Ya Gotta Love It #1: It must be a weird week for returned international mail. What’s up with that? First we had a package returned that went out May 27th. It was supposed to be going to Germany, but it ended up in ….. France. And they just now got around to sending it back to us to say the address was wrong. (Of course we had chalked it up as lost and sent another one a long time ago.) The second international return package came from the UK. It was shipped out last December. (Uh huh.) It went to a customer’s business address and they emailed me two weeks ago to say that she was no longer with the company and did we want the package back? (I guess it took them from December until now to discover this?) When we got it back and opened it up today, we discovered an addition to the order. A pair of handknit baby booties and two packages of “Gommettes”. (??) I have no explanation for this.

Ya Gotta Love It #2: The carpet has been put down in the new space and it’s alllllmost ready for us to start moving in. We’re hoping next week! Loopy was so excited about it that he had to take a little lie-down on the new carpet. The Cascade people shipped to us yesterday, so those big boxes should come rolling in the door next week. (5000+ skeins. I’ll take a photo when it’s all put away and beautiful.) And back to Loopy – I was about 2 weeks behind on approving photos for our Photo Galleries and there are a whole bunch of new sock photos and Loopy’s Summer Vacation photos for you to see. We’ll take Loopy’s Summer Vacation Photos through mid-September and then we’ll do all of the voting on them, so get your Loopy photos in soon. (He’s having an amazing summer. You all have been very gracious hosts!)

Ya Gotta Love It #3: It’s a long holiday weekend here in the US. To me, that means an extra day home from work, and more knitting and movies in my weekend (I think. Unless I’m not ready to knit without College Girl yet. So far, I haven’t.) And it also means that orders from late afternoon today through Monday evening will go out on Tuesday, and the next blog post will be next Wednesday. FYI – we have the latest installment of the Sock Club ready to be shipped out to you next week as well. Watch for the invoices to hit your mailboxes sometime mid-week. As always, we’ll ship your boxes out as you get the invoices paid.

Sheri anythingYOU”gottalove”thisweekend?

I’m stuck in a loop. A scarf-making loop. It all started when Claudia came to the Spring Fling last April, wearing a beautiful scarf (made with Wollmeise) that her friend Dani had made. It was so pretty that I decided to make one. (Actually, I made three – here are two, and here is the other – from Wollmeise and Noro. So far.) I thought I was done with scarf-making (having decided a long time ago that one could only wear so many scarves). In fact, not so long ago, I even blogged about my scarf-knitting addiction, thinking that if I admitted it publicly, maybe it would put the breaks on the ridiculousness. Instead, what did I do? I started another one after that blog post. When we unpacked the new Alpaca With a Twist Socrates yarn, it was so soft and tempting that I snagged a skein immediately. I want socks out of it – that’s a given. But I also thought it might make a really wonderful scarf. I was right. I have knit almost a skein and am going to use about half of another. But has turned out to be a wide scarf and you could easily take out a repeat or two and make it plenty long with one skein. (The pattern is once again Wendy’s Feather and Fan Scarf Pattern, available free here. I cast on the full 58 stitches on size 4 needles.) Are you wondering when I’ll go back to knitting socks? I’m wondering that, too. I do have a lot of tempting sock yarn that does want to be socks, so it ought to be soon. One would hope.

Speaking of socks, we have fun new things to put up for you next week. Among them, the September Limited Edition Yarn from Cherry Tree Hill. This is gorgeous and is called “Burnished Berry”. (Top skein in photo). Don’t you love the mix of purples and burgundies and steel blues? We have it in the Supersock Select yarn base, which we will be getting all of the time now. (Softer, deeper dye intensity, and wonderful.) Burnished Berry will go up next week. Also in the photo (bottom), a sneak peak of the October Limited Edition Yarn – “Very Scary”! We’ll have this as soon as it’s available, too. There are just 100 skeins of each of these colors done up in the Supersock Select yarn base, and we’ll have them all here for you.

What else arrived this week? We have lots of new colors of Araucania (one of my favorite yarns, because it’s so soft, knits up beautifully, and the price is great), as well as the new Kaffe Fassett Collection from Regia. (Sometimes I really like knitting up a plain-vanilla stitch pattern in self-patterning yarn, just because it’s so fun to see the color pattern emerge. Aren’t these socks pretty? This is the Exotic Ember colorway. We’ll also have Exotic Easter, Exotic Zany, Exotic Turquoise, Exotic Pool, and Exotic Day going up next week. In other re-stocking news, there are a few basic lines that we let dwindle down a bit while this rennovation has been going on, simply because we’re so short on space at the moment. Happily, we’ve put in new orders this week for many of them so that we’ll start getting them in and will soon be fully re-stocked over the next few weeks, now that we’ll have the new space. (And the Cascade 220 is slated to arrive in a couple of weeks as well – yay!) Plus, more spinning wheels, more indie dyer re-stocks, and a few new ones as well. Thanks for all of your patience with everything while we’ve been working through this expansion. We’re hoping that next week will be move-in week!

