Yesterday I spent time visiting hotels for our Loopy’s Spring Fling Knitting Retreat. I have learned two things.

1. Most hotels are NOT set up with nice comfortable chairs and a well lit place for 50-60 knitters to hang out and knit. For pete’s sake. And those hard, uncomfortable folding chairs will not do.

2. Finding the right facility to provide that is pricey. (But then again, good concentrated knitting time, visiting Loopy Central, good food, new friends, and a get-away weekend is pretty priceless.)

I may have found a place, though. (Mmmm – cushy leather chairs, wonderful lighting, an abundance of snacks and beverages available all day, fun shops, restaurants and a Starbucks nearby, etc.) I’m checking out one more place in the next couple of days, and then I can finalize and get back to you with information, prices, details, etc. It will be April 24 – 27, 2008 (with an option to do April 25 – 27 if you can’t come in on a Thursday, but why would you want to miss out on Thursday??) More details when they come available.

I’m really having a lot of fun concentrating on RAK’s for the month. Your ideas have been inspiring and thank you again for sharing them. On Monday, you’ll want to leave your blog comments with the RAK’s that you did this week, so that we can do another drawing for another great gift basket.

I thought I’d share a salad recipe with you today that really can’t decide if it wants to be a salad or a dessert. Really, it looks like a salad. But it tastes like a dessert. So you can decide. (I say call it a salad and then have ANOTHER dessert at the end of your meal. ha!)

Strawberry Pretzel Salad Dessert Salad

3/4 cup margarine, melted
3 Tbl. brown sugar
2 1/4 cups crushed pretzels
1 lg. pkg. strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
3 cups cold strawberries (I use sliced, frozen ones)
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 carton frozen whipped topping, thawed

Mix the margarine, 3 Tbl. brown sugar, and pretzels together, then press into a 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Dissolve the gelatin in 2 cups of boiling water; stir in the strawberries (no need to thaw them). Chill just until it begins to set. Blend together cream cheese and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread on cooled pretzel crust. Pour strawberry gelatin mixture over the cheese blend and chill.

We just re-stocked our Knitspot patterns, Zephyr Stitchmarkers (including cute new holiday ones!), Zecca Accessories, and some ShibuiKnits yarn (more enroute). Coming up in next week’s Sneak Up: Hand Maiden’s new Swiss Mountain Silk Cashmere (65% cashmere, 35% Silk – incredibly wonderful), Hand Maiden Mini Maiden (50% Silk, 50% wool), Hill Country Sweet Feet, J. Knits, Schaefer Anne, Lola and Heather, and more Chewy Spaghetti Fingering colorways.

FYI because people keep asking: Noro Kureyon’s new sock yarn is on its way, the next Wollmeise Sock Yarn may be here in December if the post office cooperates, we’ll have more darning eggs in different woods as soon as we can get them, Dream in Color Classy will be back in again in December, along with all of their new colors and their entire new Lace line, Sheepaints, Duets and Yarn Pirate are all in transit, and we do have a lot of fun new lines and accessories on order, too – we’ll keep you posted. (Whew. I think that covers most of the commonly asked questions lately.)

On tap for me this weekend - finish my spinning homework for my spinning class on Saturday, finish a pair of socks that need to be in the mail to someone on Monday (ok, they were supposed to be in the mail this week), and work on projects with some new yarn line potentials. Kind of a knit-filled weekend, wouldn’t you say? I just subscribed to Netflix (they had a 2 week trial period) and have been watching the BBC comedy “Keeping Up Appearances“. It cracks me up! Great for knitting weekends like this one.

What’s on tap for you this weekend? Knitting?

Sheri justhadtodeletetwowholelinesoftextinherebecauseGracie
stoodonthekeyboardanddecidedtoaddalittlegobbeldygookhello

So, I’ve been spinning some more. Three more rovings done up for your perusal. I do feel like I’m getting the hang of it a bit more, but (as you can see) I still have a long way to go to get to sock yarn! The purple and green roving came from Miss Violet in my last L&V order, which was very fun! I love how it turned out. The Purple and Blue is from CopperPot Woolies and I have more from her that I am anxious to work on. The last one came with a colorway name on the band but no company/web address info, and so of course once I opened the envelope and put it on my roving shelf, the whereabouts were gone. (Note to etsy sellers: put your info on the bands so that we can come back for more when we want to!) I still haven’t washed and hung them to set the twist. Consequently, all of the candle jars (there are 3 – filled with coffee beans and candles) and one of my fall glass vases, are lined up along the mantel with yarn wound around the bottom of them. I either have to wash these, or stop spinning. I’m out of temporary places to keep the yarn. My assignment from my last spinning class was “practice, practice, practice”, and I think that I have complied. Now I’m supposed to spin some plain white (boring) roving that they sent home with us, so that at the next class we can “learn to ply”. I never was very good at waiting for things.

