It’s time for a new challenge!  We do two different things around here, and we take turns from quarter to quarter. KAL’s (Knit A Longs) are where I specify a certain pattern or a certain yarn. This year we did a Clapotis KAL the first quarter and a Girasole KAL the 3rd quarter. During the 2nd quarter, we did a Challenge where I encouraged you to make a pair of socks that were a masterpiece to you. You picked the pattern and the yarn. Now it’s time for a Challenge again!  This time, the Challenge is to knit a shawl, where you pick the pattern and you pick the yarn. (In order to be eligible for prizes in the Challenge, the yarn needs to be a line that we sell here at Loopy.) If you’re new to shawl knitting, you might pick a pattern with more garter stitching and use a fingering weight or heavier yarn. If you’re a shawl/lace pro, you might pick something that teaches you a new pattern, construction or technique. All projects must started 10/1 or later, and must be completed by 1/1/10 and a photo submitted to our photo gallery by 1/7. (This gives you time to wash and block.) There is a thread on the Loopy Groupie board entitled “Shawls”, if you want to talk about what you’re doing, or have questions that you need answered from your pattern. I finished my first Multnomah (now blocking, photo on Friday) and am starting a second one today. Yeah, the Multnomah was kind of addictive.

Another fun thing that we do here is to send Loopy on vacation with all of you in the summertime. He first went on the road in 2007 and had an awesome time. So much so, that he wanted to go again in 2008. (This was the year that many of you took your stuffed Loopy’s, in addition to the postcards.) We sent him out again this past summer to see what trouble he could stir up, and you all rose to the challenge. For example, Loopy:

- went to China:

- and the Taj Mahal:

- tried to read the signs near the Dead Sea in Israel:

- topped a wedding cake:

- took a plane ride with some friends:

- got revenge on that crab from two years ago:

- went canoeing:

- and even hung out at the office:

Now it’s your turn to vote on Loopy’s summer!  Please take a look at all of the photos in his photo gallery - there are lots more – and send us an email (support @ theloopyewe . com), telling us:

Which photo was most creative?

What was the best “farthest place” that he traveled?

Which photo made you wish you were there?

We’ll award prizes next week!

Sheri whatwouldLoopybedoingTODAYifhewerehangingoutwithyou?
He’dbestartinganewshawlifhewerewithme. 

Sometimes we have a little overlap on these things! The Second Quarter Challenge was to knit yourself some “masterpiece” socks – ones that really challenged you. You can see the results so far, right here. For those of you who are participating in this challenge, please make sure that your photos are entered into our photo gallery by 7/17. We’ll get them approved and up so that we can do voting the week after that. I don’t know about you, but I have learned several things in knitting the pattern that I chose. I’ll show you the results, soon!

There are a whole lot of you participating in our Girasole KAL, which started last month and continues through October 1st. I’m glad to see so many of you already planning a second one, because you’re enjoying it so much. (See? Didn’t I tell you it was an addictive pattern?) Loopy is working on his own version of the Girasole. I’m not sure what yarn he chose, but he sits and knits all day long and it never seems to change in size.  I haven’t done any more on mine since I last showed it to you. I dragged it all the way to Colorado, but spent my time knitting socks out there instead of working on that. It’s scary how much I hop around to different projects. But back to the Girasole – it’s never too late to join us in this KAL. It’s not a project that takes months to complete, and you have until October 1st. Jump in!

We’ve been busy checking in yarn all week long. Much of it is for Loopy Central, but some of it is for our Sock Summit booth. We’re getting excited about that event, which is coming up soon!  We have some cool things planned, including some special guests in our booth – you’ll want to meet them! I hope you’re going to be there. (If not, of course we’ll be taking photos to share with you.) Of course there’s still too much to get done before we go. Story of my life.

Sheri guesswhoiscomingtoteachclassesatnextyear’sSpringFling?
Today’sblogpostshouldgiveyouahint.

Knitting Daughter and I had a fun weekend. Web Guy is still traipsing around the country and Wonder Husband drove up to Iowa to see his mum and sister, so we stayed home to tend the fires. Or the knitting and the cats, as the case may be. I hope you had a fun weekend, too!

