We offered a weaving class here at The Loopy Ewe last weekend, and it was a lot of fun! Each class participant got their own 15″ Cricket Loom and went to work, making themselves a scarf. Here they all are, learning how to warp their looms. The warping takes almost as long as the actual weaving part. You have to stretch the yarn a long way to get it the right length for a scarf.

Once the looms are warped and the excess yarn is rolled up, you can get to work with the weaving part, which seems like the most fun. Lynn, our instructor, brought her floor loom, just to keep us focused on which loom we might want to get next.

I can’t believe you can be done with a gorgeous scarf in a day! Two of the four had theirs done by the end of the day, and the other two were almost done by the time they left. Amazing. Here’s a photo of the pattern most were using – a houndstooth variation.

If you’re in our area, let us know if you’d like to take a weaving class. We’ll collect names for the next go-round. We’ll also have more 15″ Cricket Looms back in stock again soon.

So – do you weave? I can’t wait to jump in and make a scarf!

Sheri knittingcrochetingspinningweaving
Notimeforanythingelsenewafterthis

Now that Camp Loopy is over (except for the bonus yarn – hopefully ready by the end of next week!), it’s time to turn our attention to the Fourth Quarter Challenge.

The nice thing about Camp – you have a quick month to get it done and it teaches you how fast you really CAN get things one when you focus on one thing. (Talking to myself here …..)

The nice thing about Quarterly Challenges - you have 3 months to get it done, which allows you plenty of time to insert other projects in there for variety, as you knit along.

I think there are advantages to both, but I’m ready for a little longer amount of time on this next project! The Challenge is to knit a project using yarn held double. Have you done that before?

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Here are the details and then I’ll talk about a couple of ideas.

- Your project must use two yarns, held and knit together. (Two strands of lace, or two strands of fingering, or two strands of DK/Sport, or two strands of worsted, or two strands of bulky, or a combination of any of those weights.)

- It must be a 400 yard (or more) project. This means you’ll be using 800 yards of yarn: 400 + 400 knit together. You can begin any time after today.

- The project must be done (with pictures uploaded to the Fourth Quarter Challenge Gallery) by December 31st. That gives you three months!

- If you want to purchase yarn for your project, you can get a 20% discount on one project’s worth of yarn for this challenge if you order between now and next Thursday, September 20th. You will need to leave us an order note, telling us which yarn you will be using for the challenge. We will apply the discount after we receive your order. If you are going for free shipping in the U.S., please do a bit of math ahead of time to be sure that your discount won’t take you under the $75 amount, or the website will add the shipping back in. We can only apply the discount to one project in one order during this shopping week, so choose carefully and calculate yardage wisely!

- If you do purchase yarn during the Challenge Week (Sept. 12-20) and if you finish your project and upload the photo by 12/31, we will double your project’s Frequent Shopper Benefits when we approve your photo. That means if your yarn is $30, you’ll get FSB points for $30 when your order ships, and another $30 in FSB points when your project is finished and photo uploaded by the deadline.

- You can also use stash yarn and upload your photo to the gallery to be included in the random drawings, as long as it’s a yarn base/brand that we carry here at The Loopy Ewe.

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So what are you going to make? I’m planning to use two skeins of laceweight held together to (finally) make the Charleston Tea cardigan. I don’t have a lot of success in sweater completion. I’ve knit two sweaters (a Mr. Greenjeans and a Zoe Cardigan), and I have 3 sweaters currently in time-out (for no reason except that sweaters take so long and there is always something else that comes along that I want to knit instead). This time, I found a friend to knit along with me, and SHE has a great track record in sweater completion, so I have hope! I’m using this Wollmeise Laceweight  in Spice Market that I bought when I visited Claudia’s shop in Germany, so it’s a little heavier laceweight than the wispy stuff.

Besides doubling up for a sweater, another thing you can do is something felted. Felting frequently has you knitting two skeins of worsted yarn together (so that it knits up big and fast), so you might want to make yourself a new bag. How about a Sara Purse, or a Go Green Shopping Bag? (Or hey – design yourself a bag!)

