I had fun knitting up this quick scarf last week. (Pattern here on Rav: 28′s Cousin 53.) Remember me talking about the fact that I always pick colors I want to knit with and not necessarily colors I wear? This gray/black Basalt color will be perfect. The only change I made to the pattern was on the ribbing. I did a K2, P2 instead of the K1, P1 that it calls for. I wanted a wider ribbed look at the bottom.

Of course the yarn itself was wonderful to work with. I’m a big fan of the MCN blends, and the ones that are 70/20/10 (like this Smooshy with Cashmere that I used, or Sanguine Gryphon’s Bugga, or  Sweet Georgia’s Cashluxe) are especially awesome. It’s interesting to me that Fiberphile’s Cashmere Sock, and String Theory Hand-Dyed’s Caper Sock both feel like the 70/20/10 combo, but they’re the regular 80/10/10. I wonder how they do that? At any rate, there are a lot of wonderful choices if you want to knit something soft and wonderful with a bit of cashmere!

Have you ever wished for a way to knit a lot of scarves, quickly? How about a Wind Knitting Machine? I think it’s a great idea. We’ll have to move Loopy up a few floors, though.

Sheri cloudydaytoday,seemslikeIshouldbehomeknittingbythefire,right?

We kind of bored ourselves with the previous Loopy Webcam view. It featured the prettiest backdrop (well, unless you count shelves full of yarn – that makes a pretty backdrop, too), but there is not all that much action going on in that spot. While Web Guy was home last week, we had him move the camera to a better spot. What do you think? This way, you can keep track of boxes coming in and boxes going out and the Loopy Elves themselves. (And let me tell you, the Elves are so terribly excited about being on-camera more often. Terribly excited.)

Our packing station is U-shaped, so we kept one side of the U out of camera range. We had to have one space for packing up Club Loopy and dealing with other things that we’re not ready for you to see yet. Poor Elf Mary – she packed on camera all day today and chatted with Elf Anna, who was packing on the other side but completely out of view. Mary told Anna that tomorrow she’d have to be on the camera side. I’m not sure Anna agreed. At any rate, if your order happens to get packed on the camera-side, you might catch it!

Of course this is still just a little corner of Loopy. To get the full picture, pop over to our Loopy Central Photo Gallery.

Do you want to know what’s behind the big needle wall on the webcam? Check out the photos with these titles:

“More Shelves”, “Pegs”, and “Shelves and Shelves.”

Do you want to see the area behind the blue wall on the webcam? Check out the photos with these titles:

“Lace Lane”, “Sit & Knit”, “Sock Blockers”, “Wall of Cascade”, and “Worsted Way”.

Better yet, just come shop in person, and then you can wave on the webcam. It’s always fun to be here in person, if you’re in the neighborhood.

We put lots of new things up in our Monday Update. You’ll find:

• Stricken Smitten’s Sinful Sock
• Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in the new colors
• Juliespins Merino 370
• Dragonfly Djinni (shown here in the purple “December Baby”)
• Studio June’s Simply Cashmere (shown here in “Silvery Gray”)
• Alpaca With a Twist’s Baby Twist
• Sajou Scissors with the new wooden handles
• Baggu Bags re-stocks
• Namaste re-stocks
• SpillyJane Kits
• Pattern re-stocks (DangerCrafts, Knit & Tonic, and Grace Akhrem)
• Lorna’s Laces Zombie BBQ in Shepherd Sock and Pearl

Enjoy the new things, and I hope that some of you catch your orders being boxed up on the Webcam, tomorrow!

Sheri startedanewsockinanewupcomingindieline-lovingit

I love seeing what other people are doing. When you all shop here in person, you frequently bring in your projects to share with us and we have a lot of fun seeing what you’ve made. When you all shop online with us, you frequently upload your finished project photos to The Loopy Ewe Photo Gallery, and we love that, too. One of our local Loopy customers was in this week (Hi Victoria!) and brought this adorable vest that she knit up for one of her grandsons for Easter. This is made with Amy Butler’s Belle Organic DK in Basil and Cilantro. Isn’t it cute? You can find the pattern – Kick It Up – over at Petite Purls, the online knitting mag that specializes in kids patterns.

