I love seeing what other people are doing. When you all shop here in person, you frequently bring in your projects to share with us and we have a lot of fun seeing what you’ve made. When you all shop online with us, you frequently upload your finished project photos to The Loopy Ewe Photo Gallery, and we love that, too. One of our local Loopy customers was in this week (Hi Victoria!) and brought this adorable vest that she knit up for one of her grandsons for Easter. This is made with Amy Butler’s Belle Organic DK in Basil and Cilantro. Isn’t it cute? You can find the pattern – Kick It Up – over at Petite Purls, the online knitting mag that specializes in kids patterns.

Seeing this vest, reminded me of how much I love that yarn. I used it to knit my first-ever crochet project, and at the time, I decided that I needed to make a sweater with it. It just feels so great. Maybe I’ll do a short-sleeved cardi for summer. (You know, after I finish the sweater I’m making with the Ultra Pima DK Cotton. The list just keeps growing….)

Here are a few other fun things to check out, if you get a little bored this weekend.

1. I found this fun blog and amazing artist, after she added The Loopy Ewe to her Twitter feed. You should scroll down and watch the quick little video on the Alaskan Goblin Arrival – so cute!

2. I also like this felting artist a lot, and bought the  little Gnome in this photo from her shop.

3.  And this one is where the Toadstool came from. (Don’t the Gnome and Toadstool look like they belong together?) I love toadstools and rock piles and this one had both. They sit on my desk here at Loopy.

4. Oh, and this one!  The birds are amazing. And those owls? And chipmunks? And the mouse with the balloon? Too fun.

5. I like the drawings from this artist. I have two and I can’t justify more until I frame these two and do something with them. But I will. I like them a lot.

6. These are the cutest, teeny-tiniest little works of art. I haven’t bought anything yet, but it has been on my favorites list for quite awhile. This one makes me wish I had a dollhouse to furnish.

7.  Someday I’ll figure out just what I’d want written on one of these, and will order one. I like the use of different sized words and colors.

8. Beautiful work by this artist, too. Some whimsical (like this, which makes me laugh) and some just downright sweet.

9. Lately, my favorite jewelry comes from this shop. I’ve ordered several times and it’s always fun to receive and fun to give as gifts.

10. Last but not least, I cannot quit ordering pottery from this shop. It’s ridiculous. Some of you might remember that I do not need one more mug. But I ordered this one on Wednesday. And this one is really tempting me as well. And this. (Note to self: Stop. Just stop now.)

Happy Weekend to you!

Sheri shoppingwouldbelesstemptingifetsywouldjustgoaway….

Loopy has some new jewelry. If you’ve been to Loopy Central in person, you know that we have this stuffed Loopy who stands on top of one of the shelves to greet you when you come in. (In his former life, he was a loved-on sheep in a kindergarten classroom. We think he likes it better here.) He has been wearing last years Spring Fling nametag for awhile now, but when I saw these tags, I knew he needed his own. It arrived yesterday, and he looks very proud to be wearing it, doesn’t he?  But I have a dilemma. The fun thing about these tags is that you can have the back personalized, too. So the back of Loopy’s tag says “King of the Shop”. (And he is.) So the question is, which side should show – Loopy, or King of the Shop? (We won’t open up that whole “Wait, if it’s The Loopy Ewe, then shouldn’t Loopy be a SHE?” debate again. Been there, done that. Loopy is a he. Sometimes things just work differently in our yarn world.) So let me know what you think about the tag. And then go take a look at their blog, because the dog featured today has the perfect tagline on his tag.

Of course, who’s to say that these tags have to be for animals? Maybe your knitting bag needs a tag, declaring you the “World’s Fastest Knitter”. (Or at least the fastest knitter in YOUR world). Or “Loopy’s #1 Fan”. Or someone who “Insulates with Wool”, or … well, you get the idea. Cute tags, nice people running the business, quick shipping, and they made Loopy look even more handsome this week. I like that combination.

Sheri movingshelvesatLoopytoday
Advilmightneedtobemyfriendtonight.

