This is my Q1-08 project, and I have a whole new respect for lace knitters. It’s just a scarf. Knit horizontally, 360-some stitches, 50-some rows. I love the Peppermint Mocha Silk that I used. But lace knitting just seems to take me forEVER. I liked the pattern and would probably do it again, but not right away. (It’s this pattern - currently out of stock but we’ll get more in.) I knit this scarf for Claudia, so it’s off to Germany now. (I did block it a little better.) I’m glad I had those two deadlines - the Q1-08 and Claudia’s visit. I need deadlines sometimes. My other lace shawl project has no deadline, so it’s sitting there 25% done. sigh.

I also started a couple of other scarves. Claudia showed us a beautiful scarf that her friend Dani knit up out of one skein of Wollmeise. (Hi Dani!) My friend Janice and I immediately had to cast it on. It’s a very simple Feather and Fan pattern. What’s funny is that when Claudia got home, she asked Dani where the pattern had come from and it’s from Wendy’s blog! (Small world.) So you can find Wendy’s pattern for this beautiful scarf right here. I really like how it’s knitting up and I have a few more of them that I now want to do. This one is the Am Kalten Polar colorway. But I also thought it might be cool to knit this pattern out of the Noro Sock yarn, so I started that over the weekend. (Color S184) I love the color blends and I already know that the Noro softens up when it gets washed, so I think this is going to be a wonderful scarf, too. (I have a deadline for finishing both of these scarves. Good thing.)

My DC-KAL sweater hasn’t been touched since I last photo-ed it for the blog. I’m mindful of the 6/1 deadline. I have some extended car time coming up, and I think I can pull it off just fine. It has been so fun to see all of your KAL photos coming in. Every time another photo comes in, it motivates me. And of course I have a whole bunch of new sweater patterns that I now want to do. Remember that if you finish and add your photo to The Loopy Ewe KAL photo gallery by 6/1, there is a reward for you! (I didn’t really tell you what the reward was, did I? I’ll tell you after June 1st!)

Did you like the Sneak Up this week? We’re working hard to get all of the rest of the Sneak Up orders out today. I have to admit to adding to my own stash this week. Normally, I have already gotten a skein of anything that is going up (for the testing stage of things) and I usually am very good about letting all of you have the rest. Usually. This week I had to take some Creatively Dyed Roving (it’s Seacell, FPS. I spun the sample that Dianne sent me way back a couple of months ago and loved it, so how could I not take a whole braid of this lovely stuff?) I took Forest Path. I really wanted Rosewood, but I seem to be in a Roving Rut and am trying to break into new colors. I also had to get a Pattern Tamer (In my defense, I let all of you buy out the first batch without touching it.) And then there was the Perchance to Knit Pamper Me Sock Yarn. One touch and … I kept one. The Roses, Roses colorway. (But Irises and Glory of the Snow were equally tempting to me.) I also took a braid of The Sanguine Gryphon’s roving (which will go up next week) and more of Josette’s Enchanted Knoll Farm yarn (even though I have a sample from awhile back.) And a couple more water bottles, because I love those water bottles and one can never have too many of them, right? (And didn’t you love the fun Loopy Necklace? I’ve been wearing mine a lot.) So I think I did very well in my shopping spree this week. It was fun. There might be yarn and roving popping out from all areas of my office and home, but I’m happy. I just think it’s important to confess to all of you every once in awhile, so you know that I do almost as much Loopy Ewe shopping as you do. Almost.

It has been wonderful to read about all of the RAKs that you have been doing this month. You’re all so generous, and I know that many of the people you showed kindnesses to, probably went and passed it on to someone else that week. That’s a whole lot of good stuff going on out there! I decided to draw two names to win Goody Bags from The Spring Fling. The randomly drawn winners of this contest were: Tracey in Michigan and Joanne in Pennsylvania. The Goody Bags are on the way! And thanks to ALL of you for participating in our RAK contest in April.

And by the way, Brian and Tina over at GudonyaToo think you all are the BEST. (I agree.) It sounds like a lot of you found some great bath stuff in their shop!

Sheri tryingnottoeatthethreebarsofCadburychocolatethatLBsentme.
Okshesentmefour.Iateonelastweekalready.sigh

One of the fun things that we did at the Fling was to have everyone sign a 6 ft. tall Sock Blocker for Loopy Central. (I did get some funny looks as I was carrying this big “sock” through the hotel. Some guy accused me of being a Red Sox fan, FPS!) I found the perfect place to hang it in our foyer, so that we can remember all of the fun people who were here for our first Spring Fling. (I photoed it with the door in the picture so that you Flingers would be able to picture where it is, now that you’ve been here in person.) I wonder how many of these will fit on the walls here? I guess when we’re out of wall space, we’ll stop having Flings? (Or move. Yeah, that’s a better idea. We’ll move and get more wall space.) Now I get to walk by the Big Blocker every morning, and think of all of you as I start work! It’s very handy to have a hubby who can make such things.