Seeing this vest, reminded me of how much I love that yarn. I used it to knit my first-ever crochet project, and at the time, I decided that I needed to make a sweater with it. It just feels so great. Maybe I’ll do a short-sleeved cardi for summer. (You know, after I finish the sweater I’m making with the Ultra Pima DK Cotton. The list just keeps growing….)

Here are a few other fun things to check out, if you get a little bored this weekend.

1. I found this fun blog and amazing artist, after she added The Loopy Ewe to her Twitter feed. You should scroll down and watch the quick little video on the Alaskan Goblin Arrival – so cute!

2. I also like this felting artist a lot, and bought the  little Gnome in this photo from her shop.

3.  And this one is where the Toadstool came from. (Don’t the Gnome and Toadstool look like they belong together?) I love toadstools and rock piles and this one had both. They sit on my desk here at Loopy.

4. Oh, and this one!  The birds are amazing. And those owls? And chipmunks? And the mouse with the balloon? Too fun.

5. I like the drawings from this artist. I have two and I can’t justify more until I frame these two and do something with them. But I will. I like them a lot.

6. These are the cutest, teeny-tiniest little works of art. I haven’t bought anything yet, but it has been on my favorites list for quite awhile. This one makes me wish I had a dollhouse to furnish.

7.  Someday I’ll figure out just what I’d want written on one of these, and will order one. I like the use of different sized words and colors.

8. Beautiful work by this artist, too. Some whimsical (like this, which makes me laugh) and some just downright sweet.

9. Lately, my favorite jewelry comes from this shop. I’ve ordered several times and it’s always fun to receive and fun to give as gifts.

10. Last but not least, I cannot quit ordering pottery from this shop. It’s ridiculous. Some of you might remember that I do not need one more mug. But I ordered this one on Wednesday. And this one is really tempting me as well. And this. (Note to self: Stop. Just stop now.)

Happy Weekend to you!

Sheri shoppingwouldbelesstemptingifetsywouldjustgoaway….

I mentioned on Monday’s post that WH and I snuck up to Chicago for a quick weekend, last weekend. (Birthday fun!) On Saturday, we stopped by Lorna’s Laces for a tour and then lunch with Beth and her husband, Michael. What a fun place to see! It looks like an explosion of color in there. There was a knitting group just finishing up a tour, so Paul wandered around and took photos (as he likes to do) and I kept seeing yarn that I wanted to take home. (Never mind that it was all colorways that I already have here at Loopy. Seeing it there put me in shopping mode. I can’t explain it, but I know that you all understand this.)

They have lots and lots of name stamps on trays, so we found our Loopy Ewe stamp (for our Loopy Ewe colorway) and our Team Spirit stamp. And obviously I need to order more of both lines, today. Smart way to put names on your labels, if you intend to sell lots of that colorway. We also found some of our yarn hanging up to dry, so I know we’ll be seeing that shipped down here soon. I think we have shipments coming from Lorna’s Laces almost every week. (Because we love it and you all love it.)

I really enjoyed watching Beth dye some special yarn. She had me pick the colors that I wanted to include, and it was really interesting watching them come together. Of course I had to leave it there for now. It still had to go through the “setting the colors, washing, drying, skeining” process, but I’m anxious to see it when it’s all done. I’ll show it to you when I can.

And another thing? It convinced me (not that I have ever considered it anyway) that I am happy to leave the dyeing to the dyers. I have no interest in trying my hand at it. I DO love ordering it and unpacking it and putting photos of it up on the website and knitting with it and shipping it out to all of you. But I don’t want to make it. I just want to appreciate it. I guess Beth is in the best job for her (she loves her job!) and I’m in the best job for me. And that’s why it all works like it’s supposed to.

Sheri whoshould’vetakenapictureofBethandMichaelforyouFPS
(butyoucanseeabitofBethinthefirstphoto)