This summer we encouraged you to photo Loopy (or your Loopy tote, or anything with our Loopy logo on it) in your home, town, or somewhere on vacation. We had fun seeing the entries come in!  Loopy did a lot of things, including:

- Enjoyed time in the Adirondacks with Janice:

- Checked out the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame with Betty:

- Visited the Takayama Inari Shrine in Northern Japan with Sandi:

- And climbed Mt. Lindsey in Colorado with Virginia:

But his very favorite thing (and the winning photo), was to sit and listen to “Oh The Places You’ll Go” at Mary’s house. He thought Mary’s son did an excellent job of reading, and it inspired Loopy to think about new adventures in his future. We’ll be sending a fun prize package to Mary’s house next week!

(Check out more photos from this challenge, here.)

Our next Loopy Photo Challenge: Loopy Loves Animals! We know that many of you have cats, dogs and other special animals that you cherish. Let’s see how many of you can get a photo with Loopy and an animal in it.  We’ll collect the photos (you can upload them via your Loopy account, to our Loopy Loves Animals photo gallery) and we’ll pick a winner sometime later this fall. Here’s one with Loopy and our two cats, Gracie and Zoe, to get you started.

Sheri prettysurethecatswerewatchingthesquirrelon
thebirdfeeder,rightbeforeItookthisphoto

Thanks for all of your well wishes. I am feeling better, and I’m happy to say that I’m back to knitting (so that tells you the TSTK* has passed. At least for now. I’m sure it will show up again sometime, in the middle of a difficult pattern…) A couple of you suggested tea and honey. Even though the cough is in my lungs (not a throat tickle) it still sounded so soothing and restful. What is it about “a cup of tea” that just brings peace to mind? (And peace OF mind!)

On to the blog winners from last week – we have four winners, since we pick one winner for every 250 or so comments. Congratulations to Patty B from MN, Jen A from KS, Maureen G from AL, and Ellen H from CA. All winners have been emailed and have received a $30 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate! It was fun to see some of the “next two things” that you are going to be working on.

Since tomorrow is July 1st, we have a new Third Quarter Challenge for you. This one is open-ended in many ways.

*You can knit or crochet.
*You can choose one color or many.
*You can make anything you’d like to make, big or small. (Although since the word “challenge” is in there, I hope that you will take that to heart and push yourself a little!)

The part that brings it all together into one challenge – you must use 1 or more colors from our new Loopy Ewe Solid Series line. I realize that many of you may have already started into something with our new line, because we’ve shipped a lot of it out! Since we just started shipping it about a week ago, you’re welcome to count any project started since then, for this Third Quarter Challenge. A couple of other things about the challenge:

* You have until October 1st to finish (and until October 7th to put your photo up in the Loopy Gallery)
* The Challenge Discount is on the back end of the project this time. For each person who finishes (meaning the project is done and you have added a photo of it to our Loopy Gallery), we’ll give you a 20% discount on the next project of your choice. That’s just a little extra incentive to get it done. (And if you get it done in a month, you can have your discount in a month!)
* As always, we will have great prizes to give out (including the Knitter’s Choice award that you all will vote on, the randomly drawn prize winner, and the Loopy’s Pick winner that the Elves and I will choose.)

We are so looking forward to seeing all of your finished projects, and I know you’ll have fun with this!  Who’s in?

Here are photos with two of my color combo choices. The first one shows the Malachite and Whisper Blue that I’m using for my Norwegian Rose Socks. The brown/turquoise combo is one that I have in mind for another project. I’ll keep you posted on that one. (Note – this is what happens when I photo things for the blog without color correcting. That “Surf” blue color is really this color. Not the slightly sick turquoise green that is showing in the above photo . Aren’t you glad that we spend so much time on color-correcting here?)

What are some color combinations that you like, from our new series? We’ll take some of your 2, 3 or 4 color combo suggestions and we’ll photo them for all to see in the weeks to come!

Sheri whowouldliketotakeamonthofftodrinkcoffeeandknit.WheredoIsignup?

*Too Stupid To Knit

Elf Donna and I are back from Maryland Sheep and Wool and I have one word about it: HOT. HOTHOTHOT. HOT. HOT. (And did I mention that it was HOT?) We had a great time visiting vendors, gathering with Loopy Groupies, and talking to the sheep. But in between, we were guzzling massive amounts of Water and Diet Coke. We both looked and felt completely melted by the time we made it back to the hotel that night! I’m not sure what the temperature was on Saturday (in the 90′s), but on Sunday, our car thermometer said it was 99 degrees. Would I go again? Sure. It was fun being there. But it was HOT. (In case you were wondering about the weather. I wanted to be sure to mention the heat. Hot.)

This was our rental car. We agreed that it was the perfect weekend “Loopymobile”. I have lots of fun sheep photos – I’ll post those on Wednesday. In the meantime, I know that your favorite part of Monday blogs would be the part where I tell what new things we have added in to the website for the week. So here is what we added for the week:

- Madelinetosh Vintage (only the first 16 of the 72 colors that we ordered, but we decided that we might as well let you start enjoying them now. We’ll continue to add to the line as they make their way here. They have had a bit of a struggle getting enough of the base yarn in.)

- Studio June 8 Bells (a gorgeous 100% superwash heavy fingering weight in a base that you already love from other dyers.)

- Dream in Color Baby (in the 11 new semi-solid colorways, which will knit up beautifully in shawls. Also a big re-stock on the colors that were sold out.)