Thank you for all of your bug research and suggestions, from Wednesday’s post. I think that we have determined that it was a Wheel Bug (from the Assassin Bug family). The good news: it eats aphids and Japanese beetles. The bad news: it bites and the paralyzing enzyme that it injects makes it hurt “ten times worse than a hornet’s sting, and can take up to 6 months to heal.” The upshot of all that is that you can hope that you have them in your yard to control the pesky bugs, but steer clear of them yourself. (And use the zoom on your camera if you need to photo it.) I hope I never see another one.

I have two things to tempt your palate today. The first: THESE have got to be the very best caramels I have ever had in my entire life, bar none. (Yes, that’s quite a strong endorsement. And I mean every word of it.) The salted caramel flavor (Fleur De Sel) is unbelievable. I also ordered the English Tea flavor, and wondered how in the world “tea” and “caramel” could combine into something good. It does. Amazing. When you need a good caramel fix, try them out.

A couple of weeks ago I tried a new recipe from The Pioneer Woman’s Blog. (Digression: Do any of you read her blog? How in the heck does she have the time and energy to blog that much?  I know that her blog is broken down into different sections, but holy cow. When I came home from the Sock Summit, I checked my Google Reader to see which of the blogs that I read regularly, had been updated while I was gone for a week. In that time, a couple of the blogs had been updated once, most had not been updated at all, and the Pioneer Women? 25 updates. TWENTY FIVE unread posts. In the 7 days that I was gone. The thing is, they’re all interesting and I do read them. She has a good thing going there.)

As with almost any recipe I make, I tweaked this. Not because it wasn’t good as is, but I’m a tweaker. I tweak. With this one, I added in cooked chicken breasts, a little more onion and cheese, and doubled the dressing. I also thought that it would be delicious (and colorful) to add in chunks of avocado. I might try that the next time. I hope you enjoy it!

Pioneer Woman’s Pita Chip Panzanella (tweaked by Loopy)

1 oz. bag Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips (or the pita chips that you like)
5 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into 1″ chunks
3/4 cup medium red onion, sliced thin and chopped
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 Tbl. red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt
(note to self: try adding in avocado chunks the next time)

Combine chips, tomato chunks, onions, Parmesan and chicken in a large bowl. Mix together oil and vinegar with a dash of salt, and pour over the ingredients. Add freshly ground pepper and toss to mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before serving.

It has been fun to read all of your comments from Monday’s blog contest! (If you haven’t added one yet, there is still time. We’ll draw for the winners on Monday.) We do one prize for every 250 entries and we’re up to 7 drawings for prize packages, so far. How fun!

Sheri doyoufollowarecipesaswritten,orareyouatweaker,too?

Another busy week here at Loopy Central and we have all hands on deck! Well – really I used that saying just so that I could show you the fun hand models that I have here. (But the busy part is true. We’re working very hard on all of your Sneak Up orders from this week. It’s going to take us another day to get through them all.) The wooden hand is from Barnes and Noble. I got the man size because the lady size looked so small. And the porcelain hand just arrived this week from this website. It’s a “vintage glove form”. Now I’ll have to knit a single fingerless glove to put on there (because you know I’m all about single socks and gloves. Although honestly, the white one on the wooden form is my only single fingerless glove so far.) If you ever see any other fun hand forms, send me an email. I like having the around. And besides, the Little Loopys also find them entertaining.

I spun up some roving over the weekend. This is Ravenswood from The Sanguine Gryphon. I know the photo is a little bit dark, but when I used the flash, it took out the shine that is in the roving. This is a merino/silk combo and is so easy to spin and feels wonderful! So far I haven’t knit anything with any of my handspun skeins. I bought a couple of one-skein books and have some great pattern ideas, but just haven’t done it yet. Has anyone out there made anything fun with their handspun? It had been too long since I had been on my spinning wheel and I can see that I must stay in practice, or I seem to go backwards a little in my skills. I have that Creatively Dyed Seacell up next, and then we just got a new order of The Dyeing Arts Roving in this week (here’s the sold out page to see some of their past colors) and I absolutely love Tara’s colors. So that will come next. (Psst – we also got in an order from sKNITches and one from Yarn Pirate. So we have fun stuff for you again next week.)

