I have had fun reading about all of your weird things. Although, I must say that I could totally relate to an alarming number of them. Should that worry me? Wonder Husband (WH) wanted me to add another weird habit of mine - talking to our cat and dog (and really - the squirrels in the yard, the birds on a walk, etc) as if they could totally understand what I was saying. (”I have told you before not to eat out of the cat’s bowl. Why do you keep doing that? Bad dog!” or “Why are you sitting up there in the window where it’s freezing cold?”) I just don’t think that’s weird. Just sayin. Want to know something weird about WH? He leaves 1/2 inch of liquid in his glass and comes back to finish it later. After meals, after snacks, etc. Every time I find a glass like that, I know it is his. And if I toss it, he asks “Where’s the rest of my milk?” I don’t get that at all. That’s just downright weird.

A Loopy Ewe update - I put Yarntini up on the website last week. I know I didn’t mention it in the blog. The reason for that is simple. I put it up around noon one day, and we were sold out of the entire lot by dinnertime. I thought I had better say something, because I know some of you are still wondering when it’s coming in. It has come and gone. I’m hoping for some variegated skeins from Yarntini later in the spring, but that’s not a promise, yet. Just keeping my fingers crossed that that will work out. I put up more new colors of Claudia over the weekend! You all are huge Claudia fans and I know you’ll have fun with some of these new colors. Many of them are “nearly solids” (with a dash of extra color for sass), perfect for those gorgeous lace patterns that everyone is making. That makes over 50 colors of Claudia Hand Painted Fingering Weight that we have in stock. (That even amazes ME!) We also received another shipment of Sock Blocker Keychains, so those are back in stock. I just love those little things! I may have another new line up by the end of the week (depending on the photo-taking skills and time of WH), and then one or two more next week as well. Ohhhh - and the talented Katie is working on more of our Loopy/Louise/Black Bart adorable stitchmarker sets for us! When she asked me how many I wanted, I told her as MANY as she is willing to do. So I’m not sure when they will come in, but I’ll keep you posted. Also - another fun new accessory addition that my friend Georgia (the Yarn Pirate) sent me for Christmas. Of course I immediately thought that all of you needed this, too - so I ordered it for The Loopy Ewe. Watch for it by the end of the week as well.

Want to see some socks knit up from one of our new incoming lines? These are the socks I knit up on the cruise, for my Sockret Pal. I used the Aspen Colorway, in Fiber Euphoria’s exclusive “Lotus Toes” yarn line. It’s loosely spun, but knits up nice and tight for socks. The pattern is Garland Lace from Wildhorse Farm Designs. Angelina is shipping our first Fiber Euphoria order out today, so that’s the one I’m hoping to have on the website by the end of the week.

I also stared another pair of fingerless gloves on our cruise. Here’s the first one, out of Lorna’s Laces Baltic Sea. Am I the only one addicted to fingerless gloves? Both knitting them and wearing them. I love them. I ought to start making some extra pairs for Christmas gifts for next year. (Since, you know, I’m going to be so much farther ahead this year and all.) (Glovelet pattern here.) 

I thought I ought to be welcoming new members of the Loopy Groupies every so often! This is a group that you are ushered into upon your sixth order from us. You know that we love sending out little gifts with your first five orders, and with your sixth one, you get our Loopy Groupie Gift Bag with some fun stuff inside. (And special Loopy Kisses in subsequent orders, as well as advance notice whenever I add new things to the website, and special sales and offers every so often.) So a big Loopy HUG to the following Loopy Groupie members who have been Loopies for awhile, as well as the brand new members added this week: Loren in WI, Kim in PA, Jane in MI, Isobel in PA, Michelle in AZ, Bev in IL, Wendy in VA, Kathy in TX, Michelle in IL, Deborah in MI, Sue in WI, Phyll in MI, L-B in VA, Lisa in OK, Sharon in CA, Patty in IN, and the latest additions this past week: Willi in OH, Laurie in NC, Sharon in TX and Kathleen in MA! It’s fun to be a Loopie - I hope you all join these wonderful gals, soon!

Sheri oh-IalsoaddedmoreSweetGeorgiaovertheweekend-yeehaa!

Ok, ok, ok. I have been tagged more than once for the “6 Weird Things About You” meme and so here they are. I did not open this up to discussion among family members, as this is SIX weird things about me, not SIXTY weird things.

1. I love rainy days and I don’t like bright and sunny days. In fact this morning it was raining, and I found myself saying “I need to open up the shades in here so that I can enjoy this great rainy day!” I need to move to Seattle. (And yes, that does happen to be a rainy day picture from this summer when the trees still had green on them. But I like winter rains, too.)

2. I like corn, all by itself. And only frozen corn, cooked. I don’t like corn in salsa, or corn in soup, or corn in cornbread, or corn in casseroles, or corn out of a can, or creamed corn. Just regular, plain corn.

