I decided that it’s time for an “It Bugs Me” post again. It has been awhile. And what made me think of it? Last night as I was sitting there shredding envelope after envelope of credit card offers, it came to me. “This bugs me.” When you have a family of four, two family-owned businesses, and two college-aged kids, the credit card offers that arrive every day are annoying. What a complete waste of time and money. (Particularly annoying are the ones that contain a piece of bubble wrap to make it feel more substantial like something fun is in there, the ones that contain a fake ticket to “the destination of your choice”, and the ones that have a piece of heavy cardboard in there. I did find a dollar bill in one of them. That was unique.) Credit card offers. They bug me. (And that photo was as close as I could find to a “bug” around here, which is probably a very good thing.)

It also bugs me that I’m having so much fun knitting scarves and there are only so many you can wear. And it really does need to be pretty cool to wear them. You can wear socks on most days (except the very hottest) but you can only wear merino scarves when it’s cool. I finished the Noro Silk Garden Worsted scarf (colorway 282) in a modified Chevron-type pattern and I really like how it turned out. (Knitting with Noro is always an adventure because of the way the colors play out.) I mixed a few different patterns together and came up with my own version: cast on 36 stitches, knit a row, and then start in on this pattern and work on it as long as you want it, ending with a knit row. (I used 2 1/2 skeins for this):
Row 1: K2tog (x 3), K f&b (x 6), K2tog (x 6), K f&b (x 6), K2tog (x 3)
Row 2: Purl Row 3: Knit Row 4: Purl
K2tog = knit two stitches together as one. K f&B = Knit into the front of the stitch and then knit into the back of the same stitch, then pop the stitch off of the left needle.

And speaking of projects completed, here is the Creatively Dyed Seacell Roving that I spun up. This was a colorway from her first roving order here called Forest Path. (We put up more fun new roving colors from Dianne this week.) The roving didn’t bug me - it spun up like a dream. What bugs me is that I feel like I’m doing a good job while I’m spinning it, getting nice even yarn most all of the time. However, when I ply it and look at the finished results, it doesn’t look anywhere near even. I guess I just need to keep practicing. (Actually, given the quantity of very cool roving here, that is not going to be a hardship.)

Another thing that really bugs me is that this is Cassie’s last week at The Loopy Ewe. Cassie is in college and we hired her for the summer (so that the regular Elves could be a little more flexible with their summer schedules.) Cassie is getting married in a week and so her time here is about over. She has been a huge help and we’re going to miss her. We had a Going Away/Good Luck with the Wedding party for her here today, which was fun! (We’re sending her off with one of those gorgeous Atenti bags - the one that she has had her eye on all summer long.) But it bugs me that we’re losing her, albeit to a good cause! (Knitting Daughter has already laid claim to Cassie’s job next summer.)

Let’s end this post on a positive note! Something that makes me happy - our Second Anniversary “Loopified” Sock Kit! These will go up sometime soon (but not today - we’re not ready yet) and we’re happy to show you the photo of what’s in there! We had Jana at Hand Maiden dye up a special colorway on her Casbah yarn base that we call “Loopified” - the red and black are very “Loopy” colors, and of course the pewter color is in there because of Loopy Kisses, which is also part of being fully “Loopified”. We love how it turned out! Then Debbie O’Neill took the sample skein that Jana had sent and developed a cool pattern out of if, which she calls Halema ‘uma ‘u Socks (which is the name of a volcano, since the colorway reminded her of glowing embers.) To round out the kit, we have a Loopy Ewe Coffee Mug (I love the size and shape of this one), a Loopy Ewe enamel pin (for all of you who keep asking us for these), and two Loopified tattoos (for those of us who are too chicken to get the real thing like Lynda did. And like the others of you who have already emailed for permission to get a real Loopy tattoo, are planning to.) A couple of things to note about the kit - we are limiting it to one per person for now. Also, this has to ship as its own order, since we had to pack it in a certain size cube in order to fully protect the mug. (International orders - we will pack the mugs the VERY best that we can in the international padded envelopes, but we just can’t guarantee them because …. well, we’ve seen some of the things that happen to orders going that far afield. Please order at your own risk.)

