We have another whopper one for you today because so many things arrived over this past week. One line that I’m thrilled to have back in the shop is Sweet Georgia. If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you know that Felicia’s line is one of the first few indie dyer lines that we added in here. After carrying it for quite awhile, Felicia decided a year-long dyeing break was in order and off she went to travel the world. She came back with more color ideas and a desire to dye, which was good news for all of us! We have our first shipment from her, which is her popular Tough Love Sock Yarn, in many beautiful colors.

Another new dyer that we just added in is Huckleberry Knits. I found Scarlet at Sock Summit this summer. Or, rather, her yarn found me. I was sitting in a talk by Barbara Walker and the person in front of me was knitting the brightest (happiest) colorway I had seen in a long time. Since the session had already started, I couldn’t ask her what it was. But I did walk the marketplace later that afternoon, determined to find it. Sure enough, there it was in Scarlet’s booth. Success! This is the sock that I knit up with it and I really love it. We have Scarlet’s worsted line here right now, with the fingering weight line coming sometime in January. (I wanted the Worsted line, too, because I think her colors would make some really great sweaters.)

We’ve also added in: More Dream in Color Starry, Baby and Classy, more colors of Lorna’s Laces Worsted, Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport and Helen’s Laces (also from Lorna’s, the Loopy Ewe colorway in Sock and Sport), 50 colors of Madelinetosh Worsted, a new batch of Sereknity Yarn and Fiber, Mind Your Knitting Beanie Baggies, 3 AM Enchantments bags and wrist tags in the Sheep-y fabric you all love, the new Red bags and accessories from Namaste, and a new pattern from Wendy Knits that gives you fun things to do with your sock yarn leftovers. Come on over and check everything out!

And that’s why we were so busy around here last week. This week is shaping up to be the same way. We like that.

Sheri startedmyTravelingWomanShawlovertheweekend
andIhopetohaveitdonesoon.Greatpattern.

We had a great time at the wedding in Ohio this past weekend.

I worked on Sock Number One of my “if it’s going to be gloomy then the least I can do is WEAR sunshine” socks. This is out of Lorna’s Laces Sport in Butterscotch (I love the golden color), and I used the Monica Knit’s Swirl Socks pattern. Changes to the pattern: I knit them toe-up with a short-row heel and used 60 stitches instead of 70. I’ve already started the second sock. I think Swirling Sunshine Socks (say that three times) will be perfect for gloomy days, inside and out. I know that many of you said you were also going to knit some sunshine socks, so you’ll have to let us know what yarn and pattern you have chosen. It’s good to have mood-enhancing socks, don’t you think?

We did a big Sneak Up for you this afternoon. Actually, some of you may have noticed that I have started referring to them as “Monday Updates” instead. A few people get all wigged out over the idea of  ”sneaking up” and think that it’s a marketing scheme. (That always cracks me up. It was simply a survival scheme. As in “let’s just put things up quietly so that the website doesn’t crash from too many people on at once” strategy. We said, “We can’t announce the exact time any more, so we’ll just sneak it up for you and then you can stumble upon it when you check the site.” This started being referred to as a “Sneak Up”.) We went to a much larger server over a year ago and so far it has handled even Wollmeise updates without completely crashing. Most of you know that we put a big batch of new things up most Mondays, so I’m now going with “Monday Update” and hoping that it’s a term that everyone can handle.

In tonight’s Monday Update: 6 more colors of Fleece Artist’s specially priced Nyoni, Dream in Color Starry (some of the colors have arrived back in stock. We’ll add the rest as they trickle in via UPS). Also, Dream in Color Baby, Perchance to Knit 24/7 Sock, Lorna’s Laces Worsted (more colors arriving as they get dyed up. This is such beautiful yarn!). We also added Black Bunny Fibers Classic, a re-stock of Woolpets (along with two new kits – Chickadees and Sock Monkey), Offhand Designs (in 2 new styles – Suzannah and Daisy, which is reversible so that you can have all of those pockets on the inside or the outside of the bag), Della Q needle cases (I love having my needles all organized in Della’s organizers), more Marie Mayhew patterns, and a re-stock of Addi Clicks in the new smaller soft-touch pack which makes it easier for traveling. Whew. I think that’s it. Come on over and check it out.

Sheri ithasbeenareallybusyMondaybuttheSUNisSHININGtoday
soalliswell!