3. I read magazines from the middle to the back, and then from the middle to the front. And I can’t stand all the little cards and cardboard paper ads in them. I tear them all out before I read it. (Did you know you can cut the Reader’s Digest almost in half by just removing cards and cardboard ad pages?)

4. I like to clean the house. Now, that certainly doesn’t mean I do it as often as it needs it, necessarily, but I like the satisfaction of having worked to get it clean, and then enjoying the results. However - most of the time I’d rather be knitting than cleaning the house.

5. I’m picky about how waiters/waitresses refill water glasses when we’re out to eat. I like the ones who know not to touch the water pitcher to each glass as they pour water. (Think about it. They touch the pitcher to your glass as they fill it, then they go to the next table and the pitcher rests on the edge of that water glass, then they go to the next table and the pitcher swaps germs on the edge of that water glass, etc.) Ick.

6. When I fill the car with gas, I always have to stop the pump on a “good” number. Not $38.79, but $38.80. Not $47.13, but $47.20. I always know which gas expenses were mine on our credit card bills. I’m sure there is a benefit in knowing that.

Who will I tag? Every single one of you! But you don’t have to do six. Just leave ONE weird thing about yourself in the comments section, if you dare.

Today’s recipe comes at the end of the first week in a new year, when most people are ready to give up on their diet/exercise resolution. (Or not. Maybe you’re good. If so, you’re weird. Hey - that can be your comment today - “I’m still losing weight this week!”) If and when you DO need something really good, try this Peanut Butter Fudge. It’s wonderful.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1/3 pound graham cracker crumbs (1 pck. About 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 pound margarine, melted
1 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 pound powdered sugar
10 oz. pkg. peanut butter chips (or butterscotch chips work, too)

Combine graham cracker crumbs, margarine, peanut butter and sugar.

Mix well until smooth and creamy. Press into 9×9 pan (although I used a 9×13 pan).

Melt peanut butter chips in microwave and spread on top. Let set at room temperature until firm. Cut before refrigerating.

Pictures of my latest completed socks on Monday - I promise!

Sheri don’tbeweird-leaveacomment

Well I must tell you that I’m feeling a need to enhance my sock yarn stash a bit. I thought having 25+ future socks (plus 5 on the needles that I neglected to tell you about, plus several yarns that are on order that I neglected to tell you about) was a lot. Clearly, there are many of you who have me beat and you just keep adding to your own stash. I like that about you. And I bow to you. I will think of you as I continue to shop….

I have been planning a Sock Photo Gallery for the blog and/or website since we opened. It’s on my “to do” list. After receiving marvelous “socks in the trees” photos from Loopy Customer Extraordinaire Sharon, I’m ready to do it. (These are her great photos!) You see, any website can have a “sock photo gallery”. But obviously The Loopy Ewe website needs to put a “loopy” spin on it.
So ours will be The Socks in Trees Photo

Gallery. So - take pictures of the socks you have made from purchases at The Loopy Ewe, put your socks on a bush or branch or tree, with or without sock blockers - and email your photos to us so that we can include them (and YOU!) in our gallery. Now isn’t that just a bit more fun than sticking them on your feet or laying them on the floor for a photo? Just sayin’. (And aren’t Sharon’s socks great? This is Sweet Georgia Kissed - more arriving any day here - and Claudia Hand-Painted Jungle Sport.)

It’s Field Trip Day. Today I have a knitting group of women coming over from Illinois to do a Loopy Field Trip. I also have another gal coming from mid-Missouri for the same thing. It will be a fun afternoon of sharing the Loopy Room. (You know, the “room” will soon be a misnomer. It is expanding out of its borders and will continue to grow because I have so many fun things on order for us. However, I’ll probably always call it The Loopy Room. It makes people wonder, when I say that I’ve been in The Loopy Room all day - and I like that….)

Did you see two new additions that I added last night? Well, some of you did because you have already ordered them! One customer told me she can “sense” when I put new things up on the website. Oh, she’s good. We have added Colonial Rosewood DPN’s (I love these) and the cutest sheep notecards from my new friend Kelly at Romney Ridge Farm. One day, she’s going to let me come and knit in the pasture with her adorable sheep. That seems like a pretty fitting “loopy” thing to do.

Sheri doesanyonehaveholidayshoppingdone?becauseIhaven’t&I’mstartingtoworry

Are my neighbors watching me behind the curtains? Because I’m wondering what they think when I line up a bunch of socks along the fence, or hang sock blockers and socks in the bushes. Not only that, but then I take photo evidence of that loopyness? Maybe I ought to go to the next neighborhood meeting and listen in…..

