Well, we’re working hard, but that space is definitely not Loopified yet. We did paint a few walls. (Actually, there is no “we” about it. My mom came to help clean the new place the first day and when I started talking about needing some color on a few walls, she volunteered that my dad was a wonderful painter. Being a great sport, he agreed to take on the job on our very first day of moving in. So he gets all the credit!) I love walking in and seeing color instead of beige. This is the wall when you first walk in and we’ll put our Loopy sign up above there. Right now, the shelves are sadly empty. That’s the status. Painting is done, most shelves are up, but there are bags and boxes of yarn to unload and put away. There’s just no way to hurry that process up! It doesn’t feel like The Loopy Room yet, but I do have high hopes for it. I am really really really loving all of that space. (It’s going to fill up quickly. We have so much on order.)

On the home front, we introduced Zoe and Gracie today. It went so well! Not a hiss between the two until much later when they both went dashing after the same laser light and Zoe wanted dibs on it. In this photo, Zoe was interested in Gracie and Gracie was much more interested in being let out into a very big room, after her confinement in the guest room. They had a great time racing around and playing. Zoe is definitely the alpha cat, and Gracie is happy to let her have that roll. If I had known this was going to be so easy, I would’ve gotten a second cat ages ago. Why didn’t any of you tell me that I needed a second cat??

Hope you’re all having a good week. Your emails and blog comments have been so fun. (Yes, I’m woefully behind on answering emails - there is no computer in the Loopy Room yet. But I’m reading them all when I get home at night and love hearing from you. Soon, life will get back to normal. I think.)

Sheri itwasa”nolatteTuesday”butI’vealreadyfixedthatfortoday.
YousaidIcouldhavethemdailythisweek,remember?

The movers are busily moving all of our yarn and shelves to the new Loopy home today. We spent the weekend packing up the yarn and trying to move around all of the boxes and bags that kept accumulating in the dining room, hallway, and basement. I think the whole house will give a sigh of relief when the new place has taken all of this in! Here is a picture of where we’re going. Never fear, we will soon have the whole doggone place turned “Loopy” by the end of the week. Right now it just looks boring. In typical moving-day-Murphy’s-Law, it’s supposed to rain all day. So far, so good, but it’s getting cloudy. Good thing the yarn is bagged and protected.

In order to make my week a bit more complicated (and I seem to be good at that), we got a new kitten over the weekend. (Honestly, WH looked at me as if I might have lost a few marbles when I talked to him about it. Why would I do that during a week that is sure to be our most packed and overwhelming week in a long time? Um …. because we took one look at her and fell in love with her? Because I want Zoe to have a buddy to hang around with, now that I’ll be gone during the day? Because we needed a second cat? Because I like to stir things up? I can come up with a whole list of reasons. He knows this about me. He gave up and said yes.) So here she is - sweet little Gracie. Is she not just the cutest thing? She is soft and fluffy and extremely affectionate. She’s residing in the guest room until it’s time for her to meet Zoe. However, they have been playing “pawsie” under the door and meowing at each other, so I think it will go well. When you see a photo of the two of them together in the blog, you will know we have succeeded.

Onward with the move. I hope you all have a great week!

Sheri doingmybesttobegoodandnotaddanyothercomplicationstotheweekforWH’ssake

Three things that I have been doing today instead of blogging:

1. Admiring my adorable “Loopy goes Trick or Treating” Woolpet that the amazing Laurie sent me as a gift. (Zoe thoughtfully gave him a little poke for good measure.)
2. Shopping for necessities for the new Loopy Office.
3. Setting up deliveries, making appointments, and scheduling moving help.

Three things that the Loopy Elves did today:

1. Packed up all your orders and got them out without me.
2. Set up an obstacle course of boxes for me to dodge in the Loopy Room. I’m sure they did all of that arranging on purpose.
3. Stacked 10 newly arrived cases of yarn in my front entry (because why carry them down to the Loopy room when we’ll be carrying them back out on Monday?)