So, those are the things that bug me (and make me happy) today. What bugs you lately?

Sheri Friday’spostwillbeaSecondAnniversaryContestPostwithWollmeise&otherprizes.
Don’tmissit!

Today in the Limelight we have Josette from Enchanted Knoll Farm. In addition to having gorgeous yarn and roving, she and her family are also living an interesting life in Maine. I know you’ll enjoy learning more about the dyer behind this line!
————-
Loopy: Hi Josette! Tell us how long you’ve been a knitter and how did you start?
Josette: Knitting, for me, was a series of stops and starts at first. For many years, I was convinced that I didn’t want to be a knitter. In fact, I sort of came into knitting by consequence of being a spinner, which was a consequence of raising sheep. When we moved to Maine 12 yrs. ago, we knew we wanted to grow our own food and possibly grow enough organic produce to sell. I also hand-milked a cow for a couple of years and sold the butter/cheese to neighbors and friends. When we bought our cow, a little lamb jumped up in the trailer with her. It had been quite a job to get her loaded and the farmer just waived her hand and said we could have the lamb. That’s how I fell in love with wool, sinking my fingers into his back to pet his wooly coat. I soon added more sheep to the homestead and got my first spinning wheel. Only a few years later, when I had started to accumulate an abundance of handspun yarn, did I begin crocheting again (had done this as a child) and, eventually, learned to knit. Like most things we are afraid of (going down the big slide the first time, etc.), it wasn’t nearly as hard as I’d assumed, and I was knitting along the slippery slope to yarn fanaticism in a jiffy.

Loopy: It sounds like that little lamb knew just what it was doing by jumping into the trailer to come home with you! What is your favorite item to knit?
Josette: I love shawls but end up knitting my 2nd favorite most – socks. I love socks because I need little ‘sessions’ of knitting throughout the day - they keep me sane. A sock, especially one done in a simple and functional style out of some exciting hand-dyed color play, is a perfect start to my day. Well, that and a cup of organic coffee. If I can fetch 15-20 minutes at the beginning of the day for sock knitting and a cup of coffee, I am a happy woman. I find myself coming back throughout the day to work a few rows at a time and re-visiting that sense of peace.

Loopy: What is the most challenging thing that you have knit to date?
Josette: Hmmm…Unfortunately, in terms of this question, I am incapable of remembering difficulty for a long time. It could be due to my naïve nature but I just like to take those things that fill you with angst or make you really nervous and ball them up and roll them away. I do know I have knit some lace shawls that were sort of tense and I think my first sock was entirely frustrating because I had such a hard time conceptualizing the heel. Then, I found Wendy Knits’ blog and have been comfortably knitting socks since!

Loopy: That’s really a nice thing to be able to do - forget angst and difficulty. I like that. How did you go from knitting to dyeing?
Josette: Actually, I went from dyeing to knitting. With my herd of Cotswold sheep, years ago, came some fleece. I had the best summer dyeing up the fleeces and carding them up to spin! It was there that I learned how to play with color, how to formulate the hues and tones, and how to mix and match color. When I knit it up, I figured out how much color and where I would need it for different items like shawls, socks, etc.

Loopy: We like the way you mix colors. How do you come up with your colorways, and do you have a favorite?
Josette: I can’t pick just one. My three top favorites are : Wood Elves (which was created one fall afternoon when I was sitting outside looking at the woods and thinking, “fall in Maine doesn’t look like the autumn colors traditionally depicted in reds, oranges, and browns but is rich with the evergreens and blue skies and golden leaves”), Queen Mermaid – which came about because of my fascination with the ocean, and Esmaralda (because it is a sort of marriage of the earthy ‘wood elves’ and the watery ‘queen mermaid’ in dark, rich color). In short, you can see I pretty much wear ‘color hunting glasses’ everywhere I go. I can’t help it anymore, it just happens. I can see two cars parked next to each other and stop to think, “hmm, look at how those two colors look next to each other’. Likewise, I can be in the garden, walking around the homestead, or just daydreaming and will be better able to recollect what I’ve seen if I can describe it in color.

