Yesterday, Adrienne visited The Loopy Room. She lives in Chicago and was on her way to a spinning workshop (how cool is that?) in LaMars. We were talking about spinning wheels when she came in, and she graciously offered to get her Lendrum that was in the car, so that I could try it out. (Knitters and spinners – aren’t they just the best?) She gave me some great spinning tips and it was very fun trying out her wheel. The Lendrum and the Schacht were the two that I most wanted to try out. We made her pose for a photo so that we can start the Loopy Wall of Fame. (Of course I totally forgot to take pictures of the fun people who stopped by today. I must leave the camera out so that I remember….) After shopping hours today, I left Loopy Central in the very capable hands of Susan-the-awesome-assistant and The Elves, and went to my favorite LYS – The Weaving Department. If you live in St. Louis, you know why that’s my favorite local shop. We have some great shops here, but Nancy and her gang have an awesome selection of yarns, always make you feel welcome and appreciated, and are just lovely to deal with. She also sells wheels and looms, and she had a Schacht for me to try. I never should’ve tried it. I was sold on it pretty quickly. It helps that Kay – who works there – was an expert teacher and had me spinning away in just 10 minutes. I think I finally “get” it. It just so happens that they have a spinning class going on, so tomorrow I will go to the class (with my second class on 12/1) and at the end of the class tomorrow, I’ll take my new Schacht home. I’m excited!! (And now I’m in the poorhouse. But I’ll be spinning in that poorhouse, so all is well.) I’ll keep you posted on things as I progress. I have also started talking to some roving dyers, and am excited to have that coming here in the new year!

As promised, here is the decadent Pumpkin Dessert recipe that I promised you. Pay no attention to the 2 sticks of butter on the top. (Well, I mean YES, you do need to add those to the top, but NO, you do not need to obsess about how many calories it might add in to your dessert.)

Christy’s Pumpkin Dessert

1 large can of pumpkin (28 – 30 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (10 – 12 oz)
3 eggs
2 sticks of butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 cup of nuts (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon.

Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and grease it. Pour the pumpkin mixture in the pan and sprinkle the dry cake mix on top. Pat the cake mix down with a spoon. Sprinkle with nuts (if desired) and drizzle the melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (check it at 45 minutes and put a piece of foil over the top if it’s getting a little brown.) Let stand 10 minutes and turn out on a board to cut into pieces, or refrigerate. Great served with whipped topping or ice cream.

And now the November Loopy Loot contest (where you answer my question in the blog comments and I draw a name next Friday to win a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe!) We love having music going here at Loopy Central, and I think we need some new tunes. Tell me your favorite one or two musical artists. (I know it’s hard to narrow it down. Ok, go ahead and tell me however many you want.) For instrumental music, I really like Matt Bachrach and Michael Faircloth. Matt was an artist that I ran across at our mall, of all places. They had him playing on a stage one day during the holiday season a couple of years ago. Michael has played at our church a couple of times. Both are amazing pianists and I think I have collected all of their albums over time. So suggest some new names – instrumental or otherwise, and I’ll check into them! (Note – this isn’t for playing while people shop here, since we’re not “open” most of the time – it’s just music for us to pack orders to!)

Sheri doanyofyouhavedaughterswhospin?IwonderifKnittingDaughterwouldlikethis?

Isn’t this a great sign? On days like today, it’s definitely “Send in the Elves!” day! We love our Loopy Elves here and even on busy days, we have a lot of fun. (Chocolate and Starbucks helps, too.) We did do a Sneak Up last night, and I did send out the Loopy Groupie email. For some reason, not everyone received it and we are looking into that. Some of you might find it in your spam folders, but others must still be floating in cyberspace or lost in the same place that our second case of Wollmeise seems to have disappeared into. Hopefully we’ll have it all figured out before the next Sneak Up. We’re working on it.

I thought today would be a good day to answer questions that I keep getting. (If you know all the answers, you can skip today’s blog and you get an “A”. Come back on Friday!)

“Do the current Sock Club members get to renew automatically, or do they go into the lottery with everyone else?”

