I sure like this Multnomah pattern. I cast on for this second one, almost as soon as the first one was off the needles. It has 3 things that I like:

1. I can make it with fingering weight yarn. (Some of that laceweight yarn scares me. And we won’t even talk about broomstick lace.)

2. There is a lot of easy-peasy garter stitch.

3. The border is done in one of my favorite patterns – Feather and Fan.

Oh, and bonus #4. It doesn’t take 25+ hours to complete!

I was particularly motivated to get this one done because it is in Fall colors and I wanted to wear it this season. Although I’m sure I will wear it in the winter, too. I might need a spring colored version in a few months as well. I used 1 3/4 skeins of Colinette Jitterbug, and I adapted the pattern by knitting to 265 stitches before starting in on the Feather and Fan border.

Have you heard that shawls and scarves are “in” this season? (We are nothing if not hip, right?) I don’t see a lot of handknit shawls for sale, but I have been seeing quite a few scarves in the catalogs. Most of them are big, warm, worsted weight ribbed versions, done in solids and stripes. Like this one. And I liked some of the color combinations in this one. Here’s another, and another.

If you’re looking to make some of these, you can’t go wrong with Cascade 220. It has every color and shade variation known to man. 2 skeins of Cascade will do you. Or if you like the 4 color versions, get 4 colors and make two scarves out of them. How about team colors for someone’s favorite sports team? Or school colors for your sons/daughters/nieces/nephews? Maybe your sister always wears black and needs a red/white/black striped scarf to pep things up? Or maybe your brother would look great in a classy black/light grey/dark grey combo? Don’t worry about a pattern. Just do a simple rib (K1,P1, or K2, P2) and play with the colors and stripes. You can make them all the same width, or do random patterns. If you make one, I’d love to see photos! Here are some quick three-skein combos that I put together on the table in front of the Cascade wall. All of these are from the Cascade 220 line.

Colors on the left: 4001, 8893, and 9408

Colors on the right: 2403, 9499, 9543

Colors on the left: 7811, 8414, 9411

Colors on the right: 9407, 4008, 8339

Colors on the left: 9424, 8686, 1208

Colors on the right: 8906, 8404, 7814

It’s time to vote on your favorite finished Girasole from our 3rd Quarter KAL. Hop on over to the Loopy Photo Gallery and pick one, then email your choice to support @theloopyewe.com.  We’ll tally up the winner next week. I know many of you are still working on yours. Just add it in to the gallery whenever you finish up. We love seeing how they all are turning out!

And we have winners from our October blog contest, last week! Thank you for all of the cupcake suggestions (and for making me make peanut butter frosting). We’re sending colorful yarn prizes out to: Noella in MA, Shelane in FL and Bonnie in OH. Congratulations to each one of you!

Sheri nowthinkingImightneedastripedscarf
Butfirst,I’llstartTravelingWoman

I couldn’t help it. I needed cupcakes. Or cake and frosting. Or heck, just chocolate brownies and frosting. Reading through every single comment on Wednesday’s blog post made me hungry hungry hungry for it. I’d say the most common “favorite” was carrot or spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. (Mmmm, cream cheese frosting.) But many of you like plain ‘ol flavors, too. Nothing wrong with that! My favorite cupcake at The Cupcakery in St. Louis is the Peanut Butter one. (Chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting.) After reading all of your comments, I did a Google search for peanut butter frosting, used my favorite brownie mix, and whipped these up. Then I sent a batch of them to work with Paul and brought the rest of them in to Loopy Central this morning so that I wouldn’t eat them. (Of course I had one two last night. That took care of the craving.) Did anyone else find themselves baking or buying cupcakes this week?

Peanut Butter Frosting (from allrecipes.com, with modifications based on some of the reviews. This frosting is way too good.)

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temp
1 heaping cup of creamy peanut butter
2-4 Tbl. milk
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add powedered sugar gradually, beating the whole time. Add vanilla and then the milk as needed (1 Tbl. at a time.) When well mixed, turn up the speed and whip for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Thank you for all of your votes on Loopy’s Summer Vacation! Here are the winners:

Most creative: Crab Loopy from Linda

Farthest place that he traveled: Great Wall of China from Toria

Photo that made you wish you were there: Loopy Goes Canoeing from Liz

Each of the winners will receive a Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate. We also drew one name randomly from all entries to win a Gift Certificate and that one went to: Jennifer from CA for Loopy Goes Back in Tyme. Thank you to everyone for participating!

