I picked Lorna’s Laces Pearl for my First Quarter Challenge yarn, because I love the way it looks in a shawl. I made a Traveling Woman in Red Rover Pearl a couple of years ago. This is the Mizzle pattern by Patricia Clift Martin, free on Ravelry.  It looks like it knits up into a pretty scarf/cowl/shawlette type accessory in the fingering weight that is called for. Since Pearl is more of a DK weight, my shawl was a little larger and I like that length and size. I used 2 skeins of Pearl for this and now I have it on display here at the shop, which is where most of my shawls end up. I really love knitting shawls, but I very seldom wear them. I always think they look wonderful on everyone else and kind of dorky on me. But it doesn’t stop me from continually adding shawl patterns to my knitting list, and having several in progress at any given time.

We’re still collecting votes for the Fourth Quarter Challenge, so make sure to email us (support@theloopyewe.com) with your vote. After I blogged that on Monday, Cheryl from MA emailed to ask whoever won the third Camp Loopy project vote. That reminded me that I never finished that off!  Here’s why. We asked for voting right before *Thanksgiving, which turned into The Big Loopy Move, which turned into The Second Loopy Move, which turned into Christmas, which turned into The Grand Opening*. We only had 11 Project Three votes cast at the beginning, and all 11 people voted for 11 different projects. I know that there were over 600 photos to go through, but you all did that very well with the first two camp projects. Typically, we have lots of voters weighing in with voting. I intended to re-blog it and ask for more votes, and then … well … things were a little crazy around here and I just forgot. (Repeat reading from * to *.)  So now, instead of asking you to vote again, I’ve just used the random generator to pick five winners from Project Three.  So congratulations to Una-Mary in Australia for the Absolutely Love It Shawl, to Amy in WA for the Lazy Loopy Shawl, to Barbara from MN for the 800+ Yards, to Kristine from TX for the Camp Sweater,  and to Beth from NY for the Travel Shawl for Camp Loopy.  We’ve added a $25 Loopy credit to each of your accounts, and I know you’ll have fun spending it. (And thank you again, Cheryl, for the reminder!)

So back to the issue of knitting shawls and (me) not wearing them. Do you knit shawls? And do you wear them?

Sheri stillenjoyingmyPalindromeScarfandIwilldefinitelywearthat

We have winners today! First of all, the winners of our Camp Loopy Project Two awards. It took us awhile to tally up all of the votes, but we had a Reader’s Choice winner. That goes to Christina in CA for her beautiful Owlie Socks. We also drew four winners from all of the entries, and those go to: Jessica in NM (Eugenia’s Mittens), Samantha in IL (Sammi’s Convertible Mittens), Rebecca in VT (Sprouting), and Eve in PA (Sweet Loopy Socks). Each of the winners has received a $25 Loopy credit, and I know they’ll spend it well!

Now please help us choose your favorite project from Camp Loopy’s Project Three Gallery. You can send your response to us at support@theloopyewe.com and we’ll report back soon.

We also have winners of last month’s blog contest, which I snuck in at the last minute. We’re sending a skein of Wollmeise to Diane in MA, Patricia in WA, and Jen in CA. Congratulations to all of you!

Today’s recipe is one I tried earlier in the fall and it was a hit. I found it on Pinterest and it comes from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I hope you and your family enjoy it.

Baked Penne Chicken, Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

1 bunch broccoli (about 1.5 lbs.), cut into small pieces
12 oz. penne pasta
2 Tbl. olive oil
1 md. onion, minced
6 md. garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth (I used low sodium)
1 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into small pieces
3 oz. smoked mozzarella, shredded (I used regular – couldn’t find smoked)
8 oz. jar oil-packed sune-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

Topping:
3/4 c. bread crumbs mixed with 2 Tbl. melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bring water to boil in large pot, add 1 Tbl. salt and the broccoli. Cook the broccoli until it is bright green – 2-4 minutes. Remove from water and add pasta to the boiling water. Cook until al dente (about a minute less than you might normally cook it). Drain and toss with 1 Tbl. olive oil.

Drain water from pot and add 1 Tbl. oil. Put on med. heat until you see the oil shimmer. Add the onion and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme, mixing well. Slowly whisk in the broth and cream, stirring as you bring it to a simmer. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and cook through, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes and mozzarella.

Add the pasta and broccoli to the sauce, and stir to combine. Transfer to a greased 9 x 13 pan and sprinkle with the topping. Bake at 400 degrees until it’s bubbling and the crumbs are lightly brown (about 15 minutes). Enjoy!

Sheri thinkingaboutcastingonahatthisweekend.
Gotafavoritehatpattern?

