It has been so fun getting the mail lately, because I keep getting hats and wristlets for the Q2 challenge. Knitting Daughter and I set them all out on the bushes today so that we could get a picture of what has come in so far. Each one of them has been ooh-ed and aah-ed over at our house. Remember, you have until June 30th to get these in. This is a perfect way to use up some of your stash, but if you find yourself in need of yarn to use, just make a note with your next Loopy order and I’m happy to put some in there for you. I just appreciate your knitting time on all of this.

Speaking of knitting time, I have decided that knitting on Sundays just isn’t enough time. (Especially after the personal stash enhancing I did last week with all of the new yarns that came in. I don’t do that very often, but I seem to have really made up for things last week.) Yesterday, there were so many yarns that I wanted to knit with, and just not enough time. I’m going to have to work on that. I started a sock with one of the new lines that we will be adding in the next few weeks. Isn’t it pretty? I think this company has classy colors. The other picture is from one of our new indie dyers and this yarn is really just begging to be cast on. I thought maybe if I just wound it up it would help pacify me, but I was wrong. I still need to knit it soon. But I’m finishing the other one, first.

I have had people say “I wish I could see the colors that sold out so fast – just to SEE what you had in.” Did you know that you can go to our search feature and find them? Simply got to the homepage and find the blue box on the right hand side. Click on “Search The Loopy Ewe” and type in the colorway name you want to see. It will bring up the photo. Now granted, it’s not the easiest way to find a past-sold colorway, and we’re working on figuring out a way to do that. But in the meantime, this works. I thought some of you might want to take a look at last week’s Yarn Pirate and Perchance to Knit colors. Here are the names for a look-see: Apple, Black Water, Daisy, Dogwood, Isobel, Kona, Karma, Neopolitan, Primrose, Viola, and Wildflowers from Yarn Pirate. Perchance to Knit had: Primarily, Bougainvillea, Irises, Breezy and Pond. Both of these lines will be back in again soon. Watch for new colorways from Yarn Pirate in our May order.

Thank you for all of your fun color combinations and names! I have some of our indie dyers working on some of those wonderful suggestions. We also picked some of the names for our new Schaefer Lola yarns that will be up later in the week. They aren’t necessarily the colors you suggested with that name, but a few of your names were a perfect fit for this new batch. You’ll have to see if yours is one! I used the random number generator to pick a winner from our 224 entries, for April’s Loopy Loot blog contest prize. The winner is: Stariel! Stariel, email me your address and I’ll get this fun prize out to you. (SheriATtheloopyeweDOTcom) (Ok – links not working in the blog today, so if you want to see Stariel’s blog, you can visit her at: http://stariel.blogspot.com/)

I’m not sure about the Sneak Up this week. We have so many boxes of yarn here and WH has so many photos to take. I may end up putting things up on different days to see if that helps. But not today and probably not tomorrow during the day, so you site-stalkers can have a bit of a break! (I did get more colors of Hand Maiden Sea Silk and Hand Maiden Cashmere today, as well as another new company’s yarns. Those will probably have to wait until next week.) Sock Club packages will go out sometime next week, if all goes according to plan. I warned the postman.

Sheri 90degreestodaywhichremindedmeexactlywhatIdon’tlikeaboutSt.Louis

Isn’t this the ding dang cutest little Loopy? That Laurie over at Woolpets is amazing. I asked if she could make me a Loopy, then I asked if she could make a kit, then I asked if she could send me a bunch to sell at The Loopy Ewe so other sock-lovers could have Loopy with socks on, too. And each time, she said yes! So sometime next week you will find these wonderful needle felting kits available in the shop and I hope you have a lot of fun making your own little Loopy guys! Also coming up in the next week or two (because we had so many boxes of yarn delivered this week, that I’m not sure which will get photo-ed and when they’ll be up): new Cider Moon, new Claudia, new Interlacements Tiny Toes, new Stone Barn Fibers, new J-Knits, new Perchance to Knit Lace, new Schaefer Lola and Andrea, new lace patterns, and new sock-in-progress purses. Lots of great stuff going up again!

How are you doing on the Loopy Q2 Challenge? I have had the most wonderful hats and mitts donated so far! Your knitting generosity is just amazing and I know the recipients will be bowled over by your kindness. (Remember, you have until June 30th to send your knitted items in to me.) Check out the Q2 gallery for some of the photos, and I will also be taking more of some of the ones that have been sent in and not yet photoed. (And while you’re at it, check out all of our other photo galleries, too. Did you know there are currently 129 photos of socks in the Socks on Trees gallery? Most are alphabetized by yarn brand, so that you can see how some of your favorites knit up. It’s easy to add your own photos of socks made with yarns available at The Loopy Ewe. Simply go to your account, click on Photos, and follow the quick directions. We love showcasing your beautiful creations here!)

Today’s recipe is from Loopy friend Shauna. She emailed to tell me that her fiance declared my Snickerdoodle recipe “the second best cookies ever”. Of course I had to then have the recipe for “the first best cookies ever”, and this is what she sent. I made them up this week to send to College Boy, and they really are wonderful! You need to try them.