- Born to Knit (The Elise mitten pattern that many of you have seen and been waiting for. I set a copy aside for myself and will be picking out two solid colors from our upcoming Loopy Line to use with it.)

- Sajou Scissors (2 new designs that were on backorder from our original order. We’ve already put in a second order to re-stock the designs that sold out the first time around. Those ought to be in again soon.)

- 3 AM Enchantments (2 more fabric choices on the Petite KIP bags. I know these bags are your favorites!)

- Stitchmarkers and Stitchmarker Holders from Dyelectable (great for organizing the ones you have, or starting a new collection.)

I have a new 6 Week Mini Challenge for you! I know that many of you are still working on the sweater/vest challenge that I extended to July 1st. But I also know that some of you are ready for a new Challenge, because you’ve been emailing me and asking about a new one. So here’s a short-term Mini Challenge for you. (Why 6 weeks? That brings us to around July 1st, when the Sweater/Vest challenge will be done, plus it insures that your project is done by mid-summer and ready to wear.) Here’s the Challenge:  Knit a short-sleeved or sleeveless summer sweater/tank between now and July 1st. I already started mine using Universal’s Cotton Supreme. YUM!

As with all of our challenges, you can use any yarn you’d like. If it’s a yarn that we sell at The Loopy Ewe, you are welcome to photo your completed project for the Mini Challenge photo gallery we’ll add in, so that others can see it. If it’s a yarn that we don’t sell, you’re still welcome to take the challenge and knit along with us and we hope that you’ll share your photos on Ravelry. If you need to buy yarn for this challenge, we’re offering you a 20% discount on the yarn for this project, if purchased between tonight and May 14th. (Offer limited to one project per person.) To get the discount, you must leave us an order note telling us that you’re participating in the Mini-Challenge and telling us which yarn in the order is for the challenge. We’ll manually adjust the price to the discounted one, after you put in the order. If you are in the U.S. and are trying to get to the $75 level for free shipping, make sure that the discount won’t dip you below that, as we’ll then need to add the regular shipping cost back in.

Feel free to leave links in the comments for the patterns that you are considering for this challenge. I know others will appreciate the ideas!  Short-sleeved sweaters and tanks are so great for layering throughout the spring, summer and fall. I plan on getting a lot of wear out of mine.

Sheri whothinksSt.Louisweathermightnotbesobadafterall
Todaywasalovely,completelytolerableday

There’s not enough knitting going on around here at the moment. (For me, personally, that is.) Here are two things that are currently “in-progress”. The first is the scarf that I’m working on out of Malabrigo Silky. I’m using two skeins. I plucked the stitch pattern out of a stitch dictionary and I’ll add it to the Free Patterns link when I have a finished scarf to photo. In the meantime, if you want to start one, here are the basics:

Cast on 39 stitches (or a multiple of 6, +3.) I’m using a size 4 needle with this Malabrigo Silky. Knit four rows in garter stitch.  Work the following pattern (6 rows) until scarf is desired length, knit four more rows in garter stitch, bind off.

Pattern (repeat stitch sequence in brackets until the end of the row):

Row 1:   P3 [K3, YO, P3]
Row 2:   K3 [P4, K3] 
Row 3:   P3 [K1, K2tog, YO, K1, P3] 
Row 4:   K3 [P2, P2tog, K3]
Row 5:   P3 [K1, YO, K2tog, P3]
Row 6:   K3 [P3, K3]

P= Purl, K=Knit, YO=Yarnover, K2tog=knit two stitches together, P2tog=purl two stitches together 

The other thing I’m working on is a Cabled Rib Wrap out of Shibui Baby Alpaca and Silk Cloud. (Knit together, it takes 4 skeins of Baby Alpaca and 3 skeins of Silk Cloud.) I’m using the natural color. The pattern says it will end up being 18″ x 67″ and I can’t wait to wrap up in it this fall and winter!  I wonder if it would be fun to knit this with one color of Baby Alpaca and a different color of Silk Cloud? I may end up making a second one out of another color, too.

I know you’re waiting for our Third Anniversary Kits to go up! We’ve decided to start pre-sales for them on Friday. (Too many of you have emailed and begged us to do this, so that you don’t miss it. You talked us into it.)  We’ll process the pre-sales as you order them, and then we’ll start shipping them out next week and the week after. This year’s kit revolves around “Loopy’s Knitting Lounge” and it’s a theme that we have more plans for in the coming weeks. (There may be some opportunities for some of you to be an Honorary Loopy Elf in the future. Interested?) I’ll have a photo of the kit on Friday’s blog, when they are available to start ordering. (Oh ok, here’s a teaser photo, but you can’t see everything. Remember when I said that this rug in our Knitting Nook here at Loopy Central would play a part in something later in the summer?) More info on Friday!

This month’s blog contest question has to do with knitting groups. Do you belong to a group that gets together regularly to knit? How often? If you don’t have such a group, do you wish that you did? Or do you like knitting on your own? (Leave your answer in the comments and we’ll draw for prizes next Wednesday.)

Congratulations to all of you who completed your Second Quarter Challenge Socks!  Please take a minute to vote on your favorite from the Q2 Photo Gallery and email your answer to support AT theloopyewe DOT com. We’ll announce the winners next week!

Sheri what’sthemachinecalledthatbreaksupconcrete?Therearetwoworkingonthestreetoutside.
PoundingPoundingPoundingPoundingPoundingaway. 

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)