What a full week it has been! A fun Christmas (I have some cute gifts to show you on Wednesday – you might want to put these two artisans on your “future gifts” list), and a fun time in Iowa. We spent a couple of days with WH’s mom in Clinton. (With Iowa being the hot-bed of political focus right now, both Obama and Edwards were in town the day we were there.) On Friday, we mostly stayed inside and watched 8-10 inches of snow fall all day long. Isn’t it beautiful? (Great knitting weather. I have new socks to show you later in the week, too. Finished the Noro sock and am totally in love with it. So much so, that I’m starting the second one tonight. And you KNOW that means something. I’m the Queen of the Single Sock.) While we were visiting WH, College Guy set up a laptop for his grandma, and gave her some important lessons. All appears to have gone well with that. (Notice that her office has a RED wall. I liked it a lot!)

On Saturday we traveled across Iowa (in some weird white fog) to attend the wedding of our godson and his beautiful bride. We’ve known this handsome guy since he was just a few days old, and met his wife-to-be this past spring. Aren’t they a happy looking couple? It was a joyful wedding and we are so happy for both of them. This is the son of our good friends Steve and Janice. Want to see more photos? She blogged some fun ones! “Small World Moment” – when I saw a friend from high school scooting into one of the pews for the wedding. Then I realized that she was a teacher at their high school and must’ve had the bride in class. “Smaller World Moment” – when it dawned on me that my high school friend’s last name (her married name) was the same as the bride’s maiden name and realized they must be related. (Yep – she’s an aunt by marriage.) What a small world.

On Sunday, we hung around for brunch and talking. Here is a picture of three of my favorite kids. (Only two are mine, but I’d gladly claim the third. She’s Iowa Girl, sister to the groom.) They’ve all been good friends their whole life. Do you have any friends like that, that you have known your whole life? My oldest friend that I’m still in touch with is actually Steve, father of the groom and father of Iowa Girl. (Also father of Iowa Guy, not pictured.) We met in Junior High. (This was before he and WH met and became such good friends, so I get to claim being Steve’s oldest longest friend.) Other than that, my oldest longest friends go back to high school days.

Today is our last Random Acts of Kindness reporting day. I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed reading all of the kind things that you have done over the past month. This contest really has helped me to keep it on my mind and continually look for ways to make a difference to others. One of my plans for tomorrow is to figure out a plan for each month of 2008 and what I can do to make a difference. Please leave your RAK comments (and your other comments!) below, and I’ll do one more drawing on Wednesday of this week. The winner for last weeks’ drawing is Barbara in LA. Congratulations to you! We’ll plan to get all of the drawing gifts out the end of the week. Thank you all for participating!

Sheri noSneakUpthisweekbutthenexttwoweeksaregonnabedoozies!

Just a quick blog today to remind you to leave your RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) comments from last week. Remember, we’re all trying to make December our month to go out of our way to pass on kindnesses (or “Pass the Cheer” as Starbucks advises.) I’ll announce the contest winner (drawn from all of today’s comments) on next Monday’s blog if I don’t blog again before then. I’ll have lots to tell you about when I get back!

I want to wish every one of you a blessed holiday season, with lots of special times with your families. (And a Merry Christmas!) We’ll have a whopping Sneak Up for you when things get back to normal after the holidays. (Probably the first full week of January.) The new Dream in Color colors arrived in Classy, as well as all of the Dream in Color Baby Lace. Plus, the Cherry Tree Hill DK weight one-of-a-kind colorways that we’ll have on sale for you, Romi’s gorgeous earrings and pins, Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and all of the things I listed in the last blog. Ohhh, it’s gonna be fun!

Sheri finishingordersfromtodaythengoinghometomakecookies!

Susan-the-awesome-assistant gave me this today and I couldn’t love it more. Doesn’t everyone need a Panic Button? Plus, when you have Hoops and Yoyo telling you to “stay calm, stay calm, stay calm” until they change their mind and tell you to “PANIC!!!”, it only makes you laugh. This will come in so handy here at Loopy Central. You know, when the phone is ringing off the hook, or the mailman arrives too early, or a skein of yarn goes missing, or …. you’re trying to settle all of the attendance details of The Loopy Ewe Spring Fling Knitting Retreat. Stuff like that. I hit that ol’ Panic Button a lot today. But I think the Fling is finally finished. (I haven’t emailed anyone yet. Don’t hit the Panic Button if you haven’t heard from me yet. I’m doing that next.)

So, the Fling. Just a few bits of information so that you know how it went.

