Yesterday I noticed that the lilacs in our backyard were starting to come out. I love lilacs.  I’m not a big “purple” person, nor do I like candles/perfumes/soaps scented like flowery things, but I do love lilacs themselves. My grandparents planted lilac bushes all along their driveway when they first moved into their home years and years ago. (Here’s a post that I did about their house. It is in a very desirable town and was eventually torn down and the lot turned into a McMansion.  Sad to see that happening on their street. But a couple of my lilac bushes were transplanted from their house, which is fun!) I knew that the forecast for today was for freezing temperatures and snow, so I went out and cut some of the lilacs and put them in a vase of water. The nice thing about cutting lilac branches off each year to enjoy, is that the bushes just get fuller and fuller with each subsequent season. It did indeed snow big fat flakes today and I’m sure the rest of the lilacs are goners.  I’m glad to have gotten one vase full, anyway. (Click on the photo to enlarge it, and make sure your “scent button” is turned way up on your computer. Wait – you don’t have one of those “scent buttons”??  Bummer….)

It’s time for a new Quarterly Challenge! If you’re on Ravelry, I shared the new challenge on the Loopy Groupie board on Saturday. The challenge for you this quarter is to knit your own version of “Masterpiece” socks. Pick a pattern that challenges YOU. (Note – the degree of “challenge” will be different for everyone, since we’re all in different stages of technical skills our knitting. It should push you to do something harder than you have done before in your sock knitting.) The other qualifier is that you must use solid or semi-solid yarn from The Loopy Ewe. I want these wonderful patterns/stitches to really POP, since you’re going to go to all that work!  (Check out this blog post for a comparison of doing a pattern in a multi-colorway, versus doing it in a solid or semi-solid. While I love the first two socks, I have to say that a fancy pattern shows up better when there aren’t other colors competing with the design. It’s even more apparent in person – and when you click on the photo for a closeup.)

Here are some yarns that you might want to check out:
Araucania Semi-Solids, Cherry Tree Hill in Fingering Semi-Solids, DK Solids, Regular Solids, and Sockittome Solids, Dream in Color Smooshy and Starry, Dye Dreams Comfy or Dream, Indigo Moon. Louet, S.R. Kertzer, and The YoYo String and Fluff Sport and Fingering.

Of course there are several companies who do both multi-colorways as well as solids/semi-solids.  Look for the solids/semi-solids in:
Claudia Hand Painted, Colinette Jitterbug, Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, Lorna’s Laces, ShibuiKnits, and The Sanguine Gryphon.

And I know that many (many, many, many) of you already have a great solid/semi-solid in your stash that you bought from us and haven’t used yet. So do some stash-diving first and see if you can find something to use up!

Patterns? We have patterns! We have a large Cookie A order coming in about a week, but many of you have already ordered Sock Innovation from Cookie. (If you  haven’t, you need to. The information she shares is just as good as the patterns. And don’t forget that Wendy’s book, Socks From the Toe Up, comes out on the 14th – mine is already on pre-order at Amazon!) You’ll also find some challenging patterns in any of the lines we have, as well as free online patterns all over the place.  Pick your own “masterpiece”! (Hopefully, a 12-18 months from now when we do another “masterpiece” challenge, your skills will have progressed and it will take on a new meaning, once again.)

Note: We’ll vote on First Quarter Challenge/KAL winners later this week. Get your photos uploaded to the Photo Gallery and watch the blog for more details soon.

Tonight is opening night for the Cardinals here in St. Louis. We’ve been having lovely 60-70 degree weather on and off for a few weeks and today, it snows. Crazy weather. In other crazy news, here are the two ducks who have decided that our backyard is the place for breakfast. They come most every morning. Since the pond in our neighborhood is 4 blocks away, I can only assume that we have the best tasting birdseed between here and there. Or else we have the friendliest birds, who are ok with sharing their food. The cats just see it as two more “toys” to watch from the window.

Sheri sowhatpattern/yarnareyouthinkingyoumightdoforthechallenge?