Happy Halloween to all of you!

I have a new cookbook that arrived this week and I think it’s my most favorite ever. (Which says a lot, because I may be guilty of collecting cookbooks…) It’s called “The Pioneer Woman Cooks“. I can’t remember how I stumbled upon The Pioneer Woman’s blog, but I have enjoyed reading it over the past year. What I like about her brand new (first ever) cookbook is: great recipes (and ones that I will actually make), step by step pictures, and fun stuff to read about life on the ranch. Most of the new recipes that I have tried lately have come from her, and I was so glad when I read that she had a cookbook coming out this fall. I think it would make a great holiday gift for several people on my list. (You know, the ones I’m not knitting for. And since I’m only knitting gifts for a handful of people this year, there are quite a few on the “no knits” list.)

<– Look – pictures of horses! I always wanted a horse, growing up. I never got one. And I also wanted an Easy Bake Oven that never magically appeared under the tree. Do any of you remember “really really really” wanting some particular thing? (Because, you know, that’s the way we talked about such things at that stage of life: really really really. Like you’d REALLY REALLY REALLY die if you didn’t get it). So were there things you really really really wanted and … never did get? Or does anyone remember spending a few hours poring over the Sears WishBook, making your list of things you had to have in order to survive another year of life? Or does this whole conversation just really (really really) date me? Yes? Never mind, then.

Sheri whonolongerwantsanEasyBakeOven.
ButI’dstilltakeahorse,evennow.

A few people have asked me how long I make the cuffs on my socks, and whether or not a certain skein of yarn will make 2 socks.

I also knit up a Spirit Trail Fiberworks sock out here. I love the colors (this one is Turkish Stone) and I used my default no-brainer pattern – the Baby Cable Rib. That’s the pattern I use when I don’t want to have to think while I knit. (3 rows of K2, P2, then one row of K2tog but leave on the left needle, knit the first stitch again and pop it both stitches off, then P2). It’s a very stretchy, comfortable sock. We’ll have a Spirit Trail re-stock again soon. I had a lot of fun meeting Jennifer in person at Maryland Sheep & Wool in May, and picking out colors for our next order in person.

So, are you mostly a toe-up sock knitter or a cuff-down sock knitter?  And how long do you like your cuffs?

Sheri enjoyingthealmostdailyafternoonthunderstormsthatlastabout20minutes

I am having plenty of time to knit and relax on this trip.

1. We’re doing things that I can talk about and photo. In a typical week, my life is pretty much LoopyLoopyLoopy. Not a whole lot of new and interesting things to blog about. (That doesn’t mean we don’t do anything else, but I don’t think you all need to hear that WH and I went to a movie, or I found an old friend on Facebook, or church was great on Sunday, or we got together for dinner with friends, or I cleaned the house.)

2. I have more time to blog. As I said above, a typical week includes a lot of LoopyLoopyLoopy work.

3. I like keeping in touch with you.

When I’m back in St. Louis, the regular blog schedule will come back. (Hopefully I’ll have yarn news for you that first week back. Lots of yarn enroute.)

Here is the sock that I finished a few days ago. This is one of our new indie dyer lines – String Theory. Someone brought me two skeins of this amazing yarn to the Spring Fling in April, and that’s about all it took for me to get in touch with them. It’s one of those merino/cashmere/nylon yarn bases that we all love, and the colors are just gorgeous. In fact, I carried 4 different colors around with me the afternoon they arrived, because I couldn’t decide which one to use first. I’m in a teal-y mode these days, so this one (Bimini) won. (I left the rest for all of you from this first batch, but I do plan to add to my stash as we get more orders from them. It was beautiful to work with and the sock is so comfortable to wear.) I used the Celebratory Chevrons pattern that Debbie O’Neill designed for our very first anniversary. You can find it in the Free Patterns section of the blog, here. This is the second time that I’ve knit this pattern and it continues to be one of my favorites. (Speaking of the anniversary of The Loopy Ewe – we will again have a fun kit to celebrate our THIRD anniversary, which is in August. We’ll have details of that after we get back from having a booth at  The Sock Summit, the first weekend in August.)

