We’re back up and running in the new space - yay! We shipped orders on Friday and Saturday (which you know, if you had some “pending” while we moved) and we’re ready to do all of your weekend Sneak Up orders today. Did I throw you by having a Saturday night Sneak Up? There were so many lines that we had come in during the week, and I knew that some of you were waiting on a few of those. (Including Claudia - and more Peppermint Mocha, Louet - just in time for the two-yarns/colors Q4 Challenge, Shibui Knits - although some are on backorder, Apple Laine, Nature’s Palette, Trekking - lots of new colors!, Austermann Step - lots of new colors!, Sockina, Oceanwind Knits - almost sold out but more shipping next week, Stitchkeepers, Honey House Bee Bars, Zecca, and patterns by Cookie A and Heartstrings - fun new lace ones in there.) Whew! Now that those are all up, we can focus on taking new photos of the stuff waiting in the wings. Here’s the Sheepaints sock that I knit up - isn’t it pretty? Sabine sent us some beautiful colorways from Germany that will go up in the next Sneak Up. We also have Numma Numma almost ready to go up (you’ll remember the fingerless gloves that I knit with that - gorgeous stuff), more Seacoast, Mrs. Kwitty’s bags, and Ham’s Jam Yarn Cruisers in new fabrics. We’ll see what else arrives this week in time for photo-ing.

The New Loopy Room is …. not completely Loopified yet. Close, but not yet. I’ll take in-progress photos again soon. I suspect that space will constantly be evolving, just like the “old” Loopy Room did. We’re going to have a Loopy Wall of Fame in there so that when you come visit, you can sign it and we can remember that you were here! (Ok - maybe not ON the wall. Not sure the landlord would like that. But maybe we’ll have a giant sock blocker to sign, or something. We’ll get shopping hours up and going in November.) Look at this cute SHEEP cookie bouquet that my sweet friend Monica sent last week! It was fun to see that come through the door.

I have winners for the Q3 Challenge! You all did such an amazing job on your projects, and there were a LOT of votes cast. The winner of the random drawing was Alison with her gorgeous Seraphim Shawl. (Alison - you also had a lot of votes, so it’s fun that you won the random drawing!) The winner of the “Knitter’s Choice” award with the most votes was Alex for her amazing Norwegian Stocking. (Alex - did you knit one sock or a pair? People want to know!) It was fun to see all of the photos come in. Do feel free to continue to add to any of the Challenge Photo Galleries as you finish up - people still love looking at them and I know many of you have said you’re still working on it. (And don’t forget Q4, now in progress!)

On the knitting front, here is the Alpaca Sox that I knit up while in Colorado. This yarn is so wonderfully warm and will keep your feet happy all winter long. I’m knitting this pair up for a friend who is making me a beautiful felted tote in exchange for it. She likes blues to wear with her jeans, and this colorway was perfect. Now I’m working on another yarn line that we have coming in sometime in November (which I haven’t told you about yet. These are definitely going to be Happy Socks, guaranteed to chase away the winter blues.) I also have several new Heartstrings lace patterns that were tempting me when I was putting them away this week. Like this one, and this one, and this one (and it ought to be noted that I don’t even wear things like this. They just look so beautiful that I’m thinking I need to make one or two.) I also liked this and this and this. Maybe for some Christmas gifts this year.

On the home front - the cats seem to be getting along well. Here they are intent on chasing the laser light across the floor. They seem to love pouncing on each other and rolling around. Zoe (on the left) has such huge eyes that I think Gracie gets intimidated as they sit and stare at each other. Gracie will bob her head and chatter, and then dash around Zoe in an attempt to get her rolling and playing. My friend Sharon assures me that the pouncing and rolling is all good cat play. No one is hissing or growling, so I have to assume that everyone is happy. Right?

Sheri yourfavoriterecipememoriesareWONDERFULbutIgethungryreadingallofyourcomments

I think it’s clear that I just need to find more knitting time in my week. I had so much fun getting lots of socks done on vacation (and of course shopping, eating, watching movies, hanging out, etc. Hmmm - maybe I just need to be on vacation all the time?) As promised, here are photos of the completed pairs. These first four are ones that had a sock done and needed the mate. (Except these Duets. With this one, I had just 1/2 of 1 sock done and frogged it back to change the pattern anyway. So that counts for 1 1/2 socks knitted up for that pair, right?) So the Duets - I decided to add the solid color on the top as well as on the heel and toe. What do you think? I kept the instep just plain knitting so that I could see the rows of color. The pattern on the top is basically P2, K5 for 3 rows, and then stick a row of P2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, ssk in there. Very quick and easy. It really is fun to knit with contrasting toes and heels. We have an order of Skinny Duets (her fingering weight) coming in the near future.