Lastly, I want to send heartfelt love and thanks to all of you for your sweet emails, calls, Rav messages/posts, and deliveries. You know that it has been a tough week on a few accounts (including the whole Wollmeise-Wangdoodle, which always brings challenges and frustrations for people) and we’re feeling NO pain because you’ve showered us with hugs. Seriously. Y’all come through in spades time and time again, and we feel so blessed to know you and count you as friends. You’re just the best. (Do you get tired of me telling you that?)

Sheri stillfindingthehousetooquietbutthenoise&commotionatLoopybalancesthatout!

Three things we did this weekend:

1. We took the kids up to college at Taylor University in Indiana. (As a mom, I like checking in on the campus webcam which updates every 60 seconds from 7 am – 5 pm. It’s nice to see what the weather is doing up there each day, and usually you can see kids walking by. One time I actually convinced College Guy to stand there for a minute so that I could see him. He hasn’t agreed to that since. In fact, I think at the time, he told me he was only doing it once. Period. I’m sure College Girl will be more agreeable about such things.) Here’s an early morning photo that WH took while we were up there.
2. Had coffee at Paynes and ice cream at Ivanhoes. (You don’t visit Upland without doing both of those things. It’s just foolish to try to avoid them.)
3. Used up a box of Kleenexes on the ride home. But thanks for all of the hugs and sympathy you sent our way last week. It was much appreciated!

Three favorite ice cream dishes:

1. Trojan Two at Ivanhoes (cookie dough ice cream, chocolate covered graham cracker bites, peanut butter sauce, chocolate sauce. See why Ivanhoes is not to be missed?)
2. Cake Batter Ice Cream from Coldstone.
3. Really, there is no number 3. If I can’t have either of the two choices above, then I’m happy to pass on the ice cream.

Three things that I’m doing this week to cope with Empty Next Syndrome:

1. Reading a lot of books. (I need to take a little break from knitting. College Girl and I spent a lot of time knitting together and so this week it makes me sad. I’ll be ready to knit again next week.)
2. Going out to dinner and to movies and doing other fun things every night this week with WH. (Being home just reminds us that it’s too quiet. I know we’ll get used to it, but right now we don’t like it. We came up with a plan over the weekend to occupy our week.)
3. Packing up lots of your orders and staying busy at work. Thanks for helping with that – y’all are the best!

Three things that went on here at Loopy Central today:

1. Wollmeise Sneak Up #1 (of three this week) has been completed. Thanks for following the “limit 2 skeins of any one colorway per week, per person” rule. That did help!
2. Carpeting for the new space was delivered, and it’s the wrong one. We may not be ready to move in at the end of the week after all. Bugger. Why do rennovations always run into glitches?
3. Not enough emails and mail. (That doesn’t mean that I didn’t get enough – it means that I didn’t get enough answered today. Luckily, I’ll be back to work through more tomorrow.)

Three things I want to tell my kids:

1. We miss you! The house is quiet and Zoe, Gracie and Casey are bored with just us at home. Apparently there are just not enough laps for them to claim when it’s only the two of us. Not that Casey gets a lap anyway, but she does seem to be waiting for “the rest of the family” to get home at the end of the day.
2. Call us any time – you know we love hearing from you often. (College Girl – you get soooo much credit for calling me today – woohoo!)
3. Enjoy your last evening before classes start up in the morning. We’ll be praying for you and we love you bunches.

Sheri doyouhavethreethingsyouwanttoshareorthreethingstotellyourkidstoday?

What happens when you only have one hand-knitted-felted-beloved cat bed and two cats? One gets it to sleep in (always Zoe, the alpha-cat who is half the size of Gracie), and one has to make-do with just touching the edge of it when sleeping. Although she’s quick to jump in there when Zoe is not around. She doesn’t fit her 12 lbs. in there as easily as Zoe’s 6 lbs, though.

What happens when you have two kids going to college and they’re spending all week packing things up? The dining room gets fuller and fuller and fuller and you wonder if all of that stuff is going to fit into two cars. (You’re also thankful that you don’t have to take materials to make lofts any more. That’s a whole other problem.)