Loopy: You’re a Color Hunter! What is your favorite part of your job? And your not-so-favorite part?
Josette: My favorite part is that I feel so comfortable when dyeing, knitting and spinning that it just sort of takes me away from everything. It’s like a total state of relaxed calm that I so enjoy. The not so favorite? That would be that the enjoyment of what I do sometimes means that I have a blurry idea of when to stop.

Loopy: It is hard to stop something like this, isn’t it? That’s why we love it so much. Tell us about your family and your farm!
Josette: This may be a long one. The family consists of James (aka Dad) and Things 1, 2 and 3 who are commonly called Emma (15), Gus (12), and Henry (8). We are all spinners, knitters, and some of us crochet. We moved to our homestead 6 years ago, after leaving our farm. In one summer, while camping here, James and I built a cordwood home by ourselves. Our remote acreage is surrounded by habitat for many water birds and other animals so we knew when we moved here that running power lines across the streams would not be an option. We were already committed to walking softly so we felt confident taking the plunge. Our 6 years on the farm had taught us much about caring for animals, growing crops, and generally being as self-sufficient as possible. We started with a very primitive power system and a generator and have since added more panels and solar equipment so that we power the house with solar power and use the generator to pump water. Within a year, we were working on building our actual home (the cordwood would then become the barn – a great round house for the sheep, which they love, because they love to pace. And when you pace a round house, you never have to stop pacing!). Living in our home as we build it has posed some challenges but the pleasure of making your own home a reality is empowering. In those six years, we’ve added a herd of sheep, some homestead hens, and a pig. When not dyeing, spinning and knitting, we grow a 1/4 acre organic garden every year and I can, dry, and preserve all sorts of jams, sauces, and veggies for the winter ahead (which, in Maine, is REALLY LONG). Fortunately, we love winter in Maine. The wildlife presence on our homestead is wide ranging – from an occasional bear to deer, to many species of owls, eagles, and, of course, so many other birds. Yet, we still get internet service, and we’re 5 miles from a town that serves our shopping needs. It’s a good balance for us, we think.

Loopy: Wow. It’s amazing to be living a life like that. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be where you are. So all of you are knitters and spinners?
Josette: All of us! I have made a particular effort not to force the kids or husband to knit. Instead, I went about it in a more strategic way (which is so not the norm for me) and just started to make them things I knew they’d love. Then, when they were sufficiently spoiled, they would inevitably start to ASK me to make them things. That’s when I’d start to suggest that maybe they’d like to learn so they could make whatever they wanted. James started spinning and knitting almost 2 years ago – and both Emma and Gus have been spinning and knitting for about 4 years. We’re the odd family that fights over who gets the spinning wheel next! Last, but not least, came thing 3 who became enchanted with knitting when I gifted him with an Errol owl from Charmed Knits last year. Suddenly, he realized he could knit TOYS! He’s just started spinning on the wheel – graduating from a spindle for a year or so.

Loopy: Very sneaky. And it worked! Are there other hobbies that you enjoy?
Josette: Sewing, gardening, reading, and long walks

Loopy: Your life sounds very filled up. What would be your favorite way to spend a day off?
Josette: I’m having my first day off (three, actually, IN A ROW) next week and the plan is to spend it camping on the beach with the kids and canoeing around the coves!

Loopy: We hope you have a great time and that you get more days off soon!
_____________

Sheri don’tyoujustwanttoholdoneofthosesweetlambsnow?