It’s January, which means another Challenge or Knit-A-Long! (Not that these Big Guys are knitting.  Rather, they seem to be stirring up trouble here at Loopy Central at the moment.) I had something in mind for this quarter, but in the meantime, Anne in MD started a Clapotis Knit-A-Long on the Loopy Groupie board on Ravelry.  There are so many of you working on that (myself included!) that I think it’s wise not to muddy up the waters and add yet another one. So – jump in and join us!  It started January 1st and you will find the pattern for free on Knitty.com (here’s the Clapotis link by the brilliant Kate Gilbert).  I’m making mine out of some Hand Maiden Sea Silk that I had in my stash. (Well, technically it was in my stash because I frogged the project I had started with it. Twice.) This is the first time I’ve done a Clapotis and I’m having a lot of fun with it. There’s something refreshing about purposely dropping stitches and watching them unravel. Now I really want to make another one out of Amy’s Vintage Office.  It’s on my new list.  So leave a comment below if you’re participating in this KAL with us.  The fun thing about the Clapotis is that you can use any yarn that strikes your fancy.  Different weights and materials will render different sizes and draping, but it’s all fun.  If you’re on Ravelry, check out the Clapotis link to see what others have used and how it looks. I’m not sure when it ends on the Loopy Groupie board, but we’ll leave it open here for the first quarter, meaning you should finish by 3/31 and have your photos posted by 4/15. (Here’s a tip from Sandy in WY that I thought was great.  She added a stitchmarker to the very bottom starting point of her triangle, to keep it from curling up.  I wish I had known that when I started, as it about drove me nuts. I’ll definitely use that tip on the next one.) Be sure to add your photos from the 4th Qtr. Challenge ‘08 to the Photo Gallery by 1/15 so that we can vote and award prizes.

Update on the things that many of you have been emailing me about and asking!

1.  We do have Schaefer’s new Nichole yarn on order and the first part of our order is shipping out this week. We’ll have it up asap.  We may put the first half up and then the rest later when it arrives, instead of making you wait for the whole thing. We also do have more Anne, Lola and Andrea on order for you.

2.  Namaste’s Zuma Eggplant order is stuck in Customs at the moment. They’re hoping they’ll have it to ship out to all of their shops by mid-January.  They know we’re all anxious to get it in!  If you are on our pre-order list, we still have one with your name on it for you.  If you did not pre-order and want to, I do still have a few available from this first order.  Email me.

3.  Sock Club details coming in Friday’s Blog Post. Sign-ups begin next Monday, the 12th.

4.  Malabrigo Sock and Worsted – have been on order for a long time, and we’re not sure when it will be in. But we’re looking forward to getting it.

5.  I’m heading off to our twice-a-year TNNA Market in a week, so that I can stay on top of all of the new yarns and trends for you! Email me if there is any line/yarn you’d like me to look into while I’m there.  I’ll add it to my list.

6.  Did you catch this week’s Sneak Up? We added lots of Hand Maiden Casbah, bellamoden Fingering, new Tempted Roving, Gypsy Knits DK, Loopy Soap, Romney Ridge Calendars, Addi Clicks,  Opal Wintermarchen, and patterns from Figheadh and Nelkin Designs.

Lastly, Happy 25th Anniversary to my Wonderful Hubby. I remember thinking 25 years was a long long time when my parents celebrated their 25th. It seems to go pretty fast when you’re the one in it! We were married on a cold, snowy night and it was beautiful. I added this particular photo because so many of you know my friend Janice, and if I’m going to show what Paul and I looked like 25 years ago, then I think you ought to see Janice and Steve, too. It was a fun weekend with all of our favorite friends and family there with us!

