…. that this week is W Week. (Remember last week was M Week? Malabrigo? Madelinetosh?) That means instead of a regular Monday Update tonight, we’re doing a few Wollmeise updates this week, different days, different times. As usual, we’ll be sure to announce it on Facebook and Twitter and Ravelry when each batch goes up. We just added Twin to the website this afternoon. If you miss one update, there will be another. We also still have several boxes stuck somewhere en route, so if we don’t get those this week, we’ll do another update next week, too. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Of course we’ll have another regular Monday Update next week with more fun things. They’re stacking up in the inventory room and we’re having fun poking through all of the boxes. In the meantime, since it’s W week, I have a wound 950 yd. skein of Wollmeise Lace to give away. I used less than half of the 1700 yd. skein to knit (held double) a Honey Cowl for a friend.  Isn’t that a pretty blue purple color?  I can’t remember the name. There is one knot in the very middle of the skein. I had divided it into two equal balls to knit double, then re-wound the leftover balls into one large cake. This is perfect yardage for another Honey Cowl held double (or two Honey Cowls!), a pair of light socks, a large shawl, a scarf and mitts, or a number of other things.  Just leave a comment below and I’ll draw a name at the end of the week for the winner. I know you’ll make it into something beautiful!

Sheri isitjustme,oristhisdayflyingby??

Remember this blog post I did, where I commented on Elf Sarah’s cute Pogona Shawl? I was thinking I wanted to knit a lime green one just like hers, but then I decided on doing it out of Juliespins M370 in the Regency colorway. Julie’s colors always tempt me so much. And this pattern only took one skein.

This was a fairly quick knit and easy to work on. The pattern doesn’t require too much attention, which is good. Makes it a nice thing to work on when you’re watching a movie or listening to a book on tape that takes more concentration. The pattern is also designed to stay on your shoulders (like the Sothia shawl that I just finished), and I find that I like that a lot. See how it is knit to curve around to the front in the photo below?

Now I’m back to work on my Color Affection Shawl that I started about three weeks ago. That’s another case where someone wore one in to the shop and that sealed the deal for me. I picked out yarn that afternoon, although I waited to wind it up and cast on until I had finished another project first. I usually have about 3 or 4 active projects going at any one time. Right now it’s two shawls, a scarf and a sweater, although I’m getting ready to start another pair of Biscotte socks, too. The “3-4″ number doesn’t include the projects that I started more than a few months ago and have temporarily lost interest in, or the single socks waiting for a mate. 3 or 4 sounds much better than what that other number might be. No need to discuss it.

How many projects are in your active pile, where you’ve worked on them in the last 4-6 weeks?

Sheri thinkingPogonawouldmakeacutequickgiftproject,too.

It has been fun discovering new things about Fort Collins as the year progresses. We had lived in St. Louis for 27 years before we moved, so it has been a long time since we’ve had a new town to explore. One of the things I learned this spring is that there is a tree that hosts a mama owl and her babies each year, right along one of the main roads in town.

For awhile, the mama owl sat on the nest to hatch the eggs and then to keep the babies warm. As the two babies grew bigger, she had to perch on a branch beside the nest. There wasn’t room for all of them in there any more. Now they’ve ventured onto the branch beside her and I suspect it won’t be too much longer before the babies learn to fly and are off on their own. Kind of sad. I like seeing them peering out over the branches on my way to and from work. But my friend Sheryl (who has lived here a long time) promises that they’ll be back again next year. That will be fun!

WH took these photos with a long lens. (Click on the photos to make them bigger.) Aren’t those faces wonderful? The babies started out all white, and just in the past week are quickly getting more and more brown feathers, which allows them to blend into trees much more effectively. Another photographer at the site told my hubby that the father owl is usually perched in a nearby tree, keeping an eye on things. And speaking of eyes – it cracks me up that they always look like they’re frowning. Or very very serious. And yikes – those talons. I would not want to get in the way of those.

Did you know that female Great Horned Owls are typically 22 inches tall with a 49 inch wingspan? That’s a big bird. They eat rodents, rabbits, and … housecats. It makes me glad that this beautiful mama and her babies are quite a distance from our house. No doubt she has to do a lot of night hunting to feed that hungry gang. We keep our cats inside, but you know I have those visiting cats that I worry about enjoy, too.

Sheri whostillthinksowlsarecool.Aslongastheystayawayfrommycats.

We have more of your favorites up on the website tonight! We’ve just added in:

- Madelinetosh Sport - now available in more than 80 colors. This is a great weight yarn in beautiful colors. I made the “And So Are You” shawl out of Madtosh sport, and bought myself 3 other colors in double skeins for future projects. Double skeins because I’ve been on such a shawl kick. But this yarn would also make wonderful socks and sweaters, too. (Shown here in Dried Rose.)

- Malabrigo Finito - a once-a-year base in 100% Pure Superfine Merino. This is the finest luxury wool available commercially in Uruguay and comes to market just once a year. We’re already hoping that Malabrigo will have it back again next year. It is a luscious fingering weight, in 50 g. (200 yard) skeins. (Shown here in Aguas.)