I’ve been working on another project with two yarns held together. It’s the Cabled Rib Wrap, which is knit holding Silk Cloud and Baby Alpaca DK together. It’s awesome and I love working on it. One of our Knit Nighters is working on a beautiful lacey scarve with a skein of fingering weight and a skein of that Silk Cloud held together and each time she brings it we all admire it. I think there are probably many open-lace scarf patterns that would lend themselves to that (adding a laceweight in either a different texture or color, to make it more interesting.) Check out Moiraine, or Pergola Lace Wrap, or the Summer Wind Cowl. Adding two different textured yarns together is fun. (Shown here in Silk Cloud Suit and Zitron Filigran Denim. With the two slightly different shades, you’d also be adding a bit of dimension as well as texture to your piece.) You could alter any of those patterns by adding in a second skein of something soft/warm/shimmery (alpaca, cashmere, silk) or something in a little different color, alongside your regular fingering weight skein.

If you’re adding a yarn to an existing pattern that was written for one yarn, keep in mind that it will turn out larger when you add more yarn to it, and you will probably have to go up a needle size or two. That’s why scarves/wraps/cowls are great, because in most cases, it doesn’t matter if they get bigger. They’re not fitted, and that just means more to wrap up in. In my case (with the sweater I’m doing), the pattern calls for a sportweight, and I’m using two strands of laceweight to equal a sportweight, so it should not come out bigger or require a different size of needles. (Yes, of course I’m swatching to make sure.)

Remember, the purpose of our Quarterly Challenges is to encourage you to do something you might not have tried before (or to complete something that pushes you a little further in your knitting in some way). I hope you’re up for the challenge! Who’s in?

Sheri whoneedstowindmyyarnandgetgoing

Did you notice we didn’t have a Monday Update last week, due to the Labor Day holiday? (I jest. I know you noticed, because I got emails about it!) The one benefit of taking one week off from Updating, is that the week after that is bursting with new things! So get ready for lots of temptation. Tonight, we added in:

Alisha Goes Around - in the Richness of Martens fingering weight (shown above in Agave). This beautiful yarn is kettle-dyed by Alisha in Texas and this base is 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere and 10% Silk. With 400 yards in a skein, it would be ideal for a beautiful scarf or shawl. (It also works for socks, but do you really want to hide it?) You might try the Calsada Scarf, or the Tiare Shawl & Scarf, or a Sliding Frogs Scarf (love the name).

Lorna’s Laces - we re-stocked Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport, Solemate and Sportmate in several colors, including the news ones that came out this summer. I think any of these colors would be fun for a Hot Tea Cowl, or a Shelley Scarf, of Lydia’s Cowl Crochet Pattern.

The Fibre Company – in their Bulky Tundra base. This is made up of 60% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino Wool, and 10% Silk. Since it’s a bulky weight, it knits up quickly. I did their Arctic Cowl pattern with 2 skeins (shown here to the left, and below), and it’s warm and cozy. I just have to wait for winter to arrive, so I can wear it! We have it in all 12 colors. It would also make a nice hat or scarf or fingerless mitts. You might try it for a Shawl Collared Cowl, or the Chunky Dean Street Hat, or a Francine Headband, or Zephyr Fingerless Mitts/Mittens. I haven’t knit much with Bulky weight yarn. What I like about it is how fast it knits up. This would be a great yarn to use for some of those holidays gifts that you have on your list. The headband and mitts would great for teens.

Hand Maiden – Mini Maiden is back in stock! This one ply fingering weight is 50% wool and 50% silk. So soft and great to work with. It has a beautiful drape and just the right amount of sheen from the silk. With 545 yards per skein, you can make some wonderful one-skein shawls with this. How about the Sunflower Shawlette, or Ruffles and Ridges, or a Scarlet Sparkler Scarf.

Baggu - We’ve re-stocked all sizes and colors in Baby and Classic sizes, as well as the Backpacks and the accessory sets. These make such great project bags. They’re lightweight, hold a bunch, and are easy to tuck into a larger bag for a project on the run.

Scojo - I thought I bought these reading glasses mostly for me, but apparently you all like them, too! We’ve re-stocked all of the sizes and added in their cleaning cloths (which are great for glasses, but also nice for computer and iPad screens). What I like most about these glasses is how lightweight they are. I forget that I’m wearing them. (And if you have to wear reading glasses, it’s nice to at least be able to forget that they’re sitting on your nose….)

Wooden Yarn Caddies – George-from-Wyoming brought down a whole new batch of caddies, and this time we have small sizes (shown here in Walnut) as well as the large sizes. The small size is perfect for one skein of fingering weight yarn, so some of you might prefer that size for socks and small shawls. You’ll notice the price is almost the same. It’s the same amount of work for George and not really much less in materials, either. But we wanted to bring you both sizes, because we’ve found them handy ourselves. (He brought a couple down for us to try out the last time.)