I’m sorry for not making that clear. Yes, current sock club members get to renew automatically. You all have been great to work with and we’d love to have you again. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to take your renewals. (There will also be plenty of new spots, as we’re increasing the numbers for next year.)

“Do you know the cost of next year’s Sock Club and how that will work?”

We’re keeping it the same price as this year – $33 plus shipping. For that, you will receive the limited edition yarn dyed up just for the sock club (we use a different dyer or yarn company each time), and a pattern written especially for that yarn. You’ll also get different fun things in each shipment. Most of the yarns are $24 or $25, the patterns are $5, so you’re only paying $3 or $4 for the “something fun”. Those of you in this year’s Sock Club know that the value of these extras has been much more than that. We know you like those surprises, and we have fun finding them for you! Also, next year we will do 5 shipments and they’ll come every other month, starting in March.

“I placed an order last night and another one first thing this morning – can you ship them together?”

We always check your account as we’re doing the shipping labels, because, honestly, this happens a lot. (And we totally understand that!) If you have two or more orders in with us, we will definitely send them together and save you shipping (or delete the shipping if the combined total is over $75.)

“I’m just ordering patterns and the website charged me $5.95 for that. I don’t think I should have to pay that.”

We don’t think so either. When you have just ordered patterns, we ship them to you in an envelope and we go in and change the shipping amount for you. Depending on how many you order, the cost is usually $1-3. When you get your email that says your order has shipped, you can log in to your Loopy account and see how much the shipping ended up being.

“I am an international customer – does it really cost that much to ship to me?”

It depends on where you live. The website will charge you the default rate, but if it’s less than that, we change the amount to save you money. The minimum international rate is $5. The maximum rate for Canada is $10 and all other countries is $16. That means if your shipping goes under those amounts, we save you the money, and if it goes over those amounts, we pay the difference.

“I really really really love you guys. Can you save a skein of Wollmeise for me? Pretty please?? You’re my favorite shop!!”

We love those emails! They make us smile! They make us feel good! They make us use exclamation points excessively!!! (sorry. ahem.) But, unfortunately, they don’t convince us to save a certain yarn for you. We’d love to be able to do that, but of course it’d get way out of hand. We really are sorry that we can’t let you reserve yarn. It would be awfully handy if we could.

“When are you getting more __________ in stock?” (You can pretty much fill in the blank with anything.)

Almost everything here is always on order. Most of our yarn lines and indie dyers are on auto-order, meaning we have revolving orders in with them all the time, as often as they can do them for us. When they get done with one, they are usually already working on the next one. They’re awesome. So if you’re wondering when something is coming in, do feel free to email and ask, but just know that most likely it’s “soon”!

“I really want to come to your Loopy Spring Fling Sock Retreat. Do you have dates yet?”

We’re still working out the details (we have fun things planned!) but the weekend I’m planning for – barring any hotel issues, which still need to be worked out – is April 25-27. Second choice is April 18-20, but we’re trying for our first choice.

“I found a new sock yarn that I love. Can you get it at The Loopy Ewe?”

We’d love to hear about it and we’ll definitely look into it. Email us.

“What new things will you be getting in?”

Ohhhh, there are a lot. We’ll fill you as they each get closer to being here. There is some really great stuff on order!

“Have you bought a wheel yet???”

No. But I do plan to try some out this weekend and then make some decisions. Which of course means that roving for sale at The Loopy Ewe is not far behind…….

Sheri Friday’sblogwillhaveourNovembercontestANDtheamazingpumpkindessertrecipe!

Yes, it’s true – the Wish List feature has been added to The Loopy Ewe, just in time for you to get some really great things for the holidays! Once you log in to your account, you will see the option to add items to your Wish List in the purple box, next to “My Account.” You can email this to people as well as linking to it on your blog. (It’s a cool wish list – photos and everything. Web Guy outdid himself on this one.) Also, if you have something in your shopping cart (the way most of you do, in between visits) and it sells out in the meantime, it will automatically pop over onto your Wish List. We’re still working on putting all of the “in stock” items at the top of the list, and deleting it from your list once someone buys it for you. (Although then you’ll know someone bought it for you – is that a bummer?) Go on over and try it out. I know many of you have been creating wishlists all day long! (It was a topic on the Ravelry Loopy Groupie board first thing this morning. If you are on Ravelry and haven’t joined the Loopy Groupie group, come on over and join up.) We’ll keep working on fun features and things on the website for you. (Ok – there is no “we” about that. It’s all Web Guy. I must be honest.) And the photo of Zoe? Well, because I know that Web Guy doesn’t like his picture on here, I thought I’d show this one instead. Zoe was sitting there for about 5 minutes, just staring at all of the photos. Then she very daintily reached out one paw and patted the picture of Web Guy. She misses him. I thought it was so sweet. (She hadn’t done that before and hasn’t done it since.)