Sheri whothinkswealllookjustthesametoday(cough)

Thanks for all of the guesses on the next Challenge! A few of you correctly identified my knitting as the Transition Gloves from Shibui Knits.  I have wanted to knit those ever since we got the pattern in over a year ago.  Of course I had to overcome my dislike of knitting from a chart, and also my inexperience with colorwork.  When Claudia’s Wollmeise Sock Club colors arrived, they seemed to shout “Transition Gloves” to me, and it was finally time to take the plunge. Now that I’ve started in on them, I see more of these in my future. I was sitting and knitting on them thinking that a black and white version would be SO cool (Shibui Ink and Ivory), as well as a red and white, and maybe a chocolate and blue, and …..  Well.  You can see how much fun I’m having thinking up combinations. And then I happened to wander over to Ravelry to visit everyone else’s combinations, and added a few more that are now “must knit” combos. (Check out Natlie’s Piano Gloves – just what I was imagining in Black and White.)  So the new Loopy Challenge, which will run from now until 12/31/08 is this: Knit something to warm your hands (or someone else’s hands. ‘Tis the season for starting your holiday knitting). It can be Fingerless Gloves, or Mittens, or regular Gloves, or even a muff. (Do they have knitting patterns for muffs? Seems like a felted muff might be fun.) In the spirit of “challenging” you a little bit, I encourage you to try something new with this.  Maybe you haven’t knit anything for hands before and the whole idea is new.  Or maybe (like me) you want to try colorwork, or learn two-handed knitting, or knitting fingers in gloves instead of mittens or fingerless mitts.  Maybe you’ve done all of that so the challenge for you would be to design your own or adapt a stitch pattern you really like – like taking any of the sock patterns you have and using that pattern for gloves or mittens, for example!  Whatever you choose, it will be fun to see all of the different options that people come up with.  If you already have something in mind, post in the comments and tell us what you’re going to do.  Otherwise, just hop in at any time. We will do another Knit-A-Long beginning in January.  Remember, we’re alternating Challenges with KAL’s now.

A couple of week’s ago I did a post about “It’s a Perfect Day for …” and had you leave comments. So many of you mentioned that it was a perfect day for Chili that I had to make up a pot of it – it just sounded so good.  So I thought I’d share the recipe with you.  I got this recipe from a teacher that I used to teach with (way back when) and have been making it ever since.

Cold Weather Chili

3 slices fried bacon
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4 – 5 (smaller size) cans Brooks Chili Beans
2 large cans diced tomatoes
3 Tbl. brown sugar
2 Tbl. vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
8 chocolate chips

Fry bacon and set aside to drain.  In bacon grease, brown hamburger and onion.  Drain.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about an hour. (Or put it all in the crockpot on low and let it simmer all afternoon.)  Cornbread Rolls go well with this chili.

We’re heading off to Indiana this afternoon for Parents Weekend at Taylor. We can’t wait to see College Girl and College Guy! (And I’m pretty sure that Payne’s Coffee and Ivanhoes Ice Cream will be on the schedule as well.)  Also, I will be out of commission & out of the office most of next week, as I’m having a bit of surgery and am taking a few days to recover. It would be nice if it was something fun that would make me look 10 years younger, but alas, it’s nothing exciting like that!  Keep me in your prayers and I plan to be back with you via the blog and email on Monday, the 29th.  Susan and the Elves will keep the orders going out.  They’re the best.  If you need anything, feel free to call here or email Susan (susan AT theloopyewe DOT com). Have a great weekend!

Sheri perfectdayforknittinginthecaronthewaytoIndiana

It’s time for the 2nd Quarter Loopy Ewe Challenge! Last year, our second quarter was all about knitting for someone else, and this year we’re doing something similar. Melissa has been talking about knitting socks for those dealing with illnesses and cancer, and how comforting it is to have a pair of handknit socks on when you’re sitting there going through various medical treatments. (Join her Power Socks group on Ravelry!) Others of you have wonderful Prayer Shawl groups going on, knitting shawls (and knitting your prayers right in there) for friends and family who are going through tough times. We like doing things for others here at Loopy Central, so we’d like to focus this quarter’s challenge along those lines. Knit something (socks, shawl, scarf, sweater – whatever fits the person and occasion) for someone who needs some extra love in their life. It can be someone you know well, or someone who would be completely blown away by your generosity and kindness. We’ll let you figure out the proper recipient. (And if you really don’t know someone who might need this, you can send your item to us and we’ll find someone who would love it.) This Quarterly Challenge goes through the end of June, and all photos should be up in the Photo Gallery by July 7th. As usual, there will be a drawing for a Gift Certificate to TLE from all participating photos, as well as a “Knitter’s Choice” award, based on voting. We hope that you’re inspired to do something wonderful for someone who will be blessed by your efforts!