What happens when more Wollmeise arrives at Loopy Central? We all decide that this time we’re just going to let it sit here “prettying up” the shelves for a few weeks. We will be putting it up for you next week! This time, we are doing a few things differently in order to help more people get their hands on some. The yarn will go up in three different batches at three different times next week. Each colorway will have a limit of two skeins per person. (You need one skein for a pair of socks or a scarf, you need two skeins for some shawls). Most of you buy in these quantities, but sometimes people buy several and we think that limiting it to what you need for your project will help more people be able to buy some for themselves. Also, we won’t be able to combine shipping on multiple Wollmeise orders any more. It was taking us hours and hours to match all of those up and make all of those changes. This will allow us to get them out to you quicker. We really hope that some of you who have never gotten any Wollmeise will have more luck this way (and we know that those of you who already have a lot of it, fully support everyone else getting some, too! You’re just nice that way.)

What happens when you get an idea that “a little more space here would be really nice…”? A big mess and a lot of noise and then the thoughts that go through your head like, “How are we going to fill all of that up?” quickly followed by, “Of course we’ll have no problem filling it up. Silly.” Part B: What happens when they take the wall down and the new not-yet-finished space is open to the old space? Much noise and commotion all day long. Oh, and Advil consumption goes up around here.

What happens when both kids are leaving for college tomorrow? A: The parents are sad. B: Everyone drives up to Indiana for a long weekend. C: I’m not around to do a blog post on Friday, or to answer emails for a few days. D: Kleenex consumption goes up for a few days. Bugger.

Sheri sotelluswhatishappeninginyourworldtoday?

We’re lucky to have the best people working with us here at The Loopy Ewe, and we wanted you to learn more about them today. I added Susan in to help here after we’d been open for about 10 months or so (before that, my family did all of the helping with orders!). Within a few months, we had added in Vicki and Anna and Sue. One day, James stopped by to shop and commented on “The Loopy Elves” and how busy they were, and the name just stuck. We’ve been fortunate to find a few more great people to help out here in the meantime. They work hard and they work fast and we are so thankful to have them here, helping get all of your orders out in a timely manner. I asked them all some questions and have used different answers from different people to put together the interview for you today.
________________

Loopy: Hi Elves! You all came to be with us in different ways – tell us how some of you ended up working here at The Loopy Ewe?
Elves: Most of us have Susan to thank for letting us know about the job openings! We’re neighbors and friends of hers (or know her from our kids’ schools) and she is always one of the first people to know when The Loopy Lady is looking for more help. Of course Donna and Marianne have different stories. Donna says: “I was shopping at The Loopy Ewe and overheard Sheri telling Susan that they were going to be shorthanded, since someone was leaving. ‘I would love to work here!’ just flew out of my mouth!” Marianne was with Donna that day and says: “I was an innocent in-store shopper (first time shopper, mind you) and the next thing I knew, I was wrapping 300 skeins of Smooshy!”

Loopy: You just never know when we might be adding new Elves in, I guess! What is your favorite thing about working here at Loopy Central?
Elves: We all like the other people who work here. As Vicki says, “Several of the people who work here are neighbors and friends of mine, so it gives us an opportunity to see each other more frequently. The others are very fun to be around.” We all like the flexibility of the job, too. People are always willing to fill in when we need to be off. Mary added: “Driving to work today and seeing all of the kids going back for the first day of school made me realize that I am able to work without affecting my kids that much. My family is the one reason I was always hesitant about working and the main reason I will always appreciate The Loopy Ewe!”

Loopy: Now that you’ve all been here awhile, have you all learned to knit?
Elves: Not exactly. Donna and Marianne came to us as knitters, so they are the experienced ones of the group. Susan says: “I’m a beginner. I’m on Ravelry as ‘Loopyme2′ and have just a few scarves done. Sheri taught me how to knit and Marianne just gave Mary and I ‘purling’ lessons the other night!” Sue came to us as a crocheter, and is starting to knit as well, and Karen considers herself a “rusty knitter” and is looking forward to starting up again. Anna had one knitting lesson with her daughter a few years back and said, “The instructor was very nice and taught us the knit stitch. We set to work. As the instructor walked around the table, she complimented my daughter and then she came to me and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I thought I was knittting – I mean I had a product hanging off of the needles. She very nicely told me she had never seen a stitch like mine. I actually have not tried since that time.”