Happy Halloween! After seeing a lot of “years ago” pictures of Halloween on Facebook today, I decided to see if I had any. I’m thinking that we never made a big deal of this when I was growing up, as there is no photo evidence of pumpkin carving or goofy costumes. (I do remember trick or treating, though.) So I’m sharing one of my favorite pictures from when Web Guy (age 3) and Knitting Daughter (age 8 months) were celebrating Halloween one fall. They both went in pumpkin costumes that year, but KD was crying in the one photo I have, so I thought this outdoor shot was better. Do they still make those pumpkin leaf bags? I thought that was such a cute idea back then, and we had plenty of leaves to fill them.

We have plenty of fun things to share with you in tonight’s Update, and we waited a little later in the evening so that you could get your fill of trick or treaters (and chocolate). Just up, you’ll find:

Camp Loopy Colorways – We divided you up into Trail Guide groups for Project Two of Camp Loopy, and one of the activities we had in our Ravelry Group was for each Trail Guide group to come up with their own colorway that reminded them of Camp Loopy. You submitted inspiration photos and names and we sent them on up to Lorna’s Laces to work their magic. You did a great job of coming up with colors, and Beth and crew did a great job of turning them into yarn!  You’ll find them under the Camp Loopy section on the homepage. (Shown here in “Giggles in the Night”.) We have a few more things that we’ll add to that section in the coming months, just to keep your camp memories fresh. (Note – check the blog later this week for Project Two winners and Project Three voting. We haven’t forgotten!)

Woolen Mill Street Yarns – we have a new indie dyer to share with you, and she has started with a big batch of roving, which I know you spinners will love. (Shown here in “Nightmare” – appropriate for Halloween!) Christina is from right here in St. Louis and we’re happy to add her beautiful line in. We’ll be adding her sock yarn in next, so watch for that in the coming weeks.

Dragonfly Fibers Dragon Sock – Kate’s merino fingering weight in 15 new colors and 8 re-stocks. When Elf Lori was unpacking this big order last week, one of you called in to say, “What is that pretty color you’re unpacking on the Loopy Webcam right now??” I always have fun seeing the colors that Kate comes up with. Every one of them is gorgeous.

Swan’s Island Fingering – still selling like hotcakes, so I know you’ll be glad that we’ve re-stocked all colors. We’re keeping up as fast as they can send it out to us. I’ve got a skein set aside for a pretty shawl. (Shown here in Oatmeal, because that’s the color I nabbed for my very own.)

We’ve also added re-stocks in: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, Go Knit Bags, and Namaste Bags.

Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and sign up for our tweets on Twitter. We always post when we’ve done the Update each Monday, as well as popping in to talk on Facebook during the week, too. (I admit – I mostly only tweet on Mondays, but I try to update Facebook a bit more often.)

Happy shopping and I hope you find some fun treats to add to your stash!

Sheri whoboughtButterfingerstogiveouttonight,
inhopesthattheremightbeleftovers.

You know we love contests around here. It’s fun to have you participate and then share some prizes with you! Next week we’ll have our Fifth Anniversary Contest, but first we have a couple of other ones to wrap up. During Project Two time for Camp Loopy, we divided the participants up by Trail Guides. Some of the Trail Guide groups have been very active on Ravelry, talking about their projects. We asked each group to come up with a colorway and name to commemorate their time together. I told them I’d pick my favorite for awarding some prizes, but that we’d have ALL of the colorways dyed up for fun. Watch for news of Camp Colorways this fall!

The competition was fierce, and it was hard to make a decision. But the final winner is Lulu’s Lightening Bolt. I picked this one because not only is the inspiration-photo pretty, but I liked the story behind it. These campers really got into the spirit of Camp Loopy. They said, “After one of our hikes got cancelled due to a thunder and lightening storm, we decided we would love a yarn to memorialize our time spent in the lodge together waiting out the storm, watching the wonderful colors light up the sky.” Click here if you’d like to see the photo. I used the random number generator to pick three comments for winners on their Ravelry thread. Cairnknits, Brainsneezes and Shedubba each win a $20 Loopy gift certificate for participating in the winning colorway thread!

I also have the winner of our Second Quarter Challenge, which was to knit for charity (or using a pattern that benefits a charity). The winner is Sarah from MN who knit the Japanese Garden Shawl (which was designed by Wendy Johnson, with pattern proceeds for April donated to the Red Cross. Wendy’s generous contribution brought in more than $6000 for the Red Cross!) Sarah donated her beautifully finished shawl to Wrapped in Care, a charity that provides shawls to women in the hospital who have just lost a baby to stillbirth or neonatal loss. Sarah has won a $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate, for the Challenge.

We’re still tallying votes on the Project One Reader’s Choice award, so we’ll wait and announce all Project One winners in a week or so. Just know that we’re working on it. And then pretty soon it will be time to vote on Project Two.  Your projects this summer have been stunning.

