Thank you to everyone who participated in our annual Random Acts of Kindness blogs in the month of December.

Karen and her daughter gathered up their spare and outgrown coats, mittens and hats and took them to a local women’s homeless shelter. Jennifer was able to help someone from her Sunday School class who has been out of work. Lisa donated several copies of a movie to the Ronald McDonald house in honor of a friend who had passed away. Beth and her daughter handed out cups of Instant Ramen Noodles and bottles of water to people holding signs, asking for help. And the list goes on and on. I think you all have been more creative and intentional with your RAK’s this year, than ever before.

Today is the last day to leave your latest RAK reports in the comments. Tell us what you have been up to this week, as you’ve been out and about, helping others! We’ll randomly draw winners next week. For this past week’s contest, we’ll be sending 2 skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series yarn, 1 pattern, and a tub of our Soak’s Heel Creme to Claire in CA and Michelle in CA. (Go, California!)

Sheri workingonmyCableChallengeprojectthisweekend

Today’s recipe came about because of the ad for Salted Caramel Chocolate Peanut Bark that I saw in the Crate and Barrel magazine. I bought some (purely for testing purposes, you know) and then figured for that price, I could come up with my own recipe! So here you have it. It instantly became a family favorite in my household. Enjoy.

Salted Peanut Caramel Bark

2 lbs. chocolate melting bark (I use Ghirardelli chocolate, which is only available during the holidays. I get it at Sams in a 2.5 pound box and I used one box for this recipe. I also froze several boxes of it for baking later in the spring.)
2 cups of peanuts (I used dry roasted)
1 cup of caramel bits (found by the chocolate chips in the baking section at the grocery store)
Sea Salt

Melt the chocolate and stir in the peanuts. Let cool for a couple of minutes and then add in the caramel bits. Stir well and then spread out on waxed paper or a Silpat mat (love those).  Sprinkle the top lightly with Sea Salt. Put in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set and the bark is easy to break into smaller pieces. YUM.

What did you find to do this past week, to bring a smile to someone’s face? We’ll do two more drawings – for today’s entries, and for next Friday’s entries. Keep watching for opportunities to do something for someone and report back so that you can participate with us.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and sweet family memories this weekend. It’s snowing here today (with 2-4″ expected) and both kids are home. A perfect Christmas Eve.

Sheri coffee+chocolatebarkforbreakfast.
Isthatwrong?

This was another fun week of reading about all of the wonderful (and kind) things you are doing for those around you.

Just a few from last Friday’s post - I liked Jeannette’s idea of making up care packages to hand out to the homeless. Ziploc bags filled with socks, gloves, lip balm, and non-perishable food items. They keep them in the car to hand out. BethC decided to forego fries in her lunches this week and donated that amount to the charity container in the restaurant. Diane decided that she and her family had spent enough on gifts for family and friends and donated the rest of their Christmas fund to the Heifer Project. There was also a lot of snow shoveling, windshield clearing, coffee/cocoa buying, hat and scarf knitting, special help/gifts for the elderly, and Angel Tree participating going on. (Read the ones from our first reporting day, too, if you haven’t seen those yet.)

This week’s randomly drawn winners are: Elizabeth in PA and Kim in TN, who each win two skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series and a pattern (their choice of color and pattern) and a tub of Soak’s Heel creme. I look forward to giving more away next week again, so be sure to leave your latest RAK comments on today’s post to be entered into the drawing.

Today’s recipe originally came from Elf Mary, who brought this in to Loopy last week. I got to thinking about it, and tried a new version over the weekend. I am going to serve these with brunch on Christmas morning!

Breakfast Cinnamon Puffs

2 tubes of Crescent Rolls
1 package of cream cheese
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbl. butter, melted
cinnamon to sprinkle

Whip together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Fill your cupcake pan with liners. Separate the Crescent triangles and put one in each liner, opened up (so that all three triangle points are laying on the edges of the pan.) Add 1 generous Tbl. of the sugar mixture to the center of the triangle, and then flip all three pointss in to cover the filling and make the little “puff”. I did a little twisty twirl with the longest point, just to make it pretty. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle the top lightly with cinnamon. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until done. Makes 16 puffs. Can be served warm or cold.

(Note – the original recipe called for the same ingredients. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Unroll one tube of Crescents and put on the bottom. Spread the cream cheese/sugar/vanilla mixture on top. Add the second layer of Crescents over the cream cheese. Spread 1 stick of melted butter on top and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Either way, this tastes great!)

For those of you deep into scarf-wearing weather, check out this post about how to do a pretzel knot with your scarf. I tried it and I love how it keeps the scarf snug (and cute!) around your neck. (You might also want to check out Lisa’s beautiful jewelry, while you’re at it.)