I made myself stop spinning after last weekend (actually MOVED the wheel to a corner of the family room) so that I could work on knitting. I am supposed to be shipping off a pair of socks this week and I still have the heel and cuff of the second sock to do. I also made this fun fingerless mitt over the weekend and I love how it turned out. I used Monica’s pattern, (pattern sold out again – more being shipped to us today) along with some beautiful J.Knits yarn (I really like all of the J.Knits semi-solid colorways). Unfortunately, these are for someone else, so I will have to re-knit them for myself when this pair is done. It’s a quick knit and would make great presents. Mitts don’t take a lot of yarn and there are so any wonderful patterns out there. (Monica has others, including a new one that she is shipping to us. Knitspot also have some fun fingerless mitts that we ordered last week, too.) If you’re running out of time to knit socks for people for the holidays, consider some fingerless mitts.

We got all of our new Hill Country Yarns in this week and they’re being photographed today. Wow, I really like that line. Gorgeous colorways! More fun stuff arriving this week and next week, too. But in the meantime, we’re still working on alllll of your Sneak Up orders from this week (you all had a lot of fun, didn’t you? We’re having fun packing them, too!) I also want to tell you that I’m really impressed with how many of you have friends and family members who have already purchased lots of nice gift certificates for you for Christmas. Either you have done an excellent job of being on top of them about this, or there are just some really nice relatives out there. You’ll be happy.

The Random Acts of Kindness comments have been so inspiring to read! I might point out that they don’t have to be “random”. I think kindness in general needs to count, as long as you are going out of your way to do something nice. It’s ok if it’s pre-planned and not exactly random. I did the first random drawing this morning, and the winner of our first $75 gift basket (which will be shipped out to you on January 2nd – so you do have to wait a bit) is: Candace. Congratulations, Candace (and please send me your address so that we will know where to send your gift!) Now, start saving your Random Acts that you are doing this week for next Monday’s blog, where we’ll do the next drawing. I found several fun new things that I want to put into practice, just from reading through all of your ideas. You all are really kind. No wonder I like you so much!

Sheri itmightsnowthisweekend-yeehaa!!

Yesterday at lunch, Knitting Daughter (aka Starbucks Barista) was telling us about a lady who comes through the drive-through line for her coffee and frequently pays for the person behind her, too. Now wouldn’t it be fun to drive up to the window and hear, “Yours is free today – the lady ahead of you took care of it.”? Since I frequent Starbucks quite a bit once in awhile, I decided that I’d do that on occasion, too. Not all the time. But maybe once a week. Which got me to thinking about other Random Acts of Kindness that I could be doing during this season of giving. And then I started thinking about how fun it would be if we all did that from now until the end of December! So we going to sponsor “Random Acts of Kindness Month” here at The Loopy Ewe. Each Monday, we’d love to have you leave a comment about a random act of kindness that you did during the past week. Some people like to do this anonymously (like me), but rest assured that the people you are being kind to probably have never heard of this blog, so you’re safe in sharing it with us. Not only will you enter yourself into a weekly drawing here, but you will inspire all of the rest of us with your ideas and kindness. (And really – inspiring others to random acts is, in itself, an act of kindness, right?) Since you’ve had no warning for today’s contest, I think it’d be great if you’d leave a comment about a RAK (Random Act of Kindness) that someone has done for you. That will give all of us some great new ideas. (Or if you do one today, enter it today.)
The prizes? Each week we’ll pull one name from the list (and if you do more than one act, leave more than one comment – you can be entered more than once) and we’re going to send you a fun Loopy Loot package worth at least $75. (Hey all of you book authors that are Loopy customers – and there are a lot of you! – if you’d like to donate an autographed copy of one of your books to put into one of these 6 drawings, we’d love that! Ditto to all of our Loopy indie dyers and Loopy indie artisans. I’m not going to email you and solicit products – we are happy to stuff the packages right from inventory here, too, but if you want to contribute, it could be your RAK for the week!) We will ship all winners at the same time – on January 2nd. That way we can make sure that all 6 packages are of equal value. We’ll do drawings for the next six Monday posts (including today and ending 12/31. We’ll draw on Tuesdays, so that all of the Monday comments will be included.)

