I know, I know. You’re supposed to bring your kids up so that they have wings to fly on their own – and that’s a good thing. (That’s a good thing. That’s a good thing.) I really appreciated all of your comments on last week’s blog (and all of you who sent personal emails about it, too). Each new stage takes a little getting used to, but I know that things all work out in the end. Like many of you, WH and I are pretty attached to our kids. I remember when it was hard to send them off to camp or on a mission trip for a week in the summer. (FPS. Now that seems so laughable!) Then we had to get used to having them off to college and “only” getting to see them every month or two when they had a break or a long weekend. (FPS. Now that seems like a luxury.) Having Web Guy move 18 hours away and not having the chance to see him as often is sad. But I know we’ll all adjust. (WH and I will adjust. Web Guy has already completely adjusted just fine, of course.) I think of all the situations that we could be facing instead, and I know I’m lucky that this is how things are. He has a great job (Deerfield Beach, FL area, for those of you who asked), he has a nice apartment to live in (and I’m really glad that I got to see it this weekend), and he’s happy. It’s all good. And he will definitely continue on as Web Guy at The Loopy Ewe. We couldn’t do this business without him!

I kept my mind occupied on the flight home last night by immersing myself in a murder mystery. That kept the tears at bay! (Crimson Eve by Brandilyn Collins. I read the first two books in the series in Colorado.) Have I mentioned how much I love the Kindle that I got for my birthday this past February? I’ve read more books over the past 5 months than I have read in the past 5 years. Wendy told me that I can also download my knitting patterns onto my Kindle, but I haven’t done that yet. It’s great to be able to take a bunch of books on a trip, and have them all fit in that little Kindle. It’s also great to not have books to store in my  house any more. I was out of book cases, and this seems like a very tree-friendly alternative.

Now that I’m back, we’re in full-tilt Sock Summit mode. We have boxes and boxes (and boxes) of fun things to freight out there. The truck leaves on Wednesday. Then we’ll turn our attention to boxing up anniversary kits. When we get back from the Summit (the first weekend in August), we’ll have our Third Anniversary kits ready for you, as well as a few other fun things. It’s going to be a great Fall around here, so get ready!

Wednesday – check back for our July Blog Contest and to vote on Challenge Socks. I’m still approving photos for that gallery. I love seeing all of the socks that you have done to challenge yourself!

Sheri alsoworkingonSneakUpStuffalittlelatertonight 

See this? This is how I’m feeling this week. A little crazy. (Yes, my hair probably looks like that – I have a haircut appointment for tomorrow, because I can’t stand it any longer.) Yes, I can mostly be found working or walking around Loopy with a Cup ‘o Joe. Caffeine is good for stress, right? (ahem) No, I’m not wearing red shoes. I ought to be. (This cute coffee lady comes from here.)

Three things I’m working on this week:

1. Getting the Sneak Up done. (Check – it’s up! You’ll find tons of Malabrigo – Lace, Worsted, Silky, Seleccion Privada, Dragonfly Fibers, Dye Dreams Comfy Sox, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, Dream in Color Classy, Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, Hand Maiden Casbah, Lorna’s Laces Wooltop roving, and Knit Girl/Knitting Nerd card decals.)

2. Getting stuff finished up for the Sock Summit Boooth. (I love my yarn companies and indie dyers. They’re kickin’ butt booty to get things done.)

3. Overseeing Web Guy’s move to Florida. (If you have a 22 year old, you know that “over-seeing” is a misnomer. He’s taking care of everything. I’m just pretending like I’m somehow involved a bit.)

Three things I enjoyed last week:

1. Having Audrey, Gretchen and Jen down to visit from Indiana. Friends of Web Guy’s. Nice nice gals.

2. Having Jess visit from Virginia. Friend of Web Guy’s. Nice nice gal.

3. Starting a new project with Malabrigo Silky. OHmygosh is this stuff ever amazing. I’m making a scarf. I’ll show pics and share the pattern soon.

Three things I will enjoy this week:

1. The nicer weather. It’s gorgeous out today – low 80’s, low humidity, totally do-able for summertime in St. Louis. More just like this for most of the week. Good thing, as the All-Star baseball game is here tomorrow night.

2. Driving down to Florida with Web Guy. Does he need company to drive down there? No. But he lets me come along because he knows that his mom will sleep better at night if she can picture where he is, safe and sound.

3.  Knitting in the car for the 18 hour trip to south Florida.

Three more things you ought to know:

1.  We leave on Wednesday  morning, so I’ll be away from the blog and email the rest of the week. Call or email support AT theloopyewe DOT com if you need anything!

2.  Susan will also be out the rest of the week. (It’s a busy week for everyone!) But the rest of the Elves will be here, getting your orders out and answering the phone and support emails.

3. Our huge order of Alchemy Juniper is due to arrive this week, so hopefully we’ll be able to photo it all and get it up for you next week. They have been a great company to work with and I know you will love this yarn.

