Week Two of our December Random Acts of Kindness contest! You all had such good ideas last week and I’m looking forward to reading all of the ways that you found to bless others this week. Leave your RAK comment on today’s blog, and I’ll use the Random Number Generator to identify the winner of the prize (which you can see pictured in this previous post) and will post it on Monday.  That also means that if you haven’t had an opportunity to do a RAK this week yet, you have until I run the numbers and post on Monday to do one and comment on it. One of the things that I really love about RAKs is that often the people who are the recipients, then go on to do something nice for someone else – and so on, and so on, and so on.  We really have no idea where that chain of events will end. It’s nice to know you might really be starting something!

Have you seen the newest issue of Knit 1? I wanted to give a big congratulations to some of our wonderful Indie Dyers who are featured on the “Indie Spirit”. There are 10 different dyers listed and it says their yarns are “dyed in small batches, these yarns have heart, soul, and a whole lotta color”. (And the people behind the yarns are pretty special, too!)  So congratulations to: Georgia with Yarn Pirate, Claudia with Wollmeise, Marie with Brooklyn Handspun, Khris with Chewy Spaghetti, Jana with Hand Maiden, Jess with Yarntini, and Angela with Duets. (Rounding out the top ten list of indie dyers, you’ll also find Sundara with Sundara Yarn, Julia with Knitterly Things, and Tina with Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  And yes, I’d love to have all three of those lines here at Loopy, and yes, I’ve asked before!) Further congratulations to Cookie A and Wendy for being picked as wonderful knitting bloggers (who have both designed and shared a sock pattern in this issue.) If you haven’t picked up this magazine yet, you need to. There are lots of great patterns in there!

As promised, here is the recipe for Meg’s amazing Peppermint Pudge. And the name? When one of her sons was little, he was eating a piece and then asked for “more pudge please”. It has been known as Peppermint Pudge ever since.

Meg’s Peppermint Pudge

4 1/2 cups sugar
24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) salted butter
1 jar (7 1/2 oz) marshmallow cream
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups (10 oz. bag) Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (reserve 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top)

Butter or line a 9 x 13 pan.  Place chocolate, butter, marshmallow cream and salt in a large mixing bowl.  In a 3 qt. saucepan, combine sugar and evaporated milk and mix well. Place over low heat and stir until dissolved.  Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring mixure frequently, until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F. Remove pan from heat and pour hot mixture over contents in the mixing bowl. Beat on a low setting until all ingredients combine thoroughly.  Increase speed slightly and mix until fudge is thick and holds shape.  Stir in the Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips and vanilla.  Pour into prepared pan and let set.

Thanks for sharing the recipe (and sending us fudge!), Meg!

I’m off to the grocery store this afternoon.  College Guy and College Girl are arriving home today for the holidays, and I’m sure they need some Peppermint Pudge.  That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Sheri lookingforwardtoreadingyourRAKcommentsagaintoday!

Time for reporting in! Remember our December challenge/contest – you do a random act of kindness during the week and then you share it with us via your comment on today’s blog. I know it feels weird to report something that you did out of the kindness of your heart and not for any “glory”.  But I can’t tell you how many people emailed me last year to say they were “so motivated by the comments on the RAKS, that they went out and did xyz as a random act for someone else.” The purpose of sharing them here is to 1) encourage others to go out and do likewise, 2) to give others new ideas to try, and 3) to get your name in the drawing for the weekly prize. (Ok, #1 & 2 are the main reasons.) I’m looking forward to reading about your week.  We’ll do the drawing on Monday for this week’s winner. (If you didn’t commit an act bless someone with a random act yet, you still have time. You can leave comments up until the time I write Monday’s blog and draw the winning name.) And remember – we’re doing these each week in December, so I hope you’ll be ready to share another one on next Friday’s blog.

Today’s recipe is my favorite sandwich. I have tried different variations of this recipe, and this one, with the combination of toasting the bread and baking the sandwiches, is definitely the best.  Enjoy!