Speaking of prizes, we also need to vote on the Q1-08 award! Check out the Gallery and email Susan-the-awesome-assistant (susanATtheloopyeweDOTcom) with your vote for favorite project. I’ll announce the Knitter’s Choice winner and the random drawing winner a week from today. The Challenge first quarter was to knit something you had never knit up before (or to try a new technique). I always love seeing how people come up with things for our challenges. I will show you what I did for the Challenge after the Spring Fling.

I know a lot of you already caught the Sneak Up last night, because we’re busy wrapping wrapping wrapping today! But just in case you haven’t found it yet, make sure you check out: Numma Numma Toasty, Lime & Violet Mermaid, Yarn Nerd, Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, Lorna’s Laces Fiber, Lawre’s Laine BabyBags & NeedleBooks, The Tabletop Caddy, Loopy Legends, Zen String Bellissima Lace, and our Loopy-Red Water Bottles! Also – here’s a sneak peak at what else has arrived over the last two weeks – the sweatshirts, t-shirts and hats that you’ve been asking for with Loopy on them. These will go up the week after next, we think. The shirts and sweatshirts are available in S – 3X. (I tried to take the hat off of Loopy when this mini-photo-shoot was over. He won’t give it back. FPS.)

Sheri alsogotsomenewcoolfiberintoday&itmakesmewanttogohometospin

I’m baaaaack! (That looks rather sheep-ish, doesn’t it? baaaa….) It was 38 degrees with blue skies, loads of sun, and gorgeous yellow Aspens blowing in the mountain winds yesterday. (Today, 90+ in St. Louis. We shall not speak of it.) I had a wonderful weekend with my friends and got some knitting done! Photos of my two completed socks on Wednesday. Check out the beautiful yellow Aspen leaves on this tree. These trees were all over, popping out of the evergreens all over the mountainsides. If you have never been to Colorado in the Fall, you ought to go. It’s like someone tipped over a big yellow bucket of paint and then flung it far and wide. Just gorgeous.

There was much food this weekend. We went to this Ski Tip Lodge for dinner one night. It’s a former stagecoach stop, turned private home, turned restaurant and Bed and Breakfast. The food was wonderful and after dinner was over, they took us into the big living room area for dessert. Here are my friends Michelle and Christy, waiting for their desserts. It was fun to walk through this house and imagine the long life it has had. I’m not sure I would’ve given it up if I had lived there. We also made many fun meals back at the condo, and of course I took pictures and collected recipes so that I could share them all with you over the next few weeks. These gals can cook, let me tell you. One of the gals is sending me a cookbook that her church put together with all sorts of wonderful recipes in there. (Aren’t those the BEST cookbooks – the ones where people submit their very best recipes? I have some from churches and schools and organizations and I always reach for those first when looking for something “good” to make.)

We stay near Keystone, and we take Swan Mountain Road from the Keystone/Dillon area, over to Breckenridge (another favorite shopping spot.) There is a lookout at the top of Sw. Mt. Rd. with beautiful views and cute chipmunks that come right up and eat out of your hands. (But they’re quick – so this is the best photo I could get.) It was really windy that day. Great hair day.