Speaking of fun, look at this photo. It’s entitled “Shades of Ewe” – get it? (Can you see the Little Loopy in there?) We participated in a St. Louis Yarn Shop Crawl on Saturday, and one of the gals who came by brought this photo that her husband Roy had taken for us. He has this great business called “Shades of St. Louis“, where he photos St. Louis landmarks in the reflection of sunglasses. He’s now branching out into “Shades of America” as well. Take a look at his gallery on his website. I particularly like the ones he has taken of local schools.

Ok. Back to packing orders. Y’all you guys all y’all every one of you Loopy customers are the best.

Sheri whokeepsgettingdistractedbyboxesofnewstuffcominginthedoorFPS

Remember the cupcakes I bought awhile back that were so cute? I have been on a cupcake kick lately. (No, not the kind that you eat. That would be a caloric kick to be on! Just nice representations of them in other forms!) I found another fun indie artisan on etsy who made this batch of cupcakes for me. I told her the number that I wanted her to make, and just let her design whatever she wanted. I think they turned out great and it will be fun to have them out in my kitchen window for Valentine’s Day! (Check out her birds in yarn nests, and the Valentine’s cookies. Such fun. I’ll show you what else I bought from her this week, when it comes in the mail later.)

I promised to share a couple of pretty shawls with you today – neither made by me. The first one is a model on loan from Prism, that uses their Kid Slique yarn. I can’t imagine a softer, airier shawl than this one! It is called Prism Kid Slique Scarf or Wrap and is available as a pattern here. (Why no photos? Prism’s website is down momentarily and I couldn’t get the photos! I’ll add those in when they come back up. FPS.) The Kid Slique yarn is a combination of 66% Rayon, 26% Kid Mohair, and 8% & Nylon and comes in some gorgeous colors. I have Woodlands and Antique set aside for myself for scarves. (Not together – 2 different scarves.) You have to click on the closeups to see what this yarn is all about. They’ve just sent the rest of our Kid Slique order, along with Prism Lace (which is exquisite) so watch for that to go up soon. Probably the week after next.

The other shawl is one that Claudia (from Wollmeise) sent me for Christmas and I’m still as taken with it as I was when I opened up the package! This is the first (and only) shawl that I own and I absolutely love it. The colors (you know, blue and brown is such a favorite combo of mine), the pattern, the width and length – it’s all perfect. I have used it several times and it’s amazing how much warmth you can get from a shawl. If I wasn’t sold on making shawls before now (and I really was), then this would’ve done it. Now I just need to get my head around the shawl knitting. Why does it seem to take me a long long time to knit lace? I knit for hours and feel like I have so little to show for it. There are such amazing lace patterns and projects out there, and I wonder if I just have a mental block on this? Or does lace just take longer and I ought to be patient? Someone please advise.

I have had a couple of people email me about some worthy causes that they are working on and wanted to pass the information on to you. The first is Loopy customer Kate. Her 19 yr. old brother just found out that he is battling acute myelogenous leukemia. Kate is doing a raffle in exchange for donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of her brother, Robbie Greenberger. If you’d like more information on contributing to that, please check out her blog: http://cairokate.blogspot.com

Another interesting project going on comes from an industrial design student who could use any input you have for a project: http://onearmedknitting.blogspot.com/

For those of you in the our Seasonal Sock Club – your last (Spring!) installment is shipping out today, if you have been to your Loopy account and paid your bill!  If you have not yet made payment, log in and do that so that we can get this fun package out to you.  Our 2008 Sock Club begins in March, for those of you who signed up.  (We are completely full for 2008.) Watch for your March invoices to arrive via email the first week in March.

Hope you all have a great weekend and get lots of knitting done! I … um …. might’ve started another sock. Yes, it’s true. But there was a good reason for it! Another one of our new companies called this week to say they were shipping our order out, and you know I like to have a sock done to show you how the yarn knits up. (This yarn is a brand new sock yarn for them – so new that it’s not even listed on their website yet – and it’s as soft and wonderful as can be. I’ll show it to you as soon as the sock is done. You’re going to love it.)

