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

Still buried in boxes, but finding a wee bit of time to knit and blog. It’s good stress relief. That’s what I keep telling myself. We have a nice deck that is perfect for knitting. I’ll have to take a picture and show you sometime. I did start a Citron with Kauni and I am having fun working on that when I can steal a few minutes here and there.

During our summer of Camp Loopy, we’ve been talking about fun memories we have from past camping and summer experiences. One thing I remember is catching lightening bugs. Did you do that, too? When you’re little, it feels like you’re catching floating stars and putting them in a jar. There’s just something magical about lightening bugs.

When our kids were little, we did something that we called Adventure Club each summer. We made a list of different things that we wanted to do and made sure to schedule something out-of-the-ordinary, each week. I took photos of each weekly event so that I could put it in our Adventure Club Scrapbook. At the end of the summer, instead of saying, “Where did the time go? We were going to do so many things this summer that we never got around to!”, we could pull out the scrapbook and see all of the fun times we had and the things that we did. One of the things we did one summer was to have a Lightening Bug Picnic.

The kids were in charge of catching a jar full of lightening bugs to “light” our picnic. I made up food to go with the theme. We had Moons (croissant sandwiches), Worms (pasta salad), Stars (Jello Jigglers cut into star shapes), Flower Pot Dirt (cinnamon muffins baked in mini flower pots), Clouds (popcorn) and Twigs (Twix candy bars). Of course half of the fun was that the kids got to stay up until 9:30 for dinner, because it didn’t get dark enough until then! It was a fun summer adventure.

This month’s contest is about summer memories. What is one fun thing that you did in the summertime when you were growing up? Maybe you did it once, or maybe it was a summertime tradition? Leave your answer in the comments below and we’ll use the random number generator to draw for a few $35 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificates next week.

Sheri backtoknittingboxesknittingboxesknittingboxes

When you go hiking in the mountains, you need a map, right? One or two steps down the wrong path and you might find yourself in a place you didn’t expect. The same goes with knitting. We use maps (ok, during non-camping times we call them patterns) to insure that we are executing the right stitches on each row. One or two stitches in the wrong direction, and we end up with a project that we don’t recognize. Thank goodness for maps/patterns that lead the way!

This week for a Camp Loopy celebration, we have put all of our single copy patterns up for sale at 20% off. (Pattern books and booklets not included.) There is no limit to the number of patterns you can get, so it would be a good time to stock up. The sale ends Friday night at midnight, Central Time.

Many of you have also already found the new section that we added to the website called, “Last Call“. These are yarn lines that we don’t anticipate getting again soon (if ever) and you can find some very good deals in there. Take a peek and see if there is anything calling your name!

Thanks to all of you who have emailed or messaged me on Ravelry and Facebook to make sure we survived the long 14 hour drive to Colorado. We did! And the cats did so much better than I had anticipated. After the first two hours of complaining, they settled down and slept much of the rest of the day. We have spent the week unpacking, with plenty more to go. But the important things are done. We have beds to sleep in and, even more importantly, the coffee maker is set up and has already been used every morning. Want to come join me for a cup? (But beware – I might make you unpack a box, first. The main floor is getting there, but OH, the basement….)

Sheri weatherupdate:hot,butnohumidityanditfeelsgreat!

Time’s up! (Well – at midnight tonight.) Put down your needles and back away from Project One. I know that many of you have already finished, due to the 500+ photos already up in the Camp Loopy Project One Gallery. GREAT JOB on that! I’ve spent a lot of time looking at each one of your projects, and I’m really proud of the way you all have risen to the challenge. Your projects are just amazing and I hope you have had fun with Project One. I also hope that you’ve found a few more two-color shawls and scarves that you want to make, because then I’ll be in good company!

This is also the day we can jump into Project Two. Time starts now! For a refresher on Project Two details, see this post. You can start any time today, or after, with projects being finished on or before 8/15, photos uploaded 8/16. I am particularly amazed at the people who ordered yarn for project one a week or two after we had started, and they still finished ahead of time. Some of you must knit like the wind! Here is the beginning of my Project Two Mittens. I love cables and this pattern looks wonderful. If last month is any indication, I’ll probably find several more patterns to put on my list, as I see your photos start pouring in.