So – shopping, eating, knitting, movies, talking – that pretty much sums up my weekend. (You’ll have to tell me what exciting things you did in your weekend.) Now I’m glad to be back because there are fun things going on around here at Loopy. I will fill you in on our big news on Wednesday. We also have boxes upon boxes of yarn on its way to us. We’re doing big re-stocks on Louet, Claudia, Trekking, Austermann, Sockina, Apple Laine, Fiesta, Nature’s Palette, Yarn Nerd, Woolly Boully, sKNITches, Perchance to Knit, Wollmeise, Seacoast Superwash Sock, Dream in Color Classy and Smooshy, and Lime & Violet. These will all be arriving between now and the end of October, if all stays on schedule. The non-indie lines will go up as they come in, the rest will go up in Sneak Ups. We also expect some of our new lines in during that time: Oceanwind Knits, Numma Numma, bellamoden, Sheepaints, Colinette Jitterbug (yay!) and more. Also, we’ll have new Yarn Cruisers from Ham’s Jam, more Loopy/Louise/Bart stitchmarkers from Katie, and a few other new fun things, too. It’s kinda crazy around here these days, but it’s all good.

Yes, we have a Sneak Up scheduled for this week! In there, you’ll find: Yarn Love, Shibui Knits, Schaefer Anne, Lola and Heather, Chewy Spaghetti Sport, Trekking, 40″ Addi Turbos, Wendy Knits patterns, Monica Knits patterns, Soak, Loopy Totes, Stone Barn Fibers, Fleece Artist Somoko, Urban Gypsy, and Lorna’s Laces. (See what happens when we skip a week? Too many cool choices for the next week.)

And now for the 4th Quarter Challenge (aka: Q4). The Challenge this quarter is to knit something – socks, shawl, scarf, fingerless mitts, hat, etc – with at least 2 different colors of sock or lace yarn. You could do coordinating heels and toe, or a bit of stranded work, you can make a chevron scarf, you could knit a shawl with a second color around the edges, you can put ruffles on hats or mittens in a second color, etc. (Of course you can use more colors than that.) I know you all will come up with some really fun and creative things for this one, and I can’t wait to see what you do. All photos should be uploaded by Friday, January 4th for voting. Speaking of voting, there are 42 photos in the Q3 Gallery that need voting on! I will draw one name from all the participants to win a $25 Loopy gift certificate. The second $25 Loopy gift certificate goes to the winner of the Knitter’s Choice Award – and that’s where you come in. Simply email me (sheriATtheloopyeweDOTcom) with your vote for your favorite from the Q3 Gallery. You can base it on best adaptation of the challenge (to knit something that was a stretch for you), or favorite color scheme, or most beautiful photo, or whatever makes that one your personal favorite. I’ll announce the winners next week.

Lastly, winners of the “Take Loopy on Your Summer Vacation” contest (photos here):

- best “far away” place that I visited – Sydney (from Kim)
- most interesting famous person that I met – Yarn Harlot (from Meghann)
- most unusual place that I visited – Penny Lane (from Sue)
- most creative photo that I was in – Loopy in peril (from Linda)

Kim, Meghann, Sue and Linda – email me and we’ll get Loopy gift certificates to you for your win. Thanks to all who participated, and voted. Loopy had a fabulous summer, and looks forward to doing it again next summer!

Sheri internetwasoutuntilthisafternoon-thatmakesforalateblogpost….

Wow – you all must be the most giving group of knitters around. I can’t believe how many hats and mitts you all knit up for the babies in China and for Luba’s girls in Russia. The packages have come in so overwhelmingly, that it has been hard to keep track of it all. (Not hard to keep track of what you sent – we have big bins of those items! Just hard to keep track of all of YOU!) Thank you so much for your generosity. I know that for most of us, knitting time is a luxury. Giving some of that up to knit for others is just wonderful. We have 52 pairs of mitts and 37 hats to send off to Luba’s girls in Russia (plus a couple of gorgeous scarves). We have 102 baby hats and 50 toddler hats to send to the orphanage in China (plus a few pairs of cuter-than-can-be wee socks). Some of you included notes to say that your moms, friends and daughters helped with the knitting. (And Trish sent camo-foil wrapped Hershey’s kisses that she buys on the military base. Who knew there were camo-wrapped kisses?? We loved them!) Please leave a shout-out in the comments if you knitted up an item for the Challenge. We’re shipping these off to the recipients next week. I just wish I could be there when everyone received their handknits. I know how much these will be appreciated. The Q2 Challenge participants who won Loopy Gift Certificates (because we pick two random people to win) are Christine S and Tracy D. Thank you again to everyone who sent something in! We’ll do this again next year, and I already have two more wonderful places that we can knit for.