Loopy: Hopefully we’ll get our “Knit Night” started soon and no one will have an excuse for not knitting any more! Are there certain things you like to wrap in orders, and other things that you don’t?
Elves: This is pretty unanimous, I think! Most of us love wrapping Wollmeise (we like Claudia’s nicely done skeins. Donna calls it “5 minutes of pure bliss” when wrapping those orders) and most of us love feeling the soft Dream in Color yarn, but the tags drive us nuts because they’re always poking through the tissue and ripping it. And we all have fun when Little Loopy goes into an order. Anna started posing him in orders and we’ve all begun doing that. He usually likes to hold on tight to the Loopy Kisses. Smart little guy.

Loopy: What are some fun things that we need to know about Life at Loopy Central?
Elves: Susan says, “Everyone who works here is a little loopy, so that makes it fun!” Karen likes the way everyone experiments with names as they check off the products on the orders (how can you not have fun saying “HiyaHiya” a few times a day?). And all agree that Anna breaking into song over yarn names is one of the most entertaining things of all. (Note – it’s not just yarn names. When The Loopy Lady goes home at noon to let the dog out, Anna needs to break into song – “Who let the dog out?”, too.)

Loopy: Is there anything hard about working here?
Elves: You mean besides the noise and mess of the demolition going on at the moment?? Marianne says it’s difficult to stand there and wind half-skeins of Jitterbug because it makes her stand and stare at the wall of Lorna’s Laces and wonder which color she ought to knit next. (Which then causes her to think that she needs to live to be 150 to knit everything, and at that point, will she even be able to find all of her stash?) Susan says the hardest part is leaving at the end of the day because there’s always still so much to get done. Karen wishes she was taller or the wrapping island was shorter!

Loopy: Is there anything you’d like to tell all of our great Loopy customers?
Elves: Just a big THANK YOU for our job security. You really spoil us and it was fun to meet some of you at The Spring Fling!!

Photos: Top photo, L-R: Vicki (VM), Mary (MG), Susan (SK), the rest in order: Anna (AP), Sue (SG), Donna (DW), Marianne (MM), and Karen (KB).
___________________________

Sheri wanttoknowwhopackedyourorder?Lookfortheirinitialsonyourorderform!

It was so fun to attend Elf Cassie’s wedding last weekend! We miss her around here, after having her all summer long. Unfortunately we couldn’t talk her into quitting school and joining us full-time. (As a parent, that’s a good thing. As Head Loopy, that’s sad.) She looked beautiful and her new husband is a cutie. Loopy was excited to be able to attend the wedding and wish them well. They’re off on a honeymoon to St. Thomas this week, and then will head back to Chicago to Trinity College, to finish two more years of school. We know they’ll be back to visit when they’re in town. (Right, you two??)

The noise mess demolition continues next door. Here’s a picture of our kitchen (it used to look like this) – notice the hole in the wall? This kitchen has to go in order to link the two spaces, but there is another kitchen in the new space so the red microwave and coffee pot will soon have a new home. When I put my camera into the hole, the second picture is what I see. Part of what I see. Hard to believe that this will all eventually come together to make a bigger and better Loopy Central. (No worries – they have big plastic sheets sealed to the walls to prevent any dust from coming into our area and getting into the yarns.) Actually, I took these pictures on Monday. Now the kitchen wall is completely gone. Joe works quickly. In about a week, he’ll take down another big wall between the two spaces. We’ll keep you posted!

As promised, here is a photo of the first thing I have knit with my own handspun. This is roving from The Sanguine Gryphon that spun up just beautifully. Since I spin thicker than I want to (need more practice), the scarf isn’t very long. More of a neck warmer that will look nice with a shawl pin, I think. (Pattern is a combination of a chevron pattern, interspersed with a few rows of garter stitch.) It’s very “springy” feeling, and that’s because I am obviously still putting too much twist into my spinning. sigh. I finished up another skein of handspun as well. This one is from Yarn Love and I love the colors! (Well, perhaps that’s because Katie at Yarn Love took my favorite colors off of my Ravelry profile and made up a colorway for me. Gotta love Katie.) This is YL’s regular superwash. We currently have their merino/bamboo blend in stock and someone emailed me specifically to tell me how much they LOVE this roving (and to tell me to thank Wendy and LB and Julie and Alice for getting me into spinning!) I started spinning up some of the Lorna’s Laces roving last week and am almost finished with that as well. I definitely need to spin more of that. I’ll photo it when I get it done!

Short week this week as I’m out of town on Friday for the weekend. I’ll check back in with you on Monday, when we’ll have the Elves in the Loopy Limelight! College Guy and Knitting Daughter College Girl both leave for school a week from tomorrow. I can’t think about it.

Sheri tryinghardtobuildarovingstashthatrivalsmysockyarnstash,apparently