Monte Cristo Sandwich (not a diet version, but ohhh, so good)

4 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 Tbl. Dijon mustard
8 slices white sandwich bread, slightly toasted
8 slices provolone or swiss cheese
4 slices cheddar cheese
8 thin slices deli ham
8 thin slices deli turkey
Raspberry Jam
Vegetable Oil
Powdered Sugar

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Whisk eggs, cream, sugar, salt, dry mustard and cayenne in a shallow dish.  Stir jam and Dijon mustard together in another small bowl.  Spread 2 tsp. of the jam mixture on 1 side of each slice of toast. Layer on top of 1 slice of toast:

1 slice swiss/provolone
2 slices ham, 1 slice cheddar
2 slices turkey
1 slice swiss/provolone

and then top with another piece of toast, jam to the inside. Make sure that the meat and cheese are trimmed to fit inside the bread. Press down lightly to make it all stick together.

Pour 3-5 Tbl. oil into a rimmed baking sheet and preheat in the oven for about 5 min. (Just until it starts smoking lightly.) While it is heating, dip each sandwich into the egg mixture, making sure it is covered with egg on the top, bottom, and all 4 sides. Set on a plate until the baking sheet is ready.  Transfer the sandwiches to the hot baking sheet when ready, and bake until golden brown on both sides (about 4-5 minutes per side.) Sprinkle each sandwich with powdered sugar and serve immediately with extra strawberry jam.

Sheri ImadethoseoverThanksgiving&nowIwanttomakethemagain

One of the fun things that we did at the Fling was to have everyone sign a 6 ft. tall Sock Blocker for Loopy Central. (I did get some funny looks as I was carrying this big “sock” through the hotel. Some guy accused me of being a Red Sox fan, FPS!) I found the perfect place to hang it in our foyer, so that we can remember all of the fun people who were here for our first Spring Fling. (I photoed it with the door in the picture so that you Flingers would be able to picture where it is, now that you’ve been here in person.) I wonder how many of these will fit on the walls here? I guess when we’re out of wall space, we’ll stop having Flings? (Or move. Yeah, that’s a better idea. We’ll move and get more wall space.) Now I get to walk by the Big Blocker every morning, and think of all of you as I start work! It’s very handy to have a hubby who can make such things.

Here is a picture of the Goody Bags that we gave to everyone when they checked in. It includes the red/black backpack (which I liked a lot because it has pockets and straps and is designed vertically instead of being a horizontal carrying bag). Inside was a skein of Wollmeise which Claudia dyed up for me just for the Spring Fling. (This is the first time she has done more muted colors – it almost looks like a watercolor painting of meadows and sea – which makes it a very special colorway, indeed.) We also included a pattern and samples from Cherry Tree Hill and Claudia Hand Painted (enough to make some sock blocker keychains or mini socks), some wonderful “Everything Balm” from Goodies Unlimited, a brand new pattern from Wendy and one from Cookie A (along with my favorite new heavy vinyl “pattern holder” – I use these all the time when I knit), a Loopy Ewe coffee mug (no, we can’t sell them because we don’t want to ship them, but they were perfect for giving away in person!) and of course some Loopy Kisses. We had a great time putting these together for everyone. And now, you have a chance to win one! Remember when I told you about April’s blog contest and gave you all month to do three random acts of kindness? Today is the day to report in and leave your comments as to what you found to do for others this month! You need to have done three RAKs to be entered into the random drawing, and I will draw the name a week from today. If we have a lot of entries, I’m happy to draw for 2 or 3 Goodie Bags. We love giving away prizes. So leave a comment with your RAKs and inspire all the rest of us to get out there and do the same!

No Sneak Up this week, but we have wonderful things in store for you next week. All of the shirts, hats, and sweatshirts will go up. (Don’t worry – we ordered a lot and still have multiplies in all sizes. The Flingers didn’t clear us out!) We also have more Pattern Tamers, a fun Loopy Necklace, Lawre’s Laine BigBags (ohsogorgeous), Duets, Schaefer Anne, Yarn Love, Seawool Fiber Roving from Creatively Dyed, Cashmere Sock Yarn from Perchance to Knit, and possibly (depending on how much time we have to get photos done) two new indie dyers – Beyond Basic Knits and Enchanted Knoll Farms.