Some of you have asked when we’d have the stuffed Loopy sheep back again. The company we get them from discontinued them this summer. (With no warning. FPS.) However, we pleaded with them (and showed them the travels that Loopy has taken) and they agreed that we needed to have them again. Or rather, they agreed that if we purchased a whole BUNCH of them, they’d have them special-made for us. So they are being made as we speak, and we’ll get the batch in again in late Winter/early Spring, just in time for another round of summer travels and such. We miss seeing all of the Loopy guys hanging around here. It will be fun to have them back!

Found another pattern I want to make. It looks like a quick knit. It’s this, by Loopy Groupie Jess. (I can only find the pattern on Ravelry. Sorry about that.) And I’ll make it out of this yarn. I love that yarn. But first I need to finish the second Multnomah, so I’ll be spending time on that this weekend. What will you be spending time on?

Sheri weadded13moresetsofshelveshereatLoopyCentralthisweek.
Lotsofyarnonorder.

We need some color here in St. Louis – how about you? It has been raining for days and will continue to do so until Saturday. Now you know that I like rainy, cloudy days, but this is getting ridiculous. So I thought I’d share a fall photo that my hubby took last weekend. Click on this indian corn photo to make it big, and check out the kernals on the ear third from the left. Amazing! I’ve never seen a colorburst like that before.

Good news – because I’m within a day’s delivery from Dream in Color, we’ve been able to re-stock all of the Knitosophy line already. (And our wayward box of the BOLD colorway arrived. I took a quick photo of it here – beautiful blues – but I’ll make sure that the “official” photo gets taken later this week, too. I did add them to the site. I didn’t want you to have to wait on ordering it, as several of you have asked about it.) This new dye method turns out gorgeous colorways. If you were in our sock club in 2008, Veronica experimented with this method on the Spicy Kisses colorway that she did for us that summer. I’m having trouble deciding which colorway to knit up first. I like Butterfly and Superhero because of the color mixes. But Blossom is so tangy that you can almost taste it. And I love the thought behind Strength and Laugh. (Come to think of it, those would be good colorways to use for socks or shawls or scarves for people who need a little of that in their lives.) Hard to decide. I know you all had the same problem, because so many of you bought several of them! It will be fun to see your projects as you finish them up.

While I’ve been knitting at night, I’ve been watching the Food Network. Big mistake. Now I find myself wanting cake when I go to bed. I used to like white cake with chocolate frosting, but then I tried Kirstin’s Chai buttercream frosting on a spice cupcake and that immediately moved to my favorite spot. Although now that I’ve seen this “Decadent Chocolate” photo, I think I might need to try one of those for comparison. (Photo used with permission.) Unfortunately As You Wish Bakery doesn’t ship, but I will let you know if that ever changes. I’m definitely ordering platters of her cake balls for next year’s Spring Fling. I have an “in” with her mom, Janice, who comes down to help me with the Fling every year. I’m sure she’ll deliver. This month’s blog contest question – what is your favorite flavor of cake and frosting? I’ve saved some skeins full of color for prizes and we’ll draw for them next week, so leave your comment below to be entered!