Three decisions I made today:

1. The little kitchenette in the new Loopy office needed a Loopy red microwave. (Who knew there were red microwaves??)
2. The sign for the new building needs Loopy on there. You’re right.
3. I “needed” a pumpkin scone to go with my latte today. Big errand day.

So you can see that things are a bit one-tracked around here - all revolving around the big move next week. Thanks so much for your fun and encouraging emails, phone calls, and blog comments about it! We’ll work hard to get things back up and running asap, because I know you’re going to love all of this new yarn that keeps arriving. In the meantime, here is my first recipe from my Colorado weekend of good food.

Dawn’s Dressing

1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread
3 3/4 cups cubed white bread
1 lb. ground sage turkey sausage
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 Golden Delicious apple, chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
3/4 cup chicken broth
4 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted

Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake 5-7 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven until toasted. Put in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

Cook sausage and onions over medium heat. Add celery and seasonings and stir for 2 minutes.

Pour sausage mix over bread. Add apples, cranberries and parsley. Drizzle with chicken broth and melted butter and mix lightly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Three things I will have to show you next week:

1. The socks that I finished in Colorado that I forgot to photo for you.
2. A peek at the mess we’re sure to make in the new Loopy room.
3. An unbelievably wonderful pumpkin dessert recipe from my friend Christy.

Sheri I’lltrytokeepyoupostedonthingsviatheblognextweek.IpredictI’llneedalatteaday
don’tyouthink?(butnoscones.Mustnoteatsconesagainanytimesoon.)
Whatthreethingsdoyouhavetotellmetoday?Weekendplans?Sconeeating?

See this building? This is the site of the new “Loopy Room”, as of next week! (Um, no - not the whole building - although wouldn’t that be fun? We have one office space on the first floor.) I did mention that we had outgrown The Loopy Room here at home, right? We have been looking for a new space for awhile, and signed a lease a couple of weeks ago. Since then, they have been busily tearing down walls, painting, and adding new carpeting for us. Next week is Moving Week, so we’ll be packing up shelves and yarn, lock, stock and barrel, and moving it right over there. It’s a great space and just 5 blocks from our house, which is going to be wonderful. (Yes, I’ll be walking to work. Except when it’s hot. We all know how I feel about that.) We will keep you posted on new “Stop and Shop” hours for those of you in St. Louis. We’re hoping to have that a couple of times a week (and of course still by appointment.) While it’s always fun to have in-person visitors, our main focus will remain on keeping up with all of YOU, our wonderful online customers from all over. We want to continue to provide the service that you have come to expect from The Loopy Ewe and we feel we can do that best by continuing to make our online shop our priority. We take the responsibility of being your “Virtual LYS” very seriously!

Here’s the sign in the front of the building. I originally told them we didn’t need to put The Loopy Ewe up there, as there won’t be that many people trying to find us. But now I’m kinda thinking that it’d be funny to have our name up there with all of those real estate/title company/insurance names. Might lighten up the building a bit, you know? What do you think?

So - for us this means more space, more help, and our house becomes a home again. What does it mean for you? More space (to bring in even more yarn lines, which we definitely have in the works), more help (which means that we can keep getting orders to you quickly - even your Sneak Up orders, fingers crossed.) and maybe I’ll have more knitting time in the evenings so that I can share more things on the blog. We’re excited about all of the pluses this will bring to us, and to you as well.

It does mean that we will need to take a pause in our order-processing so that we can get moved and set up for you again. We will leave the website open so that you can place your orders next week, but shipping will stop between Saturday the 13th and Saturday the 20th. All accumulated orders will begin shipping out on Monday, the 22nd. I’ll keep you posted on things via the blog during the week. Maybe it will go faster than we think. What I really need is for WH to take the whole week off from his work to help get us all set up ….. but that’s not going to happen. I do foresee many late nights next week, however. Wish us luck! (And get ready for all of our re-stocks and new lines to come pouring in.)