Three things I knit upon this weekend:
1. Challenge Socks. I know they’re supposed to be done by the end of June. (Well, at least ONE. You know me when it comes to pairs of socks.) I love the pattern (Summer Sliding) and the yarn (Numma Numma), it just takes more concentration than I usually have in the evenings when I knit.
2. So I felt that I really needed to start my second Girasole. Remember, that’s the whole reason I did the KAL – because I wanted to make another one. I’m making this one in the shawl version out of Schaefer Anne. (Black Magic colorway). Isn’t it fun how the colors are knitting up? I’m on Chart D. Part of the knitting is tucked under. I really tried to put off starting this next one, but obviously it didn’t work.
3. I also felt the need to cast on another project, because this is a new yarn that I’m trying out and I needed to get on it. So far, I love it. A little splitty, so I have to pay attention. But it’s knitting up beautifully and I will love wearing it.

Three things we did besides knitting this weekend:
1.  A little shopping.
2. A little tv watching and movies.
3. A little Brownie Batter Blizzard. (When are they going to take that extremely effective stupid Dairie Queen Brownie Batter Blizzard commercial off the air, FPS?)

Three things going on around here today:
1. Lots more KAL orders going out. It’s so fun to have so many of you joining in on this!  Remember, the discount ends at midnight tonight.
2. We have a new rug in our Sit & Knit area. This will relate to something later in the summer. For now, I just wanted to show it to you because we like it here.
3.  Lots more yarn has come in, but we haven’t had a second to unpack any of those cases all day.

Three reasons to leave a comment today:
1. Reading your comments is healthier more fun a better way to spend my time than having another Brownie Batter Blizzard. And SOMEtimes it’s more fun….
2. I like knowing that you all are out there and actually check in on the blog from time to time. It’s nice to get to know all of you “regulars”!
3. The more comments there are tomorrow morning when I come in, the longer I can sit at my computer, drinking coffee, and enjoying them. (Not that that will affect your Sneak Up orders, because the Elves will be here and they will hop right on those. But it will affect how much coffee I can get in before attacking the orders with the Elves.)

Sheri doyouhaveathingortwoorthreetosharetoday?

We have had the same forecast all week long. “Sunny today, with severe thunderstorms likely toward rush hour and into the evening.” Sometimes the storms come, sometimes they don’t. (That’s the view out my office window during a storm. Montessori pre-school across the parking lot.) Nothing says, “Hey, make some coffee and sit down and knit” like a good thunderstorm. Well, sometimes a good thunderstorm says, “Hey, make a fire and sit down with some hot chocolate and read a good book.” But this week the thunderstorms have been promoting knitting.  Good thing, because I have a bunch of projects that I’m working on.

Several of you have asked what I used for blocking my Girasole. I bought two sets of these at Sam’s. I like them because they interlock (which also means they come apart for storage). The colored side is knobby, but the black side is smooth.  I used all of the squares in two sets to block mine, which turned out to be 72″ in diameter (just what the pattern said it would be.) So far, we have over 250 people KALing with us on this, and people are still signing up – how fun is that? It’s not too late to join. Details here.

We went to a dinner earlier this week and had the best cookies for dessert. I decided that I needed to come home and duplicate the recipe. (This was a catered dinner at church, so no one was there that could pass on the recipe to me.) I think they go well with thunderstorms and coffee and knitting. Or hot chocolate, fires in the fireplace, and a good book. You choose.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

6 cups oats
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups dried cranberries
2 cups white chocolate chips

Cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and flour, mixing well.  Add oats 2 cups at a time and mix until blended. Fold in cranberries and white chocolate chips by hand.

Scoop into balls and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. (Cookies will flatten, so space well.) Let cool 2-4 minutes on pan before transferring to a wire rack.

Makes 6-8 dozen, depending on size. You can also freeze half the dough for later. I make the rest of the dough into cookie-sized balls, freeze on a cookie sheet, then transfer the frozen balls to a big zip-top bag when they’re completely frozen. Add a couple of minutes to the baking time if you’re baking the balls directly from the freezer later. If you click on that cookie photo to make it bigger, I think you’ll practically be able to smell them ….