Here is a picture of the Goody Bags that we gave to everyone when they checked in. It includes the red/black backpack (which I liked a lot because it has pockets and straps and is designed vertically instead of being a horizontal carrying bag). Inside was a skein of Wollmeise which Claudia dyed up for me just for the Spring Fling. (This is the first time she has done more muted colors - it almost looks like a watercolor painting of meadows and sea - which makes it a very special colorway, indeed.) We also included a pattern and samples from Cherry Tree Hill and Claudia Hand Painted (enough to make some sock blocker keychains or mini socks), some wonderful “Everything Balm” from Goodies Unlimited, a brand new pattern from Wendy and one from Cookie A (along with my favorite new heavy vinyl “pattern holder” - I use these all the time when I knit), a Loopy Ewe coffee mug (no, we can’t sell them because we don’t want to ship them, but they were perfect for giving away in person!) and of course some Loopy Kisses. We had a great time putting these together for everyone. And now, you have a chance to win one! Remember when I told you about April’s blog contest and gave you all month to do three random acts of kindness? Today is the day to report in and leave your comments as to what you found to do for others this month! You need to have done three RAKs to be entered into the random drawing, and I will draw the name a week from today. If we have a lot of entries, I’m happy to draw for 2 or 3 Goodie Bags. We love giving away prizes. So leave a comment with your RAKs and inspire all the rest of us to get out there and do the same!

No Sneak Up this week, but we have wonderful things in store for you next week. All of the shirts, hats, and sweatshirts will go up. (Don’t worry - we ordered a lot and still have multiplies in all sizes. The Flingers didn’t clear us out!) We also have more Pattern Tamers, a fun Loopy Necklace, Lawre’s Laine BigBags (ohsogorgeous), Duets, Schaefer Anne, Yarn Love, Seawool Fiber Roving from Creatively Dyed, Cashmere Sock Yarn from Perchance to Knit, and possibly (depending on how much time we have to get photos done) two new indie dyers - Beyond Basic Knits and Enchanted Knoll Farms.

Guess what? It’s time to Take Loopy on Vacation again! He had such a wonderful mix of adventures last summer and he has been bugging us about it all winter long. He’s ready to go again! Beginning with orders placed on May 1st, we’ll be including a Loopy Postcard in your order while supplies last. (We will plan to send one postcard with your first order in May. If for some reason you need a second postcard with your next May order, just leave us an order note.) I know that a lot of you have your very own Little Loopy, and it’s perfectly acceptable to pose and photo Little Loopy on your vacation, instead of the postcards. We’ll leave it up to you as to which you prefer. We’ll start a new ‘08 edition of Loopy’s Summer Photo Gallery next week so that you can start sharing his adventures. We will have prizes at the end of the summer again, and will have you vote in several categories, so get photo-ing. Last year we had prizes for: Best faraway place that Loopy visited, most famous person that he met, most creative photo with Loopy, and most unusual place he visited. If you have any more fun ideas for additional categories, email me and I’ll share them on a future blog post.

Winners of the Q1-08 Challenge - for “randomly drawn from all entries” the winner is: Juli’s skirt. For the Reader’s Choice award from those who voted: Jennifer’s Venezia. Each wins a $25 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. Congratulations to you both! Don’t forget our Q2-08 Challenge that runs between now and the end of June.

I had an email from Claudia this morning and she has arrived safely back in Germany. Her family is glad to have her back, but I miss her!

Sheri stillwaaaaybehindonemailsbutIpromiseI’mpluggingawayonthem!

Look what happens when we’re all busy packing your Sneak Up orders and turn our backs on the Little Loopys. FPS! They’ve been having a heyday, all over Loopy Central. We’re out of these cute guys at the moment, but more will be here in a couple of weeks. And that’s good, because we’ll once again be doing our annual “Take Loopy on Vacation” contest over the summer! We’ll start sending the Loopy postcards with orders sometime in May, but we thought that some of you (150 of you Little Loopy Owners so far) might rather be taking your stuffed Loopy to pose in interesting places, instead of a postcard. Either one will work for the contest this summer. The postcards are fun, too. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with for Loopy to experience in the coming months. He LOVES to travel. We’ll keep you posted on that summer contest in the next month or so.