Guess what? It’s time to Take Loopy on Vacation again! He had such a wonderful mix of adventures last summer and he has been bugging us about it all winter long. He’s ready to go again! Beginning with orders placed on May 1st, we’ll be including a Loopy Postcard in your order while supplies last. (We will plan to send one postcard with your first order in May. If for some reason you need a second postcard with your next May order, just leave us an order note.) I know that a lot of you have your very own Little Loopy, and it’s perfectly acceptable to pose and photo Little Loopy on your vacation, instead of the postcards. We’ll leave it up to you as to which you prefer. We’ll start a new ’08 edition of Loopy’s Summer Photo Gallery next week so that you can start sharing his adventures. We will have prizes at the end of the summer again, and will have you vote in several categories, so get photo-ing. Last year we had prizes for: Best faraway place that Loopy visited, most famous person that he met, most creative photo with Loopy, and most unusual place he visited. If you have any more fun ideas for additional categories, email me and I’ll share them on a future blog post.

Winners of the Q1-08 Challenge – for “randomly drawn from all entries” the winner is: Juli’s skirt. For the Reader’s Choice award from those who voted: Jennifer’s Venezia. Each wins a $25 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe. Congratulations to you both! Don’t forget our Q2-08 Challenge that runs between now and the end of June.

I had an email from Claudia this morning and she has arrived safely back in Germany. Her family is glad to have her back, but I miss her!

Sheri stillwaaaaybehindonemailsbutIpromiseI’mpluggingawayonthem!

Look what happens when we’re all busy packing your Sneak Up orders and turn our backs on the Little Loopys. FPS! They’ve been having a heyday, all over Loopy Central. We’re out of these cute guys at the moment, but more will be here in a couple of weeks. And that’s good, because we’ll once again be doing our annual “Take Loopy on Vacation” contest over the summer! We’ll start sending the Loopy postcards with orders sometime in May, but we thought that some of you (150 of you Little Loopy Owners so far) might rather be taking your stuffed Loopy to pose in interesting places, instead of a postcard. Either one will work for the contest this summer. The postcards are fun, too. We’re looking forward to seeing what you come up with for Loopy to experience in the coming months. He LOVES to travel. We’ll keep you posted on that summer contest in the next month or so.

Here’s one of my new recipes from vacation-cooking. I had a couple of you email your sympathies that I had to cook on vacation. Actually, I love cooking when I have time for it. On vacation, when there is nothing sitting there needing to be done, it’s fun to spend some of the afternoon making a nice meal. It’s the day in and day out cooking when you’ve been-busy-all-day-and-there’s-still-so-much-to-get-done-but-your-family-needs-to-eat cooking, that I don’t particularly care for. We did go out for some meals on vacation, and WH is completely up for that, but I do like to cook.

Mexican Calzones

1 (15 oz) pkg. refrigerated pie crust (room temperature)
1 lb. ground beef
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1/4 cup water (note: this is less than the taco mix pkg. calls for)
1 (1.25 oz.) pkg taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Salsa or Taco Sauce
Sour Cream and Guacamole (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown beef in large skillet and drain. Add chilies, water and seasoning mix and stir well. Let cool slightly.

Place pie crusts on cutting board and unfold. Cut each crust in half, making 4 half circles. Divide beef mix and cheese up between the four halves. Dampen the edge of the crust with water and fold the sides over. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.

Garnish with salsa/taco sauce/sour cream/guacamole. YUM!

I also wanted to let you know about our April Blog Contest, which will be a little different. Remember all of our Random Acts of Kindness contests in December? It was so fun to see all of the ways you came up with to help others. At that time, I decided that we had to do a RAK contest a few times a year instead of just in December. (All in the interest of encouraging those types of activities year-round!) So we have dubbed April another RAK month here at Loopy. The contest requires you to do THREE RAKS between now and the end of the month. On Wednesday, April 30th, I’ll do the RAK Contest blog entry where you will leave your comment with the three things that you did in April. We’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner. The prize is a good one – we are giving away one Spring Fling Goody Bag to the winner. These are the bags that our Spring Fling retreat-attenders will be getting the weekend before that, and the approx. retail value of the bag and contents is $75. Only one person outside of the Fling attenders will get one – the winner of the April contest! (Note – if a Spring Flinger happens to win, you can choose to either get that bag, or something else. We’ll talk!) Check out some of those RAK posts (in the comments sections) from December if you need some creative ideas for nice things you can do for others during this time.

I’m knitting this weekend. And you?

Sheri speakingofcooking,KDmadedinnerforuslastnightanditwasdelicious.
Yay,KnittingDaughter!