We’ve had fun getting in more boxes this week! On Wednesday, it was the overload of Possum Sock yarn from Cherry Tree Hill. We have 32 unique (beautiful!) colorways that we have photoed and they’ll be up on the website next week. (What in the world is “possum” doing in sock yarn? Making it really really warm and toasty, that’s what.) This comes from New Zealand possums, which are much nicer looking and much peskier than their American namesakes. They are destroying the environment in New Zealand and using their fur in a yarn blend is one positive that can come from them. Cheryl at Cherry Tree Hill is only able to get the mill to spin this yarn base for her once in a blue moon, so she doesn’t anticipate that she’ll have it again for several more years. The yarn is soft and takes dye beautifully. I can’t wait for you to see the photos. (I grabbed a few skeins from the top box so that I could have a quick blog photo for you. Click on the photo to enlarge it.) This is perfect for socks, scarves, mittens and gloves. For those of you who want to make warm shawls, we still have some possum laceweight left from Cherry Tree Hill. It’s incredibly soft, too!

The other boxes that arrived are the Schacht Spinning Wheels! Silly me, I thought these wheels would come packaged in compact boxes like Louet, and we’d have to put them together. Nope. They come assembled with a box built around them. So you can imagine the space they are taking up here! We have the Matchless Double Treadles and the Ladybugs in. (We can special order the Single Treadles or their other wheels for you.) I’m itching to take one of each out of their boxes and set them up for spinning here at Loopy, but I’m not letting myself. First of all, we won’t have the room to do that until our expansion space is open. Secondly, I need to save this first batch for all of you. But SOON, I am going to have one of those cute Ladybugs with the RED wheel sitting here for spinning. We’ll have the wheels up for sale on the website early next week, too. (It looks like we are only going to be able to ship these to the 48 continental states, and we will ship them out to you via UPS.)

Several of you have asked what scarves I have on the needles. (Remember I told you that I had FOUR on the needles? Turns out I was wrong. I have six.) I have two scarves of Wollmeise going - one in another Feather and Fan pattern and one in a lace pattern that I bought at Knitch a few weeks ago, one in a Chevron-type pattern out of Noro Silk Garden Worsted (mmm - warm and wonderful. I’m using colorway 282), two regular Chevron patterned scarves - one in Fiesta Boomerang (Madrid and Plum Pudding) and one in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport (Jeans and Vera) and my KAL scarf out of Dream in Color Baby (In Vino Veritas) with the Gust pattern. Since I’m almost done with the Noro Silk Garden Worsted, I’m about ready to cast on another. I think that any normal person knitting person would do the same thing, when faced with completing a project. Why not start up another? This time I’m making another Feather and Fan out of the new Noro Silk Garden Sock in that gorgeous ivory colorway. I have a rather goofy looking chenille-type scarf (one of my first scarves that I knit up several years ago - it really needs to be retired) that I seem to grab a lot in the winter. I know it’s because ivory/cream/natural tones go with whatever sweater or coat you’re going to wear it with. I’m doing myself a favor and knitting up a new one with the Silk Garden Sock, so that I can get rid of the other one. (In the photo - the top three don’t really have too much finished. And look at how the Gust heads off to one side in a bias as you knit it. I’ve been assured that this blocks out. The bottom three have more done and are turned under. I really ought to finish some of these…)

So am I alone in this continual casting-on, or are there some of you out there who start new things even though you have other projects going that you still like working on? I know people cast on when they get tired or frustrated with other things, but what if you LIKE all of the things that you’re working on? Does that stop you from starting other things? You’d think that it would.

Sheri besideswheelsandpossumsocks,ourfunnewLoopysweatshirtswillgoupnextweek,too!

We had a great time at the Midwest Fiber Fest last weekend! I headed out on Friday morning (and of course Loopy insisted on tagging along.) Does it mean anything that my knitting bag was as big as my luggage for the whole weekend? I really love that bag. I had to pack a lot of knitting in there, because heaven forbid that I might run short of something to knit. (Never mind that we were going to a fiber festival where I could buy more. That doesn’t count.) My drive up took forever. Chicago is really only 5 or so hours away, but I was driving “in Chicago” for about an hour and a half, between the road construction, the rain, and the rush hour traffic. I was glad to finally get to Crystal Lake, where we were staying.

