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??

As promised, here are a couple of new sock photos. I have another one done, too, but it’s a new indie dyer that we haven’t announced yet. I’ll save that photo for later! I love these Noro socks. (Color S185)I was so anxious to see how they’d wash up, as they are definitely scratchier feeling to knit. (I survived it, just because the whole color thing was so fun to watch progress.) They softened up in the wash. I hand-washed them in Soak (let them soak in the water for about 15 minutes) and let them air dry, like I always do. (I always hand-wash all of my handknit socks. I’ve never felt like it took very long, and after putting all of that knitting time in, I’m all for making sure they last as long as possible! After I wash them, I roll them up in a towel to get rid of excess moisture, and then dry them on this, which is mounted on a wall in our bathroom. I love it. I know, I know - you’re supposed to “dry flat”. But once I have rolled them in a towel, there is not enough moisture and weight left in them to stretch them out of shape when hanging on this rack.) Back to the Noro socks, I was glad that it softened up some after washing. I knit these on size 0 needles and the stitch definition still looks great, post-washing. This sock is still not as soft as others, but honestly, when it’s on my foot, I can’t tell the difference. I’m working on the matching sock now, and will absolutely make more. There are several other colorways I want to try out. (Also great yarn for scarves, mittens, gloves, etc.) It’s one of those yarns that you’ll either like or not, but I love it!

The second sock is the Araucania yarn. To be honest, I saw this skein and thought it looked awfully splotchy. A very unique looking yarn, to be sure! However, I only had to knit a couple of inches on my sock to realize how absolutely gorgeous it was all knit up. All of those splotches add up to an amazing mix of colors and I will be knitting more of these socks as well! (Not sure of the colorway on this, but it’s one of the ones that was on backorder in our first order from them, so we’ll have it eventually!) Both of these experiences are a good reminder not to judge a sock yarn until you’re worked with it. Knitting it up tells you a lot about the dye and color. What seems to be “splotches and unevenness” in the skein (or “abrubt color changes” or any other description that comes to mind) will bring about different results in the knitted fabric. You might love it, or you might hate it, but it will be different when you work with it. (Of course you can also check our photo galleries to see how things look when they are knit up. You all have been so generous in sharing your finished sock photos for all of us to see and benefit from.) The same goes for washing the socks, and of course wearing and washing them more over time. What might look great all knit up, might not wear so well. (Or, it might wear very well!) I know that I baby my handknit socks with the handwashing. I also don’t normally scuff around in them without shoes or slippers on, and I most often wear clogs, so I don’t get a lot of wear-out on the heels. (That’s not why I wear clogs - I just like how easy they are to kick on and off.) So, lots to consider when picking out the sock yarns that YOU want to work with and wear. That’s why we try to keep so many different options for you! This was done in the Loopy Laces pattern by Wendy. (It’s Wendy’s birthday today - go tell her Happy Birthday!)

Speaking of options, are you wondering about next week’s Sneak Up? Here’s the list so far, although we reserve the right to add to it if we get more photos done:

- Hand Maiden Casbah Sock
- Schaefer Anne, Lola and Heather
- New Dream in Color Classy colors
- All of the Dream in Color Baby lace colors
- Fiesta Boomerang and Baby Boomerang
- Yarn Nerd
- Mountain Colors Bearfoot
- New Sakina Needles Roving
- New Yarn Ball Earrings from Romi
- New Loopy Ewe totes (in the larger size - same as our Loopy Groupie bags, but black handles and zipper. We’re saving the red handles/zipper for Loopy Groupies. You all have been asking to be able to buy this size, and we have them for you!)
- New Loopy Ewe canvas totes - the perfect size for sock projects (and they’re RED!)
- New Loopy Ewe coffee travel mugs (because, you know, we like coffee around here)

Coming up the week of January 14th: Wollmeise Sock Yarn, Plucky Knitter Lace, Sheepaints, and more.

Spring Flingers! Watch for an email next week, telling you how to go about paying for your deposit for the retreat. We won’t have you sign up for your classes until March, when the balance of the fee is due. We’re excited to have all of you attending, including some of our favorite Canadians, as well as Kellie all the way from New Zealand and Claudia (the Wollmeise herself!) from Germany! We can’t wait to have all of you here.

Our final Random Acts of Kindness winner is: Heather from IL. Congratulations, Heather! Thank you ALL for participating in this fun month-long contest. We’ll be sure to do it again next December! (Although I’m hoping that we’ll all keep RAKs on our minds throughout 2008. We’ll have to have a quarterly check-in and contest, just to keep things moving.)

Fourth Quarter Challenge photos are due in by January 10th! The Challenge for last quarter was to knit something with 2 or more colors/yarns. I’ll remind you after the 10th, to go vote for your favorites and then we’ll announce the winners. You can see the entries so far, here.