As promised, here are a couple of new sock photos. I have another one done, too, but it’s a new indie dyer that we haven’t announced yet. I’ll save that photo for later! I love these Noro socks. (Color S185)I was so anxious to see how they’d wash up, as they are definitely scratchier feeling to knit. (I survived it, just because the whole color thing was so fun to watch progress.) They softened up in the wash. I hand-washed them in Soak (let them soak in the water for about 15 minutes) and let them air dry, like I always do. (I always hand-wash all of my handknit socks. I’ve never felt like it took very long, and after putting all of that knitting time in, I’m all for making sure they last as long as possible! After I wash them, I roll them up in a towel to get rid of excess moisture, and then dry them on this, which is mounted on a wall in our bathroom. I love it. I know, I know – you’re supposed to “dry flat”. But once I have rolled them in a towel, there is not enough moisture and weight left in them to stretch them out of shape when hanging on this rack.) Back to the Noro socks, I was glad that it softened up some after washing. I knit these on size 0 needles and the stitch definition still looks great, post-washing. This sock is still not as soft as others, but honestly, when it’s on my foot, I can’t tell the difference. I’m working on the matching sock now, and will absolutely make more. There are several other colorways I want to try out. (Also great yarn for scarves, mittens, gloves, etc.) It’s one of those yarns that you’ll either like or not, but I love it!

The second sock is the Araucania yarn. To be honest, I saw this skein and thought it looked awfully splotchy. A very unique looking yarn, to be sure! However, I only had to knit a couple of inches on my sock to realize how absolutely gorgeous it was all knit up. All of those splotches add up to an amazing mix of colors and I will be knitting more of these socks as well! (Not sure of the colorway on this, but it’s one of the ones that was on backorder in our first order from them, so we’ll have it eventually!) Both of these experiences are a good reminder not to judge a sock yarn until you’re worked with it. Knitting it up tells you a lot about the dye and color. What seems to be “splotches and unevenness” in the skein (or “abrubt color changes” or any other description that comes to mind) will bring about different results in the knitted fabric. You might love it, or you might hate it, but it will be different when you work with it. (Of course you can also check our photo galleries to see how things look when they are knit up. You all have been so generous in sharing your finished sock photos for all of us to see and benefit from.) The same goes for washing the socks, and of course wearing and washing them more over time. What might look great all knit up, might not wear so well. (Or, it might wear very well!) I know that I baby my handknit socks with the handwashing. I also don’t normally scuff around in them without shoes or slippers on, and I most often wear clogs, so I don’t get a lot of wear-out on the heels. (That’s not why I wear clogs – I just like how easy they are to kick on and off.) So, lots to consider when picking out the sock yarns that YOU want to work with and wear. That’s why we try to keep so many different options for you! This was done in the Loopy Laces pattern by Wendy. (It’s Wendy’s birthday today – go tell her Happy Birthday!)

Speaking of options, are you wondering about next week’s Sneak Up? Here’s the list so far, although we reserve the right to add to it if we get more photos done:

- Hand Maiden Casbah Sock
- Schaefer Anne, Lola and Heather
- New Dream in Color Classy colors
- All of the Dream in Color Baby lace colors
- Fiesta Boomerang and Baby Boomerang
- Yarn Nerd
- Mountain Colors Bearfoot
- New Sakina Needles Roving
- New Yarn Ball Earrings from Romi
- New Loopy Ewe totes (in the larger size – same as our Loopy Groupie bags, but black handles and zipper. We’re saving the red handles/zipper for Loopy Groupies. You all have been asking to be able to buy this size, and we have them for you!)
- New Loopy Ewe canvas totes – the perfect size for sock projects (and they’re RED!)
- New Loopy Ewe coffee travel mugs (because, you know, we like coffee around here)

Coming up the week of January 14th: Wollmeise Sock Yarn, Plucky Knitter Lace, Sheepaints, and more.

Spring Flingers! Watch for an email next week, telling you how to go about paying for your deposit for the retreat. We won’t have you sign up for your classes until March, when the balance of the fee is due. We’re excited to have all of you attending, including some of our favorite Canadians, as well as Kellie all the way from New Zealand and Claudia (the Wollmeise herself!) from Germany! We can’t wait to have all of you here.

Our final Random Acts of Kindness winner is: Heather from IL. Congratulations, Heather! Thank you ALL for participating in this fun month-long contest. We’ll be sure to do it again next December! (Although I’m hoping that we’ll all keep RAKs on our minds throughout 2008. We’ll have to have a quarterly check-in and contest, just to keep things moving.)

