Boy, this week has gone fast. (Maybe that had something to do with a Monday night Sneak Up and being so busy with your orders all week long!) I’m glad that weekend is here, and I intend to spend a good portion of it on my knitting. Because there are just so many things I want to knit. Or maybe I’ll follow Zoe’s example and nap. (Do any of you have cats that stretch out like dogs sometimes? This is a dog pose, not a cat pose. Sometimes she just does that.) I also want to photograph my projects for Ravelry. If you are not yet on Ravelry, you really ought to photo your stash and projects. That way, you’ll be able to upload them and have that done when you get on. (You’ll need a Flickr account, too.) It is so fun seeing everyone’s projects and patterns and stash. It’s like visiting a bunch of different knitters at once!

It has been so nice to read all of your wonderful comments on our anniversary blog! Thank you so much for de-lurking to participate. The guesses on number of skeins in The Loopy Room on Wednesday have been fun. There were guesses of 300 or so, all the way up to 25,000+! I’ll let you know the real number next Friday. Many of you asked if I had to count them all. Actually, that’s in our inventory system and so no, I didn’t have to count them. I just had to count the new stuff that is sitting here waiting to be photo-ed and put in. Then I just added those to the computer number. Also, several of you have clicked on this link and decided that we must have 628 skeins in stock because that is the number underneath the yarn icon. Actually, that just tells you how many different colorways we currently have in stock. (628 choices - isn’t that fun?) Within each colorway, there are different numbers of skeins of yarn. We’d be in big trouble if we had just one skein of each different color. So there’s a hint for those of you who haven’t yet entered the contest. (But remember - just one prize is going to the person who guesses closest. Five prizes will be awarded randomly. So it’s ok if your number is off - you have five more chances to win anyway!) And no one has hit it on the head yet. Actually, I don’t think anyone has come within 100, but there is one person who is about 200 off. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Next week’s Sneak Up …. will either be later in the week or we’ll wait until the following week. Why? Because 1) the yarns are still being photo-ed, and 2) Susan is off for the week again and I have overly stretched the family’s packing help this week already and 3) my good friend Janice and her Iowa Girl daughter are coming to visit from Monday through Thursday, and I just know they aren’t going to want to spend all week packing orders with us. Although you can bet that they’ll be helping pack the regular ones! Just no need to inundate them with Sneak Up sized quantities, right? But they may talk me into changing my mind, so we’ll see. We do have fun things to put up, and more cool stuff coming in that I haven’t even told you about yet. Maybe I’ll spill some more beans next week, just to make you feel better about the lack of a full Sneak Up. Would that help?

I’ll leave you with this bit of news that was in our newspaper this week:

“A man and a woman were arrested at a trailer home in VA in March, as the two, according to police, nearly burned down the home while trying to destroy counterfeit money that the man had printed.

Police had served arrest warrants at 5:15 a.m., found the trailer smoky, and upon entering saw the woman near a bed (under which the fake currency was burning, with smoke pouring out), pretending to knit a sweater and to wonder about the commotion.”

Sheri I’mjustgladshewasn’tknittingasock

Yay! We’re a year old today! Boy, things are different today than they were a year ago! For instance, last year on this day, I was sitting here watching my screen, waiting for someone to find us and order. Today, several of us have been packing your orders non-stop all day long, and the mailman just continues to roll his eyes. I’m sure he means that in a nice way. We have grown from just a few yarn companies in stock when we began, to over 40 different companies and indie dyers, just in the yarn category. We started with a few accessories, and now have lots of fun things to choose from. (Why? Because before The Loopy Ewe, I was always looking for fun little knitting accessories and things to buy - either for gifts or just for myself. I could never find a good selection of them to pick from.) Of course we’re not done. We have more wonderful things in the works for you here in the coming months. If you’ve been with us for very long, you know there is always something new being added in!

We had a special colorway dyed up to celebrate - it’s called “Happy Anniversary to Ewe” and it’s from J. Knits. (I love their yarn. It makes such soft socks.) Julie at J. Knits asked me what my favorite colors were and I told her cranberry and hunter/sage green and …. whatever other color works with it. I love how this turned out. I sent a skein to pattern designer Debbie O’Neill (who has won some of the Cherry Tree Hill pattern contests, and has been a long-time Loopy customer) and she came up with this beautiful “Celebratory Chevrons” design. (Click on the photo to make it bigger and see the pattern.) The pattern will be free with the purchase of this special J.Knits colorway, and after the limited edition yarn is gone, we’ll also have the pattern for sale. The yarn will be available here starting at the end of next week. We’re waiting for the rest of our shipment to arrive.

I told you we’d have a fun contest to celebrate our anniversary and I made it very simple. I want ALL of you to be able to enter, so instead of giving you a list of questions to answer, all you need to do is answer one question: How many skeins of yarn do we have in stock here at The Loopy Ewe today, on our first anniversary? Not how many companies, or how many different colors, but how many actual skeins? Leave your answer in the comments. I have pulled out 21 skeins of yarn - one from most of our indie dyers. The winner with the closest guess is going to receive 6 of them as the grand prize. (If two people guess the same correct answer, we’ll draw for it.) However, we’re also going to randomly draw five more names from the comments and each of those five people will win 3 skeins. We wanted to give away more than one prize and we wanted you to have a chance just by putting in a guess, right or wrong. (And as you’re trying to figure this all out, maybe you ought to know that I have Woolly Boully, Fiesta Boomerang, Fleece Artist Somoko, Duets Skinny, and Apple Laine boxes sitting here waiting for the next Sneak Up.) So give us your best guess and we’ll award the prizes on Friday the 10th - so you have lots of time to get in on this one! Here is a photo of some of the yarns that will be awarded. (Do you see Bart & Louise in the Garden and Loopy’s Red Socks in there?) Speaking of contests, did you want to know who won the July Blog contest? Last week over 400 of you left comments on your favorite book. I loved reading all of your suggestions and now have a long list of “must read” books. The random winner from last week is Alyson , who wins a $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate. (Yes, the random generator picked comment #5, out of 411!)

Since we’re celebrating our anniversary, I did want to thank so many people who have helped us over the past year. The biggest kudos goes out to my hubby, College Guy/Web Guy, and Knitting Daughter. They have put in soooo many hours this past year and it has been such fun to truly make this a family business in every sense of the word. Special thanks to my parents, and WH’s mom and sister who have all helped with Sock Club packages. (More family - yay!) Thanks also to our wonderful team of helpers - Susan, Carly, Peri, Cindy, and Diana who pack orders, make gifts, and help with bookkeeping. (And a special shout out to Anna and Vicki who came by today to talk to me about starting work here in the fall when College Guy, Knitting Daughter, and Peri all go back to school, and ended up staying all day to help pack orders because they’re just that wonderful. Aren’t they going to be great to have working here?) A special thanks to my dear friends Janice and Monica, who are my biggest cheerleaders, to Wendy for mentioning us on her blog and sending so many fun knitters our way, and to every single one of you who have added our blog button to your site, mentioned us in your blog entries, told your friends about us, and have helped spread the word. We have been blessed many times over by you and your friendships and we consider ourselves very lucky to have met you. We hope to continue to earn your business and friendship for many years to come. Hugs to all of you!

Sheri nowit’stimetoeatdinner&we’llhavecakefordessert.DidyounoticetheLoopyRedCandle?