that don’t work, that bug me. (Why would you be interested in this? I don’t know.)

1. COMPUTERS. (Yes, that deserved to be in shouting capital letters.) I don’t like it when I am attempting to do something perfectly reasonable, and the computer fails to understand it. I certainly didn’t mean to add the little comma in the middle of the command that I typed out. Obviously a comma doesn’t go there, so why should that trip the whole thing up? Why can’t the computer think, “Hmm. That is not the place for a comma. She must’ve meant to type this other thing instead.” We can get a man on the moon, but we can’t make a computer that understands that we didn’t mean the typo? (Case in point - why do numbers 6-10 of this list look like a different font? Why isn’t the BOLD feature working on those? Why has everything that I tried to do to fix the situation failed? COMPUTERS.)
2. Dogs. Well, one dog in particular. When it’s time to go to bed, we let her outside (and back in) one last time. Most nights, I can call her in my sweetest and most inviting voice, and she still just lays there in the family room, looking at me like I’m nuts. (Especially if it is raining or cold out.) I frequently have to go in there, make eye contact with her, and then take her to the back door. Apparently she has me trained needs a personal escort.

3. COMPUTERS. Why does my whole website have to be “wonky” because something somewhere inside my computer (or out there in cyber-world, or on the web-hosts computer) decided that things were not going to work right today? Who delegated that power to them?

4. Shopping. I spent yesterday shopping/lunching with a friend. (She is the recipient of the brown/blue knitted bag from the previous blog and she liked it!) I like shopping. We went to Soft Surroundings and there are too many great things in that store. I found a denim jacket that I liked. Totally impractical. I have enough denim jackets. It didn’t work to tell myself that. I bought it.

5. COMPUTERS. If things aren’t going right, one of the things you can do is close the program down and start over. Or, shut your computer off and re-boot. Why? Why is it that I have to do that? Why can’t the computer/program just FIX itself and start working again? Why do I have to start over, and who decided that that would be the way it works?

6. Cats. What doesn’t work about cats? Their brains, when they see yarn. Fortunately, Zoe ignores yarn in balls/hanks/skeins, on shelves, on tables, on the floor …. unless there is the slightest little piece pulled out. If there is a loose loop, she is on it with all fours. “Zoe! No yarn!” does not compute, when she is in a wool-induced frenzy.

7. COMPUTERS. More to the point, when they’re supposed to be “talking” to the printer, and printing something out. Why do I sometimes get “printing has stopped”. Who told it to stop? And for what reason? These are things I want to know.

8. Cell phones. I cannot always be thinking ahead. There are some days that I rush out of the house, only to find my cell phone battery dead. Truly, is it my fault that the battery wasn’t charged the night before? I think not. What matters to me the next morning is that the cell phone is not working and I need it to be working.

9. COMPUTERS. More to the point - the internet connection on the computer. I wake up in the mornings and wander into the office to check email. One of the things I count on is being able to get on line. Once in awhile, it doesn’t work. That means that I spend an inordinate amount of time on hold with the high speed internet company, only to then have them tell me that “things look good on this end. It must be on your end.” Inexplicably, the problem usually self-corrects later in the day. All I know is that it didn’t work when I needed it to.

10. Having other things going on in your life when you’d really rather be knitting. Honestly, that just does not work. Who wants to be spending time on other things in life, when there are yarns just waiting to be knit up? Patterns calling your name? Something must be done about that. I’m open to suggestions. I don’t like things that don’t work.

Sheri IdiscoveredcakebattericecreamatColdStoneCreameryyesterday.Thatworks!!

I discovered something new last week. Knitting podcasts. Where have I been? Good grief. I find that I knit WAY faster when listening to podcasts (or audio books, which is the next thing on my list) than when I am trying to watch tv and knit. Now that Knitting Daughter is spending a significant amount of time working at Starbucks, I am knitting by myself more often. Knitting podcasts are wonderful for that. Does anyone have any good knitting podcast suggestions for me? And what other things do you do while you knit?

It was sure exciting to be mentioned on the Lime & Violet podcast yesterday! Miss Lime discovered The Loopy Ewe and loves our yarn selection and Frequent Buyer Program. (Where we give you a $25 Loopy Gift Certificate, every time you accumulate $250 in orders from us.) How fun to be passed on to all of their listeners. (Thank you again, Miss Lime!)

I love having a knitting blog. Why? Because I feel responsible for getting some knitting done in order to keep you entertained. Therefore, “I have to knit tonight” sounds like serious “work”, instead of the relaxing and wonderful activity that we all know it to be. (Don’t tell Wonder Husband.) I finished up another WOOPs project. I made this rainbow bag last spring and loved it as my beach bag on a trip to St. John. A friend of mine saw me knitting this same bag in a blue/brown/moss colorway and admired it, so I thought it would be a good birthday gift for her. She takes a beach vacation every year, so I’m putting a Barnes & Noble gift certificate in there for a good beach-read book. I hope she likes it. (I think that takes my WOOPs list down to 6. Yeehaa!) I have another bag like this on the WOOPs list - in blues and purples. I think I will finish it for a Christmas gift.