I did go through the drive through today and I did pay for the person behind me. I was hoping that someone who really needed a free coffee would pull up behind me. Instead, a guy in a fancy sports car pulled up. What to do? Because of course I was making judgements about him and his fancy car and the fact that he could well afford his own coffee I wondered if he’d appreciate it? Then I stopped myself. I decided he must need a kindness today, so I went ahead and paid for him and then sped off as fast as I could so I would stay anonymous! And, unbelievably, on the back of my Starbucks cup today, I noticed that it says: “Pass the Cheer. A good way to pass the cheer when you’re on the road is to pay the toll for the car behind you. Do this and you might start to look at stoplights as holiday lights instead. Red means to stop and be thankful for a moment. Green means to out and do nice things.” What a coincidence! But you don’t have to spend money to show a RAK. How about letting the person behind you in the grocery line go first? Or go to the manager of the next store you shop at to tell him or her something nice about the person who checked you out. Or …. well, you get the idea. Share your other ideas with us.

Speaking of winning things, I totally forgot to announce the winner of our November Blog Contest last Friday. I think I was too involved with getting my holiday rules down (and you all added some very good ones to the list – thank you.) The winner of the November blog contest is: Genny. Genny has a fun Loopy credit in her account to spend on her next order. Thank you again for all of your great musical suggestions!

Lastly, we have more fun yarn coming from Cherry Tree Hill. We’ll be getting some very special Supersock, at a really good price (a savings which of course we pass right along to you.) More details when they arrive! We also just got a large shipment of Lorna’s Laces today, which we’ll be putting up. And we’re still working on this week’s Sneak Up for you. It’ll be a good one.

Sheri can’twaittohearaboutallofyourwonderfulkindnessesinthecomingmonth!

1. No one has to get up at 4 am to shop anywhere the day after Thanksgiving, or any other day of the season. There will be more specials and sales during normal business hours in the next month. (FPS*)

2. A big bowl of chocolate by your side throughout the next few weeks will do much for your disposition. You don’t even have to eat any of it. Just having it there will make you feel cheerful. Trust me – this bowl sits out at Loopy Central and we like it here. (Most of these kisses make their way to you, but not all of them. ahem.)

3. You can take off any day or evening for knitting and no one can question you. You’re going to be “working on holiday gifts that need to get done on time” – even if some of those “gifts” are for you. (You get gifts, too.)

4. Calories don’t count on Sundays. Yes, it’s important to watch what you eat during the holidays, so that you don’t gain weight like some people are apt to do. But calories don’t count on Sundays, so make that your day to indulge.

5. Yarn purchases between Thanksgiving and the first week in January all fall under the “holiday budget”. Because you never know when you might need another skein or two of something, or when you might need another knitted gift. So stock up.

6. There’s nothing wrong with “wrapping” gifts in cute gift bags. (aka – “pop them in the bag with some tissue and call it good”). There is knitting to be done and you know darned well that wrapping all of those gifts with paper that needs to be cut and messing with tape and ribbons and such will take away from good knitting time.

7. You can send holiday letters pre-printed from your computer, or you can send cards with just your signature, or you can forgo the cards altogether. And no one is allowed to make you feel guilty about that.

8. At least two nights a week need to be set aside for “Family Movie Night” during the holiday season. (aka – “I need to knit tonight – you know, to get the holiday knitting done – come watch a movie with me.”).

9. Stores and malls are dangerous places (filled with crazy people in the parking lots, and flu germs at this time of year – think about it). You might want to do your shopping online and save the stress and your health. (Etsy is one of the best places to find wonderful gifts for everyone on your list. Or at least the ones you’re not already knitting for.)

10. If you don’t want appliances or kitchen utensils, or another jar of bath gel, or a store-bought sweater that really isn’t your style, then fill out your wishlist at The Loopy Ewe and let people know what would REALLY make you happy this year.

Sheri didIforgetanyimportantrules?Becauseweneedtohavethemallwrittendown.

*FPS (for pete’s sake)

What do you think of the holiday music playing in stores already? I have the firm belief that nothing like that ought to go on until after Thanksgiving. Why rush the season? It makes me shop faster and get out of that store when I hear it too early. That didn’t, however, stop me from putting this wonderful pillow out in the red cabinet in our entrance. My sweet friend Jari made it for us and we will keep it up year-round. It just looks too cute there. (Did you notice that the middle sheep button has red feet? Hee!) Jari is the mother of Indiana Guy, who rooms with my College Guy. It always amazes me how you sometimes get wonderful friends from your kids friends parents. (That was a full sentence.) And she’s a knitter, too. Pretty cool, huh?

So today I thought I’d share the things that we have going up next week, as well as some new lines that will be coming in within the next few weeks.