Nelkin Designs – a re-stock of Laura’s popular jewelry kits. These are fun to knit up and the kits contain the yarn, beads and pattern. We have Ribband bracelets, Mudra Necklaces, Butin Collar Necklaces, Mudra Cuffs, and Rippled Necklaces in stock.

Dream in Color’s September Dream Club Yarn – We have put our final batch of the September color up on the website, and if you haven’t gotten a skein yet, you’ll want one (shown here)! There are 700 yds. in this skein of Dream in Color Baby, in a beautiful periwinkle (blue/purple) skein, with gray/brown mixed in just enough to make it interesting. We’ll be emailing you the Twilight pattern with purchase, so that you can make this skein up into a hat, cowl and mitts. Dream in Color is sponsoring a contest for anyone who wants to knit with all six of this year’s Dream Club yarns. You’re not required to use the club pattern, but at least half of each skein from each month must be used, and all six projects are to be completed by 3/31/13. To enter, post pictures of your completed projects (all six in one post, but each project in it’s own photo) in the Dream Club group on Ravelry, or on the Dream in Color Facebook page. They will be giving away 100 skeins of exclusively dyed yarn to 100 knitters who participate in the contest!

See? I told you we had a lot going up tonight for you. Enjoy the perusing and shopping, and we’ll get your orders out quickly!

Sheri whowillbeusingmoreofthatlusciousTundraagainsoon

Thank you for voting on our Camp Loopy Project Two entries! We have tallied the votes and the winner of the Reader’s Choice Award is Janine from Missouri, who finished this gorgeous High Seas lace shawl which she calls “Belladonna Goes for a Swim”. She used Sweet Georgia CashSilk Lace in the Nightshade colorway for this stunning creation. The finished shawl is the shape of a parallelogram. Congratulations on being a Blog Reader favorite, Janine!

We also drew three names from the rest of the 672 photos that were entered, and they also win a $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate! Those went to:

Tamah from North Carolina, who made the Cielo Shell out of Cascade Ultra Pima in the Cornflower Blue colorway.

And Traci in Nevada, who made a Pendulum Shawl out of Shalimar’s Breathless in the Glacier and Ore colorways.

And Christina from California, who made the Let’s Go Shopping Shawl out of Dream in Color’s Starry in the Peacock Shadow colorway.

We’ve added your $35 Loopy Gift Certificate to your accounts. And a big congratulations to all of you who participated in Camp Loopy’s Project Two. We have loved seeing all of the things that you made.

Now that we have all of the photos up and approved for Project Three, it’s time to vote on that one. Hop on over to the Project Three Gallery and pick a favorite. Then email us your vote: support@theloopyewe.com We’ll tally them up and will announce the final list of Camp winners in a couple of weeks.

The Camp fun isn’t over yet! We have some special Camp Colors coming up this fall, as well as the bonus yarn that so many of you earned. You’ll be getting an email from us in the next couple of weeks, if you finished all three projects within all of the guidelines. And as soon as the Camp Colorways are ready, we’ll share that with you on the blog. It looks like we’ll have two different batches of Camp colors, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Have a great weekend!

Sheri alsostaytunedfortheFourthQuarterChallenge,comingupinaweekortwo

We’ve been busy around here, checking in new inventory, getting photos taken, and preparing for next week’s Monday Update (because I have heard from many of you about missing one this week!). We have big rolling carts full of yarn like this, to get out on the shelves and up on the website, soon.

However, we had to take a 3 hour detour yesterday to deal with our internet service, because our speed had slowed to a turtle’s pace here at the shop (in between blipping off completely every so often). Three hours of time on the phone. I am so not impressed with their customer service. Not that I’ll be mentioning the name of that particular internet company. But I’m not happy with them. (Can I help it if they like to put their logo on the modem?) We think it’s fixed now. It had better be.

Luckily, we have these jars of nourishment in the Loopy Elf Kitchen, for stressful times such as these.

And lest you worry that we will run out, let me assure you that we keep plenty in reserve for refilling.

So what’s up with you this Wednesday? Are you needing some jars of extra nourishment, too?

Sheri whostoppedafteronesmallhelping.
ButI’mnotguaranteeingthatI’mdoneyet.