- Shibui - re-stocks in Staccato, Baby Alpaca DK, patterns and books. I’m currently working on the Cabled Rib Wrap pattern, which uses a strand of the Baby Alpaca held with a strand of the Silk Cloud. It is beyond wonderful to work on.

- Universal Cotton Supreme – in new colors! Look for Lemon, Terra Cotta, Holiday Red, Salmon, Seafoam, Lime, Holiday Green, and Dutch Blue. I made a sweater out of this wonderful yarn and I can confirm that it is indeed completely machine washable and dryable. If, for example, your sweater turned out too big and you wanted to shrink it? Not going to happen. I know that’s good news for most of you wanting to use this yarn. For me? Not so much. I really needed that sweater to shrink. (Shown here in Dutch Blue.)

- Woolen Mill Street – Corriedale Roving in all kinds of tempting colorways. Time to spin! (Shown here in Grapes.)

Need a few pattern suggestions for these yarn choices? Try the CopyKat Shawl or the Spring Garden Tee with the Madtosh Sport. Finito would be lovely in the Lizzie Bennet Shawlette or Rockywold Fingerless Mitts. And how about the Miette Cardigan or a Zoe Cardi, (which I need to re-knit in the correct size) in the Universal Cotton Supreme? Also fun – a window full of Happy Flower Decorations with a Spring Robin on the side. What do you think?

Sheri theairconditioningwentonthisafternoon.
Mustbewarmoutside!

Many of you are familiar with Kelly at Romney Ridge and her wonderful sheep. Kelly does the Romney Ridge Calendar for us each year. (If you follow her on Facebook, you’ll get to see cute pictures like this all of the time!) When I saw this one, I emailed her right away to ask if I could share it with you, and also to see if I could get a big print of it for display here at Loopy. That’s Maggie O’Toolie standing up at the front and poking her nose through the fence. You can see Mabel behind her with the big ears and underbite. Kelly said the grain truck was coming down the drive, and they were all crowding forward because they know what the grain truck means! We have a big print of this on canvas, behind our checkout counter. It’s fun to have these sheep watching us pack up and ship off your orders every day. Here’s a link to the photo, if you want to have your own copy of Maggie and Mabel and the rest of the gang.

It’s time to pick a Reader’s Choice for the favorite First Quarter Challenge Project! We had 173 entries in the contest and each person had to knit with a yarn that contained some percentage of silk in it. The finished projects are beautiful. Congratulations to all who knit with us and completed it on time! Take a look in the Photo Gallery and tell us which one is your favorite (support@theloopyewe.com). We’ll compile the votes and will announce the winner (plus the randomly drawn winner as well) soon.

You can still join us for the Second Quarter Challenge, which is to knit something up in a yarn that contains some percentage of cotton in it. Perfect time to make yourself a spring/summer sweater if you have warm weather coming soon!

Sheri timetomakethecoffee.HappyFriday!

We had two blankets in the shop last week that were just amazing. Elf Roberta brought in her Sock Yarn Blanket, made up of leftover sock yarn bits and bobs. It looks way more planned and organized than bits and bobs, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it be fun using a combination of multi’s and solids from our Lorna’s Laces Mini Skein kits, with some leftover yarns thrown in there as well?

Roberta made the pattern up and is happy to share it.

Cast on 8 stitches on size 3 needles. (Here’s an easy way to do it: Emily Ocker’s Circular Cast On). Re-arrange so you have 2 stitches on each of 4 needles.
1. Knit one round even, joining into a circle and being careful not to twist stitches.
2. [K1, YO, PM, K 1, PM, YO] x 4
3. Knit
4. Knit to marker then [YO, SM, K1, SM, YO], knit to the next marker then [YO, SM, K1, SM, YO], and so on for the whole round.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until blanket is the desired size, changing yarn colors as often as you’d like. Bind off loosely. Enjoy!

(K = Knit, PM = Put Marker, SM = Slip Marker, YO = Yarn Over)

Here’s another beautiful afghan. We’ve all been watching Sheryl make progress on this at Thursday Night Knit Night, and it’s finally done! This is the Girasole pattern done in Dream in Color’s Cashmere Blend Worsted (9 skeins of Emerald Darkness). We did a Girasole KAL a few summers ago. You can see some of the finished Girasoles here in our Loopy Gallery. I made one that summer out of Cascade Eco Alpaca and this was really the first true lace project that I had done. (Which will tell you how easy this pattern really is. It looks impressive – no doubt about it. But row by row, it’s amazingly easy to knit up.)

It also looks beautiful folded in half and wrapped around you like a shawl, doesn’t it? If you did it in a fingering or lace weight, it would probably be a perfect wrap size. That makes this pattern do-able in any weight.

Sheri stilltoomuchonmyToDoListforthistimeofday.
Really,I’dliketojustknit.Doesthateverhappentoyou?