It’s a new Quarter, which means a new Loopy Q1-08 Challenge! This quarter, the challenge is to knit something that you have not knit before. I don’t mean “try a new pattern for your socks”. I mean, if you have never knit socks, knit socks. If you have never knit a shawl, try a shawl. Or mittens, or gloves, or fingerless mitts, or a neck warmer, or a Chevron Scarf, or a sweater, or a vest, or ….. well, the list is endless, isn’t it? (And hey - if you haven’t spun before, get some of the beautiful roving we have going up next week and make “spinning” your “Q1-08 Try Something New to You” challenge!) You have until April 10th to submit the photo to the Q1-08 Gallery and there will be two winners. 1, a winner by random drawing from all of the entries, and 2, a “Knitter’s Choice”, awarded to the project that gets the most votes from all of you. So figure out something that would be fun to learn and do, and jump right in. I’m going to attempt a shawl. Again. (I loved working on it - see blog post here - but that’s all I ever did on it. There were just too many socks needing to be done. I’m going to frog this and start over and am bound and determined to do the whole thing this time.) What do you think you’ll work on for the Challenge?

Sheri savingthenewgiftphotosIwantedtoshowyouforFriday’sblog,
alongwithanewrecipeforyou.Thispostisalreadytoolong!

What a full week it has been! A fun Christmas (I have some cute gifts to show you on Wednesday - you might want to put these two artisans on your “future gifts” list), and a fun time in Iowa. We spent a couple of days with WH’s mom in Clinton. (With Iowa being the hot-bed of political focus right now, both Obama and Edwards were in town the day we were there.) On Friday, we mostly stayed inside and watched 8-10 inches of snow fall all day long. Isn’t it beautiful? (Great knitting weather. I have new socks to show you later in the week, too. Finished the Noro sock and am totally in love with it. So much so, that I’m starting the second one tonight. And you KNOW that means something. I’m the Queen of the Single Sock.) While we were visiting WH, College Guy set up a laptop for his grandma, and gave her some important lessons. All appears to have gone well with that. (Notice that her office has a RED wall. I liked it a lot!)

On Saturday we traveled across Iowa (in some weird white fog) to attend the wedding of our godson and his beautiful bride. We’ve known this handsome guy since he was just a few days old, and met his wife-to-be this past spring. Aren’t they a happy looking couple? It was a joyful wedding and we are so happy for both of them. This is the son of our good friends Steve and Janice. Want to see more photos? She blogged some fun ones! “Small World Moment” - when I saw a friend from high school scooting into one of the pews for the wedding. Then I realized that she was a teacher at their high school and must’ve had the bride in class. “Smaller World Moment” - when it dawned on me that my high school friend’s last name (her married name) was the same as the bride’s maiden name and realized they must be related. (Yep - she’s an aunt by marriage.) What a small world.

On Sunday, we hung around for brunch and talking. Here is a picture of three of my favorite kids. (Only two are mine, but I’d gladly claim the third. She’s Iowa Girl, sister to the groom.) They’ve all been good friends their whole life. Do you have any friends like that, that you have known your whole life? My oldest friend that I’m still in touch with is actually Steve, father of the groom and father of Iowa Girl. (Also father of Iowa Guy, not pictured.) We met in Junior High. (This was before he and WH met and became such good friends, so I get to claim being Steve’s oldest longest friend.) Other than that, my oldest longest friends go back to high school days.

Today is our last Random Acts of Kindness reporting day. I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed reading all of the kind things that you have done over the past month. This contest really has helped me to keep it on my mind and continually look for ways to make a difference to others. One of my plans for tomorrow is to figure out a plan for each month of 2008 and what I can do to make a difference. Please leave your RAK comments (and your other comments!) below, and I’ll do one more drawing on Wednesday of this week. The winner for last weeks’ drawing is Barbara in LA. Congratulations to you! We’ll plan to get all of the drawing gifts out the end of the week. Thank you all for participating!

Sheri noSneakUpthisweekbutthenexttwoweeksaregonnabedoozies!

Just a quick blog today to remind you to leave your RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) comments from last week. Remember, we’re all trying to make December our month to go out of our way to pass on kindnesses (or “Pass the Cheer” as Starbucks advises.) I’ll announce the contest winner (drawn from all of today’s comments) on next Monday’s blog if I don’t blog again before then. I’ll have lots to tell you about when I get back!

I want to wish every one of you a blessed holiday season, with lots of special times with your families. (And a Merry Christmas!) We’ll have a whopping Sneak Up for you when things get back to normal after the holidays. (Probably the first full week of January.) The new Dream in Color colors arrived in Classy, as well as all of the Dream in Color Baby Lace. Plus, the Cherry Tree Hill DK weight one-of-a-kind colorways that we’ll have on sale for you, Romi’s gorgeous earrings and pins, Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and all of the things I listed in the last blog. Ohhh, it’s gonna be fun!

Sheri finishingordersfromtodaythengoinghometomakecookies!