Before I go – here’s a quick and healthy (as promised) recipe to try out this summer. We had this at a friend’s house this summer and it quickly became one of our favorite side dishes.

Susan’s Roasted Sweet Potatoes

4-6 sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
Oregano
Salt
Thyme

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into 1/2″ thick discs. Put in a large bowl and add a few tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tsp. of Oregano, and 1 tsp. Thyme. Stir to coat well. Layer the potato discs in a single layer onto a foil-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and more Thyme and Oregano, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until tender.

We have big things going on downtown this weekend. So much to explore. What are you doing this weekend?

Sheri surehappytohaveKnittingDaughterhomeforaweek

I have a few miscellaneous things to share with you today. First of all, check out the great squirrel picture that WH took. It almost makes squirrels look cute (instead of the birdfeeder destroying, birdfood stealing imps that they are).

Gracie and Zoe continue to find sunshine to sleep in around the house. Today, they seemed to want the same sunbeam at the same time.

Zoe likes to sit on the back of my chair when I’m working. I keep thinking she’ll nod off to sleep and fall off. It could happen. She was sleeping on my lap the other day and had a dream that made her jump and she bounced right out of my lap and onto the floor. Then she looked at me confused, wondering what just happened (and why we were all laughing …)

I’m sorry about the Anniversary Bugga selling out so fast. If you’d like us to reserve a skein for you from the next batch, email us: support@theloopyewe.com. Next week we’ll have another dyer/colorway for the anniversary!

Camp Loopy Reminders:

- remember to finish your Project Two projects by 8/15, with photos uploaded by 8/16 in order to qualify for double FSB points (if you bought the yarn during Camp Store Week – 7/1 – 7/8) and in order to qualify for the Wollmeise bonus (if you complete all three projects by the deadlines).

- to qualify for bonuses, remember that the yarn you use must have been purchased from us during or after Camp Store Week for that project. As we said before, that’s the way we insure that you aren’t sharing an old project with us (or that you didn’t start the project before the start-date.)

- you are welcome to knit from stash and upload a photo to the gallery, as long as it’s yarn that you purchased here. Your photo will be eligible for the random gallery drawings that we will do, even though it won’t be eligible for double FSB points or the Wollmeise bonus.

I know we covered all of these situations in the Camp Loopy Q & A blog post and on Ravelry, but I thought I’d mention it again.

Have you checked out the socks, mittens and gloves that have been uploaded so far? I have had such a fun time seeing what you have done. I’ve also decided that I need to knit a pair of Cookie A’s BFF Socks, and I want yellow mittens out of  the Wood Hollow pattern and red mittens out of the Eugenia’s Mittens pattern. My fall, winter and spring knitting has been set, between Projects One and Two. I’m almost afraid to see what you all do with Project Three.

Got any Bits and Bobs to tell us?

Sheri fivemoredaysandthenwecanstartthelastCampLoopyProject!

I know you’re going to skim the blog post until you find out the information for Camp Loopy’s Project Three, so I’ll get to it right off the bat, and then I’ll go into how we decided on that! Project Three begins August 15th and ends September 15th. Photos must be uploaded to the Project Three Photo Gallery by 9/17, which gives you two days to wash and block it before photo-ing. (International Camper deadlines: 9/22 finished knitting, 9/24 photo uploaded.)

Project Three: you can knit anything you’d like to knit. The only requirement is that you use 800 or more yards of yarn for the project. (731.5 meters) All 800 yds. must be used in one project. (So it doesn’t count if you make a hat plus mittens to equal 800 yds.) Edit: The intention in “leveling the playing field” is that everyone should be knitting the 800 yds. single stranded, to make an 800+ yd. project. Double stranding 800 yds. would give you a 400 yd. project.

With this last project, we wanted something that put everyone on the same playing field (thus the “Field Day” title for this project). Many of you used 800 or more yards for the first project, and some of you made much smaller items. With Project Two, some of you are making very intricate socks or gloves out of fingering weight yarn, and others knit the project up quickly with worsted weight yarn (like me!). This time, everyone will be working with the same amount of yarn (although I realize that some of you who want more of a challenge will choose to do bigger projects than that, which is fine) and I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do with 800 yds.

With each Camp Loopy project, we have tried to challenge or stretch you just a bit. The challenge in Project One was to think beyond the norm and knit a scarf or shawl with two colors instead of one. Many of you told us that you would not have picked a two color shawl, but not that you’ve done one, you love it and want to make more. Me, too! The challenge in Project Two was to use a cable pattern for socks, gloves, or mittens. Again, so many of you stretched to make something you’d never made before, or you stretched to try cables for the first time. We’ve loved seeing the photos come in. And I love the mittens that I did for this project. (Photo later this week.) For Project Three, the challenge (stretch) is the quantity of yarn. I made my Girasole blanket (1700+ yds.) in one month, a couple of summers ago. It was a fun knit, and I was motivated enough that I wanted to knit on it several nights a week, even after working all day long. I was amazed at how quickly it was done. I’ve also done a few other big projects in a one month time period. For me, the key is to make sure I am working on a project that I’m enjoying and can’t wait to sit down and get at it. Not all of my knitting projects fall under that category.