Sheri bummedaboutthe”nopets”clauseinthelease-Zoecan’tcometoworkwithme

I’m baaaaack! (That looks rather sheep-ish, doesn’t it? baaaa….) It was 38 degrees with blue skies, loads of sun, and gorgeous yellow Aspens blowing in the mountain winds yesterday. (Today, 90+ in St. Louis. We shall not speak of it.) I had a wonderful weekend with my friends and got some knitting done! Photos of my two completed socks on Wednesday. Check out the beautiful yellow Aspen leaves on this tree. These trees were all over, popping out of the evergreens all over the mountainsides. If you have never been to Colorado in the Fall, you ought to go. It’s like someone tipped over a big yellow bucket of paint and then flung it far and wide. Just gorgeous.

There was much food this weekend. We went to this Ski Tip Lodge for dinner one night. It’s a former stagecoach stop, turned private home, turned restaurant and Bed and Breakfast. The food was wonderful and after dinner was over, they took us into the big living room area for dessert. Here are my friends Michelle and Christy, waiting for their desserts. It was fun to walk through this house and imagine the long life it has had. I’m not sure I would’ve given it up if I had lived there. We also made many fun meals back at the condo, and of course I took pictures and collected recipes so that I could share them all with you over the next few weeks. These gals can cook, let me tell you. One of the gals is sending me a cookbook that her church put together with all sorts of wonderful recipes in there. (Aren’t those the BEST cookbooks - the ones where people submit their very best recipes? I have some from churches and schools and organizations and I always reach for those first when looking for something “good” to make.)

We stay near Keystone, and we take Swan Mountain Road from the Keystone/Dillon area, over to Breckenridge (another favorite shopping spot.) There is a lookout at the top of Sw. Mt. Rd. with beautiful views and cute chipmunks that come right up and eat out of your hands. (But they’re quick - so this is the best photo I could get.) It was really windy that day. Great hair day.

So - shopping, eating, knitting, movies, talking - that pretty much sums up my weekend. (You’ll have to tell me what exciting things you did in your weekend.) Now I’m glad to be back because there are fun things going on around here at Loopy. I will fill you in on our big news on Wednesday. We also have boxes upon boxes of yarn on its way to us. We’re doing big re-stocks on Louet, Claudia, Trekking, Austermann, Sockina, Apple Laine, Fiesta, Nature’s Palette, Yarn Nerd, Woolly Boully, sKNITches, Perchance to Knit, Wollmeise, Seacoast Superwash Sock, Dream in Color Classy and Smooshy, and Lime & Violet. These will all be arriving between now and the end of October, if all stays on schedule. The non-indie lines will go up as they come in, the rest will go up in Sneak Ups. We also expect some of our new lines in during that time: Oceanwind Knits, Numma Numma, bellamoden, Sheepaints, Colinette Jitterbug (yay!) and more. Also, we’ll have new Yarn Cruisers from Ham’s Jam, more Loopy/Louise/Bart stitchmarkers from Katie, and a few other new fun things, too. It’s kinda crazy around here these days, but it’s all good.

Yes, we have a Sneak Up scheduled for this week! In there, you’ll find: Yarn Love, Shibui Knits, Schaefer Anne, Lola and Heather, Chewy Spaghetti Sport, Trekking, 40″ Addi Turbos, Wendy Knits patterns, Monica Knits patterns, Soak, Loopy Totes, Stone Barn Fibers, Fleece Artist Somoko, Urban Gypsy, and Lorna’s Laces. (See what happens when we skip a week? Too many cool choices for the next week.)

And now for the 4th Quarter Challenge (aka: Q4). The Challenge this quarter is to knit something - socks, shawl, scarf, fingerless mitts, hat, etc - with at least 2 different colors of sock or lace yarn. You could do coordinating heels and toe, or a bit of stranded work, you can make a chevron scarf, you could knit a shawl with a second color around the edges, you can put ruffles on hats or mittens in a second color, etc. (Of course you can use more colors than that.) I know you all will come up with some really fun and creative things for this one, and I can’t wait to see what you do. All photos should be uploaded by Friday, January 4th for voting. Speaking of voting, there are 42 photos in the Q3 Gallery that need voting on! I will draw one name from all the participants to win a $25 Loopy gift certificate. The second $25 Loopy gift certificate goes to the winner of the Knitter’s Choice Award - and that’s where you come in. Simply email me (sheriATtheloopyeweDOTcom) with your vote for your favorite from the Q3 Gallery. You can base it on best adaptation of the challenge (to knit something that was a stretch for you), or favorite color scheme, or most beautiful photo, or whatever makes that one your personal favorite. I’ll announce the winners next week.

