Aaaahhh. Y’all make me feel so much better. If I’m loopy, then I’m certainly in good company. (And for those of you who read the last post and wondered about all of us? You really need to get your “loopy” on. Just sayin’.)

It’s another icy day here in St. Louis. Schools are closed for the second day in a row (which means Knitting Daughter will be in again to help pack orders – after she sleeps in and enjoys her morning.) My friend Janice in Iowa has cried “Uncle!” this winter season. She has had enough snow to last her for a long long time. So I’m wondering, if “uncle” means “enough”, does “aunt” meant “keep it coming!”? I love this weather. Not necessarily driving in it, but I love sitting inside and watching it come down. Is there anything cozier than sitting by the fire with your family, latte and knitting in hand? Maybe a good movie on the tv, or maybe with the tv off completely? I think not. (Well – maybe a fire, a latte and a good book if the family isn’t around.)

Here’s a photo of my Farmhouse Fannie’s Fingering sock that I finished up over the weekend. This is soft and squishy sock yarn. Fun to see how the colors knit up. (I used the Stansfield 16 pattern on it, which is one that I like for yarns with a lot of colors, where a more detailed pattern would get lost. It’s from one of Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Socks books.) We have sold out of most of the Farmhouse yarn already, but will have more again soon. One of my favorite colors is still in stock – Autumn. It’s beautiful! And now that I’m done with this sock, I started that gorgeous green sock yarn that I’ve been dying to cast on for a bit now. That is from The Sanguine Gryphon, and we will have that up in the next Sneak Up. It’s knitting up beautifully. I’m so glad to have this line coming to The Loopy Ewe!

A few quick answers to the questions I have been getting:

- We will have a full re-stock of Dream in Color Classy around mid-March. I will let you know via the blog when it’s back in, and we will offer the DC-KAL discount on it for those participating in the KAL, one more time for a week or so. I’ve lost count of how many of you are KALing with us, but it’s a ton of people and it will be a lot of fun! (We can’t take pre-orders on the colors, so just keep an eye on the blog if you’re waiting on it.)

- Smooshy gets fully re-stocked every month – it’s a standing order (just like Classy and Baby). We will have more of that in March, too.

- Rio de la Plata will be here again in about 2 weeks. Aruacania and Noro have both been on re-order since before our first orders even arrived, and I have no idea when those orders will be in. No one seems to know. FPS. (I’m wearing my Noro socks again today. Love them.)

- All Things Heather is coming back! The order just shipped. We’re so glad that Heather is set up again for dyeing, now that they’re settled in in CA.

- Thanks for your wonderful response to our new Loopy Legends line. (To see all of the colorways we had, click on the “0″. My very favorite colorway out of all 12 of them was the one that is still in stock – Janice’s Sunshine in Winter. I took a skein of that out as soon as I opened the boxes up! Although I must say, I really did love all of them and have plans to continue adding to my stash with each order that we get in. I just didn’t want to hog take any more than one the first time.) Yes, all of the colorways have been re-ordered. We have a couple of other orders in with Zen String first, but then we’ll get more of those Legends colorways. Plus, we’ll probably introduce another 12 Legends sometime this summer.

- More Wollmeise will be up sometime in the first couple of weeks in March. I’ll announce it the week before on the blog. (We can’t take pre-orders on Wollmeise – sorry!)

- Yes, I will order more of the Loopy’s Red Canvas Tote bags again. Today. Also, more travel mugs will arrive in a couple of weeks.

We’re going to be packing this week’s Sneak Up orders until the cows come home, so thank you very much for your patience with our “little longer than normal” turn-around time. We’re working as fast as we can! We so appreciate your orders this week.

Sheri contrarytowhatyoumightbelieve,IhavenotgivenupStarbucksforPeets.
ButIdoreallyreallylikePeets.