Saturday morning we had a cup of coffee (Caribou Coffee - yum!) and we headed out. It was drizzling, but fortunately many of the booths were inside. We met up with Adrianne and Kris within the first few minutes and had fun hanging out with them the rest of the day. It didn’t take too long to find the animals. Loopy and I both really liked the angora bunnies that were for sale. I stood and held one for about 20 minutes while talking to their owner. The bunny couldn’t have been sweeter! I tried to talk Janice into getting into angora bunnies, but she would not be swayed. (Seriously - she has the perfect setup for them. I don’t.) Oh well. We also saw two alpacas who were more chatty than any I had been around before. They make a kind of humming noise and these two were humming the whole time we were standing around photoing them. Very cute.

I was happy to find Jennie the Potter in one of the booths, and I bought a vase-type-of-thing to hold needles. I had seen her wonderful pottery before and now have a few pieces of it on my wish list. I posed Loopy by one of the bowls so that you could see her work. She makes mugs, plates, bowls and vases, with knitting and spinning themes and different color options.

We also saw a few different sock knitting machines and this guy was demonstrating how to use them. I have heard that the learning curve is high, but boy, does it ever look fun. Just turn the crank and out pops the knitted fabric. He said it takes him about 3 hours to knit a pair of socks, which includes the set-up and the kitchenering of the toes at the end. Interesting. (I do still like knitting them myself. I just think it would be awfully fun to be able to whip out some samples of how different yarn lines knit up. But then again, who has time to learn to operate one of those things?) This guy is an elementary school teacher and is looking forward to retiring in a year so that he can spend more time working on this machine.

What did I buy? Well besides the pottery, I bought … quite a few fun skeins of yarn! But some of it are lines that we might be getting here so I will keep it all under wraps for now. It was fun to see lots of different options. Here’s a picture of Dianne from Creatively Dyed. She had a great booth set up and it was nice to find her there. She also does booths at Stitches, so you can look for her in all of those places as well. (We just got in a big order from her. The yarn is absolutely stunning - wonderful colors. That went up this week. The Seacell roving will go up next week.) I also ran into Gale from Gale’s Art (forgot to take a photo) and she promises that our next Black BFL order is in the works. We love her roving.

After we had gone through the entire place twice, we decided that we’d had enough (or maybe we decided that we had spent enough - or maybe, like this photo of Janice shows, we couldn’t make up our minds any more) and headed home for an afternoon of knitting and spinning. Here’s a photo of Adrienne giving Janice some spinning instruction (and Kris helping!). Adrienne is such a great encourager and teacher. (She repeatedly said, “Don’t say that I’m a spinning teacher. I’m really not!” But she really is. She talks about spinning things that are way beyond me and is a wealth of information. Which just shows me how much I have yet to learn!) I finished a sock out of Earthly Hues, which I’ll photo and show you on Friday. This is a new line that we’ll put up next week. I also realized that I have FOUR scarves on the needles. FPS. I really thought I was done with scarves, but I keep finding fun patterns for them that I want to knit up. And fun yarns to do them in. Still wishing I could find more time to knit, too. You know, to get all of those scarves done.

I definitely want to go back to this festival next summer and Janice agrees. Who wants to join us?

Didyoucatchallofthefunstuffthatweputupforthisweek’sSneakUp?

Sheri figuredsinceIwasupat1amfortheSneakUp,Imightaswelldotheblogposttoo
Yawn….

Who would’ve thought that socks would look so cute with coordinating toes and heels? Angela, creator of Duets from A Swell Yarn Shop. I know that lots and lots of you have had fun with her great color combinations and unique colorways - not only for socks, but mittens, gloves, and even striping sweaters, which is what someone this week said they were using their Duets for. (I can’t wait to see that one.) I know you’ll have fun learning more about Angela and her business today. (And I will give you a full Fiber Festival report on Wednesday - we had a great time!)