Back to the RAK’s – tell us what you did this week to be a blessing to others! I’m looking forward to reading all about it.

Sheri tryingtobemoreimpromtuwithmyRAKsthisweek

I’m so glad it’s Friday. That means another RAK Reporting Day!

I loved reading the comments on last Friday’s Reporting Day. I think it’s great that so many of you are including your kids in the RAKs that you’ve been doing (like Karla and her baggie of change for the Salvation Army kettles, that her 4 year old hands out, or Elle who is working with her 3 year old to pick out gifts for their church’s gift drive.) What a great way to teach them the spirit of giving and doing for others. Many of you are reaching out and adopting kids or families who have no money for the holidays, and are doing things to provide them with cheer. Others of you have looked for impromptu opportunities to pass something on (like Brigette, who literally gave the coat off of her back, and Megan who passed her daughter’s new coat on to a child that didn’t have one.) And even things as simple as Kathy bringing hot cocoa to her mail lady, or Chris delivering coffee and donuts to the Pharmacy staff that prepares her dad’s medicine, or Sarah F. making homemade chicken noodle soup for sick neighbors. Your acts of kindness are  a reminder to all of us that this season is more about giving than getting. Keep up the blessings and keep reporting in on Fridays so that we can all enjoy them and be inspired.

Today’s recipe is one from a blog called Sing For Your Supper. These cookies look so pretty, and taste great, too.

Peppermint Kisses

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup candy cane powder*
2 sticks plus 4 Tbl. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
crushed peppermints (I used about 15 regular-sized candy canes, crushed)
White almond bark (about 12 oz.)

* Candy cane powder is made by crushing candy canes into a fine powder. I crushed these with a hammer and then dumped them into a strainer. The finest pieces went through to the bowl below (and was used for the candy cane powder) and the larger pieces in the top of the strainer were used to garnish the cookies when finished. (Note: when using a hammer to crush candy, keep your fingers out of the way. Why would I mention this? Oh, no reason. No reason at all.)

Mix all dry ingredients together.

In a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth (about a minute). Add sugar and beat for about two more minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and yolks, one at a time, then add in the vanilla.

Reduce mixing speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture, mixing just until it has been fully incorporated.

Drop the dough by rounded spoonful onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes.  Cool completely.

Melt almond bark and drizzle or spread on top of cookies. Add chopped candy cane pieces for garnish. Makes 40-50 cookies.

Now – back to the RAKs – tell us what you did this week!

Sheri usingleftoverpeppermintpiecestoflavormycoffee,yum!

Today I want to share my friend Nancy’s awesome guacamole recipe with you. I have a group of 12 friends who get together for a long weekend every year or two, and Nancy always has to make this for us. (And we usually stand around watching her so that we can start eating it as soon as it is done. That’s our contribution. I’m sure she’s grateful.)

Nancy’s Guacamole

5 ripe avocados
1 small sweet onion, chopped
2 tsp. chopped green chilies (canned is fine)
4 dashes Tabasco
3 Tbl. fresh salsa (or Tacante Sauce)
3 Tbl. mayo
3 Tbl. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
lemon juice

Mix everything except the avocados and lemon juice. When you’re ready to serve this, mash the avocados and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle lemon juice on top to prevent it from browning (just in case your friends don’t gobble it down as fast as we do).  Serve with your favorite chips and veggies.

Today is our first reporting day for our Random Acts of Kindness month. Leave a comment and let us know what you found to do for someone else in the past couple of days. Something extra nice. Not the “I held the door open for the mom with 3 toddlers at the grocery store” kind of nice, because I think you probably do those types of things all the time. What did you do above and beyond your every day politeness? Share it with us! I’ll be using the random number generator to pick winners from all of your random acts comments.

Sheri stilldoingone-a-day.Althoughwe’rejust3daysin….

This is the fourth year that we are encouraging everyone to find special things to do for other people during the month of December. They can be cost-free or expensive, big or little, and anonymous or not. Need some ideas? If you click on the “Random Acts of Kindness” category over there on the right side of my blog, you can read the comments from any of those posts for some wonderful ideas. Or come up with some new ones!

I say this every year  - it’s inspiring to others when they can read about what you have done. I know you don’t do these kind things so that you can brag about them. The pleasure comes from doing something for someone and not getting anything back in return. You don’t have to tell anyone else what you’ve done, but please do leave a comment on the blog each Friday in December, letting us know what you did that week. I get so many emails each December from people who want to share how someone else’s comment or idea has affected them and blossomed into something even bigger in their life. You have no idea how many people your kindness will continue to touch, as others read about your idea and adapt it in another way. Consider commenting as another way to multiply what you have done.

