I loved being back at Loopy and shopping for yarn last week. (I mean shopping for yarn for ME. Of course I have continued to do a lot of yarn shopping and ordering for all of YOU while I’ve been in Colorado.) As predicted, I picked up 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Solemate, 3 skeins of Madtosh Pashmina, 2 skeins of Madtosh Sport, and a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock. You know all of those order notes you leave us that say, “Please pick a colorful skein” or “Please match these really well, I’m making a sweater”? I actually emailed the Elves with a couple of these requests (like the LL Solemate in our exclusive Colorado color, since I knew they’d sell out) and found myself adding the same thing to my notes. “Please pick me a good one!” Which is silly, because one thing the Elves ALWAYS do is pick out good skeins and match them very very carefully, whether you leave an order note or not. But I fell right into that trap and added a note. I know they rolled their eyes at me. They don’t roll their eyes at you, but they know that I know better.

Here is the start of my sock out of Devon, that has completely derailed my Project Three work. (Pattern is Vog On). When the sock is done, I’ll be sure to take a photo that shows the striping going on in the plain knitting along the back of the sock. I love how it’s working out. (Remember, it’s hard to capture teal correctly. This makes it look a little more yellow than it is. The photo I showed on Monday’s blog is the correct color. And it’s also the reason that I pay someone else to take our official website photos and spend time color correcting them….) I haven’t knit a sock in forever. The last one I knit and blogged was back in February. I did make another one after that, however it’s still under cover and unbloggable. But it was right around the same time. No wonder I was in the mood to knit some socks.

There’s another reason that I have laid aside my Project Three. While I love the yarn and the way it’s working up, so does someone else. Every time I turn around, there’s Gracie, snoozing on it. I kept it in my project bag for awhile, but she would go to the bag and try to dig it out. She doesn’t do this with merino or cashmere. It’s always alpaca. She has a thing for alpaca. (Hmm – I wonder what she’d do if I introduced her to a real one?) The next time I want to make a blanket of any kind, I’ll turn away from the Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes, and will head for the Cascade 220. FPS. Given the fact that I’m having fun on the sock and I have a whole new stash of yarn to play with, Gracie can claim dibs on the afghan-in-the-making for a bit longer. I guess I could always make one for her, but that would make her even more spoiled, I think. If you have pets – have you ever knit for them?

Sheri Zoelikesblanketstoo,butshedoesn’tlimitherselftoalpaca

I’m back in the mountains, but I had a good trip to St. Louis last week. As predicted, I came home with a bunch of yarn. I’ll show you in Wednesday’s blog. One skein totally derailed my Project Three work, as I had to cast on immediately and now all I want to do is work on that sock. I told you I was in the mood to start a new pair of socks.

Since it’s Monday, we have new things up for you today. Just added in:

Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere - fire-scorched colors (shown here in Wicked Royal). These are the newest colors added to the DC line, as of this summer. Smooshy with Cashmere is a lovely 70/20/10 blend (superwash merino, cashmere, nylon) and it makes great socks and shawls.

Lorna’s Laces Solemate – we snuck some of this up last week, but added more in today. They are having a hard time keeping this base in stock for dying, because it has been so popular with knitters. Since the yarn has properties that help to regulate temperature, this is a great yarn to use for socks and mittens/gloves and even cowls.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock – ok, this is the yarn that made me abandon Project Three. The Devon that we have in stock is just so GORGEOUS that I had to ball it up and start socks immediately. I think Devon is my favorite LL colorway. In fact I like those teal-y blues so much that I had them do one of our Club Loopy colors off of it. The Loopy Ewe Shuffle came about when I said “Devon teals plus a gorgeous red, please.”

New patterns from: Romi (her wonderful small shawls), Carol Feller, Kirstin Kapur (the Nefertem Shawl from April’s Club Loopy), Jeannie Cartmel (the Rubus Socks from April’s Club Loopy), Debbie O’Neill (Trickle Down Mitts and Neck Warmer from March’s Club Loopy) and Wendy Johnson (Fire and Ice Shawl from March’s Club Loopy.) The club patterns are in the “Sock Club and Kit Patterns of Ages Past” category.

The Loopy Ewe Totes – Project Keepers, Purse Pals, Medium and Large Square Totes, and Large Black Project Totes.

Also – while supplies last – we have some extra yarn and bags from Club Loopy this past spring. You’ll find the imprinted Baggu Bags under the Baggu section in “Exclusive Baggu”. We imprinted these with some of our favorite knitting quotes and sayings, taken right from the walls of our Loopy shop.  You’ll find the extra Club Loopy yarn in that company’s section: Promise of Spring under The Alpaca Yarn Co. Heels and Toe, The Loopy Ewe Shuffle under Lorna’s Laces Honor-large (since we have this skein put up with more yardage than usual for Honor), and Midnight Rendevous under Madelinetosh Sock.

