DSC03359I can’t make up my mind. I have had this KAL Challenge planned out since last fall, and I still haven’t come to a decision on my pattern. I have scoured Ravelry. I have gone through pattern books. I have asked for favorites on The Loopy Ewe group on Facebook. And still … I’m undecided. Our First Quarter KAL Challenge is to knit a sweater. We haven’t had a sweater challenge since we did the Dream in Color Classy one about two years ago. It’s time, again! I have had my yarn picked out for a month. I’m using String Theory DK in Black Cherry.  I do love Lisa’s Central Park Hoodie and Melanie’s Chinese Lace Pullover. Both of those caught my eye way back then, and the photos still make me want to knit them. Of course I have queued quite a few more in the meantime. I think the thing with sweaters is that in my mind, they are a much bigger time commitment than a pair of socks. I never stress over sock patterns, because I’ll finish one and start in on another. For some reason, committing to a sweater pattern makes me feel like I can only pick one a year and it makes me indecisive. FPS. For the DC challenge, I knit up a Mr. Greenjeans and I love that sweater. It was very do-able for an inexperienced sweater knitter. So – pick a sweater pattern and come knit with us! Since this is a bit of a longer knit, we’ll leave this open until May 1st. (We will, however, have a new challenge go up in April to coincide with the beginning of the Second Quarter. They’ll just have to overlap a bit.)

DSC03360We need you to vote on all of the entries from our Fourth Quarter ’09 Challenge, where I asked you to knit a shawl. There are over 100 photos in that gallery for you to look through – wow. You all did such beautiful work. Please take a look at the photos and email to tell us your vote for the “Reader’s Choice” award. We give a Loopy gift certificate to the winner of that, and we also do a random drawing among all entries for a second gift certificate. We’ll take your votes (support AT theloopyewe DOT com) through next Monday and then will announce the winners.

DSC03363Back to the new challenge – in order to participate, pick any sweater pattern (or vest, or tunic) that you’d like to make. The yarn needs to be a line that we carry here at The Loopy Ewe (although if you actually bought that yarn elsewhere, that’s ok. I know many of you have stashes to work from.) If you do need to purchase yarn for this KAL, we are offering you a 20% discount on the yarn for one sweater project. Just leave us an order note that you’re participating in the KAL Challenge and tell us which yarn in that order you’ll be using for it, and we’ll adjust the price on your invoice. (Note – if you are going for the $75 free shipping level, make sure that this discount won’t put you below $75.) This offer is good on an order placed between 1/18 – 1/31, for those of you who want to participate in the KAL. Don’t forget to leave an order note for us.

Just in time for sweater knitting, we put up a full re-stock on Dream in Color Classy. We also have Malabrigo Worsted, Noro Silk Garden Worsted, Cascade 220, Fiesta Boomerang, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, and Madelinetosh Worsted in stock. (We do have more Madelinetosh Worsted shipping out to us next week, but I’m not sure it will be here in time for the discount. No promises, but we’ll do our best. In the meantime, we also have a new Tosh Sock order enroute to us already, and the new Pashmina base coming after that. Fun things to look forward to.) And of course there are lots and lots of DK and fingering weight options for your sweaters as well. There are some really fun sweater patterns in those weights.

In addition to the DC Classy re-stock today, we also added in a re-stock of Dream in Color Smooshy, Lane Borgosesia Cashwool, new Trekking colors (#417-421), a luscious new merino/alpaca/nylon sock yarn from Berroco, new Berroco Sox colors, Lorna’s Laces Pearl, Alpaca With a Twist Fino, and more Atenti bags. (And might I point out, those Atenti bags are perfect for carting around sweater projects. Ask me how I know. Isn’t it helpful that I sprinkled a few photos of them in this blog post?) Also coming soon – our 2010 Valentine Kits – watch for them in a couple of weeks!

DSC03367Knitting Daughter went back to college today, so the holiday season is officially over. (I like that it lasted a long time.) Zoe came to Loopy with me this afternoon, but she’s not very helpful. She likes to be in front of the computer screen while I’m trying to work. Or maybe she just misses these two kids like I do.

Our January Blog Contest question: Do you have a favorite sweater/vest/tunic pattern? Or are you not a sweater knitter? I’ll use the random number generator to draw a winner from your comments, and I have Wollmeise to give away for the prizes! We’ll announce the winners next Monday.

Sheri sorryforthelonglongblogposttoday.Toomuchtotell!