Whew – you guys like to buy yarn during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, don’t you? (And some of you like to buy yarn even though you didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving this past weekend!) There are seven of us pulling, packing and shipping your orders today, but just know that it will still take us into Wednesday, I think.  Therefore, if you don’t get a shipping notice today, don’t worry. We’re working as fast as we can and will have these out asap.  It also means that I won’t put a Sneak/Update up tonight. We’ll see how this goes and we may put up new stuff later in the week, or we may hold it all until next Monday. I’ll keep you posted on that. (Are you a member of our Loopy Ewe group on Facebook? I will be sure to keep that updated this week as well.)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was great to have College Girl home. Guess what? She saw my favorite mitts and wanted a pair just like them. She picked out a skein of Alpaca With a Twist’s Baby Twist (which has so much yardage that you can easily make a scarf to match), and I knit them up in time for her to take back to school on Sunday. Have I mentioned that these knit up fairly quickly? I also finished a pair of them in Lorna’s Laces Worsted, for me (takes just one skein – I made it in the Jeans colorway). The minute I felt the worsted base from LL, I knew I had to do something out of it. It’s incredibly soft and wonderful. Someday I’ll make a sweater with it. Anyway – back to the mitts – I made up a little form to keep track of the rows. (I like check boxes. What can I say? And I do anticipate making more of these mitts. This little chart helps me motor through the knitting quicker.) This doesn’t have the pattern on it – you’ll still need to download that. This just helps keep track of the ribbing and the cables and the “make stitches on the thumb” rows and all of that. It won’t make a lick of sense to you if you don’t have the pattern with it.  I made mine a little longer on the wrist and on the fingertips, so I included the regular number called for in the pattern, as well as indicating the number of rows I do when I make it. If you’re interested in this little row-chart sheet, email me with “Row Chart” in the subject line and I’ll attach the PDF in an email back to you. (Note – this is for the larger size, but you can cross off one box on each row to use if for the smaller size.)

Now that the mitts are done, I’m back to working on finishing up a few things in progress. I have a striped scarf in Eco Alpaca, a sock out of Alchemy Juniper, two socks out of Numma Numma, a sock out of Lana Grossa Solo, and my second Sunshine Sock to finish. It would be nice if I’d finish these things and not start anything else in the meantime. Nice, but it probably won’t happen. I know myself too well.

Did you get any knitting done over the weekend?

Sheri thinkingIprobablyneedanotherpairofthesemitts
soonerratherthanlater.MaybeI’llstartthat.

I love this new Mara Shawl. In fact, I’m such a fan that I have wound up another color of Madelinetosh DK/ Light Worsted (Thunderstorm) to make another one. You know, in between all of my other knitting that I want to get done. My favorite part of this shawl is the pleated edge (which I did as a K3, P2 instead of what the directions say. Because I can’t leave well enough alone. But I do like it like this.) The color is Cedar and will be perfect for the holidays. That’s another thing I have decided – shawls of varying colors are needed for different seasons.

Here’s Susan modeling her very first shawl! She did the Multnomah and it turned out beautifully. (Please note, Susan has been a scarf and hat knitter up until this point. I have yet to get her to do socks. So this shawl was a first step towards other things!) She did try to tell me “not for the blog” when I took her photo but I just laughed. (And watch – someone will leave a comment saying, “Sheri, I didn’t know you had colored your hair black and were wearing it short.” All of you blog-picture-scanners crack me up. This is Cute Elf Susan. —->)

We will be taking Thursday and Friday off this week for Thanksgiving (that means no in-person shopping hours this week), but of course the shop is open online, 24/7 as always. In fact, not only is it open online, but we have some fun things going up on sale for you as well. From late Thursday afternoon through Saturday at 11:59 pm (Central), you’ll find 30% off all Cherry Tree Hill, Creatively Dyed, Indie Dyer, J. Knits, and Opal. You’ll also find 20% off all Earthly Hues, All Things Heather, Sknitches, Sugar Bunny Blvd, Noro and Schaefer. *The prices will all change to reflect the sale, so when you see those prices go from black to colored, you know the sale has started.

We have a full team of Elves working on Monday and Tuesday of next week, to make sure that we can get all of your weekend orders out. We’ll also be adding the Monday Update/Sneak Up sometime later than usual on Monday evening.