Another thing that we have added here at The Loopy Ewe is the “Hacker Safe” designation. This is a company that employs professional hackers to try and break into websites on a daily basis. They then send an email telling where there might be vulnerabilities (if any). We came out great, but our website continues to be checked daily through this program to insure the highest quality of security for you. When you check out, you will see the Hacker Safe icon on your checkout page, as well as the last time that our website was updated and checked. We always want you to feel secure about doing business with us, and we take your privacy very seriously.

Today was a holiday here in the U.S. (Veterans Day) so no boxes went out. However, we did pack and label a bunch, so it’s a good thing that we have that front entry room to stack them in! In addition to orders, we also have almost all of the sock club boxes done and going out tomorrow. If you are in our Sock Club, be sure that you have paid your quarterly fee. You’ll find it waiting for you when you log into your account. (If you didn’t get an email about it, be sure to let us know. The emails went out last week.) Just a reminder, this Sock Club is full, but we do have a new one starting up again for 2008, and we’ll do signups in mid-January. Since our 2007 Sock Club sold out overnight, we thought the simplest way to do the 2008 one would be to have a full week of sign-ups and then we’ll draw names to fill the spots. That way none of you have to be worried about missing the sign-up deadline, and I don’t have to be buried in emails. Current sock club members, you can renew during that week, too. (Don’t worry – we’re adding plenty of new spots as well!)

The other case of Wollmeise that we’re waiting on appears to be held up at the moment. I’m tired of waiting on it. We’ll put what we have up this week, and the other half of the colors will go up when they get here. More Wollmeise Sock Yarn will be here in December for you!

Sheri burningaJackFrostYankeeCandleinmyofficeIlovethatpeppermintscent
What’syourfavoritecandlescent?

Three things I like about our new Loopy Central:

1. Both cats like it here and are happy to come often. (Never both at a time. I don’t want to push my luck. It’s still kind of something we don’t want to advertise too much.) And Gracie is settling down a bit. I know she looks sweet and innocent in this photo but she still has her moments.
2. Coffee tastes better out of a red coffeepot, and food tastes better out of a red microwave. Strange as that may seem, it’s totally true. I can’t explain it.
3. Red couches. While I can’t see having red couches in my house (but ok, maybe in the basement rec room), they are totally perfect for Loopy Central.

Three vegetables that I don’t like:

1. Lima beans
2. Beets
3. Creamed Corn
(This random “three things” entry has nothing to do with anything. But I really don’t like those vegetables.)

Three yarns that I’m anxious to put up for you:

1. The Wollmeise Lace. This is so pretty and just as addicting as Wollmeise Sock Yarn. Unfortunately we’re still waiting for the rest of our order. I have a feeling that someone in the post office realized what was in there and hijacked it. Not that anyone in the post office would do that. (Oh, come on – if they were a knitter?)
2. Sknitches kettle-dyed semi-solids in some wonderful colors. They arrived today, so we’ll see how the photo schedule holds up for inclusion in next week’s Sneak Up. I love knitting with semi-solids because they show pattern and stitch definition so well.
3. Colinette Jitterbug, which also arrived this week. This yarn base is wonderful and the colors are gorgeous. We have all of the colors on order, and about half have arrived. We’ll put these up next week and the rest when they come in. Have you heard that some of us with larger feet might need more yardage than is available in one skein? (317 yds. in one skein). We’ll also be letting you buy half skeins, because that’s what I need myself.