Lastly, winners of the “Take Loopy on Your Summer Vacation” contest (photos here):

- best “far away” place that I visited - Sydney (from Kim)
- most interesting famous person that I met - Yarn Harlot (from Meghann)
- most unusual place that I visited - Penny Lane (from Sue)
- most creative photo that I was in - Loopy in peril (from Linda)

Kim, Meghann, Sue and Linda - email me and we’ll get Loopy gift certificates to you for your win. Thanks to all who participated, and voted. Loopy had a fabulous summer, and looks forward to doing it again next summer!

Sheri internetwasoutuntilthisafternoon-thatmakesforalateblogpost….

(Today’s Fall Photo: Zoe, once again, playing with the Japanese Lantern plant. Luckily it’s silk…)

I love this quote that Beth shared with me:

“It was the custom of Lady Bostock, when the weather was fine, to sit in a garden chair on the terrace of Ashenden Manor after luncheon, knitting socks for the deserving poor. A believer, like Lord Ickenham, in spreading sweetness and light, she considered, possibly correctly, that there is nothing that brings the sunshine into grey lives like a sock or two.”

From Uncle Dynamite by P.G. Wodehouse

So think of sock knitting as spreading sweetness and light. I like that. (And for enabling purposes, who can argue with purchases because “I consider it my duty to spread sweetness and light via sock yarn.” Sounds good to me.)

Some of the Loopy Groupies over on Ravelry have organized a Loopy Ewe Swap! It’s open to anyone and here is their website if you’d like to get the details and join up. I think we have such a fun group of Loopies over there on Ravelry. If you’re already on Ravely, come join the group. You don’t have to be an official Loopy Groupie! Go to the “Groups” tab and type Loopy Ewe into the search engine. You’ll find us. Sometimes that group gets the inside scoop on things going on around here. Not that I don’t follow it up pretty quickly with info on the blog for you all, but …. you know. They just get information out of me at times. That’s all I’m sayin’. If you’re not yet on Ravelry - get your name on the list and join us when you get there!

Look who stopped by yesterday for a visit to The Loopy Room. It’s Travis and Jacki - Jacki being half of Cider Moon (and Gail being the other half). They have been on a 2 week camping vacation and were staying in our area. It was fun to have them (and their two dogs) pop by. You can see that Jacki found a few things that she “needed” here. Travis even wound two skeins of it on our ball winder just in case Jacki wanted to start working on any of it before she got home. What a guy.

I’m off to the mountains for five days of cool weather and beautiful trees! As usual, I have packed way too many things that I want to knit. I’m planning on finishing my Alpaca Sox sock and my Sheepaints sock (Sheepaints is due in very soon). I have another not-yet-announced line that I’m knitting up and gosh, do I ever love the fun colors. I have two other potential lines that I’m test knitting and am taking along. I’m also taking my Chevron scarf, and I made the mistake of helping someone else pick out two colors of Fiesta Boomerang for their scarf and totally fell in love with that combo, too. So I may need to take that as well. Note to self: must.stop.starting.chevron.scarves.just.because.I.have.to.see.how.two.colorways.knit.up. Way more knitting than I will ever get done, but heaven forbid that I might ever get close to running out of stuff to knit with time left in the weekend. FPS.

I’ll put up the Q4 Challenge in Monday’s blog, along with opening up the Q3 Challenge for voting at that time. Watch for it!

Sheri I’llmissyouallwhileI’mgonebutwillbringbackprettypicturesoftheAspensfortheblog

P.S. We have a couple of Loopy customers doing some good work to raise money for wonderful causes. (And - they have fun prizes!) Check out Jill’s blog for information on how she is raising money for Making Strides against Breast Cancer. And Aimee is raising money for Lupus with a fun drawing going on.