I’m also knitting away on my Fall Socks. (This is Fleece Artist in Jester, using the Fleece Artist pattern that comes on the inside label of all of their sock yarns.) Several of you have ordered your fall yarns for your seasonal socks. I’m so proud of you! I’d love to see the finished products when you are done. Send me photos via email. One of our “to be added” features on the website will include photos from YOU. We’d love to showcase the things that you have made with yarns from The Loopy Ewe. We’re also getting our “What Our Customers Are Saying” section up (hopefully later today, right Web Guy?) You all have written me the NICEST emails, after receiving your orders. Seriously, it’s just impossible to have a bad day, when you keep sending me emails like that. I just love it.

No one has taken the Heather yarn hint and figured it out yet, although I have had some of you email to say you Googled it and couldn’t find it. You know we’re always on the lookout for wonderful new sock yarns that you can’t find all over the place. (But we also love the tried and true beloved favorites as well - so you’ll find both at The Loopy Ewe.) We are excited about being able to offer you this great sock yarn that is hard to come by and earning quite a reputation. (Watch for it mid-October). So here’s a hint …. if you read Yarn Harlot’s blog, you will be able to figure it out. (But no, I’m not going to give you the exact entry date - what would be the fun in that?) Anyone want to figure it out?

Sheri IhavealreadyhadtoexpandtheLoopyRoombecausewehaveoutgrownourspace:-)

I think rainy Mondays were just meant for knitting. So here I sit, looking out my window at a lovely rainy day, and …. my To-Do List is too long. This is reason #78 for planning ahead and not procrastinating. Here it is from the official text:

“78. You never know when it’s going to rain on a Monday and you’re going to want to sit and knit rather than tackling all of those things on your To-Do List.”

Yes, I had read the manual on this and everything, and completely ignored #78. Now it’s taunting haunting me. I hope that I have learned a lesson. Probably not.

I did get some knitting done over the weekend. Yesterday, Knitting Daughter and I watched way too many a few episodes of The Gilmore Girls during Knitting Afternoon. We just discovered this show and the mother/daughter dynamics reminds us of us - so we love it. We are currently on Season Three, so you can see that we have put in some good knitting time over the past month or two. Does anyone else watch this show?

I finished Sock 1 in the purple mystery yarn. I love how this knit up and I also love how it softened when I washed it. These are going to be a delight to wear. I used the Rococo Sock Pattern that we have at The Loopy Ewe (modified a bit, because I like just plain stockinette stitches on the instep. I modify almost all patterns and just do the decoration on the cuff.) It was a fun pattern to knit (a 16 row repeat). I know it would look more impressive on a solid or heathered colorway (check out the picture on that link to pattern), but I’m just having fun going through all of her designs and experimenting. Have I mentioned how much I love Lisa’s sock designs? That’s why we have almost every single one of her designs in stock. It’s really for me, personally!

I did tell you that I’d announce one of the FOUR new yarn lines that we have coming in between now and the end of October. You already know about Sweet Georgia, which I announced a couple of weeks ago. I talked with Felicia this week, and our order is scheduled to be in by the end of September. (And I already put Wonder-Husband on notice that his photography skills would be needed quickly, in order to get them up for your viewing pleasure asap.) I have also already placed another Sweet Georgia order that will come in in November. But I digress. The mystery purple yarn comes from another new line that we will be getting in the beginning of October - Yarn Pirate! We’re starting with 15 of her wonderful colorways (including a Loopy Ewe colorway, designed just for us). This fingering weight superwash merino knits up on size 1’s (2.25 mm) and one skein makes one pair of socks. I will also get those up on the website as soon as we can turn that around. I know you will love Georgia’s amazing colors. (Confusing. It’s FELICIA at Sweet Georgia, and GEORGIA at Yarn Pirate. And HEATHER at ….. oops - I haven’t told you about that one yet. Sorry.)

I’ll also started my Fall Socks this weekend. What I really wanted to knit was Fleece Artist Mermaid, but I decided on Fleece Artist Jester because it really does look more Fall-ish. (I will definitely get back to Mermaid eventually.) I love how this Jester is turning out. Pictures later in the week.

