First the Sale news!  You know that this is our Anniversary Month (and thank you for all of your sweet anniversary wishes on the blog!). We originally said we’d do a sale of three lines, every other Monday in August. (That’s three lines, three different Mondays, to celebrate our third anniversary.) Because someone (and I’m not mentioning any names, Web Guy) forgot that it was going to be every other Monday instead of every Monday, some of you have already  noticed that a new set of “three lines” went on sale last evening!  So – what the heck. We decided that we’d go ahead and do three lines this week, three lines next week, and probably even three lines the week after that. Forget what I said about “every other week” sales and enjoy these bonuses! This week, you’ll find all lines of Dream in Color, all Wendy Knits patterns, and all Annie Adams accessories at 20% off. Watch for three new lines up on sale next week.

The Sock Summit is history and we’re back in St. Louis. I think I could sleep for a week. The days were long and somehow I managed to catch a bad cold (or allergies) enroute. Other than that, we had a great time out there. We were so thankful to see Loopy Groupie Lou during the setup time on Wednesday. She was one of the SS Volunteers and she came right over and helped us set up our booth. (We also had Loopy Groupie Lise’s cute kids, Annie and Craig, helping us set up shelves for a bit, but the photo didn’t turn out.) The best part truly was meeting so many Loopy Groupies (and aspiring Loopy Groupies). I’m glad so many of you were able to attend. It was also great to meet so many new people who said, “Well I’ve heard about you, but I haven’t ordered from you yet.” It was fun to connect in person. The other comment that I heard several times … “Aren’t you the shop that Wendy Knits likes so much?” And one person even said, “Do you pay her to mention your shop on her blog?”, which totally cracked me up. Of course we don’t pay for something like that. We’re just always eternally grateful that Wendy likes us here – and we love her, too!

Our booth was busy most of the time, but I was still able to bring back plenty of fun stuff to put up here at Loopy for you, soon. (It’s being shipped, so we’ll have it back here to put up next week or the week after. We’ll keep you posted.) We’ll be putting up extra Numma Numma, Tempted Luxe Grrl, Yarn Pirate, String Theory, Casbah, Hand Maiden Swiss Mountain Sock, and those cute new project bags from 3AM Enchantments that you noticed in the photos from our Sock Summit blog. And don’t think I haven’t already realized that if I had put all of these things up in a Sneak Up, you all would’ve bought them out quickly. You guys know how to shop!! 

I had fun meeting and talking with many of the teachers as they popped in our booth. I’ve sprinkled a few photos in here. Top to bottom: Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (L) and her travel companion (her book Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy was another one that I added to my knitting library early on), Loopy Groupie Lou, me with Anna Zilboorg (can’t wait for her Magnificent Mittens and Socks book to ship), Lucy Neatby, Nancy Bush (L) with Beth Casey of Lorna’s Laces, and Sivia Harding with Carson Demers. My favorite designer to meet in person was Nancy Bush. The amount of research she has done into the history of sock knitting is amazing, and I always enjoy reading that in her books. But the other reason I loved meeting her is because I hold her responsible for getting me into sock knitting. We were on vacation in Colorado one summer and I came across one of her books. After flipping through it, I decided that I needed to learn how to make socks, because one could never have too many socks, and the patterns in that book were very enticing. I told her that story, and she said, “And look at you now!” It was really fun to meet her. (The book of hers that I have used the most is Knitting Vintage Socks. Great book.) I also had a nice talk with Barbara Walker on the elevator at the hotel. Her stitch pattern books (A Treasury of Knitting Patterns) are ones that you will find in most every knitter’s library. Did you know that she invented the SSK stitch? I sat in on her “How I Became a Knitter” talk.  That first Treasury came about after she spent 3 days in the Library of Congress Archives, hand-copying knitting patterns that went back to the 1830′s. Out of her four stitch dictionaries, I have found that the first and second ones have been the most useful to me.

Sorry for the long post! Too much to say and share. I’ll be back to the blog on Friday, and will also post the winner’s from our anniversary blog post contest. We’ll do another contest on next Monday’s blog. In the meantime, enjoy this week’s “Three-Lines” sale in honor of our anniversary month!

Sheri whoalsofoundsomenewlinestoaddinatTheLoopyEweinthecomingmonths

We’re in Portland! We arrived on Tuesday evening and got up early Wednesday morning to ….. run errands. Well, we couldn’t get in to start setting up our booth until 1 pm, so we went shopping instead. It seemed like a good use of our time.

When we found our booth space, it was almost impossible to get into it because of all of the boxes of stuff that we shipped out there. We blocked the whole thing. (Which led me to believe that we would never fit it all in the booth, but I was proved wrong. We have those red tables full of re-stocking yarns and accessories underneath, but we did manage to fit it all in!) We spent 9 hours setting up on Wednesday and a few more hours today. Here is the finished booth (with Susan and Knitting Daughter posing.) Loopy Groupie Lou saw it and called it “Loopy Lite”. Lou has been at Loopy Central for Spring Fling shopping and she thought it was like we had taken that and recreated it in a miniature version. I think she’s right. It feels very “Loopy” to me, from the red carpet to the red and white shelves, to the socks and Loopy presiding over all!