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Loopy: Hi Angela! Thanks for taking time to be in the Limelight today. How long have you been a knitter and who taught you to knit?
Angela: Hi Loopy! My Grandma taught me when I was 8 years old. I didn’t do much with it then, but my mom was quite the knitter while I was in my pre-teens and I joined in and made some pretty good garments…then came the teen years and the needles were cast aside. In my twenties came my little doggy who shivered constantly. He was in desperate need of a sweater, so I picked up the needles to make him a sweater and I have been knitting constantly ever since! He happens to have quite the extensive wardrobe now, I might add! So technically I have been knitting for 25 years, but that’s give or take a few years!

Loopy: We know just how that “give and take a few years” works. That happened to us, too. What is your favorite item to knit?
Angela: Once I discovered socks weren’t nearly as difficult as the pattern made them sound, I always have a pair of socks on the needles (if not two or three)! Outside of that, I do love my cardigans! Chunky ones, fitted ones, vintage ones, and on and on.

Loopy: Socks - no surprise there since you make such enticing sock yarn combinations. I don’t know how you choose which ones to keep! What is the most challenging thing that you have knit to date?
Angela: Shortly after picking up the needles to knit a doggy sweater, I decided to knit a vintage eyelet cardigan. Looking back, I am amazed that I took that on, knitted the entire thing as fast as I did, and didn’t even realize the skill level that I should have had to even attempt it. Goes to show, if you just take a project on step by step, you can do anything!

Loopy: That’s a great story and should encourage a lot of people. How did you go from knitting to dyeing?
Angela: I was knitting with my Stitch n Bitch Group and as the conversation rolled it came up that it would be great if you could get a sock yarn with a different heel and toe yarn all in one. The idea stayed with me for the next 2 years hoping that someone would come up with such a yarn, but no one ever did. I loved the idea so much that I decided to give it a shot! It started off as just a few skeins for friends, then selling out at crafts shows, then yarn shops asking to carry the yarns. I guess lots of other sock knitters wanted coordinating heel and toe yarns for their socks as much as I do

Loopy: It really is a fun look for socks. How do you come up with your colorways, and do you have a favorite?
Angela: My colorways, as everyone knows, change constantly. This is because I dye the yarn based on what I am inspired by at that moment. It can be anything from a flower I see, to a piece of fabric, to a commercial on TV. The colorways can start with just a name or theme or a favorite color of the day. I never know what color I will be dyeing that day. I have been asked to repeat several favorite colorways and I will give it a whirl, but I have found that if I am not inspired to work with those colors, the batch is a flop. It still amazes me how much inspiration plays a part in creating a good colorway. My absolute favorite colorway will always be Hip Chick…pink, lime green, natural and chocolate brown. All 4 of my all time favorite colors right there in my favorite pair of Duet Socks!

Loopy: We know that you like to constantly change colorways. In fact, we probably have taken more photos of your yarn than any other dyer, since it’s always new and usually limited edition! What is your favorite part of your job? And your not-so-favorite part?
Angela: One of my favorite parts of the job is the commute. I used to commute a total of 2 hours a day in traffic. The walk to my yarn work area each morning is all of 30 seconds and I appreciate that every single day. My VERY favorite part of my job is the amazing customers!!! From the Duet Knitters to the Yarn Shops, they are the nicest people you could ever hope to work with. My e-mail box is full of suggestions, compliments, general conversation and great people. To everyone out there, you are the BEST!!! My not so favorite part is that I have to wear pretty scrungy clothes to dye yarn, so I look pretty cruddy during the day. I even scared the UPS guy when he first started delivering the base yarn because I opened the door with latex gloves on, ratty clothes and no make-up…he about jumped out of his shoes at the sight of me! Thankfully he’s now used to it now.