The Sneak Up just went up for the week – did you catch it yet? In addition to String Theory, we also added in new colors in Noro Silk Garden Worsted and Kureyon Sock, new colors in Araucania Multi and Semi-Solid, Ella Rae Lace Merino line (which is actually perfect for socks, as well as lace knitting), plus re-stocks in Gale’s Art Black BFL Roving, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock and Wooltop, Dream in Color Smooshy, and Araucania Itata. We also re-stocked The Loopy Ewe clear bags and the GoKnit bags over the weekend. Next week, I’ll tell you about more new lines that are coming soon!

Sheri workingonasweater,Girasole,sockandshawl.
Whatareyouworkingonrightnow?

In addition to shopping, there was also some knitting time. (14 hours driving out + 14 hours driving home + a few afternoons of being “snowed-in-so-we’re-watching-movies” = time to knit). I finished up 3 socks that were halfway done, and I’m happy with all three.  The first is Dye Dreams in their new Dream Sox line. This is one of my favorite semi-solids to work with. Not only do Mona and Stephanie do wonderful dye-work, but the base yarn is terrific. It’s a superwash merino/nylon blend, which makes for a very durable sock. (And you’ll love how soft and squishable this yarn is.)  I used a pattern from one of Charlene Schurch’s books and the pattern really pops out. I have tucked away several more colors of this yarn for future socks.

The next sock I finished is my first ever Jaywalker. (Note – that link takes you to a page with a Ravelry link, or a link to email Grumperina directly for a copy of her pattern.) I thought the self-striping pattern would look fun in this pattern, and I really like how it turned out. This is a brand new indie-line for us, which comes from Canada. We’ll have Sweet Paprika’s line up  next week in both this Vivace self-striping fingering weight, and in their lovely Minuet worsted weight (along with some great patterns from them as well.) Self-striping hand-dyed yarn is hard to find, as it’s such a time-consuming process. I’m so happy to have found these gals and their company. When we unpacked these boxes, I will admit to taking a few more colors of these, too. sigh.

The last sock I knit up is out of Cascade Fixation. I had not knit with Fixation before (I just had a lot of you clamoring for it) and I’m glad I took the time to knit with it. This is such a comfortable sock to wear, and I like all of the color choices. Fixation is 98.3% Cotton and 1.7% Nylon. It as some stretch to it and is billed as having “100 yds, 180 yds. stretched”. I wondered how far that would go. I have seen people talk about the Vog On pattern from Knitty.com, so I thought this would be a nice little anklet sock to use with Fixation. (And they give directions for both cuff down and toe up in that pattern.) I knit it toe up and substituted my preferred short-row heel. I could’ve stopped at anklet length, but then I wondered just how far up I could knit. Some of you have asked “How long are you supposed to make the cuff?”  Of course it’s totally a matter of preference, but I prefer to make my cuffs about as long as the foot, when folded in half. This little $5.50 skein totally measured up. I was able to do my size 11 sock with my  regular cuff length and even had a little yarn left over. (Note to self: flatten out that picot edge when washing and blocking it.)  If you’re looking for a warmer weather yarn to use for socks for the spring and summer, give the Cascade Fixation a try. At $11.00 for a pair of socks, it’s a great deal. (People also use this yarn for knitting up bikinis, but that is SO not on my list…..)

My Noro Sweater is coming along great. (I’m making the Chevron Cardigan out of Knitting Noro. Good basic designs, and I’ve already picked out a second one that I want to make from this same book.) I have the body finished and now just need to knit the two sleeves. I realize that “just two sleeves” is still a significant amount of knitting to be done (not to mention the sewing up of all of the pieces), but it makes me feel like I’m closer to the end if I can say “just two sleeves”.  It didn’t help that I had to do some frogging (once for pattern errata, and someday I’ll get used to looking that up FIRST), once for knitter-error, and once to change the colors that were coming out. FPS. I’ll bet I could’ve had one of those sleeves done, if not for the frogging.  I’ll keep working on it and will look forward to showing it to you soon.

For those of you who have been waiting for us to get The Knit Kit in, it arrived this morning! I put it up and even though we ordered several dozen, it may very well sell out quickly. If you click on the link and find that they’re gone, I’m happy to save one for you out of the next batch.  Just email us if you want to pre-order for the next time (we’ll have more in in about 2 weeks.) These are such great little kits.

So what have all of you been knitting for the past two weeks?  Fill me in!