Sheri thinkingImighthavetodriveuptoIowatohaveoneofthosecupcakessoon

We have new Loopy Groupies to celebrate! (Note – and a few announcements below.) Congratulations to these knitters & crocheters who most recently received their Loopy Groupie gifts: Amanda from ME, LaDonna from WV, Lindsey from OH, Dee from OK, Carol from WA, Vickie from VA, Kathy from PA, Robin from CA, Lois from CA, Jennifer from IL, Carol from IL, Judy from CA, Suzanne from CT, Kate from ID, Alexandra from IN, Melissa from VA, Brooke from CA, Mary from CT, Jackie from IA, Rebecca from VT, Melissa from SC, Stephanie from CO, Megan from VA, Kim from Canada, Genia from KS, Jerri from Kuwait, Angela from AK, Danielle from WA, Deb from CA, Sharon from MI, Sharon from PA, Tanya from WA, Aglore from CA, Lulynn from TX, Cassandra from OH, Amanda from VA, Valerie from MO, Myrna from IL, Linda from DE, Connie from MA, Donna from MI, Kathleen from NM, Shawna from CA, Roslyn from Canada, Amy from NY, Cindy from PA, Toni from CA, Carolina from NY, Barb from TX, Annette from NC, Gail from SD, Aimee from MS, Laura from NY, Jeanne from PA, Caryll from VA, Karen from AZ, Gail from CA, Fiorenzo from MA, Hannah from IL, Elaine from ME, Christine from WI, Kelly from VA, Jo from CA, Colleen from OK, Candra from PA, Stormy from MA, Erica from NY, Erica from NY, Susan from ME, Kristi from NC, Becky from SC, Neva from VA, Amanda from PA, Sarah from TX, Courtney from MO, Monique from CO, Elisabeth from MA, Ged from the United Kingdom, Maura from MI, Gretchen from KS, Susan from IL, Ann from VA, Amy from MA, Gail from OR, Amy from NJ, Laurie from CA, Victoria from MI, Nancy from GA, Mary Anne from MA, Anne-Mette from Denmark, Tabby from MO, Jennie from GA, Belle from NJ, Eileen from WA, Megan from CA, Laila from France, Elaine from CO, Sandy from NJ, Catherine from NC, Hannah from NM, Hillary from VA, Vicki from MI, Patti from OH, Melissa from AL, Renada from MN, Amy from NY, Jennifer from OH, Jaye from PA, Sophie from France, Nora from NJ, Susan from SD, Robyn from GA, Laurie from CA, Cathleen from VT, Andrea from GA, Victoria from WI, Lynne from D.C., Melissa from MD, Marcia from CA, Lisa from WI, Patricia from ME, Jamie from MO, Debra from FL, Rebecca from MO, Erin from NY, Terri from NJ, Melanie from MN, Katherine from CA, Linda from IL, Amy from OH, Susan from WA, Stephanie from CA, Kathy from CA, Kristin from VA, Natalie from OH, Kathy from MA, Nia from MI, Linda from FL, Jennifer from IL, Elizabeth from PA, Kristen from MD, Shelley from MN, Linda from IN, Kristen from NC, Nanette from NY, Hazel from GA, Kyle from MA, Nicole from PA, Deborah from NJ, Tia from CA, Andrea from Canada, Annette from MI, Janice from VA, Hokari from Japan, Didi from CA, Jennifer from CA, Brenda from VA, Sandra from MT, Colleen from WI, Jenae from KS, Nicole from WA, Kay from CA, Melissa from Canada, Judy from MA, Joanne from KS, Debbie from Canada, Lynn from WI, Brianna from MA, Mimi from VA, Nancy from MA, Joy from MO, Charlene from CA, Nancy from MA, Becky from GA, Sarah from MO, Marianna from WI, Sarah from MI, Reni from ID, Alexander from CA, Kristin from GA, Tracy from GA, Donalie from OR, Melina from Canada, Allison from CT, Anne-Marie from WA, Melissa from NC, Laura from NJ, Joan from Canada, Denise from VA, Ellen from NY, Gayle from CA, Deborah from AL, Vanessa from IL, Karen from WA, Christine from CA, Karen from IL, Cathy from MO, Gloria from WI, Sharon from OH, Samantha from MN, Christel from FL, Sarah from CA, Karen from NY, Debi from CA, Dawn from OH, Janice from NY, Sheila from NC, Sherry from PA, Marilyn from ND, Marianne from NH, Nancy from TX, Barbara from MA, Kelly from MO, Samantha from IL, Nuala from the UK, Audrey from Australia, Sara from MI, Shirley from MN, Karin from CA, Kathryn from TX, Lynda from VA, Yvonne from LA, Karen from CO, Selina from Germany, Carolyn from MN, Sarah from TX, Audrey from IL, Samantha from SC, Sarah from NC, Karen from NY, Elizabeth from D.C., Lori from CA, Cyndy from NE, Mary-Ruth from MA, Karen from ID, Elizabeth from CA, Dawn from Canada, Karen from NY, Martha from CT, Pamela from TX, Nadia from NJ, Kathy from IA, Ray from CA, Kathleen from MI, Linda from CT, Nikki from Australia, Roseann from VA, Cindy from MN, Stella from Canada, Judy from Australia, Yekaterina from NJ, Kimberley from OR, Lynne from D.C., Gail from NY, Mary from VA, Liz from IA, Vicki from IL, Melissa from TN, Beverly from ME, Amy from AZ, Susan from TX, Wendi from Canada, Andrea from GA, Dorien from CA, Linda from MI, Stephanie from TX, Pamela from SC, Jessica from OH, Becca from IL, Meredith from SC, Sheryl from VA, Meg from CA, Kelley from MA, Windy from D.C., Lynn from CA, Ivette from NJ, Leslie from FL, Julie from MI, Jennifer from PA, Dana from CA, Kelsey from NY, Betsy from NY, Barbara from TX, Jennifer from CA, Yvonne from IL, Megan from OH, Quanda from TX, Daniel from NE, Ariana from MA, Lisa from PA, Kristin from MN, Heather from MO, Patricia from CA, Abigail from WI, Rhonda from Canada, Katherine from WA, AJ from CA, Mary-Lou from NY, Michelle from Canada, Amanda from WI, Nancy from Canada, Beth from AL, Erica from NY, Julie from GA, Patsy from PA, Teresa from WA, Sarah from DE, Christine from D.C., Doris from FL, Sarah from SD, Karen from WA, Regina from NJ, Helen from CO, Julie from MA, Phyllis from WI, Joan from DE, Devi from WI, Melanie from OH, Ashley from VA, Elizabeth from TX, Katie from NY, Vinnie from NY, Ann from MA, Bonnie from VA, Leslie from CA, Kathryn from VA, Gudrun from MA, Rori from NM, Ro from GA, Nissa from CO, Janet from AL, Christine from TX, and Mary from KY. How do you become a Loopy Groupie? With your 6th package from us. (Although all of the multiple Wollmeise orders kind of screw things up in all of that. Never fear – we mark you Loopified when you get your bag, so we know if we still owe you one, even if you didn’t get it in the Wollmeise frenzy!  We’ll send it with your next order.)