Shauna’s Famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c (2 sticks) butter
1 c granulated sugar
1 c packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 c (12 oz) chocolate chips
2 c quick oats

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips & oats. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 8 to 11 minutes or until brown (I find it works better if you touch the top of the cookies lightly–if it isn’t mushy, but holds its shape a little, the cookie is done). Let stand for two minutes; remove to brown paper bags to cool completely.

Have a great weekend and get lots of knitting done!

Sheri STILLpackingSneakUpordersbuttheyshouldallbeoutbytomorrow.fingerscrossed.

Yes, it’s true. Loopy was almost done in by the Sneak Up this afternoon. Miss Violet emailed in the midst of the Sneak Up and said, “OMG – we broke The Ewe!!” As you can see by the photo, he was certainly tripped up by the whole thing. Spent a few minutes with his red stocking feet in the air. However, a few tweaks (and a Cinnamon Dulce Latte) and he was back on his feet in no time. For all of you who were witnessing the process – thank you for hanging in there! Seriously – those guys at the server place will never believe that what we just went through this afternoon was caused by some people buying sock yarn. (Gotta love it.) I was online with Web Guy when we put everything up, and it quickly turned into syrup. (Slooow going.) I asked him about it, he checked, and then said, “It’s handling over several hundred requests per second.” (seriously?) And then he said later that in the two hour Sneak Up period, the database answered three quarters of a million queries. (seriously? I don’t even really know what that means, but it sounds like a heck of a lot of something going on.) So, um …. that’s why Loopy rolled over temporarily. I think the next Sneak Up will have to be at some obscure time of the night to prevent a bit of this. (I know all of our international customers would love that).

If I ever get all of these orders packed and out the door (and it’s iffy, I’ll tell ya), then we DO have more yarn that has arrived on the premises in the last two days! 20 new colors from one of our favorite yarn lines, as well as our latest indie dyer, Stone Barn Fibers (and big thanks to Loopy friend Capi for telling me about them last month!). Also just in today, to-die-for lace from Susie at Perchance to Knit. Just a few skeins so far, because that was what she had on hand, but of course more is on order. You will not believe this lace. I have orders in with several other new indie dyers as well, so keep a watch on the blog for announcements as our orders roll arrive in-house. Would you believe that I was actually thinking earlier this week that we all probably needed a week off from Sneak Ups in this household? That’s not going to happen with all of the boxes that keep arriving at my door. (And for those who are sad to have missed Yarn Pirate and Perchance to Knit – more is coming from both of those talented gals in the month of May.)

Remember me telling you that I started my lace shawl over the weekend? I’m using the Sea Silk in Nova Scotia (which I see we have already sold out of – although there are still plenty more gorgeous colors of that Sea Silk in stock and they just shipped off more colors to us, so that should be arriving any day.). Here is the little bit of progress I have made. I will not tell you how long it took me to get to that point (but it involved two separate rip-backs. ahem.) I’m thinking it will start to go faster now – and am so anxious to get back at it. This Sea Silk is wonderful to knit with. I’m not even a shawl-wearing person, but I will be a shawl-knitting one. I love it!

Sheri whoisnowgoingtogostartpackingallofthesewonderfulyarnsup sothatyoucanhavethematyourhouse!

I’m going to just start the week off with an apology. I know I’m going to put you over the edge this week with the Sneak Up and …. well, I’m sorry. There are way too many beautiful colors and yarns and choices and I have no idea how you’re going to decide which ones need to come home to live with you. How do I know this? Because I took too many of them out this week to put in my own stash. That’s how I know. I didn’t plan it this way. We always have so many things on order that I am never sure exactly what will show up week to week. This week – too many good choices. (What’s going up? Well, Yarn Pirate, Perchance to Knit, Seacoast Panda, and all of the lace yarns. Overload.) So I hope you enjoy browsing and shopping and know that I feel your pain. (Zoe advises everyone to just take a nap, while awaiting this week’s Sneak Up. Honest – you can see her mid-sentence in the photo.)

I wanted to answer a couple of blog questions – one was, “What is a Sneak Up?” That simply refers to us putting new yarns and products on the website each week. Once in awhile I will re-stock yarns and coloways as the UPS gal brings them, but most of the time I do all of the updating at once, each week. The time and day change from week to week, just because I have learned that it helps make for a more pleasurable shopping experience if not everyone has planned to be on here shopping at the same exact time. Although it’s kind of funny to watch how quickly the word gets out when the Sneak Up has taken place. I think some of you take turns monitoring the site for your whole knitting group, based on what I have heard and seen! (Personally? I’d place my own order and then go spread the word!) Another question is about The Loopy Ewe Seasonal Sock Club and whether or not we still have spots available. The answer is unfortunately, no. Our sock club sold out overnight and ended up being 3 times bigger than I expected, so we’re definitely full this year! However, we would sure love to have you sign up next year and I will give plenty of notice for that. I already have some fun things in mind for the next one. The last question: Why did the numbers go away under your different website categories? Well, because that is one of the things that slows the website down when so many of you are shopping at once. However, with our move to a bigger server and a little re-vamping by Web Guy, we were able to put them back up and we don’t think they will affect the speed to much from now on.