We’ll also be drawing random names to win prizes from the Friday comments, this month. (See? Another reason to do a random act and comment!) For every 50 comments, we’ll draw a person to win two skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series yarn (in the color of their choice), a pattern (of their choice), and a tub of Soak’s Heel Creme in our Loopy Peppermint Scent, just because it’s my favorite. We’ll announce the winners each Monday.

So – are you ready? Fire up and do something nice for someone, then report back in this Friday for the first contest. There are FIVE Fridays in December, and we’ll be looking forward to your comments each Friday. I’m off to enjoy my first random act of the season. I’ve challenged myself to do one a day, instead of just one a week. How many will you try for this month? Even ONE will be a blessing to someone!

Sheri goingbacktoreadpastblogcommentsagaintogetmoreideas

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and weekend!

Thank you again for sharing all of the wonderful things that you have been doing for others this season. I think I just need to come back and re-read them each month, to keep the ideas fresh in my mind. I always get so inspired to go and do likewise, when I read about the things that you’re doing. Today is our last week in this contest. We’ll again be randomly drawing a winner next week (from today’s comments) for a $50 Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate. Congratulations to Robin from Kentucky, who won last week’s contest! Share with us what you’ve done this past week (or go find something nice to do in the remainder of this week and come back and post).

For those of you with a Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate burning a hole in your pocket (or for those of you who didn’t get one and are not going to let that stop you from shopping), we have a whole bunch of things just up: Louet Gems, Malabrigo Worsted, Malabrigo Silky, Malabrigo Sock, Madelinetosh Worsted, Claudia Hand Painted, Shibui Knits, Hand Maiden Mini Maiden, String Theory DK, Perchance to Knit’s Midnight Rainbow Lace, and Spirit Trail Fiberworks luxury yarn base, Sunna. And most of you have already seen the new Opal Antonia line that we put up last week, which is named after a Tyrolean Pop Singer. The labels are …. interesting. Come see all of the new stuff.

In-person hours this week: Remember, we’re closed on Thursday and Friday of this week for New Years, but we ARE open from 10 am – 1 pm on Wednesday instead. Next week, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled hours.

My brother was the recipient of the Never-Ending Scarf and he liked it. Knitting Daughter offered to knit me one for my birthday (because remember I said that I wanted one for my very own?) I picked cream (Natural) and tan (Baby Camel) for a subtle striping mix, and it’s looking beautiful so far. I think I have to re-name this the “Never-Ending, Warmest-Ever Scarf”.

Sheri whostartedMara#2andanewsockovertheweekend

Did you read

This weekend, we did our holiday baking. One of my random acts this week was to put together trays of cookies and treats for neighbors. We have several elderly couples on our street who probably don’t do much baking during the holidays, so this is a fun way to share our baking with them. These Oreo Truffles are amazing. I think everyone and their brother made them last year, but I didn’t see the recipe until this year. If you haven’t made them, here is the recipe:

Oreo Truffles

1 package of Oreos
1/2 package of cream cheese (about 4 oz.)
white melting chocolate

Put the whole pack of Oreos into a food processor and process until it’s all dark crumbs. Add the cream cheese and mix until well blended. Scoop out bite-sized pieces and roll into a ball. Place on a cookie sheet in the fridge for 15 minutes. Dip the balls into melted white chocolate and let them harden on waxed paper.

Note – I tried this with the mint oreos, too. While the taste was good, I had to use two packs of Mint Oreos to one package of cream cheesse, due to the peppermint oil in the flavoring. Not sure I’d make those again.

The cookies in the photo are made with our favorite sugar cookie cutout recipe. We make these for two or three different holidays per year.

Sheri determinedtofinishthenever-ending-scarfbyWednesday’sblogpost

It’s time! Time to share the lovely things that you’ve been doing this month to help others.

What am I doing? This year, our church has been talking about encouraging people to give more, spend less, worship more, and love all. I like that idea. How do you give more, but spend less? Give your time. Give things that you no longer use. Give encouragement and support. Have you knit some of your gifts this year? Then you’ve given time to each of the people who will be getting those gifts. I’ve made several gifts this year, and hope to do that each year. I’m also going to go through the overabundance of scarves that College Girl and I have knit up, and we’ll be washing those up and taking them to a local homeless shelter.  While we’re at it, we’ll go through our winter coat closet and see what else we can add to the pile. While I love cold weather, I don’t like to BE cold. I like to be all bundled up. There are plenty of people in all of our communities who don’t have the luxury of being bundled up, so hopefully a few warm items will help.