Loopy’s Summer Vacation: The photos have been coming in all summer! Make sure that you get your photos uploaded by September 30th, and we’ll do voting on the results the first week in October.

Speaking of photos, the Girasole KAL is winding down on October 1st. Make sure to get your photos uploaded in the Girasole gallery  by Oct. 9th and we’ll do voting on those the week after that. (I also have a new KAL in mind, so watch for that soon!)

We have winners from last week’s blog contest about your lessons learned (and there were some doozy lessons.) We’ll be sending out Wollmeise prizes to Kathleen from NJ and Mariah from IA, and both have been emailed, just in case you’re wondering if it’s you.  Congratulations to you both, and thanks to everyone for participating. We’ll have another contest for you in October.

Sheri areYOUaLoopyGroupieyet?We’rethankfulforeachoneofyou!

Bad News: The house is quiet and Knitting Daughter is back up at college. sigh.
Good News: She and her friends looked pretty darned happy to be all back together again. That does make me feel better about the whole thing. A little.

Bad News: Remember these caramels that I blogged about a week or two ago? I tried two more things. The Chocolate Swirl Marshmallows and the Marzipan Caramel. Who knew that I liked the flavor of marzipan? YUM! And now I kinda think I “need” these special marshmallows every time I have hot chocolate. FPS.
Good News: They’re also great for just eating out of the bag. Not that I tried that or anything….

Bad News: I don’t know where this day went. (Well, yes I do. It went into getting massive amounts of boxes into the mail truck before the mailman arrived at 3:30. But boy did this day fly by.)
Good News: Since Knitting Daughter isn’t home and since WH is still working, I can stay far into the night to get things done. (Well, not far. But a few more hours, anyway.)

Bad News: No Sneak Up tonight.  I’ll be updating a few things like our supply of Knitspot patterns (including some new ones), and a few other things tomorrow.
Good News: No Sneak Up, but that doesn’t mean that no new yarn will go up. Do you get my drift? (That’s supposed to be a secret hint.)

Bad News: Look at this purse that I got in the mail last week. Sharon – the one who designs these patterns made it for me! We met her at the Sock Summit and I happened to mention that I would love a Loopy purse, but I don’t crochet. The next thing I know, this arrived in the mail. It could not be more perfect. Why is this bad news? Because it’s one-of-a-kind and don’t you just want one?
Good News: It won’t be one-of-a-kind for very long. Sharon is going to write up the pattern for us to have here in the future. Woohoo! I’ll keep you posted.