Next week’s Sneak Up will include: Chewy Spaghetti Fingering Weight, Gypsy Knits, Yarn Love in their new yarn base (it has silk in it and feels incredible), the rest of the Colinette Jitterbug colors, new line from bellamoden, a new batch from Lime & Violet, Sea Silk from Handmaiden, a full re-stock of Dream in Color Smooshy, and five more colors of the Wollmeise Lace (since the post office decided that I could have that big case of yarn after all.) You’ll also find a brand new colorway from Cherry Tree Hill called Caribou Creek (eggplant, slate blue and dark olive – it’s gorgeous). This colorway will be seen in other shops soon, but once again (as with the Cherry Blossom a few weeks ago), Cheryl at Cherry Tree is letting us debut it to all of you first! We also have new sizes of Addi needles, new lace stitchmarkers from Entrelac, and gorgeous darning eggs, hand-made out of wood from a Holly tree (with more eggs out of other woods, coming in the future.) I’ll also be adding the Summer and Fall patterns from our Seasonal Sock Club (under the Wildhorse Farm Designs section.)

Today, I re-stocked a bunch of Trekking, Sockina Cotton, and Austermann Step – I know you all love these lines.

In the coming weeks, we have orders coming from: Hill Country Yarns, Araucania Ranco, Rio De La Plata, Noro Sock Yarn, and new indie dyer Tempted Yarns, as well as roving coming from a few different dyers and a few other surprises. (And of course all of our regular yarns are on re-order – Schaefer Heather, Anne and Lola just arrived, as well as expecting a large order of the new Handmaiden yarn, Casbah, which should arrive soon, and more of their Mini Maiden which is on the way already.) Oh, and some really fun accessories in December, including more pins by Romi, as well as her beautiful silver yarn ball earrings – I’m anxious for them to arrive!

So now you’re almost up-to-date on things going on around here. We always like to keep a FEW things a secret!

For those celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I want to wish you a happy day full of lots of fun, family, good memories and good food. When we count our blessings this week, all of YOU are on that list. We appreciate you and your business and friendships so much.

Hugs, Sheri nowI’mofftoknit.spin.knit.spin-heck,Ican’tdecide…..

I’ve been spinning. Now, I distinctly remember (and of course he emailed quickly to remind me) advising another Loopy friend, James, NOT to get into spinning because it would take away from his knitting time. On the one hand, that is partially true. But have you ever had an evening of time where your eyes and brain were too tired to knit, even though you wanted to? I think that spinning is an excellent solution to this. It’s very relaxing and zen-like. I’m showing you my first two completed “spins”. (What do you call it when you’re done spinning up a roving? Does it just graduate to being called “yarn” then?) The first one was the chocolate/mint color, and the second one was the yellow/blue color. I know that it’s common to put a dime in there so that you can get the scale of the yarn, but frankly, I’d rather you not know. It’s still thick. But I’m working on it. (Ohh, am I working on it.) I haven’t washed these to set the twist, yet. Right now they look like a big nest for my gourds on the mantle. I have ordered a LOT of roving over the past two weeks, trying to find just the right roving indie dyers for The Loopy Ewe. (And there has been some success so far!) I’ll keep spinning so that I can keep trying them out. (It’s a tough job, checking out all of these rovings. It’s almost as hard as checking out new yarn lines. sigh.)

I have had such fun reading all of your great music selections. (The contest is open until this Friday, so add your musical thoughts if you’re so inclined.) You all give wonderful input on things. I remember reading through all of the books that you have loved and adding a whole bunch of them to my ‘must read’ list. Now I have a ‘must listen to’ list, too. And remember all of the great knitting tips you gave me in another contest? And the wonderful things to love about Fall tips? Well, you’re just a fount of valuable information. I have more interesting monthly blog contests up my sleeve for 2008, and I know you all will step up to the plate.

We started filling the two bird feeders outside our family room window again. We usually keep them filled from mid-November until sometime in March. This is Gracie’s first “season” with bird feeders, and guess what she did for an hour yesterday? Sat right there on the back of the chair and watched the birds. (Both on the feeders and in the bush, which is right next to the feeders.) We have a pair of cardinals that we call Fred and Ethel. They have been feeding at our bird feeders for about five or six years now. I’m always so happy to have them back. Plus lots of cute little chickadees and finches, as well as common variety sparrows. We like them all.

Another thing that makes me happy? College Guy comes home tomorrow. Yay!!!

Sheri lotsofyarngoingupinnextweek’sSneakUp-I’llgiveyoualistonWednesday!