Have fun checking out all of the new things and I hope you find something you can’t live without!

Sheri catissleepingonmyProjectThreeanyways.
Imightaswellbeknittingsocks.

I used to think that it would get easier to send your kids off to college, each year that they went away. You know, you kind of get used to the coming and the going, right? Well I’m here to tell you – you might get used to it a bit, but that doesn’t make it any easier. It was just as hard to say goodbye to Knitting Daughter for her Senior Year as it was for her Freshman Year! Or maybe I’m just a sentimental sop. That’s probably more likely. I did feel strange making my last ever batch of “first day of school chocolate chip cookies“. I started the tradition while Web Guy was off to his first afternoon of Kindergarten, and have enjoyed making them on the first day, ever since. When they went off to college, I just made them ahead of time and sent them along. That means it is a 20 year tradition in our household! What I’ve found is that even though the first day of school events are done, the desire for chocolate chip cookies never goes away. They’ve assured me that I can make up a batch for them any time.

On our way home from Indiana yesterday, we stopped at a place we’ve known about for a long time, but never visited. You don’t travel that stretch of road without seeing the “foot high pie” billboards for Blue Springs Cafe in Highland, IL. And now the billboards read “as seen on The Food Network”, but I have no idea when that aired. They make 20-40 pies per day (way more at Thanksgiving and the waiter said “of course she’s cranky as can be back there in the kitchen during the Thanksgiving pie making” and I’m assuming he was talking about grandma, the baker.) They truly are a sight to behold, so if you’re ever in the area, pop by and have a slice. They have lots of flavors to choose from.

We have Fifth Anniversary Contest Winners to announce! Thank you to everyone who participated in our blog contest, and thank you for your anniversary wishes, comments and emails. It’s fun to celebrate with you! I’ve emailed all of the winners. Each one of these people won a $50 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. Congratulations to Deborah from MI, Sue from IL, Loraine from MI, Caitie from VA and Traci from NV.

I’m back in St. Louis working in the shop for a few days. I promised myself I would work all day long before walking around the shop and filling up a basket of yarn to take back to Colorado. I’ve missed being surrounded by yarn every day! If you haven’t been here to shop in person, you just need to pop in. (Road trip, anyone?) I overheard a shopper today tell her friend, “It’s just like fantasyland in here, isn’t it?” It’s good to be back here in the midst of the yarn fumes.

Sheri lorna’ssolemate,madtoshpashminaandmadtoshsport
areallonmyshoppinglisttoday

There are lots of new things for you on the website in tonight’s Monday Update. (Monday Update – my favorite part of Mondays ….) We have:

Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino Fingering – in our third exclusive anniversary color, “Sweet Home Colorado”. We had them dye this up in honor of the Colorado State Flower – the Columbine. I love this combination of colors.

Madelinetosh Sock – Just as popular for shawls as it is for socks, and we have it in over 100 color choices for you. I am anticipating Wendy’s new book arrival at my house tomorrow, and I know there will be plenty of new patterns in there to knit up with Madtosh Sock. This yarn was popular for many of the two color shawls in Camp Loopy’s Project One. This beautiful pattern was written as a result of Camp Loopy and it’s on sale until Camp Loopy is over.

Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere – this base yarn is not always in stock at Dream in Color. When it is, we order it! This is our first late summer batch, but we’ll have more soon. The 70/20/10 merino/cashmere/nylon base continues to be a popular one for socks and scarves, mittens and gloves.  Here’s a new glove pattern that I just added to my favorites on Rav.  Or how about this pretty cowl?

Dream in Color Smooshy – this 100% superwash merino fingering base continues to be a popular one here. I added this sock pattern to my favorites this week. (Approving all of the photos for Camp Loopy’s Project Two has been as hazardous to my Favorites list as it was when I was doing Project One.)

Studio June’s Super Cash Sock – another cashmere blend (80/10/10), with colors that brighten up any day (shown here in Mad Scientist). I might try this in this simple shawl/scarf that I found this week. And wouldn’t that pattern make some nice holiday gifts for those on your list? Just a thought.

The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga – our monthly installment of one of our favorites.  Currently contemplating using this for a pair of these amazing gloves.

Malabrigo Worsted – just in time for knitting a sweater before the cold weather hits here in the States. And look at this pretty sweater pattern I favorited this week. Love the cables and the short sleeves on it.

Malabrigo Rasta – quick to knit as cowls, hats and scarves. If you’d like the free pattern with purchase (you can see the cowl I knit from it here), just leave us an order note and we’ll email it to you later this week.