Sheri whohasnewREDLoopysweatshirtstosharewithyounextweek

I finished my Brooklyn Handspun sock this week and I like the color – Aquatic.  This is done up in Wendy’s S(p)ocks pattern – very easy to memorize and knit up, so it goes quickly. It did get me to thinking about my favorite sock patterns and made me wonder what your favorite sock patterns might be. Typically I like to do different patterns (thus the problem with single socks) but there are some patterns that I like the looks of so much that I know I’ll be making them several different times. One of those is Debbie O’Neil’s Celebratory Chevron Socks pattern. She designed this for our first year anniversary and it’s now available as a free download from the Free Patterns link here on my blog. (There are some very fun patterns there – I hope you’ve downloaded and used many of them.) I used the Celebratory Chevron pattern on The Alpaca Yarn Co. Paca Peds (shown here in the Fireside colorway). This is really pretty yarn when knit up, and it’s wonderfully warm as well.  I love the new colors they have recently come out with. (Anyone else notice that their Vampire Kiss looks a lot like “Loopified” from our Second Anniversary Kit? Great combination of colors.) The other pattern that I had fun knitting and will do again just because I think it turns out so pretty – Meida’s Socks from Nancy Bush’s Favorite Socks book. I knit these with Louet Sport in the Sage colorway and added in a couple of extra repeats on the cuff to make them taller. I have decided that a lot of the single socks that I did for our display here at Loopy Central, can now be made into pairs. Enough time has lapsed that I’m ready and looking forward to doing those patterns again on the second sock. Maybe I’ll put that on my Spring Break schedule.

So leave a comment and tell me which sock patterns you like well enough to do more than once. Or do you seldom knit the same thing twice?

Sheri it’sbeautifuland61degreesheretoday.Timetogoforawalk.

Remember the skein of Mini Mochi that I picked up at TNNA and showed you last week?

In the “My Accountant Cracks Me Up” category (although I know that “accountant” and “cracks me up” shouldn’t go together), I thought I’d show you the little notes he leaves on all of the different forms he has to prepare for me each quarter. (Another one of the joys of running a business.) Of course I most love the ones where all I have to do is sign them, but even the forms where I have to include a check are made a little easier because his frowny-faces make me laugh. He’s a good accountant anyway, but the faces just elevate him, in my opinion. (Another thing that cracks me up: Sneezing Baby Panda.)

We’re supposed to get a snowstorm tonight. 4-6″. Of course the weathermen here in St. Louis rarely get it right, so I’m not holding my breath. Hopeful, but not holding my breath. I figure if we’re going to have cold temperatures all winter long, which I like, we might as well have the pretty white stuff to go along with it.  I only remember one winter season where I was tired of the snow. It happened my senior year in college and we still had big snowstorms in mid-April. I remember looking out our apartment’s kitchen window and thinking I was going to have to do something drastic if the white stuff didn’t just GO AWAY soon. Fortunately, it did. Go away. Soon.

Sheri areyouinthe”pro-snow”or”no-snow”camp?

Now that all of the photos are officially posted from our Dream in Color Baby Knit-A-Long, it’s time to check them out and take a vote. The assignment was to knit something out of DC Baby, and there were a lot of different “somethings” that people knit up. Help us pick “The Knitter’s Choice” winner by emailing susan AT theloopyewe DOT com with your favorite by next Tuesday, Oct. 28th. We’ll tally up the winner and we’ll also draw one winner by lottery.  Both will receive a Gift Certificate from The Loopy Ewe.  Anyone who participated and had their photo uploaded in time, can claim a 20% discount on their next order of DC Baby.  Just tell us in your order notes that you had your photo up in the gallery in time for the contest.  Currently, we’re doing a Fourth Quarter Loopy Challenge and your goal is to knit some kind of hand covering (gloves, mittens, fingerless mitts, etc.) and post a photo in the Q4-08 photo gallery by 12/31. I figured that this would be a good way to get some holiday gifts knit up, in addition to challenging you to learn something new while you do it!

