Well, you all did a great job of initiating the new Colorado Elves into their first Monday Update. We’re up to our eyeballs in boxes (heading your way!) and I thought you might like to see the friendly people who are packing up your orders and talking to you on the phone. They have jumped in with both feet, have volunteered to work extra days/hours, and keep finding things they want to order for themselves, as they pull and pack up your orders. It’s a job hazard. (I can so relate.) Learning the ropes in a new job that is currently housed in temporary space is not easy, but they are sailing through it with flying colors. Thanks for all of the welcoming notes you’ve left for them on your orders this past week!

Extra things you might want to know about them:

Vickie, Sarah and Roberta were all diehard Loopy Groupies before getting hired. They’ve known and loved Loopy for a long time.

Michael’s wife Sheryl is a Loopy Groupie and thought he’d be perfect for an Elf job. Our first male elf!

Emily (a college student) makes us all thankful that we are no longer taking Finals, writing papers, and studying.

Ginnie and Cathy have conquered the cavernous unfinished inventory space. They are our order-pulling-experts this week.

Jody’s daughter got a Golden Retriever puppy last weekend and she brought it by Loopy today. What a sweet puppy. (Jody – don’t forget to email me the info on that litter. I am not getting a puppy. I am not getting a puppy. I am not getting a puppy.)

So – is there anything that you’d like the Colorado Elves to know about you? They’re already learning some of your favorite colors and lines, by pulling your orders!

Sheri Newpostofficelovesus.Orhatesus.Wecan’ttell.

It was so fun working on a Monday Update again today! We’ve missed having updates just as much as you’ve missed seeing them. Fortunately, we didn’t stop getting products in during our moving process – they just backed up at my house for a bit! And now we’re ready to share them with you. Just up tonight, you’ll find:

Lorna’s Laces Holiday Kits - Lorna’s Laces and Soak teamed up to provide these great kits for the holidays. Four varieties, each containing a skein of Solemate, a tub of Soak Heel Creme, and a sample of Soak in the Lacey scent. (Shown here in Purple Club).

Madelinetosh DK – I think Elf Roberta wondered about me when she saw how many cases of Madelinetosh DK were waiting for her (as our new Inventory Manager) to check in. We have 114 colors up, so pick your favorite and knit a new sweater or vest over the holidays.

Twentyseven 27 Soap - Handmade soaps, made by Keri right here in Fort Collins, CO. I have been using this soap for two months and love the scents and the quality. Made with goat’s milk (from a goat – not a can!), and they’re all phthalate free, sodium lauryl sulpahte free, paraben free, and gluten free. We have it in 15 scents and they make great gifts to tuck in with handknit washcloths. (Shown here in Mocha.)

Malabrigo Worsted – this continues to be such a favorite for everyone. The colors are amazing and it’s wonderful for sweaters, vests, hats, scarves, cowls, and felting.

Malabrigo Lace – great for shawls, these come with 470 yards per skein, at a great price.

Malabrigo Rios – we have a hard time keeping this base in stock, as people have found it great for sweaters and vests. We’ll keep getting more as often as possible.

Malabrigo Silky Merino – I’m working on a scarf out of Silky and loving it. It’s also great for cowls, shawls and mitts. The 51% Silk/49% Merino Wool base gives just the right amount of shimmer to your project. (Shown here in Indiecita.)

Shibui Sock - fingering weight in their 100% superwash merino base. 191 yds. per skein, so you’ll need two skeins for a pair of socks.

Shibui Heichi – 100% silk, great for vests, sweaters, hats, and shawls.

Shibui Silk Cloud – this 60% kid mohair / 40% silk base is light as a feather and great knit up on it’s own or combined with merino.

JulieSpins Lace 960 – a 960 yd. skein of gorgeous colors (no matter which colorway you pick – they’re all gorgeous!). Great yardage for medium-sized shawls.