Loopy: At least you have a good excuse for looking that way when he arrives. You didn’t say, “I’m dyeing”, right? Because you know how that sounds… Tell us about your family.
Angela: My family is my hubby who has hand made all the machinery that makes it possible to get the yarn out in the quantities that I do. Without his skills and creations, no yarn shops would be able to carry the yarn. Then there are all my critters (my babies) which include my doggies, kitties and angora bunnies. They are my very enthusiastic and supportive co-workers. They create the unexpected and much needed breaks I take throughout the day!

Loopy: Uh oh. You have angora bunnies? The Loopy Lady is now on an angora bunny kick. Better not tell her. Does anyone else in your family knit?
Angela: My mother-in-law has jumped on the knitting wagon and grabbed on with both reins. She LOVES the Duet Yarns! She had no interest in knitting because she thought wool was just too scratchy. I told her that yarns have come a long way and to just try a pair of socks with my Duet Sock Yarn….now she stops by just to see if I have any oops yarn she can get her hands on. She is a Duet Yarn Junky now!

Loopy: Lucky for her that she has an “in” with the dyer! Are there other hobbies that you enjoy?
Angela: This list could go on forever! I spin, sew, and crochet. I design the patterns for the Lucky Lurker Club. I am part of two fabulous knitting groups. I make candles, soap, lotions, and natural household products. I bake doggy biscuits galore. I garden, compost, and create natural and organic foods. I walk. I play Texas Hold ‘em. I spoil all my critters like there is no tomorrow. And on the weekends, my hubby and I sneak off and go camping as much as possible.

Loopy: Well obviously the better question might’ve been “What don’t you do?” That’s quite a list! What would be your favorite way to spend a day off?
Angela: The perfect day off is on the white sandy beach of Mexico with a Mango Daquiri and my knitting!

Loopy: Anything else you’d like to add?
Angela: While knitting and yarn are a major passion in my life, my PURPOSE in life is to do everything I can to help stop puppymills. So many people don’t even realize where the puppies in petstores or on-line sellers come from. They are from puppymills, which means tiny cages in which the dogs live in filth their entire life, doing nothing but making more puppies. They never get to see the outside or even touch grass or feel what it’s like to be petted. They are abused, neglected, starved and tortured. The only thing that can stop puppymills is to simply never ever purchase an animal from a petstore or on-line seller. These sources will insist that they are not from puppymills, but don’t believe them! Adopt from a shelter or visit the breeder’s home. If everyone simply stopped purchasing from petstores or on-line sellers, there would be no puppymills - it’s as simple as that. I encourage you to do your own research and find out more about puppymills too. Please consider giving a critter a second chance at life … adopt from your local shelter!
—————-

Sheri whotriedreallyhardtotalkJaniceintobuyingAngoraBunniesthisweekend
Shehastheperfectsetupforthem.Idon’t.Itdidn’twork.sigh.

As promised, here are the questions you all have been asking and emailing lately. And because a list of Q&A is just boring, I have added in “detail” photos taken here at Loopy. See if you can figure out what each one is (before you read the comments or the P.S. at the bottom, where I’ll put the answers!)

- Yes, we have the Noro Silk Garden Sock here. We’re photoing it this week and it will go up next week. We have so many bags of it that I doubt we will ever have to re-order it again, but you’re welcome to prove me wrong.
- Yes, we have several hundred skeins of Cherry Tree Hill’s special Possum Sock coming in. We’re getting it in exclusive colors so it’s taking a little longer to dye, but we hope to have it in the next week or two. (Warmer than Alpaca, softer than cashmere, rarer than either one. You need some.)
- Yes, we will be getting the Harry Potter Opal yarns in as soon as they are ready to ship them out. (Yes, we heard about the disastrous flooding, yes that does affect how much of our original order we’ll be able to get, but yes, we already have more on order for the second shipment.)
- Yes, we have more new indie dyers already working on orders for us, yes we have more regular yarn companies that we’ll be adding in over the next several months, No, we are not going to be adding in any more bags or totes, FPS. (That’s a bald-faced lie. We all know that I have bag issues and am always on the lookout for other interesting ones. But with the new space, I have room for lots, right? And I did sort of order more bags today when one of my reps stopped by. ahem.)