So it’s time for a new Challenge, right? As promised, the Q3 Challenge is about knitting something for yourself (or a loved one). The Challenge this time is to pick a sock or lace pattern that is a stretch for you in terms of new techniques (or just more complicated stitch patterns than you typically knit.) I typically end up knitting fairly simple patterns because I’m usually knitting while I’m doing something else and can’t concentrate too awfully hard on it. But there are some gorgeous patterns out there (and I’m thinking ALL of the Cookie A patterns, for example, and so many of the lace patterns I have seen) that take a bit more thought but will bring such beautiful results. For some of you who regularly do k2, p2 ribbing all the way up, ANY pattern will be a bit more of a challenge. Others of you have knit all of Cookie’s patterns and found them plenty easy, so maybe it’s time for an entrelac sock? You know your level of knitting and what will be a stretch for you. So – pick a pattern to challenge yourself and then knit it up and enter it into the Q3 photo gallery! We will pick a random winner for one of the Loopy Gift Certificates, and we’ll do a Reader’s Choice award with another Loopy Gift Certificate. All entries must be up in the gallery by October 1st and we’ll do voting that week. Can you add more than one entry into the Challenge? Sure! Challenge yourself over and over!

I know you want to know what is going up in next week’s long-awaited Sneak Up, right? Well there are some for-sures, and some maybes. WH is still plowing through all of the photos and plans an all-day-Saturday marathon, so we’ll see what all he can get done. For sure, the Wollmeise will be up. Also Spritely Goods, new Fiesta Boomerang colors, Misty Mountain Farms, Schaefer Anne and Lola, and Chewy Spaghetti in the fingering weight. Plus Maruca bags in the new fall colors, new limited edition Mrs. Kwitty bags, and some fun accessories that I ordered in June at the market. What else might be up: Cider Moon Flurry, Yarn Love, Yarntini, Fleece Artist, and Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome. (And now you know why I usually do weekly Sneak Ups. Too much arrives here from week to week!)

Today’s recipe is a scone recipe that we have had and used in our family for a long time. These are wonderful for breakfast (and there is oatmeal in there – so it’s definitely good for you, right?) I included some of our scone making photos from being out in Colorado. We had expert scone lessons from Iowa Girl, who makes the most delicious scones for a wonderful little coffee shop/gift place called Barn Happy. (Her scone secrets? Cutting in the butter while it’s cold when you have a recipe that calls for unmelted butter- it’s all in the scissor action, mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately, and then pouring them together and mixing – as little as possible – by hand. There you have it. The secrets of great scone-making.)

Scottish Oat Scones

1 1/3 c. melted butter
2/3 c. milk
2 eggs
3 c. flour
2 1/2 c. oats
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbs. baking powder
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. raisins

Add liquid ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another bowl. Pour both together and mix by hand until just moistened. Stir in raisins. Shape dough to form a ball. Pat out on floured surface to form 2 8″ circles. Put on greased cookie sheet and score (cut halfway through) into 8-12 wedges. Add a few raisins to the top and sprinkle a bit of sugar over all. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Serve with warm butter, preserves, or honey.

Are you on Ravelry yet? Loopy Groupie Heather set up a Loopy Group over there and it’s so fun to see all of your smiling faces and avatars in there. Come join the group if you’re a Ravelery person! And if you’re not in Ravelry yet – then put your name on the wait list, so that as they make their way through the invitation list, you will be on it. THEN come join the Loopy Groupies there. You don’t have to be an official LG to join – just a Loopy Groupie wannabe and Loopy friend. (And if you’ve ordered from us before – you’re a Loopy friend!)

Sheri mywonderfulmotherinlawiscomingtovisitthisweekend-yippee!!
Hopeyouhaveagreatone.