Remember this? It turned into these! Yes, I actually knit the second sock immediately after finishing the first sock. Why? Because I love knitting with this merino/tencel blend (which you can find in our Yarn Pirate line and our All Things Heather line), and because I love the colors in this colorway - blues and browns (with white thrown in for fun). I had plenty of yarn leftover from the skein - to add to all of my other leftover sock skeins. I’m thinking I might need to make a log cabin sock quilt. After I finish my other log cabin quilt. ahem.

Remember this? It turned into this. (Well no, it’s not really hanging in a bush. That’s just for the photo…) I had this Sock Blocker Keychain attached to my purse and it was just fine and dandy for several weeks (and brought up lots of good knitting conversations with people). Then one day last week, I went to reach for my purse in the backseat, and …. it came up like this. Empty. The cute sock is gone gone gone. On the one hand, I’m sad to have lost it. It was cute and I liked the colors. On the other hand, it was quick and easy to knit up, and maybe I ought to just knit it up again with the leftovers from Frost? On the third hand, I wish I could see the person who finds that miniature sock somewhere (who knows where). Don’t you bet they’ll just have a fun time trying to figure out who would be missing one teeny tiny sock? I’m going to hot glue the next sock on there.

College Boy has come and gone. We loved having him home. I said to Knitting Daughter, “What will I do when you BOTH leave after a weekend at home?” She said, “Don’t think about it.” So I said, “Yes, but you can imagine how lonely it will be here that Sunday afternoon?? I mean, your dad and I will just mope around. It’s going to be awful.” and she said, “MOM! Don’t THINK about it!!” So I’m not. I’m consoling myself with enhancing my sock yarn stash, instead. (When all else fails, buy more yarn.) Here is the current pile. There are 25 bags in there, representing 25 pairs of future socks, yet to be made. Some are yarns I’m testing for possible future additions to The Loopy Ewe, some are just yarns that I like, but all are waiting to be made into socks. And to be honest, there are at least 20 more “in stock” in the Loopy Room that I have pegged for my own stash. I’m just trying to leave as many as possible for you. Either that, or I just ran out of room in my stacking baskets…….

Sheri shareifyoudare-howmany”futuresocks”doyouhaveinyourstash?

Too many things going on to form a coherent post today. So, I’m giving you snippets of information as they run through my head. (That’s scarey, isn’t it?)

I am heading out of town today, and will be gone through Sunday. That means no post on Friday, and I will miss that. That also means that Knitting Daughter and Wonder Husband will be filling all orders that come in on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. (be still my beating heart.) They’re saving Saturday and Sunday orders for me to fill when I get home. Now, they have been well-trained to do this. I have left lists and instructions, and they are intelligent. I have every reason to believe that this will go just fine. Really. It’s just that I’m a bit picky about everything that goes out of here I want to make sure it all arrives to you correctly, safe and sound. So, they’re doing it together and double checking each other. I’m counting on them to do a great job. I know they’ll have fun sending packages out to you (and will no doubt proudly relay their efforts to me on a daily basis.) They were just thrilled to pieces about me wanting to take an action shot for the blog. Thrilled, I tell you.

Did I mention to you that Knitting Daughter has now secured a job at Starbucks? This is what comes home to our house every single week - a free pound of coffee. (One of the many benefits of working at Starbucks.) She is having a great time working there. After 14+ years of being around Wonder Husband (aka Wonder Dad) and I with our home-based businesses, her customer service is second to none. I always told her that would come in handy some day!

Speaking of coffee, I thought I’d share a great gift idea with you. My friend Monica gave me a set of these coffee syrup dispensers one Christmas, and we have used them ever since. You can buy these jars at kitchen stores, and you can buy the coffee syrups at World Market (or coffee places). It’s easy to make up personalized labels on your computer. That way, you can keep all of the wonderful knitted items you’re making all for yourself and give coffee syrups to everyone on your holiday list instead.

While I’m gone - I thought I’d spice things up with another blog contest. You know that we have three GREAT yarn lines on order, and expected in any day. Well, actually I expect them any time between now and mid-October. So here is the contest - guess which yarn shipment will arrive first - All Things Heather? Sweet Georgia? Yarn Pirate? (I just listed those in alphabetical order, so there are no hints in the sequencing.) And secondly, guess which day between now and 10/15 they will arrive. List your yarn and date guess in the comments section, and the winner will receive a free skein of whatever company came in first. (If there are multiple correct answers, I’ll draw a name.) And yes, of course I will let you pick exactly which colorway you’d like!

Have a great rest of the week - and please do give these two characters some orders to fill. They’ll be so proud of themselves and you already know you’ll love the wonderful yarns that you pick out. I will be working on knitting under the table, during my meetings when I can fit it in between important meetings.

