Well I have to say, it’s good to be back to Loopy-ville after having two weeks off to move and unpack. (But it was good to have the two weeks off, too.) In the two weeks that we’ve been here, we’ve already had visitors. We’ve had my parents, WH’s mom and friend, my friend Meda, and our friends Steve and Janice and their kids pop in already.  The nice thing about people visiting you right away is that they don’t expect much in terms of how the house looks (or what meals you might want to make for them) so that worked out well.  Plus, we’re very close to a place called “Serious Texas BBQ” and we have gotten good at trucking people up there for dinner when they visit.

I promised to show you my favorite part of this place and here it is: the back yard. We have an overabundance of evergreen trees, as well as common ground on one side and in the back. You can be out on the deck and not see another house. (If you had been to our St. Louis house, you know that we had people RIGHTTHERE on either side and in the back. So this is wonderful. I anticipate spending lots of time back there, once things settle down a bit.)

And a few of you wanted to know where the cats like to hang out in the new house. Here’s Gracie’s favorite place – sitting along the back of the couch, looking out the window into the back yard.  Then falling asleep for a long cat nap.

Zoe is also into cat naps and can be found anywhere there is sunshine. Like on our bed in the afternoon. Or sprawled out on the warm tile in the mornings, as the sun pours into the kitchen. This house has a lot more direct sunlight and both cats are enjoying that. They used to fight over the one little sliver of sunlight that made its way into one of our dining room windows for a few brief moments in St. Louis. Now the whole back of the house is bathed in sunlight in the mornings and they have several warm spots to choose from.

We also have a little front office that I have taken over. In addition to a desk with a computer (where I can do my Loopy stuff), I have my works-in-progress cabinet and a chair for knitting.

So that’s a few areas of the house that we’ve been enjoying during our first two weeks here. But enough about that. Let’s get onto Contest Winners! We have three winners from last week’s Blog Contest, where I asked you to share some favorite summer memories. Thanks for participating! And congratulations to the winners that the random number generator picked:  Agata from MN, Retha from CT, and Michele from Saskatoon, who each win a $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate.

Now that all of the entries (751!) have been uploaded to the Project One photo gallery for Camp Loopy, pop over there and pick out some of your favorites. Aren’t they amazing? We’d like to award a Reader’s Choice Award, in addition to a couple of other awards that we’re going to do. Can you help us? Send your choice for your personal favorite to support @ theloopyewe.com and we’ll tally the votes and award prizes next week. Speaking of Photo Galleries, I’m working on the Project Two gallery. So far we’ve had 200 photos submitted and these mittens, socks and gloves are just gorgeous. Such happy colors! I’ll keep working on going through all of them to get them approved. I know you’d like to see them asap. I am just so proud of all of you who have been camping along with us this summer. You’ve inspired each other, and you’ve certainly inspired me. It has been a lot of fun! I hope you’re participating in Project Three with us. Remember, even if you have not done Project One or Two, you can still participate and join us in Project Three. Come along!

Sheri whoneedstoadjustbacktoaworking”sleep”schedule.
Stillstayinguptoolateinthep.m.andneedingtoomuchcoffeeinthea.m.

WH and I have been doing a lot of work around our house over the past two months. It’s amazing what a difference a little thing like brushed nickel door handles and new light fixtures, make. We’ve been in our house for 16 years and I didn’t realize how much I did not like the gold door handles and fixtures until we got rid of them. One of my very favorite things about our house is our screen porch. We added it to our house 8 or 10 years ago, and we use it daily. I recently saw the blue-ceiling porch photo (below) in this fun online magazine, that shows a blue ceiling on a screen porch. I think it makes it look like a beautiful blue sky. (Not sure I could get WH to buy into a blue ceiling on our porch and I’m not sure it would look right on ours, but it sure looks perfect on the one in the photo.)

My friend Janice and I were talking about things we like and don’t like about our houses this week. What’s one thing you love about your current house/condo/apt and/or one thing you wish you could change?

Thanks for all of your blog comments on the May Contest post. We bring a LOT of years worth of knitting experience together! If there weren’t over 1200 comments, I’d go through and add up all of our years.  But just suffice it to say, it’s a LOT.  I drew two names for the two Spring Fling Goodie Bags that I set aside for our May Contest. We’ll be sending those out to Caroline from Oregon and Maria from MN. Thanks again for participating in the contest!