Now for the questions that weren’t as easy as yes/no:
- What wheels will we carry? To begin with, Schacht, Louet, and Ashford. At least that’s the plan. The Schacht wheels should be arriving soon.

- When will we have more sweatshirts in other sizes? We have a new style and color for you and we’ll show you a photo when they all come in. We love the sweatshirt jackets that we bought the first time, but thought it’d be more fun to get a new style and color whenever we need to re-order. (Personally, we think a whole Loopy Ewe wardrobe is a fine idea.)
- Can you get other fabrics in the Lawre’s Laine bags? We have more on order.
- When will you have more Dream in Color Smooshy/Classy/Baby in? We have standing orders with them every month, so we get re-stocks of it often. So the answer to that question is always “soon”. In fact, more Smooshy went up yesterday afternoon. Did you see?

- When will you have more of the Loopy Legends in? Angelina (Zen String) is the dyer of that line for us and she has had a busy summer of moving. She promised that we were next up on her list as soon as she has a dye area again. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it won’t be much longer. (And it’s about time to add 12 more Legends to the line - that’s exciting!)
- When will you have ________ in again? (The blank is usually filled in with one indie dyer or another.) We have standing orders in with most of our wonderful indie dyers, which means that they’re usually working on something for us. We keep quite a few here at TLE so that in any given week, we have one or two or several indie selections to update and offer to you. Most can only do orders for us every 4-10 weeks in the quantities that we order (it depends on the dyer), so we have enough different lines to be able to rotate. I can pretty well guarantee that you’ll never find ALL of our indie lines stocked at the same time. They’re all on different schedules and we like it that way. (Because you know, if they were all IN at the same time, they’d probably end up all being OUT at the same time, too.)
- “What’s going to be in the Second Anniversary Kit??” Well fun stuff, of course! We have a special colorway that Jana at Hand Maiden dyed up for us on the Casbah yarn base, along with a pattern that Debbie O’Neill designed to go with that very color, and then we added three other things to the kit as well. The kit is called “Loopified”, because when we’re doing orders each day and we come to one that has a new Loopy Groupie, we say “Loopify them - woohoo!” It seemed like a fitting name to celebrate our Second Anniversary. We’ll share a photo of our “Loopified” kit as soon as we get the last two items in. We’re hoping to have this kit up sometime the first week in August.

And that’s the way things stand at the moment. If you have another question that I didn’t answer, just email. Also, several of you keep emailing and asking why I don’t put myself in the Limelight. That seems a little strange to me, but if you have questions that you’d like to submit for that, I can try to do that sometime. Email me any questions and if there are enough things that you want to know, we’ll work on it. (I mean LOOPY will work on it, of course. Loopy does the interviewing.) Email is: sheri AT theloopyewe DOT com I promise to forward them right on over to Loopy.

I’m heading up to the Chicago area today for a weekend with my friend Janice. We’ll be at the Midwest Fiber Festival on Saturday, in case any of you will be there as well. We’d love to see you! (Note - no email capabilities until I get back into the office on Monday, so I’ll catch up with emails then.)

Sheri canIbuysheepataFiberFestival?Ithinkweneedsome.Don’ttellWH.
AndofcourseIhavenowheretoputthem.Details,details.

(Speaking of details - could you guess what was in each close-up photo? Here are the answers:

1. Loopy’s Eye
2. The heart brad on our needle inventory cards.
3. The machine that spits out all of your shipping labels.
4. Part of the “h” in our “The Loopy Ewe” letters on the wall.
5. A section of the over-sized sock blocker that the Spring Flingers all signed.
6. This one was just a test to make sure you were paying attention….