What random acts have you done to spread holiday cheer and encouragement? Leave it in the comments and we’ll do a random drawing for prizes that we’ll announce next week. (Do you do these things for the publicity and the drawings? No, of course not. But your comments help to give ideas to others, and the drawings make it a little more fun.) We’ll do a second Random Acts contest next Monday, and the last contest the Monday after that, so keep looking for ways to commit some acts be a blessing to others. Speaking of contests – have you joined our Facebook and Twitter pages? I put up one of our 24 Hour Quick Contests this morning, so it runs through tomorrow morning. Pop over and enter. The prize is a Loopy Ewe Gift Certificate!

Sheri justaddinginafewre-stocksandupdateslatertoday.
NotafullblownSneakUp.However…moreontheway…

I took some photos of recently finished projects for you, now that the gifts have been opened. You’ll see that my scarf-addiction was well reflected in the gifts I knit up this year.  I did start fingerless mitts yesterday, but I will admit to taking 2 colors of Fiesta Boomerang home this week to start a new Chevron Scarf, too. (Pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts.)  I asked Knitting Daughter if I should start the Chevron or the fingerless mitts and she said the mitts because “you need to finish that other Chevron scarf you were doing before you start another one.”  I must work on Knitting ADD with that girl.  (Wait – or maybe she needs to work on KADD with me.)

Feather and Fan Scarf (pattern from Wendy’s website) out of Wollmeise Poison Nr. 5 Sock Yarn. (Did you know that Poison Nr. 5 is the most wish-listed item out of everything that we carry at The Loopy Ewe? That’s your trivia for the day.) This scarf went to College Girl because her favorite color is purple.

Noro Striping Scarf out of Noro Silk Garden Worsted. I was tempted to do one after Stephanie found herself doing multiples of them. (And you know me – always up for a new scarf addiction.) I used 2 skeins of 2 different colors.  You knit one row down and back with one color, and then the next down/back row with the next color, carrying them all up the side, slick as a whistle.  Easy 1 x 1 knit/purl rib the whole way. I did 39 stitches on size 9 needles. I’m ready to do another one of these. (Does that surprise anyone?)

Cashmere scarf that was frogged 5 times because I was trying to find “the right” pattern. I ended up doing the simple 1 x 1 rib in hopes that it was plain enough to entice a certain Web/College Guy to wear it.  The 1 x 1 rib makes for a very thick, warm scarf. I know it looks like an eggplant color (and actually, that would be a nice scarf color) but it’s very chocolate brown (called Brawny Brown). Not a hint of purple in it at all.

Collar Wrap from handspun (in a pattern that I bought from someone at Midwest Fiber.  She doesn’t have a website or I’d steer you there.  It’s basically a chevron pattern with 4 rows of plain garter stitch thrown in after every set of chevrons.) This is my mother-in-law, who came down to spend the holidays with us.  I also made a Chevron Scarf out of Noro Silk Garden Worsted for my mom, but forgot to get a picture of her in it! Here’s a picture of it, though. It was one of the earlier gifts I finished.

Spiralucious Cowl in an amended pattern (because someone didn’t read the directions and interpreted “move 1 stitch left/right” in a slightly different manner.  But I still love it.) Knit double-stranded out of Dream in Color’s Starry Black Parade.  I wish you could see the silver sparkles better – it’s so fun! (More Starry scheduled to arrive in January.)

This week’s Sneak Up just Snuck Up!  Today you’ll find: Yarn Pirate’s Alpaca/Merino, Lorna’s Laces Roadside Gerry (that’s the Annie Modesitt special colorway – we have it in Sport, Sock and Roving), Dream in Color Classy in their new semi-solid/solid colorways, Hand Maiden Casbah, Spirit Trail Fiberworks, Gypsy Knits DK (I’m thinking this would also make a gorgeous Chevron – it’s so soft and beautiful), Noro Silk Garden Worsted, and Tuscan Grove – a new indie dyer. (Well – sort of new.  Remember Cider Moon? Of course you do.  We all loved Cider Moon!  The Cider Moon Girls are now doing their own thing. You can find Jacki selling her beautiful batts on her etsy site here, and Gail has joined with her sister-in-law Laura to form Tuscan Grove.  We’re thrilled to have those beautiful color combos and their special yarn back here at The Loopy Ewe.)

That’s it for today. We have a full day-off schedule of knitting and digging in to the many DVD’s that found their way under our tree.  Then it’s over to my parents house to celebrate my dad’s birthday tonight. (Happy Birthday, Dad!)

Sheri ifthegiftknittingisdone,whyismy”tobeknit”liststillsolong?