Sheri sadthatIcannolongerknitontheplaneguessI’llhavetoread

I have threes on the brain. Why? Because I finished up THREE of my WOOPs!!! (see - three exclamation points. Threes on the brain.) That’s right - my WOOPs list from last week is down by three projects and I’m celebrating. Remember - College Boy went back to school over the weekend. Knitting is therapy. My WOOPs have benefitted. So I think we ought to have a contest. You try to decide which three projects I finished out of the list in this blog entry, and I will award a prize to the one who guesses right (or gets closest. If more than one person guesses right, I’ll draw a name from the list.) If you win, you tell me your favorite color, and I will pick out a wonderful skein of yarn that has your favorite color in it, and send it to you so that it can become a WOOPs for you for your next pair of socks. I’ll pick a winner on Monday of next week and will post pictures of the completed WOOPs.

Going along with today’s topic, I thought I’d fill you in on a few other “threes” in my life.

Here are three knitting pattern purchases that I regret. I don’t regret the first copy. It’s that duplicate copy of each one that I’m regretting. Keep in mind, this happened because I have way too many books and magazines about knitting had had too much caffeine and my brain was running faster than was safe and productive. The book is almost understandable, right? I could have bought one copy last summer, and another one this summer without realizing that I already had this one. Ages and ages apart. But buying two of the same magazine? The same issue? I can’t even believe that I’d admit that to you.

I once gave my husband two of the same framed photos for Christmas. Same caffeine problem. I had copies made of a picture that I loved, bought a frame, wrapped it up (easily a month early. That is part of the problem. The lesson there - do not be efficient and get your shopping/wrapping done early. Either that, or pay attention. I’m not sure which.) When I came across another copy of the picture right before Christmas, I thought, “Hmm. I could’ve sworn that I had framed that already. Oh well.” I went off to Target for a frame and then I wrapped that one up. In my slight defense, I had also framed and wrapped that same picture for both sets of grandparents, so there were multiple framing/wrapping situations for that same picture. I had one left over and figured it must be Paul’s. (Does that help explain my loopiness?) On Christmas morning, he opened one, loved it, opened a few more gifts in between, then opened another. Same picture. Different frame. To show you how well-matched we are - he had to sit and think about it for a minute. “Didn’t I already open this picture? Or did I just see this photo in our scrapbook already? Seems familiar….” But I digress. Back to my knitting pattern purchases - I could just tell you that I liked these so much that I bought double of them. (I also could admit to you that I found two of the same issue of Vogue Knitting in my files just now. Three double-buys is just ridiculous a little over the top, but if I admit to doing this a fourth time, well that’s just plain stupid loopy. No doubt about it.)

Three yarn purchases that I regret. What is the purple-pink string blob? Well, it was supposed to be one of those ruffle scarves. I downloaded the pattern, purchased the exact yarn that it called for, and then knit it exactly like I was supposed to. I hate it. It’s too short, it’s itchy, and it’s too hairy to even see that it’s ruffled. Instead, it just looks like a big long string of ….. blob. I have hidden the yarn label, so as not to cast undue blame on the yarn. I know it must’ve been the goofy yarn and the ridiculous pattern my fault. I think enough time has passed since knitting it, that I can now toss it without undue sadness.

Another scarf bomb - the blue and the white. I have artfully arranged it into “Baseball on a Nest” for your viewing pleasure. I thought they might be kind of cute knit up together - the blue Squiggle and the white bobble-y thing. I was really wrong. I frogged it after 10 rows. It looked silly. Now what do I do with the yarn?

The third yarn - also for a scarf - was supposed to knit up into a one skein eyelet scarf of some kind. This was before I knew how to do yarnovers very well at all. I kept frogging it, thinking my YO’s were wrong. The yarn started breaking from all the frogging, I started crying yelling, and I stuffed it inside a ziploc bag and buried it deep in the stash. Maybe I’ll try it again someday.

Interesting that all of my yarn regrets were for scarves. I have never bought a sock yarn that I regretted. (Although someday I may regret how many sock yarns I have in my Personal Sock Buffet. But not yet.)

Ending on a happy note - here are the next three yarns that will be turned into socks at my house. The one on the right - Claudia Hand Painted in Blue Terra Cotta. There are great spring colors in this colorway, and I love that Claudia yarn is “springy” in texture. The green/blue/tan ones is Lorna’s Laces in Baltic Sea. This one seems like a wonderful winter sock. I love the greens in there. The purple and pink one on the bottom? It’s a new yarn line that I just ordered for us. Anyone care to guess what it is? I haven’t even added it to the “Coming Soon” section on our homepage, so you won’t get any clues there. I have been having fun playing with this yarn, and can’t wait to start a sock out of it. (Once again, there are several colorways coming that I think I will have to have for myself. Why does that always happen? I’m going to need more hours in my day to get all of this sock knitting done. Where does one sign up for more hours in the day?) This new line should be here by mid-October, if not before.

Sheri don’tforgettoweighinonyourthreeWOOPsguessesforachancetowinfreesockyarn!