Sheri whoishavingaGirlsWeekendwithKnittingDaughterthisweekend!
Whatareyoudoing?

How many abbreviations can you use in a blog title? Thanks for all of the emails about the Girasole KAL. I’m happy that so many of you are jumping in! I thought I’d answer some of the questions that you all are emailing about, because I’m sure others are wondering the same things.

How do you pronounce that? I called it “Geer – a- sole” (hard G) for a long time, but the actual pronunciation is “Jeer-a-SO-lay”.  Or “jeed-a-SO-lay” as the online “listen to the pronunciation” guide states. As Heather mentioned in the comments on Wednesday, that is Italian for Sunflower. So hopefully we’ll have a whole field of different-sized, different-colored sunflowers by the fall!

Is this pattern difficult? It does look like it might be, doesn’t it? Anything that beautiful when it’s done, surely must be intricate to knit up. The good news is that it is not hard. When I said that I thought of it as a perfect first lace project (or first chart-reading project), I meant it.  There aren’t very many different symbols per line on the charts. That’s always easy to handle. Did you see Wendy’s blog post on chart reading this week? The first chart she shows reminds me of most of the Girasole charts. The second one she shows is much more complicated than the ones you’ll be doing on this KAL. And did I already mention that pretty much every other row is a plain ‘ol Knit row? Yep, a pretty easy knit. But we’re the only ones who have to know that. When you get yours done and are showing it around to people, you can totally let them believe that it was extremely difficult to produce.

What length of circular needles will I need? I see on the Girasole Rav board that some people have used a 60″ needle for the worsted weight. There is a point on one chart where you go from 320 stitches to 640 stitches, and I knit it onto a 60″ cable for that, expecting to need the extra space. The cable was waaaay too long for my knitting. I switched it back and I think I did the whole thing on a 40″ or 47″ cable. (Now I can’t remember.) I DO like all of my stitches bunched up because I find it easier to scoot them along to knit. It was definitely FULL on that size cable, knitting with size 9 needles. If you like things more spread out, then maybe you’ll need the longer cable. If you’re doing a lace or fingering weight version, the 40″ length (with size 6-7 needles in that weight) should be fine.

I’d like to do it, but I have too many other things on the needles at the moment. Ok, so that wasn’t a question. But I do want to point out that you don’t need to finish this until Oct. 1st, so there is plenty of time to join in later, if you want to.

I’m bad at starting and stopping projects. I’m not sure I’d stick with a project this big. Again, not a question, but I want to say that it is well documented that I’m the Queen of the Second Sock Syndrome. I probably have close to 40 single socks, with no matching partner. I also may be the Queen of UFO’s, because I’m constantly starting new things. (Of course I blame all of this on needing to try many different new/potential yarn lines here at The Loopy Ewe. I wonder what I’ll blame it on when I retire one day?) If I can stick with this pattern to the end AND want to cast on another one right away, doesn’t that say something? It really is fun to watch it unfold from your needles.

Does this have to be done in a solid/semi-solid? Not at all. In fact, the photo of Claire’s first Girasole is what made me decide to finally jump in and give this pattern a try, and she made it out of Araucania Aysen, a multi-colorway. It’s gorgeous.

I’d like to make a blanket-sized one that I can also toss in the washer. What yarn should I use? Dream in Color Classy is a worsted superwash that would be wonderful knit up in this pattern. (DC Smooshy and Starry would be beautiful for shawl-sized versions. We have a bunch more Smooshy going up early next week.) Keep in mind that you do need to block this pattern after you wash it, so a lot of people have knit it up in regular (non-superwash) worsted weight yarn – like Cascade 220 and Malabrigo. But for those who still want to throw it in the washer, even though they know they’ll have to lay it flat to dry, the DC Classy is an excellent choice.

Remember the offer – you can pick any yarn here at The Loopy Ewe that you want to use for this Girasole KAL, and we’ll give you that yarn for 20% off. (One discount per person, offer expires 6/15, and you must notate in the order notes that you are participating in the KAL and tell us which yarn in the order you will be using for your Girasole.)