WH and I are heading out to Colorado for a quick few days this next week. I’m leaving the Lovely Loopy Elves in charge here at Loopy, and one of Knitting Daughter’s good friends in charge of housesitting and cat watching at home. (I’m betting he will gravitate to the porch on most days, just like we do. I’m also betting he’ll be glad that we didn’t paint the ceiling baby blue before his housesitting job began.) I’ll do a blog update on Monday to fill you in on the Monday Update stuff (but probably later in the evening), and then I’ll be back to blogging again on Monday, the 23rd. In the meantime, back to the blog question today – what do you love and what would you change about where you live?

Sheri aworkerattheMontessorischoolacrosstheparkinglotis
randomlyspritzingwaterstraightupintotheair.Why?

There is never a lack of color here at The Loopy Ewe. Every day I come in to work and color pops off of every nook and cranny. I’ve been bringing more color into our house, too. It’s spring (actually it feels like summer here – we bypassed spring) and it’s always nice to lighten up the house in this weather. So I have color:

In the pillows on the couch (flowers from Pier One and turquoise from Crate and Barrel).

In the pillow on the chair (also from Pier One, although someone in the house – and you know it’s just me and WH in there now – thought it was a silly pillow, so it will be coming to Loopy to sit on the red couches. How could I not buy it? It’s crochet!).

In glass jars (from Home Goods, mostly. Now that these are full, I need another one. I like having my extra sock yarn balls in jars.)

In more glass jars (from various antique stores).

In candles on the mantel (which are not this green at all. Remember when I said it’s hard to get a good picture of teal? It shows in this photo.)

Certainly lots going on in our house this spring. What’s the most colorful spot in your house right now? Or do you need to add some in?

Sheri whoseknittinghastakenarestforthepasttwoweeks

I’m so glad it’s Friday. That means another RAK Reporting Day! Did you find fun things to do for others this week? Leave your report in the comments today and I’ll pick winners again and will announce them next week. The three randomly-drawn winners from last week are: Lisa in PA, Brigitte in MD, and Sara in TX. Each one has been contacted, and wins two skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series yarn and a pattern, in their choice of colors, plus a tub of my favorite Heel Creme by Soak.

I loved reading the comments on last Friday’s Reporting Day. I think it’s great that so many of you are including your kids in the RAKs that you’ve been doing (like Karla and her baggie of change for the Salvation Army kettles, that her 4 year old hands out, or Elle who is working with her 3 year old to pick out gifts for their church’s gift drive.) What a great way to teach them the spirit of giving and doing for others. Many of you are reaching out and adopting kids or families who have no money for the holidays, and are doing things to provide them with cheer. Others of you have looked for impromptu opportunities to pass something on (like Brigette, who literally gave the coat off of her back, and Megan who passed her daughter’s new coat on to a child that didn’t have one.) And even things as simple as Kathy bringing hot cocoa to her mail lady, or Chris delivering coffee and donuts to the Pharmacy staff that prepares her dad’s medicine, or Sarah F. making homemade chicken noodle soup for sick neighbors. Your acts of kindness are  a reminder to all of us that this season is more about giving than getting. Keep up the blessings and keep reporting in on Fridays so that we can all enjoy them and be inspired.

Today’s recipe is one from a blog called Sing For Your Supper. These cookies look so pretty, and taste great, too.

Peppermint Kisses

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup candy cane powder*
2 sticks plus 4 Tbl. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
crushed peppermints (I used about 15 regular-sized candy canes, crushed)
White almond bark (about 12 oz.)

* Candy cane powder is made by crushing candy canes into a fine powder. I crushed these with a hammer and then dumped them into a strainer. The finest pieces went through to the bowl below (and was used for the candy cane powder) and the larger pieces in the top of the strainer were used to garnish the cookies when finished. (Note: when using a hammer to crush candy, keep your fingers out of the way. Why would I mention this? Oh, no reason. No reason at all.)

Mix all dry ingredients together.

In a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth (about a minute). Add sugar and beat for about two more minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and yolks, one at a time, then add in the vanilla.

Reduce mixing speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture, mixing just until it has been fully incorporated.

