It’s always fun to get new yarn lines here at The Loopy Ewe. We’re picky about what we add in, and we’re always on the lookout!  Tonight’s Update includes two new yarns that I’m particularly excited about.

First, Cascade Ultra Pima. This DK weight cotton yarn has been on my “must get” list since I got lost in the color palette at our industry market last summer. With Spring knitting coming up, it was time to get it in. This is great for summer tanks and cardi’s, as well as lightweight scarves, wool-free hats, mittens and gloves, and machine wash/dry baby items, year round. Click on the photo to make it bigger. Can you see why I was so taken with it? Do you have any great ideas for a short-sleeved summer cardi pattern that you want to share with me? I’m looking!

The other new yarn line is Kollage’s Riveting, made from recycled blue jeans. You know how you want to wear your softest, most comfortable jeans on your stay-at-home-and-relax day? Now imagine knitting with something like that, and wearing it. Check out the patterns that they have for this line, as well. I like the Tabitha top (shown here in the adult size and the Baby Tabitha size) and the Saturday cowl. Actually, I’m taking the Saturday cowl home with me tonight, so watch for the finished photo on my blog soon-ish.

In addition to those two new lines, we also added in BFL and Lambkins roving from Enchanted Knoll Farm, new colors in Cascade Fixation, Gingher Scissors for your accessory bag, Brittany Birch Straight Needles, and re-stocks in Perfect Notions Cases, Knit Lights, Baggu Bags, and Tulip Crochet Hooks. We had a fun week, getting this Update ready for you!

Since tomorrow is February 1st, watch for the new Dream in Color Dream Club yarn to go on sale. (And remember, we continue to add more skeins in during the week, as our pre-order people make decisions on buying it or not.) I liked this new pattern so much that I’ve already knit it up. Photo on Wednesday’s blog.

We’re under a Winter Storm Warning here in the midwest. It’s supposed to deposit an inch of ice during the evening tonight, and then snow 6-12 inches on top of that, tomorrow and Wednesday. We’re planning on being here at the shop to get your orders packed up and out, but if your status says “pending” for an extra day or two, you can bet that we’re iced under and stuck at home. If that happens, we’ll get back in here asap!  If you’re tempted to come shop in person on Wednesday, call first to make sure we made it in.

Sheri readytohunkerdownwithcoffee,fireinthefireplace,andknitting

It’s always busy on Fridays. Although we’re open for drop-in shopping on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, this seems to be the busiest day. Last Friday I had to confront one of our shoplifters. We now have people check their big bags and backpacks at the front, so she solved that by sticking yarn in her jacket instead – and I saw her do it! I couldn’t believe it. I just don’t understand how people justify taking something that they didn’t pay for. She’s the same lady who took a bunch of yarn and my vintage knitting needles the last time she was in (no, I did not get them back), so we were prepared for her and watching her extra closely. FPS. Needless to say, she’s no longer welcome to shop here. Anyway, yay for the cameras in the shop. I know that you can pop in and view things through the webcam throughout the day, but did you ever wonder what the webcam looks like from our viewpoint? I stood behind the Loopy island to take this. That little white box in the photo – that’s your window into Loopy. And you can see the pole where we hang signs to talk to you.

Also going on today: Stocking another new line from Cascade, which will go up on Monday. (Don’t worry – we have more than that of each color. That’s just all the shelf space we could give to it right now.)

Knitting Daughter is home for a long weekend and came in to work for a couple of days. She wanted to earn a bit of money for next semester’s textbooks and I’m always happy to have her helping out at Loopy when she wants to.

The Elves are busy packing up orders, helping customers with projects and questions, and causing mayhem. Seriously. Some Fridays are just like that. How’s your Friday going?

Sheri sunnyandcoldtoday,moresnowheadedherenextweek

I worked on mittens last weekend. Remember that “blue project” that you could see by my chair on Friday’s blog? It turned into this mitten (Flocked Mittens by Adrian Bizilia) and I love it.  Since it has floats inside, it is basically double thick. There are directions to knit a lining to cover up all of the floats, but I opted not to do the lining because it’s already so warm and thick. I did see the designer on Ravelry suggest that all mittens should be made larger than necessary and then lined with cashmere, and I thought that was a brilliant idea!  At least for those who live in really really cold climates. I knit this with Spud and Chloe Sweater (colors Barn and Waterslide) just because when those two new colors came in a couple of weeks ago, I was instantly smitten.

Being new to colorwork, this isn’t the best looking knitting up close. I’m still working on getting my tension even with two-handed knitting, and feeling like I’m not all thumbs as I go along. The good thing is that I was motivated to jump right into the second mitten immediately, because I want it to be similar looking, before I get much better at colorwork. I have done one single mitt in colorwork before, but that’s it. I keep seeing great colorwork patterns and thinking I want to get better at it, so that I can make some of these up. On this pattern, I love the picot edge and the unique braid around the bottom. Now that I’ve tried it with worsted weight, I think I’m ready for fingering weight and have already pulled 7 colors from The Loopy Ewe Solid Series for my next colorwork project. I’ll keep you posted!