I’m halfway done with my sock out of the skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn that my yarn rep sent to me. I’m anxious to show it to you, as it has been fun to see the colors mix. I know you all are waiting on this yarn, and I promise that I have ordered a whopping amount of it. We will get this just as soon as they are ready to ship U.S. orders out in November.  You’re going to love it. (I also have a whopping amount of Malabrigo Lace on order, so I’ll keep you posted on that. It’s fun to have our new space so that we can fill it up with “whopping” amounts of yarn!) We’ll have more DC Classy going up later today – the UPS gal just dropped it off – along with a re-stock of Claudia Hand Painted. I hope you always click on the “See What’s New” button when you visit The Loopy Ewe – we re-stock often.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Knitting Daughter and Casey-the-dog from last weekend. Casey is 12 years old and arthritic, but she still gets excited when she sees rabbits and squirrels in the yard, and when she sees her college kids coming through the door for a visit.

Sheri it’sfinallyhandknitsockweatherhereinSt.Louisandmyfeetarehappy!

First off, I finished a second sock. I know – that’s completely against my character. However, I owe this pair of socks to my very good friend Janice and let’s just say she ought to have had them awhile back. I picked a bad pattern for these socks and that’s what kept tripping me up. The pattern itself is not bad – I really like how it turned out. But this pattern plus loosely twisted yarn plus fuzzy alpaca equals a sock that you never want to work on. It’s something I found in some stitch dictionary and you knit the third stitch on the left needle, then knit the second stitch, then knit the first stitch, then pull the whole load of them off the left needle at the same time. Why didn’t I just frog it when I was doing the first one? Because I had tried two other patterns with this sock and frogged both of those. (I do realize that shouldn’t matter. Next time, I will frog the third time, too.) These socks are very warm and wonderful, and that’s important to Janice who lives in Iowa and doesn’t like the winter very much. These will keep her toes toasty. Just in time for spring.

The other two socks I knit (back to my old self – both are singles) are yarns that will go up at The Loopy Ewe next week. The first is Creatively Dyed in her Luxury Sock yarn base. It is made up of 80% merino, 10% nylon, and 10% cashmere. Not only is this yarn wonderful to work with, but the resulting sock feels great on, and you can see that the dyework is gorgeous. I knit this with Cookie A’s monkey pattern (available free on Knitty) but I knit them toe up and did short row heels. I like this pattern toe up. It’s the first time that I have done it this way, and I think I’ll give the cuff-down-Monkeys the heave-ho and always do it toe-up from now on. (Speaking of Cookie A, she has 3 new sock patterns that we will have for you by the end of next week. Her patterns are so fun!) We have several wonderful colorways in this line that are being photo-ed here this week. I know you’ll like them!

The second single sock is from Spindle City Yarns, and I really liked working with this one, too. I am making these as a birthday gift and this is not my size sock, so that will force me to make the matching one and get them done. Although now that it’s done, I kinda wish I had made it for myself. The intensity of color (and the combination of the colors in this one) makes for a very pretty sock. I used the Cross-Hatch pattern from the More Sensational Knitted Socks book. Another easy pattern to do, and I like the results. I also like that this yarn base is 75% Superwash Wool and 25% Nylon. I have had to mend a few socks lately and I’m beginning to like the nylon addition more and more. I will be knitting more from this line, as there are a lot of “must have” colors in this first batch that they sent to us.

I also started my Dream in Color Knit Along sweater while on vacation. I have not knit a sweater since Junior High. (It was ugly, too. So I really shouldn’t count it.) I was a bit apprehensive about the whole sweater thing, but I really wanted a sweater out of DC Classy, so I started the KAL. I knew if I had accountability from a few others an amazing number of you who decided to knit with me, then I’d get it done. I have discovered that I really love sweater knitting, and now I’m on the lookout for other patterns that I want to do. I’m not sure if I’ll be convinced to use other yarns for sweaters besides the DC Classy, though. It’s such wonderful yarn to work with and there are several other colorways that I want to have for sweaters. (Yes, we will have more Classy in again this month.) Some of you KALers are already done with your sweaters. I have had fun seeing the photos come in to the gallery! Keep sending them in. Our official ending date is June 1st, so there is still plenty of time. I’ll show you a progress photo of my sweater next week.

Speaking of the photo galleries, you have until the end of this week to submit your Q1-08 photo for our First Quarter Challenge! We’ll do voting next week. I will show you what I made next month, as it’s a gift for someone in April and I can’t show it yet. We’ll also be announcing the Q2-08 next week, so stay tuned for that.

Sheri thosetwoduckswerewalkingaroundtheStarbucksparkinglotthismorning
Obviouslytheyarecompletelycaffeinatedandjustabitconfused.