Drop the dough by rounded spoonful onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes.  Cool completely.

Melt almond bark and drizzle or spread on top of cookies. Add chopped candy cane pieces for garnish. Makes 40-50 cookies.

Now – back to the RAKs – tell us what you did this week!

Sheri usingleftoverpeppermintpiecestoflavormycoffee,yum!

Slowly but surely our house is getting decorated for Christmas. I used to do it in one (long) Saturday, but in the past few years I have been doing bits and pieces from day to day. My favorite thing this year are these battery-operated candles. (Finally, battery-operated candles that “flicker” realistically and don’t look fake.) I bought mine in Fulton, IL at Sweet Woodruff. Cutest little gift shop with no website! I did tell her that if she ever decided to sell things online, I’d be a good customer. I bought both red and white candles there. She has been using hers in the shop since May, using the same (2) C batteries. And the thing I like most? They have a timer. You can have them run 4 hours on and 20 hours off (or 8 /16 ). That means that I don’t have to go around each night to turn them on and off. They come on at 6:00 and they go off at 10:00, like clockwork. I’ll have to keep them around after the holidays. They look great flickering away on the mantel and in the dining room.

This window is another one of my favorite things this season, because it was fun to decorate. Is this an odd thing to have in the dining room? It fits right in with the old teak/oak/pine furniture in our house. I found it at an antique store for $15. I keep thinking I will re-finish it, but we hung it up as-is for awhile. I’ve seen old windows for sale before, but I liked this one because it had a ledge for stuff.

The corner cabinet is one that has been in our family for a long time. My grandparents bought a couple of these as kits from Sears back in the 1930′s and put them together. It provides another shelf for me to decorate! I found another battery-operated candle at Target for that corner. Not as nice as the Sweet Woodruff ones, which are made from wax and look like a real candle, but still a fun one for the holidays.

Did you find anything new (or old and repurposed, like my window) to use in your holiday decorating this year?

Sheri triednewholidaycookieslastnight,recipeonFriday!

You’re thinking I’m going to talk about knitted cloches, right? But I’m not. I’m going to talk about glass cloches and a topic that has nothing to do with knitting. I visited my friend Meda last weekend. She’s the person that got me into cloche-ing. (She also accuses me of making the word “cloche”, which is a noun, into a verb – cloche-ing. As in, “Look – that’s a fun little fall decoration. Very cloche-able.”) Cloches were originally designed in the 1800′s as a way to protect new, tender plants. Putting a cloche over a plant turned it into a mini greenhouse and protected it from predators, while ensuring an environment rich in carbon dioxide and heated by the sun. Nowadays, people use them to create small displays or vignettes, to showcase different treasures, or to highlight something fun.

In October, I did a fall theme with the little cloche in the first photo, above. I popped in an owl, a couple of pumpkins, some candy corn, and a squirrel. It’s amazing how many little decorations I already have, that fit perfectly into a scene like this. I’m already looking forward to doing one up for Christmas, then Valentine’s Day, and beyond. (Birthdays would be fun – you could add a few photos of the birthday person, along with a few little things that remind you of them.) My friend Meda has several around her house, each containing a different type of something. Here is her fall themed cloche (love the little pumpkins in the teacup, and I also love the antique tea strainer alongside.) She had a baby shower recently and put antique baby items under a cloche and used it as a centerpiece.

Here’s one of her other displays, which shows old treasures from her grandmothers (compacts, purses, perfume bottles, etc,). She and I both like antiques, so we have had fun finding little bitty things that would be fun to cloche around. I also think it would be fun to display my favorite skein of yarn (all caked up), some older knitting needles, and a little knitted toy in one. Maybe I need to get one to use at Loopy. Cloche-ing takes ordinary things and turns them into a display. (You can find inexpensive cloches at places like Home Goods, Marshalls, Target, etc. You can also use glass cake domes, little glass cheese domes, etc. Some come with a stand or pedestal, but it’s also easy to put it on a tray.)

So – do you have any other cloche-able ideas? What would you put under glass?

Sheri whomightnothaveusedtheseglasscloches
whenbothkidswereyoung

(Note – tomorrow is a no-mail holiday here in the States, so we will be closed. We’ll be back packing orders and welcoming in-store shoppers on Friday!)