ChiaoGoo Lace Circular Needles – because they have wonderful points, because the joins are awesome, and because the cable is red. You know how we feel about red around here.

If you haven’t gotten in on the Fifth Anniversary Blog Contest, don’t forget to leave your answer for us. We have over 2200 entries so far and we’ll be doing the drawing this Friday. We’re giving $50 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificates to 5 winners!

And don’t forget to download the pattern that we had designed for our Fifth Anniversary – Banyan Tree, by Debbie O’Neill. One thing to note – Round 1 of the twisted ribbing should read * P1, k1tbl; repeat from * to end of round. We’ve updated the pattern link as well.

I’m off taking Knitting Daughter back to college this week (sad), so there won’t be a post on Wednesday. But I’ll be in St. Louis at Loopy on Thursday and Friday of this week, and will blog from there on Friday. I’m trying to gear up for midwest humidity again. The mountains have spoiled me already. Isn’t that ridiculous?

Sheri whowillalsobeaddingtostashwhenI’matLoopythisweek

We’re still celebrating our anniversary month! Since not everyone can win Wednesday’s blog contest, we do have a gift for each one of you today. We’ve had pattern designer Debbie O’Neill (from Nutty Creations) design an exclusive anniversary pattern for us each year, and this year is no exception. The new pattern – Banyan Tree – can be found here on my blog page under the Free Patterns section. I love the pretty lacy “leaves” at the top, turning into cabled “roots” going down into the foot. You’ll find the pattern has instructions for three sizes of socks. It’s written top down and includes a chart. We hope you like it! The design reminds me of all of the growth that has gone into The Loopy Ewe over the past five years, thanks to all of you and your support. We couldn’t do this without you and we promise to bring you fun new things and continued growth in the next five years, too. In the meantime, enjoy our fifth anniversary pattern!

I tried a new recipe this week and wanted to share it with you. So easy, so pretty, and so fun for summer.

Fruit Sugar Cookies

1 tube of slice and bake sugar cookies
(or your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
1 (8 oz) box of cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbl. frozen lemonade concentrate
fresh fruit

Slice and bake the cookies and then let them cool completely.

Whip together the cream cheese, sugar and lemonade concentrate until smooth. Spread some on each cookie and top with fresh fruit slices.

Note – you can make up the cookies and cream cheese ahead of time, but don’t spread the cream cheese mixture onto the cookies until about an hour or two before serving. Refrigerate until serving.

We have winners to announce for our Camp Loopy Project One participants! We had 754 photos uploaded, which still astounds me. Such gorgeous work. The Reader’s Choice Award goes to Shannon for her Starlight Shawl. Then we used the random number generator to pick four more winners and they are: Tami (Camp Loopy Daybreak), Debbie (Camp Loopy Project #1 Deer Cape), Elizabeth (Camp Loopy Project 1) and Jennifer (Taygete). Each of the winners has received a $25 Loopy Ewe credit and I know they’ll use it well.

Have a great weekend. I’ll be working on my Project Three throw. How about you?

Sheri kindofantsytoknitupanewpairofsocks,though

I’ve officially started my Project Three – a throw. You might remember that Camp Loopy’s Project Three needs to be an 800 yd. project (or more).  I made another throw last summer, in a striping pattern. This time I’m going round and round to make one big square (although I jiggered it so that it is rectangular, not square.) I’m using Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes and I know it will be as soft and comfortable to use as last summer’s throw turned out to be (made in Rowan’s Amy Butler Belle Organic.) Someday maybe I’ll be able to do something more exciting with crochet than go round and round in lines, but for now, this is it. I do, however, love the blankets/throws when they are done.

This month we’ve been celebrating our Fifth Anniversary by sharing different exclusive colorways with you. Our first one was from The Sanguine Gryphon on their Bugga base, and this week’s was from Lorna’s Laces on their Solemate base. (We have a few skeins left, if you missed it.) We’ll have one more for you in next Monday’s Update.

In the meantime, we wanted to share our anniversary blog contest with you. We will be randomly drawing five winners from all of today’s blog comments and each winner will receive a $50 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate! To enter, just answer this question in the comments below (or email us the answer, if you’re shy …). We’ll draw the winners at the end of next week. So here is the question to answer:

What is your favorite vegetable?

You thought we were going to make you say “Happy Anniversary”, right? Or “Tell us your favorite thing about the shop”? Or “How long have you been hanging out with us at The Loopy Ewe”? Nope. We want to know your favorite vegetable. We don’t always like to be predictable.

Sheri thatalsomeansfiveyearsofbloggingandrun-on-sentenceclosings.Jeesh.