Here’s one of my new recipes from vacation-cooking. I had a couple of you email your sympathies that I had to cook on vacation. Actually, I love cooking when I have time for it. On vacation, when there is nothing sitting there needing to be done, it’s fun to spend some of the afternoon making a nice meal. It’s the day in and day out cooking when you’ve been-busy-all-day-and-there’s-still-so-much-to-get-done-but-your-family-needs-to-eat cooking, that I don’t particularly care for. We did go out for some meals on vacation, and WH is completely up for that, but I do like to cook.

Mexican Calzones

1 (15 oz) pkg. refrigerated pie crust (room temperature)
1 lb. ground beef
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1/4 cup water (note: this is less than the taco mix pkg. calls for)
1 (1.25 oz.) pkg taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Salsa or Taco Sauce
Sour Cream and Guacamole (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown beef in large skillet and drain. Add chilies, water and seasoning mix and stir well. Let cool slightly.

Place pie crusts on cutting board and unfold. Cut each crust in half, making 4 half circles. Divide beef mix and cheese up between the four halves. Dampen the edge of the crust with water and fold the sides over. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.

Garnish with salsa/taco sauce/sour cream/guacamole. YUM!

I also wanted to let you know about our April Blog Contest, which will be a little different. Remember all of our Random Acts of Kindness contests in December? It was so fun to see all of the ways you came up with to help others. At that time, I decided that we had to do a RAK contest a few times a year instead of just in December. (All in the interest of encouraging those types of activities year-round!) So we have dubbed April another RAK month here at Loopy. The contest requires you to do THREE RAKS between now and the end of the month. On Wednesday, April 30th, I’ll do the RAK Contest blog entry where you will leave your comment with the three things that you did in April. We’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner. The prize is a good one - we are giving away one Spring Fling Goody Bag to the winner. These are the bags that our Spring Fling retreat-attenders will be getting the weekend before that, and the approx. retail value of the bag and contents is $75. Only one person outside of the Fling attenders will get one - the winner of the April contest! (Note - if a Spring Flinger happens to win, you can choose to either get that bag, or something else. We’ll talk!) Check out some of those RAK posts (in the comments sections) from December if you need some creative ideas for nice things you can do for others during this time.

I’m knitting this weekend. And you?

Sheri speakingofcooking,KDmadedinnerforuslastnightanditwasdelicious.
Yay,KnittingDaughter!

Here’s a twist on my regular “Three Things” post. Today it’s “Two Truths and a Lie”. I’m just betting you will have no trouble figuring out the lies….

Three things that I must stop doing:

- eating Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies
- going to bed late because I’m “not tired yet”
- knitting single socks

Three things that I am looking forward to next week:

- our appointment with the tax guy
- College Guy coming home for Spring Break
- our week’s vacation in the Colorado mountains starting next Friday

Three things that will be going up in the next Sneak Up:

- roving (from Lone Star Arts and The Dyeing Arts)
- yarn (from Keagan Lane and Farmhouse Fannie’s Fingering)
- swimming suits (summer is coming, you know)

Three things that I did this week:

- laundry
- made cookies with my new Kitchenaid Mixer (of course RED)
- went out to dinner with WH

Three records broken this week:

- 5 minutes (the time it took to sell out the entire batch of Wollmeise)
- 3800+ posts (which now means the Loopy Groupies hold the Ravelry record for one thread!)
- 10 socks (the number of socks I made to match up to some of the singles)

Three things I had to buy at the grocery store this week:

- Eggs
- Almonds
- Milk

Three reasons to leave a comment today:

- this is the March Blog Contest. Winner announced next Wednesday
- you like to make lists of “three”, too
- everyone who comments gets a free latte

Sheri yourememberthatonethingineachlistisalie,right??
(Sonofreelattesforeveryonewhocomments.sorry.)

It has been a very fun week, because every time the mailman comes, he brings something cool. About a month ago, Laura (who, frankly, is now in my “best friend” category. No, we’ve never met. Why?) pointed out to people on the Loopy Groupie board that I had a birthday coming up in a month, and wouldn’t it be fun if people knit me socks? Well, that just about blew my socks off stunned me. I can’t believe people would knit me socks of any kind for my birthday! And then someone suggested that mini socks would be fun, too. (I love mini socks.) So the mailman has been very very good to me this week and you all are just amazing. I’ll show you more photos next week. (And besides socks, I have gotten other fun stuff, too - whee! I’m going to start having two birthdays a year, I think. Although, wait - that would age me twice as fast. Never mind.) Here is a photo of some of the mini socks that have arrived. Aren’t they cute? I think everyone needs a lineup of mini socks. At one time I thought it would be fun to knit a bunch for the mini sock blocker keychains and hang them on my knitting bag. (I have two on there. One knit by me and one knit by my friend Valerie. I still think it would be fun to have more.) Someone once told me that they knit a sock blocker keychain sock to go with each pair of gift socks that they make. Another person said that they knit a sock blocker keychain sock for themselves for every sock yarn they knit up into socks. All cute ideas! (The framed display board? LOVE these. I have a bunch of them. They look especially great when you line three of them up over your couch with family photos on them. This one is in my office . I also think it’d be good to have one in your knitting room with swatches or project ideas or patterns or knitting plans on it. They’re from Creative Memories and if you type in your zipcode, you can find yourself a consultant near you and order online.)