Sheri headinghomeearlytodaybecauseKnittingDaughterishomesick.bugger.

I wanted to show you a few of my favorite gifts from the holidays! (Why? Because these are all artisans that I can see buying future gifts from. I’m always looking for something unique when figuring out gifts, and I thought you might like to have these resources, too.) The first two are from a gal here in St. Louis that works with my brother. (Mike gets lots of credit for these gifts – he did good, didn’t he?) I wish you could see them in person. The framed Loopy Ewe is hand done on glass and we hung it as you walk in to the kitchen at Loopy Central. I’m amazed at how well she did on the Loopy font! I wish you could see this lighted bottle in person. It has Loopy and Loopy faces and red socks all over it, and it just shines when you plug it in. It looks like stained glass. Very fun! I kept this one at home in my kitchen. Judi has a website where she can be contacted, if you’re ever interested in these fun bottle lights. She has some fun options already figured out (my mom has a cute snowman one in her kitchen) but she is also happy to do personalizations and logos like she did for us. Wouldn’t they be cute in kids’ rooms, too, with their name and favorite things on the bottle? (Or a knitting one for your knitting nook? The possibilities are endless!)

The next gift was an anniversary gift from my mother-in-law. This is all handcut (you can read about the art of Scherensnitte here) and is full of things that make up our life. Hobbies, jobs, schools, people, pets, dates, etc. The more you look, the more you find. (It does help that there is a list of “do you see what I see?” on the back that gives clues.) The artist who did this – Keith Bonnstetter – doesn’t have a website, but here is a link to one of the places he has exhibited. Instead of putting his phone number on the website, just email me if you’d like me to pass it on to you. WH’s mom told him all about our family, and he came up with his representation of it for us. It is a very special gift!

Then, I had to go investigate another jewelry designer, because we all know that I’m a sucker for great jewelry. On Wednesday in the comments section, Juliblue mentioned that she was helping her friend in a trade show. April has had her designs bought by Anthropologie, as well as having worked with several tv shows and other venues. Best of all, her work is downright fun and beautiful. I bought these pretty silver ones as a gift for myself. But don’t tell. I don’t think you’re supposed to buy gifts for yourself right after Christmas. (April said that I could borrow this photo of them to put on the blog for you. I know better than to lift website photos without permission!) Next time, I will have to go for a pair with colored stones/crystals. I like the ones on her homepage with the three dangles.

I do have a recipe to share with you today. These are soooo easy (so really, “recipe” is a stretch) and very timely with all of the “eating healthy” resolutions out there. We made these Yogurt Parfaits for Christmas morning brunch, and I also like to make them each week for breakfast. I think they are best about 2 days after you make them. That gives the granola time to soften up.

Yogurt Parfaits

Layer the following into cups:

1 large spoonful of your favorite granola cereal
a few fresh berries (I used blueberries and raspberries)
a few spoonfuls of yogurt
and repeat the layers again, ending with granola and berries.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to eat. (It’s fun to mix yogurt flavors in the cup, although I will admit to liking the vanilla yogurt myself. You can get vanilla and strawberry in large containers at our grocery store, which makes this all a bit easier and more economical.) Next week’s recipe won’t be quite so healthy.

Attention Spring Flingers – if you’re on Ravelry, make sure you join The Loopy Groupies AND Loopy’s Spring Fling group! There is a lot of fun chatter going on over there, as well as a “Spring Fling Swap” that you might want to be a part of. (Special thanks to Leslie for running the swap and Sarah for setting up the Spring Fling Ravelry Group!)

Great idea – Commenter Tracy suggested that I ask you what your favorite non-sock pattern (using sock yarn) would be. What do you think? Two of my favorite “knit with sock yarn but not socks” patterns are the Chevron Scarf and Monica’s Fingerless Lace Mitts. What would yours be?

Sheri thisweekitwas8degreesonWednesdayandwillbe60byMondayFPS