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving here in the U.S. When I make my list of things I’m thankful for, all of your names appear there. We love partnering with you on great yarn, fun patterns, and much encouragement, inspiration, and support. You all keep us on our toes and there’s no place we’d rather be. So consider this a big HUG and thank you to each one of you from each one of us here at Loopy Central. We think you’re just the best, and we wish we could sit down with you in person tomorrow afternoon for some pumpkin pie and knitting!

This month’s contest: Tell us one (or two or three) things that you’re thankful for, whether you’re in the U.S. and celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, or not! We’ll draw names from the comments for fun prizes next week.

Back to shawls – how can you not love those pleats? Just too fun. I hope you make one of these for yourself.

Sheri headingoutforlunchwithCollegeGirlbeforesettlinginforsomeknitting
andmoviewatching.aaaahhhh…. Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m back from a fun weekend in Florida! I had to dig out the summer clothes for my trip south, because it still feels (and looks) like Summer down there. You all know that I’m not a big fan of Summer (and heat), but I am a big fan of Web Guy and I’ll endure anything for a visit with him. I had fun giving his pots and pans a workout while he was off at work on Thursday and Friday. Can you believe I made a bunch of stuff and didn’t take one photo of any of that food? What was I thinking? Now I’ll have to make all of those recipes again so that I can share them with you in the future. We also did some website planning (fun things in store for 2010!), and did a bit of shopping as well. I hope he lets me come visit again sometime. I took photos, but both kids have started telling me, “Not for the blog” on most photo shots. What’s up with that?? But look – the signs by the dumpster that say “Beware of Wildlife” were correct. Raccoons visit each night! Lots. This was the best shot I could get in the dark. And they didn’t say “not for the blog” when I snapped the photo.

We have a busy week here at Loopy! Great stuff in today’s Sneak/Up/Date. New indie dyer Studio June (she also does the yarn in these kits, which is how I found her), more colors from Monkeypal, a big batch of Sanguine Gryphon Eidos,the first part of our String Theory Caper order and a new BFL line from them, Malbrigo Worsted/Sock/Lace, more Fiberphile, and new patterns from Spillyjane Knits. (Yes, I may have added to my own stash as well this week. It could not be helped. Too many wonderful possibilities. I know you understand. I like that about you.)

Check back Wednesday for this month’s blog contest and a chance to win some beautiful yarn! I’ll also have my Mara Shawl blocked and photoed for you, as well as Elf Susan modeling the shawl she just made – her first! I’m so proud of her. How are you coming along on your shawls?

Sheri whogetsCollegeGirlhometomorrownight.Can’twaittoseeher!

It was interesting to read your thoughts on getting a puppy in last week’s blog post. I appreciate all of you taking the time to weigh in. I broke down the cons:

1. “It’s a lot of work.” Having raised a puppy before, I do agree that it’s a lot of work. (But a lot of fun.) And I also agree that it makes more sense to train a puppy in the spring. Definitely.

2. “You and WH like to travel.” True. We do go off a bit on the weekends. Mostly we just do day trips for fun and adventure, but we do have the occasional weekend away to visit the kids. Fortunately, my folks and my brother all live in St. Louis and do great pet-sitting.

3. “You can’t leave it home all day.” Right. I would have to bring the dog to work (maybe I ought to find one that looks like Loopy?) and I know there are varying opinions on a dog in a yarn shop. This is a big place, though, so no one would be tripping over the dog. There is a dog who comes to work with one of the guys who works upstairs in our building. (Archie. He’s a Welsh Corgi, I think. The dog. Not the guy.)

4. “What would your cats do with a dog?” Gracie and Zoe like dogs. Well, Gracie would hide for a few days, but then she’d get over it. Actually, if she was out on the screen porch birdwatching when the dog arrived, she wouldn’t even notice it. She loves her birdwatching. She sits in that chair and watches the birds land on those birdfeeders a couple of feet in front of her, and her day is complete. And Zoe would put that puppy in its place the minute it walked in the house. She’s a 5 lb. bundle of  ”Alpha Cat”, which would then translate to “Alpha Pet”. No worries at all about Zoe.

But …. I’m thinking we won’t get one. At least not at this point in our lives. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and the cons still outweight the pros. (However, if I show you a photo next week of “our new dog”, please play along with me and don’t remind me about this conversation.) I really am more of a cat person, I think. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person? I know some of you are both!