Three things that aren’t getting done at my house:

1. Laundry (and it doesn’t help that I don’t like doing it.)
2. Knitting (but I’m going to change that this weekend. I have MUCH on my “want to knit” list and it doesn’t get done by itself, FPS.)
3. Raking leaves. (Do you know that if you wait for enough windy days all of the leaves blow into the neighbor’s yard then you have a mess on your hands and it takes twice as long to rake them up?

Three people who came to shop Loopy Central in person today (and all are Loopy Groupies):

1. Lisa from Illinois, who showed me a new yarn we need to look into.
2. Dr. Jackie, who brought me cute sheep slippers.
3. Arlene, who spent a couple of days helping us move in last month because she’s so nice.

Three things that made me happy this week:

1. I discovered Bite-Sized Mint Three Muskateers bars. They taste like a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie. I put the bowl out by our order wrapping area so that I wouldn’t eat them all.
2. Zappos – can you beat their customer service? I ordered shoes last night at 5:30 pm and they were delivered this afternoon at 3 pm. How DO they do that? They’re amazing.
3. I just got the cutest new thing in the mail today that we need to carry here at The Loopy Ewe. I’ll keep you posted on that one!

Three things that I’m going to do this weekend:

1. Not laundry.
2. Not leaf raking.
3. Knitting and drinking peppermint lattes. How’s that for being irresponsible?

How about you? What are you doing or not doing this weekend?

Sheri Zoeissittinginthewindowwatchingthepostmanloadupallofyourordersfromtoday
somuchforbeinghereincognitobecauseofthe”nopets”thing…

Dear Spinning Pushers (aka: Wendy, L-B, Alice and Julie),
I feel it is necessary to write and tell you that I do not appreciate being introduced to spinning last weekend at Graves Mountain. I have very consciously resisted learning to spin for the following reasons:

1. I do not have time for another activity.
2. I do not have money for another activity.
3. I do not have space for roving stash.
4. I do not feel a need to make my own yarn.
5. I am perfectly content with knitting.

Since learning to spin last weekend (and you all know that I am totally pretending that I “learned” -we all know how much farther I need to progress to really make that statement true), I have done the following things:

1. Bought a drop spindle. (Despite the fact that I didn’t even particularly care for the spindle method. Somehow the beauty of drop spindles caught my eye.)
2. Bought roving. (Oh, not one. But several. FPS.)
3. Read a bunch of stuff about wheels, trying to figure out which one I need. (“need”)
4. Contemplated carrying roving at The Loopy Ewe. (Not that we have the shelf space for it.)
5. Had this conversation with my mom and husband:

Mom: “Have you thought of anything on your Christmas list?”
Sheri: “No, not really. I’ll have to think about it.”
Mom: “How about some money to put towards a spinning wheel?”
Sheri: “Oh, I’ll have one before then.”
Wonder Husband: “Ha! Of course there is no waiting on something like that when she gets it in her head.” (Yes, as a matter of fact we HAVE been married for over 20 years – why do you ask?)

So, you see, Spinning Pushers, you have pulled me into something completely against my will, which obviously is not good for me, and obviously has taken a serious hold on me. I should never have made the trip. I should never have watched you all spin and contemplated the peace and serenity of it all. I should never have picked up that roving and spindle. Now look at the mess I’m in. Sigh.

Sincerely,Sheri IknowyouwillblamemeandsayIwantedtolearn,
butyoushould’veknownbetterandtoldmenoFPS!
Iamforeverholdingyoufourresponsibleforthismess

Shoot. I liked spinning. I knew I would. This is not good news. It means that I think I need to get a spinning wheel (any advice?). It means that I think I now need roving. It means that I get to look for pretty spindles (because I “need” one or two, even though I will eventually get a wheel. Know what I mean?) Here is my drop spindle spinning from my first attempt. I thought, “Oh, the wheel will be SO much easier than this!” But of course they made me learn on a drop spindle. When I tried the wheel the next day, I was having trouble getting the roving pulled out thin enough, fast enough. Everyone assures me that I will get better at this. (right?) I must say, Blogless Julie and Alice are such an inspiration. I could sit and watch them spin all day long, and get all of the relaxing benefits of spinning vicariously. They were amazing.