Sheri tellmethreereasonsonegoodreasonwhyit’sagoodidea
foryourkidsadultkids tomove1056milesaway?Whosaidthatwasok? I’mthinkingI’mnotgoingtolikethatverymuch 

This week, one of my friends and I were having a conversation about the fact that …. well …. people are weird. Not me and not you, but “people”. The others. Take, for example, this article that I tore out of the St. Louis Post Dispatch awhile back. I knew I’d need to share it with you eventually. It was entitled, “Bugs: Don’t squish ‘em’; live with ‘em.” The premise of the article is, “Why can’t people and bugs coexist? Isn’t there room for everyone?” Here’s one excerpt:

“Consider the cockroach. Traditionally despised, squashed at every opportunity, they are in fact easy-going and intelligent with distinctive personalities, and not at all difficult to train. Once you show them your intentions are friendly and you have tasty food to share they’ll actually come out from their hiding places when you call them. With very little encouragement they’ll give back as much as they take.”

Who knew? Cockroaches can be trained to come when you call them. (Seriously? Who figured that out? That’s WEIRD.)

Then there is this paragraph, which was even more disturbing:

“Mr. G.H. of Abilene, TX writes me about an ant training experiment he’s been working on for the last five years. Every evening before bed he spreads refined sugar over his stomach, being careful to leave a thin trail of it from his bed to a known ant colony behind his baseboard. At first the ants were shy, but now when Mr. G.H. comes into his bedroom the workers rush out excitedly. The colony has grown quite large, and recently sent out a flight of queens inside the house – a sure sign of trust.”

I think that pretty much confirms my “people are weird” statement. (And it probably confirms that The St. Louis Post Dispatch has some weird articles, too.)

Anything weird going on around you today?

Sheri whocouldn’tstandputtingaphotoofacockroachorantonthepost
soyougetaphotolessposttoday…Iknowyouappreciatethat

Sometimes we have a little overlap on these things! The Second Quarter Challenge was to knit yourself some “masterpiece” socks – ones that really challenged you. You can see the results so far, right here. For those of you who are participating in this challenge, please make sure that your photos are entered into our photo gallery by 7/17. We’ll get them approved and up so that we can do voting the week after that. I don’t know about you, but I have learned several things in knitting the pattern that I chose. I’ll show you the results, soon!

There are a whole lot of you participating in our Girasole KAL, which started last month and continues through October 1st. I’m glad to see so many of you already planning a second one, because you’re enjoying it so much. (See? Didn’t I tell you it was an addictive pattern?) Loopy is working on his own version of the Girasole. I’m not sure what yarn he chose, but he sits and knits all day long and it never seems to change in size.  I haven’t done any more on mine since I last showed it to you. I dragged it all the way to Colorado, but spent my time knitting socks out there instead of working on that. It’s scary how much I hop around to different projects. But back to the Girasole – it’s never too late to join us in this KAL. It’s not a project that takes months to complete, and you have until October 1st. Jump in!

We’ve been busy checking in yarn all week long. Much of it is for Loopy Central, but some of it is for our Sock Summit booth. We’re getting excited about that event, which is coming up soon!  We have some cool things planned, including some special guests in our booth – you’ll want to meet them! I hope you’re going to be there. (If not, of course we’ll be taking photos to share with you.) Of course there’s still too much to get done before we go. Story of my life.

Sheri guesswhoiscomingtoteachclassesatnextyear’sSpringFling?
Today’sblogpostshouldgiveyouahint.

I’m back in St. Louis and so glad that the heat wave we drove away from 2 weeks ago, has left the area. It was 39 degrees when we left the mountains yesterday morning at 5 am, and 82 degrees when we got back to St. Louis around 8 pm. But 82 is do-able, as long as the humidity isn’t overwhelming. I’ll still admit to having been spoiled in Colorado, though. We had a great time! It’s always good to get back home again, and our two cats are certainly glad we’re back.

Since I’m buried in work at Loopy today, I thought I’d share a few more photos with you from our trip. These were all taken by WH and it just goes to show that there is a reason for him to be in charge of photos here at Loopy. Clearly. (Click on them if there are any that you want to see bigger.)

Sheriwhohasnocluehowtomakeallofthosephotosfitallnice&tidyintothepost.
Butaren’ttheypretty?

Want to see what happens when Susan’s grandbaby (well yes, she IS too young to have a grandbaby, thanks for noticing) comes to visit Loopy Central? I think we’re training a new Loopy Elf, don’t you? I’m bummed that I missed her there yesterday, but Susan sent me photos of the occasion!

Isn’t she a cutie pie? And she has good taste, because you know by her smile that she likes visiting Loopy just as much as we like having here there.

Our time in the mountains is winding down, but it has been great! Lots of knitting done, movies seen, places visited, and time spent with my favorite people. I’ve had fun making some new recipes, too, which I’ll be sharing over time. Today’s was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe and it’s delicious.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups sugar
1 cup shortening, melted & cooled
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in bowl.

In mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in melted shortening, and then eggs and vanilla. Mix until creamy. Add flour mixture slowly and mix until just combined.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 13-14 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes and finish cooling on wire racks.

Sheri HappyFourthofJulyweekendtoallofourLoopyStatesiders!