Speaking of fun things – let’s do the April Blog Contest. Tell me your favorite color combination for socks. Not the brand, not the weight, not the price – just tell me what 2-5 colors would make up your very favorite colorway. (And if you want to add “best name for a sock colorway ever”, I think that would be fun, too.) My favorite sock color combination would be hunter, cranberry and mocha. Although I’m fairly certain that after I read your entries, I will have changed my mind a few times. Best sock name ever? The one that is on the Loopy Ewe Summer Sock Club yarn – it’s too fun! Leave your answers in the comments and I’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner next Monday, the 30th for the winner of a fun Loopy Loot package. (And maybe we’ll turn some of your favorite color combinations into new colorways here!) I think maybe I ought to go through more of WH’s flower photos for some good color combo ideas.

Sheri IstartedknittingmylaceshawlthisweekendwithHandMaidenSeaSilk&loveit!

Refrigerator doors are interesting. Is yours full or spotless? Wendy posted a picture of her fridge this week, and I thought it was a good blog-bit. Here is our refrigerator. (Note #1: I threw away the expired pizza coupons after this photo. We never use them. Why do I save them? Note #2: Twinless socks as refrigerator art – also a Wendy idea. In fact, maybe I had to go take a new picture of my fridge with a sock on it, once she planted that idea in my head. Just maybe.) I think all of you ought to put fridge photos in your blogs, too. Send me a link if you do – I’d love to see them! Our refrigerator gets covered with photos of friends and family every December, because that’s where we put the card photos. That’s my favorite refrigerator month. I do have one friend who covers her fridge with photos all the time. Interestingly enough, she makes sure there are plenty up there of my family when we go visit them. But I’m not fooled. I know she puts the “real” ones back up when we leave. Right, Janice?

It has been fun sending out packages to you from the Sneak Up this week! I just have to say – you all amaze me. You know we order a BIG whopping lot of yarn from our vendors all the time, to keep you yarn-happy. But even so, I ordered even MORE of the Peppermint Mocha because …. well …. because I wanted a lot of it in-house and I knew you’d like it too. And it still sold out in 3 hours. I called Claudia to tell her and she was as speechless as I was. (Because she knows how much I ordered!) We had a moment of silent appreciation for all of you. {{hugs!}} And then I ordered a bucketload more.

Sock Club notices have been sent out and thanks to all of you for turning around and getting those paid for quickly. There are a few emails which must’ve changed and I’m trying to track those down. If you had an email from me that you got into the sock club back a couple of months ago when we had signups, and you have not received an email from us: first, check your spam folder. If it’s not there, email me about it and we’ll get the address fixed. (For those of you on the waiting list, I did get to order a few extra skeins and will be contacting some of you to add you in for the year – yeehaa!).

Today’s recipe is one that my mom brought us for dinner this week. We started to eat and then I jumped up and said, “Wait! Let me take a photo for the blog!” I’m just sure that some people at the table – namely my family – rolled their eyes while I was getting the camera. (“Why does all of our food have to be blog-photoed?”) This one is delicious.

Alpine Chicken

4 cups cooked chicken breasts

2 cups Croutons

2 cups Shredded Swiss Cheese

1 cup chopped Celery

1/2 chopped Onion,

1 cup Mayonnaise

Salt & Pepper to taste.

Mix all ingredients and place in greased 9×9 inch pan. (or double for 9 x 13)

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes, or until it bubbles

Just in case you’re interested, it looks like next week’s Sneak Up will include: all of our lace, Yarn Pirate, Schaefer Anne and Lola, Perchance to Knit, and Seacoast Panda. But that all does depend on how many photos WH can get done over the weekend…..

Sheri muchyarntounboxandputawaythisweekendinpreparationfornextweek!

As most of you know, I have a wee problem with twinless socks. To that end, I have found OTHER uses for them, because it’s apparent that they will never become a pair.

Wallet	Flower Pot
Bunny bed	Candle holder
Water bottle holder	Golf club cover
Needle case	Envelope
Shampoo dispenser	Remote holder

Pretty good use of twinless socks, wouldn’t you say? So I’m using them creatively. OR – I’m going to embark upon an adventure called “Summer of the Second Sock” – SOTSS – and finish up a match to these about every 2-3 weeks throughout the summer. Actually, at that rate, it will turn into FOTSS as well, but that’s ok. At least I have a plan. Maybe before winter hits, I’ll have 20 new PAIRS of socks …. and will have made more twinless ones in the meantime. So, did I miss any good uses of twinless socks? And did you miss the Sneak Up today?

Sheri whoreallyISdeterminedtomakematchestoallofthesesocks