- We had a lot of people sign up. (We love that!)
- There are not spots for everyone. (We knew that. But we still don’t like it.)
- This is being put on as a Customer Appreciation Event for The Loopy Ewe. What that means is that we didn’t pad anything in the price to make money from it. (Not that any of you complained about the price – which was nice. But I still wanted to tell you that we’re just covering our costs – nothing more, nothing less.) And it’s not a knitting convention with classes and markets, open to anyone who wants to pop by. It’s a way for us to give back to you, our wonderful customers. It’s, 1) a weekend knitting retreat at a hotel and 2) a way for out-of-towners to be able to visit us here, since you’re not in town and able to pop by whenever you want (although we do have a few great St. Louis customers spending the weekend with us, too) and 3) a way for us to be able to put faces with the names that we have had fun “getting to know” over the past year and a half and 4) a chance to have some knitting fun together. Those were our goals when we set this up.
- Since it’s a Customer Appreciation event, Loopy Groupies did get an extra ticket in the lottery. It wasn’t a guaranteed “in”, as we have many non-Loopy Groupies who will be coming, too, (and probably a few Loopies who didn’t get pulled) but it did give you a leg up. Also, any of our indie dyers who wanted to come, got an extra ticket, because we sure appreciate them, too! Lastly, those of you from other countries who signed up – I’m so impressed that you’re willing to come all this way to visit us here. What fun! You got an extra ticket, too.
- We have a good sized Waiting List and I fully expect some cancellations, so some of you will still get in.
- Because I’m a sap, I did add five extra spots to the weekend. I just hate telling people no, and that was five less that I had to disappoint. (I’m fully capable of saying no, however, so don’t think you now have me figured out. Ask WH and my kids.)
- Wendy and Cookie have graciously agreed to each add a FOURTH class to their schedules, because I saw so many of you on Ravelry talking about wanting to take both of the classes. I’m hoping that this will allow many of you to do that. (Yay, Wendy and Cookie!)
- We’re really excited that you want to come, and we’ll do our best to make it a great weekend for you.

I think that’s it. Now I need to start sending out the emails (you’ll hear from us either way. If you haven’t received notice by tomorrow – Saturday, please email me, as it means your email didn’t go through). I’m not sure about the blog schedule next week, as we’re taking some time off (although your orders will still go out!) and we’re heading up to Iowa for a wedding next weekend. I’ll check in via the blog if I can. (Well, I’ll do a quick blog on Monday, so that you can post your RAKs for the week.) I hope we all keep these up even after the holidays are over. Someone mentioned in one of the comments this week, how people are more conscious of helping other (with clothing or finances or extra time or whatever) during this season, but there are still so many needs out there in January and April and September (and all of the other months of the year.) I’m hoping that this has put me in a better habit of reaching out and sharing all year long. I’m working on that.

Sheri hopingtodosomefuncookingthesenextfewdayssothatIhavenewrecipestoshare,too

It has been awhile since we did a Three Things post, so here goes:

Three things you asked about or commented on in your blog comments on Monday:

1. “Are you and the Loopy Elves getting time off over the holidays?” Definitely! Pretty much everyone is working a half day or two so that we can get orders out, but no one is on a regular schedule or working normal hours. (And we know you’ll all completely understand if order shipping is a teeny bit slower than normal during this time. We do reserve the right to close shop during Spring Break, however, as it seems like most of us are going away that last week of March……..) And working here this week has been SO fun because you all keep sending us things! Today we had Venti Starbucks coffee all around, because some sweet St. Louis Loopy Friend anonymously send us a group Starbucks gift certificate (thank you!!), and we have been enjoying fudge, hand-dipped chocolates, cookies, Sees Lollipops and toffee, and chocolates from Switzerland. Does it get any better than this? You all are so wonderful. No wonder we love you so.

2. “My RAK this week was just a little thing.” There’s no such thing as a little RAK. Everything you do means something special to someone, and they all add up! Don’t ever feel “bad” of “guilty” posting a RAK. Everything is meaningful to the recipient. (Are you all reading some of these entries? Really, it’s just amazing.)  Winner of this week’s Loopy Loot Gift Package for the RAK contest is Kristi in OH!

3. “Are you doing a lot of holiday knitting?” Um, no. Although I had great plans up until a month or so ago.

Three things I don’t want for Christmas:

1. A Chia Pet.
2. Any appliances (unless they’re red).
3. A full time housekeeper. (Oh, ok. That’s a lie. I’d take one.)

Three things about Loopy’s Spring Fling:

1. Signups definitely close on Friday morning, as we had more people than spots by Monday evening already. Maybe we need to do a Fall Fling, too. We’ll see how the Spring one goes, first. We’ll email everyone Friday afternoon after the Lottery. (I know, I know. Lottery. Bummer. We really will think about doing a Fall Fling for another group of you.)