WH and I have a long car ride to Colorado next week. The time has finally come for the move! The movers arrive first thing in the morning to pack up the moving van (which means we’ll probably be up late tonight, finishing up the final boxing up.) One thing I’m not looking forward to? Two cats in the car for 14 hours. One of them will see this as a big adventure and will be perfectly fine. The other one doesn’t like change and will tell us about it the whole way there. Oh, it’s going to be a fun trip. One thing both cats will miss – having a screened porch to hang out in. Here’s a picture of Gracie, ohsoclose to a squirrel who happened to be climbing up to the bird feeder. He knew the cat was there – see the angry action of his tail, which is a blur? Gracie was stupefied. Zoe would have jumped at the squirrel and scared him to death. (Does that give you a clue as to which cat is adventurous and which cat is a scaredy cat?)

I’ll be somewhat removed from emails and Ravelry for about a week. I’ll check as often as I can, but if you need something that the Elves can help you with, please use the support @ theloopyewe.com address. After next week, I’ll be back to more regular communication. I will, however, have a Monday Update and blog post for you, so watch for that. More fun stuff has arrived!

Sheri whowillnotmissthisSt.Louisheatandhumidity

It’s time to unveil the specs for Project Two! Now remember, you can’t start knitting on it until July 15th.

* The knit time for this one is 7/15 – 8/15, with photos uploaded by 8/16. (Just one extra day for photo uploading, because this project won’t need to be blocked like Project One.)

* International Campers – due to longer shipping times, your project should be done 8/22, with photos uploaded by 8/23.

Project Two is called “Hiking in the Mountains”. Doesn’t everyone have to go on a hike when they’re at camp? I know that it’s not always in the mountains, but it always felt like you were dragging yourself up a steep hill/mountain, by the very end of the hike, waiting for it to be done. (Or was that just me?)

For this project, the challenge is to knit or crochet either a pair of socks or a pair of mittens or a pair of gloves, in an adult size. (No fingerless mitts this time around.) The other part of the challenge is that the pattern you use needs to contain cables, which are always fun to do!

Here are two blog posts (one, two) which contain more information on Camp Loopy and how the projects work. The first one is the original post about it, and the second one has the Q & A.

* Once again, we are offering you a 20% discount on the yarn for this project (limit one Project Two discount per person, you’ll need to leave an order note telling us which yarn is for Camp Loopy, and this offer expires 7/8). We’ll take the discount off when we print out your order. Make sure that the discount won’t take you under the $75 free shipping amount (for U.S. packages), if you’re going for free shipping.

* Once again, we are offering you double Frequent Shopper Benefits if you get the yarn from us during July’s Camp Store Week (July 1 through July 8th at midnight, Central Time) and complete the project with photo uploaded by the due date.

* Check your order form for the name of your Hiking Trail Guide. (It will be one of the Loopy Elves.) We’ll have a bit of fun with that this month, too.

So how about some pattern ideas to get your creative juices flowing? Here are just a few cable-y options to get you started:

For socks: Diamonds and Cables, Ribs and Cables, Basket Case Socks, Cables Galore, Twisted Celtic Cable Socks, German Stocking Pattern, BFF Socks, and Taglioni.

For mittens: Bavarian Tulip Mittens, Knitted Mittens with Cables, Glitten, Hugs and Kisses Mittens, Cherry Mittens, Aran Winter Set Mittens, and Wood Hollow Mittens.

For gloves: Knotty Gloves, Three Oaks, Brunnhilde, He’s Driving Me Wild Gloves, Knitted Gloves with Cables and Bobbles, and Lady Sunshine.

Of course there are a lot of beautiful fingerless mitts with cables that could be turned into mittens or gloves, with a little know-how. I’m not linking to them, because someone will then knit them as a mitt and say “but you linked to it in your blog as one of the ideas!!”.  Just keep in mind that you can be innovative and turn fingerless patterns into regular mittens and gloves by combining a favorite mitten/glove formula (construction and number of stitches) with a fingerless mitt stitch pattern that you like.

We have a winner from our Crazy Campfire Story! Congratulations to Deb from West Virginia who wins two skeins of Claudia Hand Painted Fingering Weight yarn, in her choice of color. (She picked Cabin Fever to remind her of Camp Loopy when she wears the socks). Thanks to all who helped to participate in the storytelling. What a fun time Loopy has had!

So back to Project Two – who’s in and what are you going to make? (And don’t forget to bring along your walking stick and your Deep Woods Off.)

Sheri stillsoimpressedwiththeProjectOnephotosthatcontinuetopourin

P.S. Happy Canada Day to our Canadian Loopies, and Happy Fourth of July to our U.S. Loopies! Have a great, safe weekend, everyone.