But back to the weekend in Virginia at Graves Mountain. First of all, Janice and I spent the night at Lucy’s house. (Ok, Wendy was there, too. But Lucy clearly rules that roost.) You might think that Lucy chose to sit on my lap because she liked me so much. The truth of the matter is that I was sitting in the KOARC’s spot and she was missing her daddy – so I was the stand-in lap. (She climbed into Janice’s lap when she sat in that spot, too.) But I pretended it was just because she and I bonded so well and she wanted to sit with me. Yes, she is just as soft as she looks to be in all of the pictures. And she has a lot of favorite places to sleep around the living room. She also has a fondness for bran muffins and plastic milk jug rings (or anything that resembles them.)

Friday morning it was on to the mountains. We spent much of our time sitting right here, knitting by the fireplace in the lodge room. (At night we invaded Wendy and L-B’s cabin and knit over there. It also had a fireplace, although it was a little dangerous. L-B is such a good firemaker that she had sparks shooting out of the chimney one night. But I digress.) Do you see the package of St. Louis Bear Poop on the table? L-B had us so ready to see bears there that weekend. Apparently she and Wendy saw a bear by the dumpster last year, so we were forewarned about the possibilities. When I saw this bag of St. Louis Bear Poop at the airport, it seemed appropriate to take with me. I’m sure you want to know if we saw a bear? The answer is YES, we did, actually. It was on our way down off the mountain, and we caught site of 2 black bears in the woods along the road. I did my darndest to get Wendy to turn her car around and go back so that I could get photo evidence of those bears – but she wouldn’t turn the car around. Something about us eating our box lunches and me threatening to feed food to the bears, and her being afraid that they might attack the car to get to our food. (I was just kidding about feeding them, Wendy. Honest.) So to make do, I had to insert this photo of the bearskin that hangs on the stairway to the dining room instead. Just to give you the feel for the bears in the area. L-B made us put our hands in his mouth every time we passed by, “for good luck”.

I love spending a weekend knitting. I’m trying to figure out a way to do this once a month. Shouldn’t we all get a “knitting weekend” at least once a month? I worked on my Chevron Scarf (I’m determined to finish it so that a) I can wear it this winter and b) so that I can start another one with two more colors that I have already picked out in Fiesta Boomerang.) I also finished a sock in a new yarn line that will be arriving soon (and I so love how it turned out. I’ll show it to you when the yarn comes in.) I also worked on two more socks in two more potential yarn lines for The Loopy Ewe, and both were winners – so we’ll be working on getting those lines in here as well! Lastly, I started a Moebius Shawl with some Wollmeise, that will take awhile to get through. (just 40 rows, but about 420 stitches. And I get tired of knitting in the round, around and around. It’s why I’m not good at making felted bags, although I love the look of them and love using them.)

Here’s our group photo with the fireplace that we sat in front of all weekend. Somehow we were able to get this prime spot every single day, and we made the best of it. From left to right – Janice (who worked on socks and bags this weekend), Alice (who inspired us with the sweaters she was working on), Wendy (who designed and knit up two sock patterns this weekend), L-B (who worked on beautiful mittens for Wendy), Julie (who knit up some gorgeous snowflake coasters, did a hat for charity, started a cool coat, AND did a lot of spinning), and me. Maggie the sheep (with L-B) just sat and smiled at everyone all weekend. I want to find a Maggie – she was so cute.

This weekend made me anxious to get our Loopy Spring Fling Knitting Retreat pulled together for next year. It was fun to meet all of these knitting friends that I’ve gotten to know over the past year, and it will be fun to meet YOU, too! I have some more research to do before I lock into a final hotel and can share details, but for those of you who keep asking, we will probably have it either the third or fourth weekend in April of 2008. I’ll share more information and start sign-ups as soon as I can!

Lastly, this week’s Sneak Up will include: All of the Dream in Color Smooshy colors, all of the Dream in Color Classy colors, Zen String Bellissima Lace, and Yarn Nerd. Next week’s Sneak Up: Oceanwind Knits, Wollmeise Lace, Duets, Woolly Boully, and some fun accessories. So far. More expected.

Sheri nowgoingofftodosomeresearchonspinningwheels.Darnit.