Bad News: Our Anniversary month Blog Contests are over.
Good News: But we have five more winners from last week! Congratulations to Erin from IL, Sue from TN, Marianne from NC, Patricia from NY, and Traci in NV! It has been fun sending out gift packages from these contests. The other good news is that we do a blog contest every single month, and the September contest will be up in just a couple of weeks. I have a good question for you to answer in September. 

Do you have any Good News/Bad News to share today? It’s Monday. Surely you do.

Sheri whoisgoingtospendseveralhoursorderingmoreyarnforustonight

You all have made it a very very (very very) busy month for us here at The Loopy Ewe. And we SO appreciate it! We’ve had fun packing up your orders. You might notice that we’ve sent out some of the sale orders sans tissue paper. It was either that, or take an extra 2 days to get all of the orders out. We figured you’d just as soon have the yarn quicker. Once these anniversary sales are over, we’ll get back to orders as usual around here. Although if you want to keep up this pace, I can always hire more Elves. We’re up for it!

Wow – 1800+ comments on last week’s contest blog. How fun is that? It was interesting to see where you heard about us. Yes, we DO love and appreciate Wendy an awful lot. And Lime & Violet. And the Yarn Harlot. And … well every single one of you who have ever passed our website on to your friends and knitting groups via podcasts, blogs, emails, Ravelry posts, and word of mouth. Our goal is to always live up to the positive things that you have said about us, and we promise to take good care of your friends, here, too.  We are sending out 8 prize packages, from randomly selected comments off of last week’s blog. The winner’s are: Janice in VA, Laura in UT, Maria in MN, Natasha in VA, Meredith in MI, Ann in OH, Melissa in UT, and Rachel in VA. (I think that Virginia and Utah were well represented this time.) I’ve sent emails to the 8 of you, so check your email in-box if you think it might be you.  We’ll pick the last round of winners from this post, and we’ll announce them next week.

Today’s Anniversary Sale (our last one) includes 20% off all Fiesta Yarns, 20% off all Monica Knits Patterns, and 20% off all Loopy Ewe Accessories. (In stock items only.) We hope you have fun picking out some new things. We’ll be including a free sock pattern if you purchase 2 skeins of Baby Boom (the sock is shown here), and a free scarf pattern if you purchase a skein of Ballet. All free patterns are while supplies last.

In addition to the Sale, we’ve also added in a whole bunch of stuff for the regular weekly update. Just in, you’ll find: 

Polar Knits Worsted Weight
Dream in Color Classy re-stocked (including our exclusive Don’t Be Blue colorway)
Dream in Color Smooshy re-stocked
Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Summit Exclusives
Lorna’s Laces Whidbey Island (exclusive Sock Summit Colorway)
Ella Rae Lace Merino
String Theory Caper Sock
Hand Maiden Casbah (so many great colors in stock)
Tempted Luxe Girl (new cashmere line)
Opal Rainforest Five
Addi Lace Turbo 16″ circulars
Addi Click Tips and Connectors
Fiesta Baby Boom in new colors

So hop over to shop!  But before you go, answer this question in the comments for your chance to win a prize package in our last anniversary contest. (Of course we’ll be back with our September Blog Contest before you know it.) Question: Who has had the biggest influence on your knitting? It might be a pattern designer, or a blogger, or a friend, or a group on Ravelry, or a podcaster or … even yourself. Maybe you’re good at poking around and inspiring yourself to learn new things and branch out. Food for thought. And then for a blog comment.

We’re taking pre-orders on the new Namaste bag colors, which we expect in within the next week or two. If you’d like a RED Hermosa, or a BLACK Zuma, or a BLACK Laguna, simply send us an email (support AT theloopyewe DOT com) and we’ll reserve one for you. The Hermosa’s are $75 and the Zuma’s and Laguna’s are $69.

We’re heading up to Indiana to take Knitting Daughter back to college this week, so I won’t be blogging again until next Monday. Maybe I can get some of these half-finished socks done enroute so that I’ll have photos to share by then. Or maybe I’ll be too busy shedding tears. You know how that goes. I’m hopeless.

Sheri thinkingthatfallisintheair
eventhoughLaborDayisstill
twoweeksaway