I’m hoping to get my first one finished up over the weekend. Photos as soon as I can get it washed and blocked. I think that may end up being more difficult than the actual knitting…

Sheri whothinkssheepcanbekindofamottleybunch
buttheydoaddinteresttoanotherwisephoto-lessblogpost

You know that I have been spending most of my knitting time on making a blanket-sized Girasole. (I’m making it in Cascade Eco-Alpaca. I love this yarn. Mine is going to look very similar to the one James did.) I am done with all of the charts (yay!!) and am working on the 214 edging points. Really, I ought not to have figured out that total. As of last night, I had 54 edge-points done. This pattern has turned me into a chart reader and I couldn’t be happier about that. I need to be a chart reader – it’s faster than reading instructions line by line, and it opens up a lot more pattern options. It was a perfect first BIG chart project to knit. And believe it or not, I want to make another Girasole, this time in laceweight. I happen to know quite a few people who have made more than one. That ought to tell you what a great knit it is. (Edit – a few of you have asked in the comments if this is a difficult knit. The answer is no. That’s one of the beautiful things about it. It’s mostly K, K2tog, SSK, and YO. Maybe some of you who have made one can jump in on the comments below to share your experience with it. I find it relaxing to knit because each line of the chart is easily memorized – and I’m bad at memorizing – and it just goes so smoothly. That’s why I’m wanting to make another right away.)

I decided that I’d like company in this project, and am turning it into an official Loopy Knit-A-Long. Come join me! You can start now. Or if you’re in the middle of one already, join in with that one. Let’s say (for Knit-A-Long purposes) that it needs to be finished and photo-ed and up in the Loopy Photo Gallery by Oct. 1st. I predict many of you will be done in 3 weeks, because it’s addictive.  But we’ll say Oct. 1st, officially. And that’s not all. We’re going to offer you a 20% discount on the yarn to KAL with us! The discount is good on whatever yarn you want to pick out to use for your Girasole project. It’s only good on one colorway/one yarn type, so make sure that you decide on the weight/color you want to use, before you put an order in. Since Web Guy is still out of the country and can’t doodle up an automatic code thing-y for us, we will have to manually deduct the 20% discount, after you have put your order in. (We don’t collect any funds from you until your order is packed up and is shipping out, so we’ll only collect the correct, discounted amount. When you get your “shipped” email, you can log into your Loopy account and click on that order to see what the final total ended up being.) Important note: if you want free shipping on this order, be sure to mentally figure your subtotal after discount to be sure that the discount doesn’t take you under the $75 threshold when we adjust the price. If the adjusted discount drops you below that $75 amount, we’ll add the regular $5.95 shipping charge back in. (And did anyone want to ask me how I feel about the post office continuing to raise postal prices? Because I’m happy to go on and on about it….)

To take advantage of this offer, you must add an order note to your order, telling us that 1) you are joining the KAL and 2) which yarn you are planning to use for it, so we know which one to apply the discount to. Like this:

“I’ll KAL with you! I’m making my Girasole out of the 9 skeins of Cascade 220 in blue that I just bought.”

or

“I’ll KAL with you! I’m making my Girasole out of the skein of Perchance to Knit Lace in Berry Sorbet that I just bought.”

The “20% off your Girasole KAL yarn” offer is good from now until June 15th. One discount per person. Good on in-stock yarns only. (No special orders for this.) We’re keeping a list of everyone who signs up and will look forward to seeing all of the finished photos. I hope that a lot of you join me in this KAL. We’ll start two threads on the Ravelry Loopy Groupie board – one for those making a lace/fingering/dk shawl-sized version and one for those making it in the worsted blanket-sized version. (And if you already have something in your stash that will make the perfect Girasole, just hop in and join us, too.) Yardage-wise, the pattern mentions using 1150 – 1800 yds, depending on the weight. I think I will end up using 8 skeins of Cascade Eco-Alpaca for mine, with a size 9 needle. That’s 1760 yds, so that falls right where it’s supposed to be for the worsted version.

You can buy the Girasole pattern here on Ravelry, or here on Jared Flood’s blog.

Sheri sowho’supforKALingwithme?