Now I’m off with my knitting and my recipes, to visit Web Guy in Florida for a long weekend. (Woohoo!) We have some 2010 website planning to tackle, and I’ll be doing some cooking to fill up his bachelor freezer. I’ll be back with you next week, and will tell you how it went.

Sheri sothankfulthattheElveswillbeheregettingyourordersout
whileI’mgone!IlovethoseElves….

1. They are interesting to knit up.

2. You can make them out of the finest cobweb lace or the heaviest bulky yarn.

3. Once you add one to your wardrobe, you see a need for many more in multiple colors and styles to go with everything else.

4. People always comment on them when you wear them. (This does not always happen when you wear handknit sweaters or socks.)

5. You can try a lot of different techniques with shawl knitting.

6. There are easy-peasy patterns to start with, so you can ease into it slowly. And there are amazingly complicated patterns, for those of you who need a good challenge.

7. Mini shawls often take 1-2 skeins, so there is a not a big investment in yarn.

8. Mini shawls also quicker to knit up. I might be a little addicted to them. Mini shawls like Multnomah (I made 2 of them), Traveling Woman (I made 1, so far), Mara (just finished one of these – love it), Damson (still need to try this one), etc.

9. They’re a great way to use up sock yarn in your stash. They’re also a great project for trying out new lines of yarn (whether it’s laceweight, fingering weight, worsted weight, or something in between.)

10. Knitting a shawl is our Fourth Quarter Challenge, so come participate with us!

Details on the shawl shown here:
Pattern: Traveling Woman
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Pearl (I had to order more Pearl for the shop last Friday, when I finished this shawl. It’s so warm and luscious and lovely to knit.) The pattern calls for fingering weight, although I used the heavier Pearl. I think it would also be pretty done up in Dye Dreams semi-solids, or The YoYo String and Fluff semi-solids.
Modifications: None

Details on today’s Monday Update: It’s Re-stock Week! We have re-stocked our Knitspot patterns (ok, and added a few new ones), Heartstrings patterns, more Lorna’s Laces, and some fun Monkeypal colorways. (Note – both Knitspot and Heartstrings have wonderful shawl patterns, if you’re feeling the desire to make one. Just sayin’.)

Sheri knitaMaraovertheweekend.NowpickingoutmoreMadtoshWorsted
tomakeanother.Ilovethatpleatedruffle.

I have to get over this “let’s find the best recipe with a chocolate and peanut butter combo” phase. No good can come of it, there are not enough people in our house to benefit from it, and it takes away from the knitting time. But first, let me just share one more with you. Then I’ll stop. (Um, unless someone has another recipe that I need to try?) No, really – I’ll stop.

Peanut Butter Dessert

1 pk. brownie mix (for 9 x 13 pan)
2 1/2 cups cold milk
1 pk. vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
12 oz. carton of Cool Whip
3 squares semi-sweet chocolate

Prepare and bake brownie mix as directed. Cool completely.

Mix vanilla pudding mix and 2 1/2 cups cold milk, beating at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar and peanut butter and whip well. Spread on cooled brownies.

Melt chocolate squares in microwave for 1 minute (on high). Stir until all bits have been dissolved.  Put frozen Cool Whip in microwave for 1 minute (on high). Mix chocolate and Cool Whip together and whisk well to blend. Pour over pudding layer and spread evenly.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving. Store in refrigerator.

This what I had for dinner last night. Well, there might have been soup, too, but this is the thing I remember most. The chocolate and peanut butter dessert. Mmmmmm….

My Traveling Woman Shawl is done and ready to block. Now I’m on to Mara with Madelinetosh Worsted and another pair of Cabled Mitts with Lorna’s Laces Worsted. (Worsted weight – a knitter’s best friend when gift knitting must get done. And Lorna’s and Madelinetosh must have the most wonderful worsted yarns on the planet. Seriously.) I’m also contemplating Colonnade with Lorna’s Laces. Elf Donna is making one up out of LL Worsted and it is gorgeous. A Must Knit.

Sheri inthemoodtogetapuppy.Pleasetellme
whythat’sareallybadidea.WHclaimsitis.Idon’tbelievehim.