Sheri offtoworkonmyToDo’ssothatIcansqueezesomeRainyMondayKnittingtimeintoday,too

I love this time of year. The air gets cooler (and I’m a cool-weather gal), the leaves start turning, and the air just smells good. What IS that fall smell that I like so much? (Please don’t tell me it’s rotting leaves. I prefer to have much nicer notions about what goes into that smell.) I haven’t caught sight of a colored leaf yet, but I’m watching. I remember when Paul and I bought our first house. We moved in in August and the notion of raking leaves sounded so fun. I was out there with a rake as soon as they started to fall. The neighbor across the street was outside, and yelled to me, “Give them a chance to fall first!” Ok, so maybe I didn’t need to be raking them up one by one. After the first season there (and about 80 yard bags of leaves later) the novelty of raking leaves wore off. By the next season, we were like everyone else - doing a raking marathon on Thanksgiving weekend.

I’m thinking that we all ought to have socks for each of the different seasons - don’t you think? Maybe some of you already do. Tell us about it in the comments section! Slipping on a pair of fall socks as the air turns crisp, just seems like a good way to celebrate the season. To that end, I have compiled a list of yarns that I think would make excellent Fall socks. Although there are many yarns in line, waiting for me to knit up, I’m thinking I might need to take a Fall Break and knit up one of these. What do you think? (I think there are too many to choose from, but I will endeavor to do my best…..)

Here are my top fall color picks along with color names (going from left to right). It will be immediately obvious to you why my photographer Wonder Husband takes our website yarn photos and spends so much time doing color correcting for you. HIS photos are exact and true to life. Mine are …. well, mine. No color correcting, no special bounce flashes, just pluck them off the shelf, lay them on the floor, snap the photo, and be done. Feel free to check any of these on the website for Wonder Husband’s work. (Note - we still have a few lines to shoot. Some still have the company photos displayed. We’re working on it.)

	Best Cherry Tree Hill Fall colors: Cabin Fever, Champlain Sunset, Fall Foliage, Indian Summer, and Sugar Maple
	Best Claudia Fall Colors: Earth Dot, Roasted Chilies, Red Wagon, Sante Fe, and Passion Fruit
	Best Lorna’s Laces Fall Colors: Watercolor, Purple Iris, Mother Lode, and Safari
	Best Schaefer Fall Colors: Autumn with Zip, Apple Orchard, Cabin in the Woods, Caramel Twist, and Walk in the Woods
	Best Fleece Artist Fall Colors: Jester, Mermaid, Mahogany, and Tiger
	Best Interlacements Fall Colors: Woodland, Las Vegas Brights, Mountain Jewel, and Tapestry
	Best Opal Fall Colors: Krokodil 17, Petticoat 1298, and Petticoat 1295
	Best Regia Fall Colors: Bamboo 1072, Bamboo 1064, Regia 5441, and Stretch 117
	Best Online Euro Fall Colors: 71-839, 71-843, 71-842, 63-780, and 66-804

Which one am I going to make for MY fall socks? Fleece Artist Jester or Mermaid. Haven’t decided. But in keeping with my desire to knit every cotton-pickin’ colorway that Fleece Artist has, I had best make it one of my fall socks. (I LOVE their colors. I just ordered the rest of the colorways they have, and they will be in in about 6 weeks. There are only a few more. I pretty much ordered most of them the first time.) By the way, you can click on any of the photos above to enlarge it and see these fall colors more clearly. So which one will be knit up into YOUR new fall socks?

In other yarn news - ooooh, I just put in an order with another new yarn artist yesterday for a line that you will absolutely snap up. I can’t wait to tell you about it!! But I am trying to wait to announce new yarns on the homepage until we are about 2 weeks from receiving them. No sense in you having to wait it out for 4-8 weeks like I have to wait it out. I can’t wait to tell you about this one. But I can’t tell you yet. Just thought I’d tell you.

Sheri onMondayI’lltellyouwherethemysterypurpleyarniscomingfrom
sothatyoucanstartanticipatingthatlineandplanningyourstashenhancements

Since several of you asked for the recipe for Monster Cookies (after I mentioned in the last blog that College Boy and Friends were getting them in the mail), I am including it on the blog for you. In my opinion, any time you can make something wonderful for your family, it ought to buy you a little extra knitting time. Right? As in:

“I’d love to run you up to the mall, but I spent so much time making cookies for you this afternoon that I simply must stay home and knit get some very important things done.”

or

“I sure wish that I could mow the lawn for you, but the cookies really put me behind and now I need to scurry around and knit finish things up before bedtime.”

or

“Dinner? Well, I thought we could order out since I spent so much time making cookies this afternoon. If we order out, then I can spend the next 45 minutes knitting taking care of other things while we wait for dinner to be delivered.

Yes, I think that ought to work just fine. (And you don’t have to point out to them that you were able to sit and knit while each batch was baking in the oven. That’s just between you and me.)