2. It has been so fun seeing so many Loopy Regulars sign up, and now we just wish ALL of you could come. We’re really looking forward to meeting you!

3. No, Zoe and Gracie won’t be visiting Loopy Central when you’re here to shop, but they do appreciate the fact that so many of you would like to meet them in person. This notoriety is kind of going to their heads.

Three things I’m tired of this holiday season:

1. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.
2. People trying to be politically correct with “Happy Holidays”. Can we just say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hannukkah”?
3. Seeing “Write Christmas Letter” on my to-do list. FPS. I’m running out of time.

Three Six things that have arrived this week and will be up in our next Sneak Up (first week or so in January):

1. Roving by Sakina Needles
2. Casbah Sock yarn from Hand Maiden
3. Perchance to Knit Sock Yarn
4. Yarn Nerd Sock Yarn
5. Oceanwind Knits Sock Yarn
6. Hams Jams Bags

(and of course lots on order that will probably be in between now and then, too!)

Three fun things to end the post with:

1. Baby Monkey Socks and Monica’s Child-Sized Fingerless Mitts are finally up on the Free Patterns page.
2. Mountain Colors Bearfoot will be arriving here any day. I love this yarn! This is the one I hinted at a couple of weeks ago, where I said it was the yarn I used in my second ever pair of socks.
3. We have two cool new Loopy Ewe items for you in the next Sneak Up.

Anyone have three things to tell me?

Sheri goingtoknittonight.AfterIwriteourChristmasletterofcourse.

We did get 8″ of snow this weekend! It was so pretty falling on Saturday. Knitting Daughter and WH were working, so College Guy and I went shopping in the snow. Still not done with Christmas shopping, but I’m getting closer. I also spent some time spinning and knitting. These Noro socks are really fun to knit. In fact, I was having so much fun watching for the next colorway to emerge that I probably made the cuff of these socks too long. Oh well. I am knitting these on size 0’s and getting 9 st. to the inch. I got 8 st. to the inch on 1’s, but it felt like the knit material was a little too loose. I like it done on the 0’s, better. This is color S185. We have lots in stock and more due in any day, so you ought to be in good shape for getting it here as soon as we get it put up for you! (Added later: Noro is up – go see!)

These RAKs have been so interesting to read. I find that I’m frequently saying, “Oh my gosh.” As in, “That’s a great idea!” or “What an amazing and giving person she/he is.” or “I need to be doing that, too.” And I have loved all of your blog comments, but also all of your emails as well. It has alao been fun to help many of you do some yarn-y type things anonymously. I had one email last week and she wanted me to share this with you. I do agree with her that giving sacrificially is a really nice thing to do and kind of the “next step up” in RAKs. Read and see what I mean:

“Hi Sheri- have been thoroughly enjoying the RAK challenge on your blog- you’ve inspired me to sacrificial giving- and I’d like to put out a challenge to others- to do the same… RAKs can be big or small…. but what’s really changing me in practicing this– is by making them sacrificial… not just giving out of abundance- but giving as a sacrifice.

Recently a knitter on ravelry had his entire stash raided and stolen…. (long story). I knew I’d be sending out yarn.

First, I looked through my stash to see what I could spare— then I saw my gorgeous skein of Wollmeise. Wollmeise has to be a healing balm in any situation- don’t ya think? (Of course I bought it from The Loopy Ewe) I already pkged it up- It’s shipping to him in the morning.

I know- I know it’s just yarn- but I cannot tell you how good it feels to know he’ll be delighted- (oh man- I hope so) and that this little sacrifice might bring a little Christmas cheer into his life.) I’d love to anonymously challenge others to step up their RAKS to something that is a bit of a sacrifice…. and see how wonderful that feels!”

I know that many of you have already been doing RAKs that stretched you. Remember that giving sacrificially doesn’t have to involve money – it might also mean sacrificing some of your TIME to help someone else out. It’s a whole different level of feeling great about helping others, isn’t it? Keep up the great work! You all just inspire the heck out of me. Leave your comments today on the RAKs that you’ve worked on this past week. Again, on Wednesday, I’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner of this week’s Loopy Loot gift package. I know that’s not why you do RAKs, but it’s meant to encourage you to share your RAKs and ideas with all of us so that we can do them, too!