Socktopus Sokkusu Original – more yarn from Alice in the UK, with re-stocks in some favorite colors and a few new colors as well. This fingering weight yarn has a tight twist that shows patterns well.

GoKnit re-stocks in Small Fur, Ostrich and Crocodile, and Medium and Large colors.

Perfect Notions Cases – for small scissors, stitchmarkers, darning needles, etc. I have one of these in every knitting bag!

We now have Romney Ridge Calendars for 2012! Our Loopy Groupies get one free as a special thank you with their first order in December, while supplies last. We love working with Kelly at Romney Ridge to put these out every year. We also have extras up for sale on the website.

Enjoy the new things and we’ll get busy on your orders first thing in the morning. It’s the Colorado Elves first Monday Update. They say they’re ready for it!

Sheri onceagainregularlyaddingyarntomystashweekbyweek

Well, at least as “settled in” as we want to get in this temporary space. Thanks to St. Louis Elves Susan and Karen and Honory Elf Janice, the new elves are trained, pulling and packing orders, and on the go. We were sad to wave Susan and Karen off this afternoon, but they totally approved of the new space (“such a fun place for Loopy to be”) and the new elves (“you have some great ones here!”). I know they’ll be back sometime to visit. Susan outfitted Loopy with some Elf Shoes before she left (which I thought went well with the reindeer Loopydeer antlers that I bought him a couple of weeks ago.) He’s still keeping an eye on everything that transpires in the shop.

For the next couple of weeks, our office space is separated from our inventory space. We are getting lots of exercise, trekking down the hallway with our cart system to pull orders and then trekking back to wrap and ship them. (That just means we can say yes to whipped cream on the morning latte, right?) Here’s a photo of Elf Roberta peeking her head out of the inventory space door. I took this from the office space door. See? It’s so far down there that you can barely see her. Click on the photo and you might see it better.

The temporary inventory space is not heated and there is no electricity. Fortunately it stays plenty warm, but it does mean that we have to stop pulling orders by 4 pm, as it gets a bit dark in there. It also means that we hope for sunny days, but since Fort Collins has 300+ sunny days a year, that hasn’t been a problem so far. Here’s one little section of the space. It’s working fine, but our beautiful space across the hall (not yet finished) continues to taunt us….

I have to say, this is the friendliest building I’ve ever worked in. We’ve had more than a dozen different people pop in to introduce themselves and welcome us to the building. Very nice!

All of our orders are caught up and we’re working on Monday night’s Update. We had to split everything into two updates – one this Monday and one the Monday after that. There was just too much stuff to go up all at once. We overran the photo room this week!

Sheri hopingyouallhaveagreatweekend!

1. Lost my camera connector cord somewhere in the move. Now, no way to download photos for blog posts. Must remedy soon.

2. Trucks are unloaded, temporary space is …. temporary (thank goodness), and we’re pulling/packing/shipping orders again today.

3.  Other tenants in the building aren’t quite sure what to make of us. (“Loopy Loo? And what is that, exactly?”)

4.  Colorado Elves put in a full day yesterday, getting the inventory ready for orders today. They work hard. I like that.

5.  St. Louis Elves Susan and Karen arrived last night. So great to have them here. Still trying to hijack them permanently to Colorado.

6. Sweet friend Janice arrived from Iowa today to help, too. She has been an Honorary Elf for 5+ years now.

7. The real space across the hall continues to edge towards the finish line. I am anxious for it to get done. So is Loopy. He’s not so much into the concept of “temporary” space.

Sheri whowillfigureoutaphotocordsolutionveryveryquickly.

* for pete’s sake

Two days. Five moving guys. The biggest moving van available (plus overflow into another van – oops!). 14+ tons of yarn and shelves.

Daydreaming about the mountains. And red socks. Always red socks.

Making sure everything is getting stacked in the van just right.

Checking to see if I can hijack the truck myself.

Taking the truck and the yarn and heading off to the mountains – wheeeeeee!!!!

Loopy whothinksthishasbeenamarvelousadventuresofar