The All Things Heather you might remember as my official Frank socks. I think it’s not good that I only finished one for the first challenge, for pete’s sake! But now they’re done and they’re eye-poppin’ bright, aren’t they? This yarn is so soft and comfortable to wear. (Because yes I did need to wear socks out in Colorado in the evenings. I’ll tell you, what is there not to like about that state? Sock wearing, year-round.) The pattern is Penllyn from Wildhorse Farm and I liked it a lot. I may not knit another pair of orange/pink socks (does one need more than one pair like this?) but I’m glad to have them. And really glad to have them done. (Heather is sending more sock yarn to us very soon.) Are you liking the Frank and/or Martha socks that you knit for the Q1 Challenge? And did it encourage you to knit more of the “other” types of colors in the future? I find myself being a bit more bold in my color selections. (Q3 info in Friday’s blog. Time for a new Challenge!)

This pair of socks is out of Crystal Palace’s Panda Cotton in the Jeans colorway. It’s a wonderful yarn - no wool. Just 55% Bamboo, 24% cotton, 21% elastic nylon. It’s so soft on your feet and this one, of all my twinless socks, is one that I really wanted to finish up soon because I knew I’d wear them a lot. That’s how much I like wearing this yarn on my feet. Now I get to pick another Panda Cotton colorway to work on. This yarn IS a bit splitty, but I found that that went away as I got more into the ball. The pattern is another Wildhorse Farm pattern - Savannah Socks. I have made this pattern before and it’s one of my standard favorites. I keep thinking I might do a pair of Panda Cotton socks and pick coordinating yarn for the toes and heels. (Like Strawberry Lime for the socks, and Lime for the heels and toes. Or Fruit Salad with Lacquer Red. Or Mardi Gras with Royal Purple. Or …. well … you get the idea.)

Next, the socks I knit up out of Fiesta Boomerang. Wow - this was great to knit up. It’s a heavier weight. I knit this on 2’s with 48 stitches and each sock literally took just a few hours. (So, really, it’s almost not fair to count them because they went up so fast. But I’m counting them anyway, because a pair of socks is a pair of socks, after all.) The thing that I love about Fiesta - besides how fast it knits up - is their colorways. They have some of the prettiest color combinations around. We have the other half of our first Fiesta order going up in the Sneak Up next week, and you will see more of what I mean. I also really like the “squishiness” of the yarn. It makes it a very comfortable sock to wear. The pattern is one that Loopy friend Josiane from Switzerland sent me and she said I could share it. You can also see how she used it just on the top of the cuff on her Sknitches Breathmint sock in our photo gallery. As soon as I saw that photo go up, I emailed her to ask what the pattern was. It’s: 3 rows of K3, P3, and then one row of: yo, sl1-k2tog-psso, yo, p3. That’s it. Easy but so pretty, don’t you think?

Last, the yarn that cured me of my twinless sock habit. I knit one sock and then immediately cast on and knit the match. I’m so excited to have this Wollmeise in-house and I can’t wait to get it up next week for you to get your hands on. The colors are so deeply saturated and wonderful. (I was so amazed that this didn’t bleed when I washed it. Because of the intensity, I was sure there might be bleeding.) I used another one of my favorite sock patterns - Parting Ways by Heartstrings. There are over 500 yds. in each skein, so you could make kneesocks for someone with very very long feet! I had a lot of yarn left over and I wear a size 11. Or - how fun would it be to make matching socks for a little one? For sure I’m going to make a sock blocker keychain with it. We’ll be getting more Wollmeise in August again because I know it will sell out quickly, despite the large order that I have sitting here. So don’t panic if you miss it the first time - we’ll keep getting it as often as we can!

Now I just wish it was winter and I could be wearing all of these. Somehow, 90+ degree weather and sock-wearing don’t mesh. sigh. Still wondering why we live in St. Louis.

Sheri anyonehaveanytipsonfindingmoreknittingtimeinyourweek?