So tomorrow is my birthday, and I’m taking the day off. (Of course The Elves will be here working on all of your orders.) Besides eating out, my day will include a little shopping, a little chocolate, and a big Venti. Plus time with WH and KD. (Sadly, not College Guy. But I do get to see him later this weekend - yay!) The February Blog Contest Question of the Month is: What is your favorite way to spend your birthday? Leave your answers in the comments below and I’ll draw a name next Wednesday to pick a winner. What is the prize? Something very fun, not yet offered here at The Loopy Ewe because we’ve only received a few of them so far. Aren’t you curious?

Sheri watchingthemailmanrightoutsidemywindow,tryingtofitallofyourordersintohistruck-hee!

I’ve been on a cleaning kick this week, and I have discovered some alarming things. Remember my problem with frozen chicken br**sts? (Why the stars? I don’t want to be attached to a google-search for that word…..) I have shared with you that I keep buying bags of chicken, because I’m always sure that we’re “out” at home. Well, apparently that’s not all I tend to buy without reason. This week I attacked the pantry and guess what? I found 4 cans of evaporated milk. First of all, I can’t remember the last time I used evaporated milk. And secondly, the only thing I think I use it for is mashed potatoes and fudge, neither of which has been made in this house for a long time. So - weird. The next thing I discovered “en masse” was almonds. Seven bags of them, all unopened. At least I had the good sense to buy different types. There were whole almonds, there were slivered almonds, and there were sliced almonds. I’m good. I think that I had intended to make a few batches of this incredible recipe and couldn’t remember what kind of almonds it called for. But I know that I didn’t buy these packages all at once - they accumulated. I know this because they were all in different spots in the pantry. FPS.

Just so you don’t think my problem is limited to food, I also cleaned out my closet this week. (I took Monday off - remember? I got a LOT done.) I actually sorted my shirts by color (I know. Too much.) and guess what I found out? I have a problem with white shirts. You wouldn’t believe how many white shirts are in my closet. Now in my defense, this is a completely different situation than four cans of evaporated milk. None of these shirts are exactly alike. There are different fabrics, different necklines, different sleeve lengths, and different styles. But still. I don’t think that on the days that I’m going to wear a white shirt, I need to have that many choices to face in the morning. FPS.

So, here is where the contest comes in. I want to know that I am not alone in this lunacy. Surely there are some of you out there who have an overabundance of something in your freezer/fridge/pantry/closet, that you never intended to have in abundance. Please tell me I’m not alone in this. And yarn doesn’t count because there is no recognized word in a knitter’s language that translates to “excess” or “overabundance”. Fortunately. Leave your answer in the comments section, and I will draw a name next Friday, February 1st, for the winner. What does the winner get? A skein of Wollmeise Sock Yarn. I thought that would be a good way to start out our monthly blog contests for 2008. And for those of you who don’t have this little problem? You can still enter the contest. Just leave a comment and say, “I don’t seem to have that problem.” and consider yourself entered. I will try to contain my jealousy.

Speaking of contest winners, thank you to everyone who cast votes for the Q4 Challenge this week! There were actually several entries that ran neck and neck with a lot of votes, but the one that got the most votes was the Anemoi-Inspired Mittens, done by Nicole. So Nicole gets the Knitters Choice Award - a $25 Loopy Gift Certificate. And the randomly drawn winner from all of the entries was the Monkey Socks by Karen! Karen also gets a $25 Loopy Gift Certificate. It’s always so fun to see the different interpretations you all come up with for the Quarterly Knitting Challenges. You still have over 2 months left to participate in the Q1-08 - I hope you’ll join us!

Monday we will start a new, regular blog feature called The Loopy Limelight! We have so many fun and interesting people who have become part of the Loopy Family (and that includes all of you) and I thought it would be nice to introduce you to some of them. Monday, I will introduce you to a longtime friend of mine, who has a wonderful recipe (it contains chocolate - yum!) that she is going to share. We’re looking forward to sharing many more people with you in the weeks and months to come, usually on Mondays. We hope this brings some fun recipes and tips and inspiration for all of you.

Sheri anyonehaveanygoodrecipesthatusealmonds,chickenbr**stsand/orevaporatedmilk??