I’ve been doing some spinning, too. Not too much, because of the volume of knitting that needs to be done. But here is my latest and I love this colorway. I have a spinning area set up in the basement (actually, the very first Loopy Room space – I’ll have to photo it for you.) I’m hoping to do more spinning over the holidays, as I have a long way to go in order to get good! But I’m working on it. Are there any St. Louis spinners out there? I’m thinking of doing a monthly evening “Spin In” here at Loopy Central.

We’re ready for preliminary signups for Loopy’s Spring Fling Knitting Retreat! We’re leaving them open until Friday morning. We’ll get back to you by Friday of this week to confirm your spot. (Why not just take the first 60 signups? I didn’t want you to have to stay glued to the website and battle for a spot!) Your deposit isn’t due until January 15th, and we’ll send you a bill for that. Go check it out. We have Wendy and Cookie coming to teach classes, and lots more fun things planned. We can’t wait to have you here!

Sheri WebGuyisprintingpostage/addresslabelsforyourorderstoday.Nicetohavehimhere!

We have a lot of fun working here – we really do. (And can you even call it “work” when it involves so much yarn??) So I *think* that this sign was left on Loopy in jest, yesterday. There are some Sneak Ups that stretch everyone, and these awesome Elves busted their tails this week to get all of your orders out to you in a timely fashion. It cracked me up to walk by Loopy one day to see this “Free the Elves!” apron tied around his neck.

Once again I’m a happy mom, as I have both kids under one roof again. I just sleep better at night, knowing their bedrooms are full – know what I mean? (Well – those of you who have had kids go off to college or out on their own know exactly what I mean!) College Guy came home last night. I know he will need a few days to catch up on post-finals sleep, but then I have a list for him. (Shhh – don’t tell him. He thinks he’s home on break.) I just re-read that and realized that many of you will email or leave blog comments telling me to “let him have a nice relaxing break” and trust me, I will. I’m just kidding about the list. (sort of).

The Baby Monkey Socks have almost returned! We had a bit of a glitch (called “transferring everything from an old computer to a new computer and losing some of the important things in the process.” AKA “transferring things from old to new and some idiot the computer owner not being able to find everything she needs on the new computer.” AKA “Web Guy is not here to find it when I need it.” FPS.) I have the pattern back and we’re working on formatting it to get up on the Free Patterns link asap. I’m so sorry for the wait. We also have a wonderful new fingerless mitts pattern for children that Monica (of “Monica Knits” pattern fame) has given to us out of the kindness of her heart. So we’ll be getting that up as well.

Update on other things that you have been asking about:
- When will you have more Fiesta Boomerang and Baby Boom? They been backordered since the end of September, but we do anticipate getting our order in late this month and will be fully re-stocked.
- When will you have more Sock Blockers? They are never out of stock for TOO long because WH makes them and can get them turned around pretty quickly for us. So if you’re waiting for a particular size/style and want to know when we’ll have them again, it’s always “soon”.
- How does the Noro feel? Softer than regular Noro, not as soft as most of our sock yarns. How does it feel after washing? I’ve heard it softens up a lot and when you put the socks on your feet, they feel great.
- When is the roving coming in? We have that amazing alpaca roving from Alpaca With a Twist now. We also have our first Sakina Needles shipment on the way, and more coming from Tempted and … a couple of others. It is so fun to have roving in the shop!
- Do you have the new Dream in Color colorways and lace yarn yet? No. Our order of Classy came in yesterday, but we’re still waiting on the rest. We will get it up asap when it arrives, but it might not be next week after all. We’ll keep you posted.
- Are you going to be shipping the week after Christmas, or are you taking that week off? We’ll be here and we’ll be shipping. We also have another great sale opportunity for you from Cherry Tree Hill in their DK Sock Yarn (again, with special limited edition colors, only available here. Cheryl at CTH said, “Tell them we’re setting those dyes aside just for The Loopy Ewe and your customers!”) I have another idea that I’m cooking up, too. We’ll see if we can get both of those things ready for you the week after Christmas. If not, then the first week in January.
- Did my husband/mom/dad/grandparents/aunt/uncle/kids/best friend buy me things from my Wish List? Or a Gift Certificate to The Loopy Ewe? We’ll never tell. (You didn’t really think we would, did you?) But the answer to most of you is probably yes, as there has been a lot of holiday shopping going on.

I think that’s it for questions I keep hearing lately. Did I miss any?

My plans for the weekend? Working on some Noro socks so that I can show you a sample on Monday’s blog. (Plus watching movies and hanging out with my family. I love nights like that. And we’re due to get bad weather, so that makes staying in even more fun.) Your plans for the weekend?

Sheri drinkinghotchocolateasItype.See?NoteverydayisaPeppermintMochaday….