So that leads me to a question. I know that many of us knit for relaxation. Do you also feel a need to push yourself to learn new techniques and try out different kinds of patterns? Or does that take the “relaxation” out of it, and you’re happy with your knitting, just the way it is. I was a pretty single-minded sock knitter for a long time. I think any new techniques I tried were all within the confines of socks. But gradually I branched into mitts, cowls, sweaters, small shawls, and blankets. Now I am curious about colorwork. I still have the no-brainer knitting projects for when I am tired at night and don’t feel like paying too much attention to what I’m doing. But I also like trying something new and moving forward in what I know. (That’s always good for your brain!) So my question – are you happy with what you already know, or are there other techniques or pattern types that you want to try out? Is there something that you know you’d never want to try? For me, I want to get better at colorwork and I want to try incorporating beads into my knitting. What I don’t want to do is to knit with fine laceweight. The projects are beautiful, but I think it’s too fiddly for me. No desire to work with that. And I also don’t want to knit large shawls, simply because I don’t wear them. I love my Girasole, but it sits along the back of one of our couches, for use as a throw. How about you?

Sheri suchawordyposttoday.I’lldomorepictureslesswordsonFriday!

I’m loving this new line from Cascade – Heritage Silk. All my rep had to do was to lay this out on the table and my response was, “oooooh!”  I always know it’s a good thing when that’s the first thing out of my mouth. The 85% superwash/15% silk is great for socks (and comes 437 yds. to a skein), but the first thing I envisioned was one-skein shawlettes. Gorgeous. And the true solid colors means that even the most intricate patterns will shine through and take center stage. There are 28 colors, and we have 25 for you tonight. Three colors are on backorder. (Want to see a photo of Michael, my rep? We made him pose for the Webcam, so scroll down the gallery and see his thumbs up!)

Another fun thing up tonight? These cute Hadley Loopy Groupie pins. They did a sample pin with Loopy on it, just to see what I thought, and I had them add Loopy Groupie on top (way cuter that way). This is a miniature work of art, and I’m sure the Hadley artists would rather be painting Loopy on a large Flare Mug, than this wee little pin! Great for shawls or scarves, but also cute on a knitting or project bag. (Or stick it in your bulletin board at work – that’s where mine is.)

We’ve also added in: big re-stocks of Cascade 220, Fixation, Eco Alpaca, Heritage Sock, and Epiphany, as well as large skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, and spindles and bobbins from Schacht.

Loved reading about your weekend projects in Friday’s blog post. I was working on mittens over the weekend and I finished one and started in on the second one. I’ll show you photos on Wednesday. (And wouldn’t it be nice if I’d go ahead and finish that second mitten, rather than starting in on a new pattern that arrived today and has me itching to cast on? Yep. I thought so.)

Sheri workingatTheLoopyEweisbadformystart-i-tis

Yesterday we woke up to about 8″ of snow on the ground. Beautiful! This has been one of the snowiest St. Louis winters that I can remember. I hope we’re not done with it yet. This is the tree outside our window, where all of the birds congregate in the mornings. It might have something to do with the two bird feeders right there.

Today, my Hadley Pottery rep Elaine popped in to deliver something we had ordered, and brought these cute Loopy Sheep cookies along with her. Not only are they cute, but they taste delicious. I wish I could send you one to have along with your afternoon tea.

And then the UPS truck arrived, and we have forgotten all about snow and cookies, and we’re digging through 16 cases of yarn, having a ball. Can’t wait to share the contents with you in the next couple of Updates.

I really enjoyed reading all of your comments about your Knitting Central Zone (or lack thereof) in this month’s Blog Contest. I have some thoughts about it, but I will save those for another post. In the meantime, I wanted to congratulate Lisha from MA, Jean from PA, and Allison from CA. The Random Number Generator chose their comments as the winners, and they’ve each received a $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate. I know they’ll find something fun to spend it on!

Any knitting/crocheting/spinning going on in your house this weekend? Or are you out playing in snow somewhere? This is where I’ll be hanging out, working on that new blue project there.

Sheri alreadyfroggedittwiceFPS.Gaugegaugegauge.

Thanks to all of you for your great response to our new Club Loopy! We are happy to be done with lotteries and are glad that this new system meant that spots have lasted long enough for you to get one if you wanted one. We have a handful of 3-month spots left, and then remember that we’ve saved a batch of individual kits to put up for sale each month as we go along, too, for those of you who would prefer to get some that way.  The first kits will ship the first week in February.

Have you ever been eating outside somewhere, and watched little birds hopping around, scrounging up the french fries that people drop for them? (Either on purpose, or accidently?) And aren’t those birds just having the best day because of it? They are so happy! That’s why I had to get this sign when I saw it. I have it in my kitchen window for springtime and it sends me off in a good mood, every morning. (Well, that, and my coffee.) It’s my Wednesday Wacky Wisdom for you today. Do you have any bits of wisdom that you want to pass on today? Like: “Don’t have more than 6 projects going at once?” or “Diet Coke is better than Diet Pepsi” or “Never eat a single piece of chocolate because it gets lonely in your stomach”, or important things like that? Do share.

Sheri what’snottobehappyabout,whenyouhavefrenchfries?