Fourth Quarter Challenge photos are due in by January 10th! The Challenge for last quarter was to knit something with 2 or more colors/yarns. I’ll remind you after the 10th, to go vote for your favorites and then we’ll announce the winners. You can see the entries so far, here.

It’s a new Quarter, which means a new Loopy Q1-08 Challenge! This quarter, the challenge is to knit something that you have not knit before. I don’t mean “try a new pattern for your socks”. I mean, if you have never knit socks, knit socks. If you have never knit a shawl, try a shawl. Or mittens, or gloves, or fingerless mitts, or a neck warmer, or a Chevron Scarf, or a sweater, or a vest, or ….. well, the list is endless, isn’t it? (And hey – if you haven’t spun before, get some of the beautiful roving we have going up next week and make “spinning” your “Q1-08 Try Something New to You” challenge!) You have until April 10th to submit the photo to the Q1-08 Gallery and there will be two winners. 1, a winner by random drawing from all of the entries, and 2, a “Knitter’s Choice”, awarded to the project that gets the most votes from all of you. So figure out something that would be fun to learn and do, and jump right in. I’m going to attempt a shawl. Again. (I loved working on it – see blog post here – but that’s all I ever did on it. There were just too many socks needing to be done. I’m going to frog this and start over and am bound and determined to do the whole thing this time.) What do you think you’ll work on for the Challenge?

Sheri savingthenewgiftphotosIwantedtoshowyouforFriday’sblog,
alongwithanewrecipeforyou.Thispostisalreadytoolong!

What a full week it has been! A fun Christmas (I have some cute gifts to show you on Wednesday – you might want to put these two artisans on your “future gifts” list), and a fun time in Iowa. We spent a couple of days with WH’s mom in Clinton. (With Iowa being the hot-bed of political focus right now, both Obama and Edwards were in town the day we were there.) On Friday, we mostly stayed inside and watched 8-10 inches of snow fall all day long. Isn’t it beautiful? (Great knitting weather. I have new socks to show you later in the week, too. Finished the Noro sock and am totally in love with it. So much so, that I’m starting the second one tonight. And you KNOW that means something. I’m the Queen of the Single Sock.) While we were visiting WH, College Guy set up a laptop for his grandma, and gave her some important lessons. All appears to have gone well with that. (Notice that her office has a RED wall. I liked it a lot!)

On Saturday we traveled across Iowa (in some weird white fog) to attend the wedding of our godson and his beautiful bride. We’ve known this handsome guy since he was just a few days old, and met his wife-to-be this past spring. Aren’t they a happy looking couple? It was a joyful wedding and we are so happy for both of them. This is the son of our good friends Steve and Janice. Want to see more photos? She blogged some fun ones! “Small World Moment” – when I saw a friend from high school scooting into one of the pews for the wedding. Then I realized that she was a teacher at their high school and must’ve had the bride in class. “Smaller World Moment” – when it dawned on me that my high school friend’s last name (her married name) was the same as the bride’s maiden name and realized they must be related. (Yep – she’s an aunt by marriage.) What a small world.

On Sunday, we hung around for brunch and talking. Here is a picture of three of my favorite kids. (Only two are mine, but I’d gladly claim the third. She’s Iowa Girl, sister to the groom.) They’ve all been good friends their whole life. Do you have any friends like that, that you have known your whole life? My oldest friend that I’m still in touch with is actually Steve, father of the groom and father of Iowa Girl. (Also father of Iowa Guy, not pictured.) We met in Junior High. (This was before he and WH met and became such good friends, so I get to claim being Steve’s oldest longest friend.) Other than that, my oldest longest friends go back to high school days.

Today is our last Random Acts of Kindness reporting day. I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed reading all of the kind things that you have done over the past month. This contest really has helped me to keep it on my mind and continually look for ways to make a difference to others. One of my plans for tomorrow is to figure out a plan for each month of 2008 and what I can do to make a difference. Please leave your RAK comments (and your other comments!) below, and I’ll do one more drawing on Wednesday of this week. The winner for last weeks’ drawing is Barbara in LA. Congratulations to you! We’ll plan to get all of the drawing gifts out the end of the week. Thank you all for participating!

Sheri noSneakUpthisweekbutthenexttwoweeksaregonnabedoozies!