Last night the Marketplace was open for just two hours for students (people who were signed up to take classes) and teachers. It was crazy busy and the two hours were over in a blink. So far, the best part of being here has been meeting our awesome Loopy customers in person! It was like a family reunion at times, as we recognized so many names. The other fun part is seeing all of the famous sock designers in attendance. Nancy Bush, Charlene Schurch, Barbara Walker, Meg Swanson…. and a whole bunch more. And of course we always love connecting with Mary-Heather, Sarah, Casey and Jess from Ravelry.

I wish I had time to take all of the classes. (I did joke with Claudia in Germany that the next time I ought to just bring Wollmeise, sell out the first day, and then take classes and play the rest of the time – ha!  And then I realize what I’m saying and wise up. I’d fear for my life with a booth full of Wollmeise.)

Today is a long day at the Marketplace. The shopping is open from 8:30 – 6:30 and we’re looking forward to meeting a whole bunch more of you. I’ll post again when I can.

For those of you waiting on orders, remember that when we do a sale like we’re doing this week, the orders can take an extra day or two to ship. (And the poor Elves we left behind are working like mad to keep up with them all.) Just know that it’s all in process!

Sheri headingoutforStarbuckstostarttheday

We have officially reached our Third Anniversary here at The Loopy Ewe! Sometimes it seems like we’ve been doing this for 20 years, and other times it seems like we just started a couple of months ago. I’m glad to hit the three year mark. We have sure learned a lot through all of this!   Of course none of this would have been possible without every single one of YOU. We are thankful for you and your blogs and referrals and encouragement, we appreciate your orders so much, and we look forward to our days because we know we’ll get to be in touch with you. You all make this place pretty special!

To celebrate our Anniversary month, we have come up with a plan of “threes”. We have picked three Mondays (August 3rd, 17th and 31st) to share special pricing on three different lines for you. Today, you’ll notice that all Lorna’s Laces yarn (including Team Spirit) and roving,  all Knitspot patterns, and all Zecca products are on sale for 20% off (in-stock items only).  This sale will last until this Friday at midnight. Stock up on your favorites, pick up some patterns you’ve had your eye on, and splurge on some fun knitting accessories! On the 17th, I’ll blog about the next three lines that will be on sale. (Different yarn, different patterns and different accessories.) And then again on the 31st. Each time, you’ll have that week until Friday at midnight to order at the sale prices. (Yes, of course it all goes towards your Frequent Shopper Credits. That Frequent Shopper plan has been in effect from Day One at Loopy, and it’s important to us. We think it’s a good way to give back to you on every single purchase you make here, with no exceptions or exclusions. It’s one way that we show our appreciation for your business, all the time.)  I hope you have fun with our Anniversary Specials.

Here’s a photo of my Lorna’s Laces Chevron Scarf that just came off the needles. I used one skein of Vera and one skein of Pioneer (both in Shepherd Sport). You work down and back in one color, then down and back with the second color, and repeat. (This is the Chevron Scarf pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson and Anna Williams. Great pattern, easy to do, fun to pick the colors.) I made my first Chevron Scarf out of two colors of Fiesta Boomerang and it started me on a kick. Some people like to pick two different colorways that have one overlapping color. Others like to pick two completely different colors. You really can’t go wrong, either way. It’s a nice scarf to make for holiday gifts (if you’re in that mode of thinking, yet!)

The second part of our Third Anniversary Celebration is three blog contests in August instead of one! Today is your chance at the first one. All you have to do to enter today’s Anniversary Blog Contest is to leave a comment below. It can be anything you want – no special question to answer. Just say “Happy Anniversary” or “The Loopy Ewe Rocks!” or “This is my comment, please enter me in the contest.” or …. whatever. We’ll do the random number generator to pick winners next week. We have taken some of your favorite yarns and grouped them into fun prizes for this month. LOTS of prizes. The other two blog contests will be on the two other Mondays that I mentioned above, so be sure to check back for those. (Speaking of contests, we have a winner for our July blog contest. Congratulations to Debra in CA who won a Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate!) 

Tonight’s Sneak Up included another new line from Dye Dreams – Luster (100% BFL), gorgeous colors in Hand Maiden Mini Maiden (50% silk, 50% merino), more Schaefer Heather, a re-stock of Schacht Bobbins and Ladybugs, and 9 new fabric combinations of Beanie Baggies. Fun stuff!

I’m off to Portland and I’ll be posting some photos and things from the Sock Summit the rest of the week. We’ll see many of you there!

Sheri whowantstothankyouonemoretimeforthreereallyfunyearshereatLoopy!