Some knitting and spinning has taken place around here! First of all, here is my first sock (and I AM going to do the second one, because this knit up so fast) out of The Alpaca Yarn Co. Paca Peds. This is wonderful yarn to knit with. Soft, warm and beautiful. The alpaca in here is not as fuzzy as other alpaca yarns, and I like that. You still get the warmth, but not all of the fuzzy. (That also makes your pattern show up better.) I used the Celebratory Chevrons pattern that Debbie O’Neill designed for us for our first anniversary last August. If you bought a skein of our Limited Edition J.Knits Anniversary Yarn, you received a free copy of the pattern with it! If not, you can find it as a download on our Free Patterns page here on the blog. This is one of my favorite sock patterns. It knits up easily and I love how it looks. The Paca Peds yarn has arrived, and will be up in our next Sneak Up. We have both the regular colorways, and their colorways with a mini-solid skein for heels and toes.

I also knit up a scarf out of Hand Maiden’s wonderful Swiss Mountain Cashmere. What a pleasure to knit with! I used one skein for this scarf, along with a pattern that Natalie shared on the Ravelry Loopy Groupie board and gave me permission to share with you here. (I call it “Natalie’s Simple Scarf Pattern” – pretty creative, huh?) If you’re not up to knitting a whole shawl out of some of the luxury yarns that we have, then a scarf is just the ticket. (Or try a smoke ring – we have several smoke ring patterns from Heartstrings here. Can you imagine how soft this would be around your neck as a smoke ring?) This scarf that I knit up is over 5 ft. long and perfect for wrapping and looping. The fact that it’s cashmere and silk makes it one of the softest scarves you’ll wear. (As an aside, are you on Ravelry? Have you joined The Loopy Groupie board? We have a lot of fun chatting over there. Come join us! Of course you don’t have to be an official “Loopy Groupie” to join up with us. Just a Loopy friend.)

————-

Natalie’s Simple Scarf Pattern

Natalie did a garter border (two rows at the bottom/top). The stitch pattern is a four row repeat…

Row 1: k2 * K1, P1, Slip Purl wise and repeat from * to two stiches before end and k2
Rows 2 & 4: k2, P to two stiches before end and k2
Row 3: k2 * P1, Slip Purlwise, K1 and repeat from * to two stiches before end and k2

————–

The Sakina Needles roving was just too enticing to pass up, so I also spun up some of that over the weekend. It’s apparent that I still need a lot of work on my spinning, but I’m enjoying it. I think I’m spinning sport/dk weight at the moment, with my goal being sock yarn. I picked these colors out and did this for someone else. I’m not really good enough yet to be spinning for someone else yet, but I did it anyway. This is the Superwash Periwinkle colorway. Next on my spinning list: Tempted Bordello (it looks Valentine-y, don’t you think?) and Alpaca With a Twist Combed Top Roving. However, I can’t decide between Grey or Fawn. What do you think? (Honestly, this stuff is so soft that I could just sit there with my hands buried into it as it is and be perfectly happy.) Zoe got so tired of waiting for me to sit down and knit over the weekend (she’s always waiting for a lap to curl up in) that she finally just climbed up on me and sat on one leg while I spun. (And yes, that meant my leg was moving the whole time. She must’ve been really desperate for some attention, FPS.)

I have two shawls to show you on Friday. Sadly, not done by me. But both are gorgeous! I am working on my shawl, slowly but surely. I’m so determined. However, there are other things that I’m working on as well. One is a secret yarn that I’m test knitting for one of the companies that we already carry. I really really like it and will share it with you as soon as I get the go-ahead from them. It might be awhile before they’re ready to go into production with it and unveil it. (Why am I telling you this? Because it’s taking up some of my knitting time and I don’t have anything that I can show you for it. I just didn’t want you to think I was slacking on my knitting!) I’m also in the middle of the Neighborhood Fiber sock, and have so far successfully refrained from casting on the gorgeous green yarn I showed you last week. However, I’m not holding out for much longer.

How many projects do you usually have going at once? For me, right now, I am in the middle of that shawl and then I have five socks mid-progress (that is not including all of my single socks. I don’t consider those mid-progress. Mid-completion, maybe. But once one is done, it’s no longer in progress, in my mind) and six skeins of sock yarn that are in the immediate queue (as in “I need/want to knit these up next”). Is this over-the-top or about average?

Sheri anothercloudygreydayinSt.LouisandIloveit.Imustbeweird.IshouldmovetoSeattle.

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!

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?