As an aside - Wonder Husband is concerned that I am encouraging so much deceit in terms of sneaking in some knitting time. (He read the Top Ten Ways to Sneak in Knitting Time entry.) I assured him that if he’d just let me drop cleaning, cooking, and laundry, that there would be no need for deceit. I’d have plenty of time to knit. He didn’t fall for it.

Monster Cookies

4 cups sugar
1 lb. margarine or butter
4 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 lbs. crunchy peanut butter
1 dozen eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
8 teaspoons baking soda
18 cups of oatmeal (I use quick-cooking oats)
1 lb. M&M’s
1 lb. chocolate chips

Combine the first seven ingredients. (I microwave the peanut butter for 2 minutes to make it softer and easier to blend in.) Mix very well. Add the last three ingredients and mix well again.

Make each cookie the size of a golf ball, and flatten by hand. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes (depending on cookie size.)

Dough keeps in refrigerator for 1 week, and freezes well.

Answers to the questions going around in your mind:

Yes, I realize there is no flour in this recipe. No, I didn’t accidently leave it out. (The oatmeal takes its place.)

Yes, it makes a HUGE batch of cookies. No, I don’t think you’ll have trouble getting rid of any of them.

Yes, it will take you awhile to bake these all up. No, I don’t think you ought to try to do anything else during that time except for knitting in between batches. You must concentrate on the cookies in the oven, just in case.

So - let me know if you make them and how you like them!

Sheri wonderingwhatIcanbaketodaytogetsomeknittingtimein

Great guesses on the WOOPs projects. Since no one got all three answers right, I drew a name from the five people who got at least two of the three correct and Sandy, you’re the winner! Email me a couple of your favorite colors and your address, and I’ll send out a fun skein of yarn for your next pair of socks. May it quickly become a DONE project, and forever stay out of the WOOPs pile……

Many guessed the tiny red sock for Loopy. You are correct - but it’s even better than that. I finished both his #3 and #4 socks, so he is now completely shod. Here he is, standing on the “mailing center” in the Loopy Room, happy as can be to have warm feet. These little socks are fun to make. While I was at it, I made them up into kits for free gifts. If you have ordered from us, you know that I always include something free when I send you your order. There is a “first order gift”, and a “second order gift” and gifts for orders 3, 4, and 5. Now you know that one of them will be Loopy’s Red Sock Kit. (What would you use it for? I listed several ideas on the pattern card for you.) After your first five orders with us, you’ll continue to get the yarn samples that we include with all orders, as well as our undying love! (And don’t forget that you are always getting Frequent Buyer credits. We’ve already had people earn those, even in our first month of business!) Here is the little red sock on its own. I actually knit this one up just for photographing for the kit, because I had already stretched out the other two new ones by putting them on Loopy’s fat feet. So - I actually completed three red socks this week. But I digress….

Most of you also guessed that I finished the Baby hat. You are correct - but it’s even better than that. I also finished the cute pair of booties that went with it. (I stuffed them with tissue paper for the photo - they look a little misshapen, don’t they? They’re cuter in person.) Love the way this self-patterning yarn knits up, and the fun circle of color on the top of the hat. This yarn is great for babies as it is a combination of superwash wool, cotton, and nylon for stretch. The pattern for these came from Not Just Socks. Lots of ideas in that book, and it’s twin, Not Just More Socks. These knit up much quicker than the baby blanket that is still on my WOOPs list. I have a feeling that I’ll be doing more of these cute hats/booties for baby gifts and no more baby blankets will have to re-think the baby blanket thing.

The last of the three WOOPs that I completed was the green Booga Bag (which only Bev guessed. Several of you thought that I finished one of the two drawstring bags, so maybe those will have to be next on my list). I photographed it before felting and put a dollar bill in the photo so that you could get an idea of how much felting shrinks it. Isn’t felting fun? Although I admit, I may have overly felted it just a bit because I walked off and got involved reading email I was just testing an important felting theory. Or something. Or other. If you want to see some great looking felted bags where the knitter did not wander off in the middle of the felting cycle and some cute llama pictures, check out Janice (of the comments section here!) and her blog. Such cute stuff!

Tonight - I’m baking Monster Cookies for College Boy and his friends. It might be a little early for a care package already, but he gave me the go-ahead, so I’m guessing that he’s looking forward to it. Also tonight - more knitting. I’m starting the sock in the mystery purple yarn. Doesn’t anyone have a guess as to which new yarn company this came from? (Minh - you can’t guess!) You’ll love this stuff when we get it in. Keep checking the website, as there is always something fun being added week to week. If you stick with reading the blog, you’ll get the heads-up first.

So did you knit this weekend? And what did you work on?

Sheri tryingnottotasteonecookiefromeachbatchoutoftheoven……