I want to assure you that we have enough Wollmeise for every one of you Loopy Campers to complete this three-month challenge. We had 750+ participants finish the first one, and we are ready to reward each one of you with a Wollmeise skein and a pattern, at the end (if you also finish projects two and three on time). I saw someone on Ravelry mention that they hoped we had enough or that Claudia could dye enough for this, but we’re already on top of all that – no worries. (OK, so maybe the Wollmeise is currently being held hostage in Customs, but at least it’s en route!) We’re planning on all of you rising to this final challenge and look forward to rewarding you for finishing, whether it’s double FSB amounts or Wollmeise at the end.

To get 20% off on the yarn for your third project, leave us an order note and tell us which yarn in the order will be used for this project. The discount is good for one project’s worth of yarn and can only be applied to the order if you leave us an order note and indicate that it’s for Camp Loopy and tell us which yarn the discount should be applied to. Discount offer is good between now and Sunday (8/7) at midnight, Central time. (If you’re going for free shipping in the U.S., make sure that the discount won’t take you under the $75 level or the system will add the regular $5.95 shipping charge back in.) As with the past two projects, we’ll apply the discount to your order after you submit it. You can always check the order notes on that order to be sure that the discount has been applied (but give us 24 hours to make the change and leave the note on your order.) Once again, we’ll double the FSB total for the project yarn, if you purchase it during Camp Loopy Store Week (between now and Sunday, 8/7) and upload a finished project photo by the deadline.

Here are some pattern suggestions, to get you going. For this project, we’ll set up discussion threads on Rav based on the type of project you’re going to be doing. It has been fun to see you get to know different Campers as you move from your cabin group to your trail guide group, and now into your project group. I hope you all have enjoyed that part of it, too! So pick a project, order your yarn, and get ready to start on 8/15. (On the patterns below – some have options to use more or less yardage. Make sure that you pick a pattern where you will be using 800 yds. or more. If you’re a size small or medium, some of the sweater/vest patterns linked below won’t use enough yardage to qualify for this project.)

Sweaters and Vests:
February Lady Sweater
Levenwick
Iced
Vine Yoke Cardigan
Heather Hoodie Vest
Sleeveless Top
Mr. Greenjeans
Dayflower Camisole
Wood Hollow Vest
Dr. G’s Memory Vest

Afghans and Blankets:
Shale Baby Blanket
Girasole
Umaro
OpArt
Cradle Me
Lyn’s Round Ripple Baby Afghan
Lucy’s Granny Stripes
Rosebuddie

Shawls: (again, make sure you pick the 800 yds. + sizes of these)
Hypernova
Stripe Study Shawl
Juno Regina Stole and Wrap
Radiance Shawl
Winter’s Rhythm
Catherine’s Shawl
Oh Canada
My Wish

Bags:
Calla Lily Bag
Kalahari Tote
Kauni Damask Understated Bag
Boredom Buster Bag
Carie Lyn Bag
Ballband Bag
Fair Isle Bag

I am going to do my second-ever crochet project, and will be working on a throw in blue/tans/cream. 1) Because crochet uses up a lot of yarn, quickly. 2) Because we need a throw for our bedroom.  But looking at all of those cute bag patterns makes me think that maybe I ought to be doing a bag instead. It has been ages since I knit a bag, and there are such cute patterns out there. They look like fun. I’ll have to think on this.

Since it’s a Monday night, we also have a few new things up on the website for you. Check out the Kauni patterns, new bags and accessory cases from Namaste, and re-stocks in Lorna’s Laces. Someone asked me if I planned to let our inventory run down so that we don’t have to move as much yarn this fall when we take Loopy from Missouri to Colorado. The answer is no. We will continue to get orders in, right through the cross-country move. We want to continue to provide you with a fully stocked shop. One exception: Cascade 220. I might let that long wall of yarn dwindle a bit, just because that is all yarn that has to be packed into boxes (versus yarn on our regular shelves, which will be shrink wrapped). But we’ll get it all fully stocked again, once we have the 220 wall set up here in Colorado.

I’ll be back to the blog on Wednesday to show you my favorite spot in our house here, and then on Friday I have a yummy recipe to share with you (and a photo of my Project Two Mittens. When is it going to be cold enough to wear them? I’m anxious.)

Sheri workingonmyKauniCitronuntilProjectThreebeginson8/15