For one brief moment last week (about the time everyone was jetting in for The Spring Fling) our weather seemed to have gone from winter (flurries the weekend before) to summer (hot hot hot and humid) in one week. Now we’re back in the cool temperatures, but we have flowers inside! Check out the gorgeous tulips that arrived this week - aren’t they beautiful? (Megann - you’re the best!) It feels like we have brought the sunshine inside. They make us smile every time we walk by them.

Those aren’t the only flowers cheering us up here at The Loopy Ewe. This amazing “Edible Arrangement” arrived yesterday, along with a jar of chocolate for the cute strawberry dish that came with it. We have tried everything and it is wonderful. (We keep eating fruit from the back so that the front stays cute. There is a lot of fruit in there, including the “daisy” pineapple slices on the front!) Some people (and I’m not mentioning names) have the idea that chocolate lathered fruit slices make a perfectly acceptable lunch. This arrived with a note that it was a RAK for all of us here at Loopy Central. Wow!! We don’t know who to thank, but YOU know who you are and we just want to send you big hugs and kisses because we are totally enjoying it and it was an awfully nice thing to do. (Also keeping us smiling, but not in the “flower” category, are the basket of cookies from Sharon that arrived yesterday afternoon. This is a fun place to be this week!)

I love reading all of your RAK comments on Wednesday’s blog. Keep adding to them - you have until next Wednesday before I draw for the doorprize. It’s so inspiring to see how many people are being helped, and I’m getting lots of great ideas for future RAKs that I can do.

Today’s recipe is so quick and easy, and loved by all. (What’s not to love about any recipe that has the word “pizza” in it?) I hope you and your families enjoy it.

Pizza Casserole

2 cups spiral noodles
1 lb. ground beef
1 jar pizza sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella
Sliced pepperoni

Cook and drain the noodles, according to package directions. Brown the ground beef and drain. Stir the jar of pizza sauce into the beef. Spread the noodles out in the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish. Add in layers: beef, cheese and pepperoni. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

(Sheri’s note: I’m not very good at following quantities in recipes. If I think there should be more of something, I just drop it in. Therefore, I’m sure that my photo has more noodles than the required amount above. I also like it fairly moist, so I used a big jar of pizza sauce, and topped it all with cheese. Someday I’ll learn to follow directions and leave things alone. Maybe.)

So glad it’s the weekend. I’m working on my Wollmeise Scarf (started during the Fling) and will show photos next week. It’s a bit addictive and very very simple, and I have already decided on my next three colorways that I will knit up into this same pattern. What fun things are you doing this weekend? Any knitting going on?

Sheri nowgoingtohaveanotherchocolatecoveredstrawberry.Forlunch,youknow.

Here is the total damage done at Loopy Ewe Central by the earthquake at 4:36 a.m. We found a needle that had slipped from it’s package on a peg, and was laying on the floor. Yikes. Think this is a matter for the insurance agency? We’re considering it. In the meantime, did anyone else here in the midwest feel the quake? We have a major fault line running right through St. Louis, but it’s normally pretty boring. I think we have had 2 tremors in the last 20 years. (Tremors, where you say, “What was that? Did a truck just drive down the street?”) The one this morning was a 5.2 and things were definitely shaking. Besides a few aftershocks, that will probably be it for another twenty years.

We have an Adopted Elf today! Keri (Kyrana on Ravelry) lives about 90 miles away and is coming to the Spring Fling next weekend. She called yesterday and said that for one of her Random Acts of Kindness this month, she wanted to offer to drive in and help us for the afternoon because she figured we were “probably going crazy right about now, trying to get everything ready.” How fun is that? She’s doing a top notch job of unpacking t-shirts and folding them up all nice and neat. (And she brought me one of her wonderful bags - woohoo! I’ll have to photo that next week for you.) How is everyone coming along on our April Blog Contest? The contest is to do 3 random acts of kindness for the month, and then we’ll have Reporting Day on Wednesday, April 30th. I hope you’re looking for great opportunities to help others this month.

This week’s recipe is another one that we enjoyed on vacation. It’s a gray, rainy day here today and supposed to get cooler, so soup sounds like a good dinner to me right now. This is thick and delicious - just add some fresh bread and a good salad and you have a great meal.

Cheese and Broccoli Soup

3 carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 stick margarine
2 cans chicken broth
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 1/2 lbs Velveeta Cheese
2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli
sour cream (optional)

Saute finely chopped carrots, celery and onion in margarine. Add chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Add broccoli, potato soup and Velveeta cheese. Simmer 10-15 minutes, or until broccoli is cooked through and cheese is melted. Garnish with sour cream if desired.

Good news - they called to say our Noro Sock order has shipped! As you know, we have been waiting for a long time. (And yes, we do have another order in already.) We hope to have that within days. We also have Boye DPN’s going up soon, as well as Pattern Tamers - did you see those reviewed in the latest issue of Knitty? Great magnetic strips for keeping track of where you are on your pattern (but made to look cute!). What else? Numma Numma’s BabyBoo, Chameleon Colorworks, more Schaefer, more Casbah, more Duets, and some Black BFL roving that has me totally addicted.

Want to know how many steps the average Loopy Elf (oh - none of them are average - they’re all amazing. But you know what I mean) takes on a post Sneak Up day? Donna (one of our newest Elves) wanted to find out, so she came to work with a pedometer on Wednesday. During her day, she pulled orders for 4 hours (so that involves walking around) and she packed orders for 2.5 hours (which means she was mostly standing still while others did the pulling and walking around). She racked up 4110 steps that day. How about that? A fun job with yarn, and exercise too. Life is good.

Sheri whoseofficeisover-runwithspringflinggoodybagcontentsatthemoment
butthatwillbegoingawaysoonbecauseTheFlingersarealmostontheirway!

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!

Today, we’re starting a new regular feature on the blog called “The Loopy Limelight”. This will showcase different people in the Loopy Family (and that includes all of you!) from week to week. I’ve been wanting to start this for a long time, as I have gotten to know many of you and keep thinking that you all need to know each other, too! So I’ll share some of my friends with you, and some of the Loopy Elves, and some other interesting people that I think you ought to know. We’ll make this a “most Mondays” feature. Enjoy!

This week I want to introduce you to a friend of mine who is an amazing cook, gardener, and businesswoman - Leigh Anne from Oregon. I’ll let Loopy do the talking……

Loopy: Thanks for being our first Loopy Limelight guest, Leigh Anne! Tell everyone how you and Sheri met.
Leigh Anne: I am excited and honored to be a guest on The Loopy Ewe Blog. I’ve known Sheri for quite a long time – I met Sheri over 15 years ago when we were both involved in another business. During this time I grew to love and admire Sheri and her business skills and savvy. When she told me she was starting “The Loopy Ewe” I couldn’t wait to check it out and have become a frequent visitor to her site and blog. (Especially on Fridays when she shares a recipe)

Loopy: Well I hear you’re quite the gardener, and quite the cook. But do you knit?
Leigh Anne: I am not a regular knitter. In fact I didn’t even know there was such a thing as sock yarn! I have knit a few scarves in my life but that is it. But I do have a great love and appreciation for knitting as my grandmother was a knitter “extraordinaire”. If she wasn’t cooking or cleaning she had a pair of knitting needles in her hands. She knit ALL the time.

Loopy: Aah. It’s in your genes. We’ll get you eventually, I’m sure. But in the meantime, you like knitters and what they make, right?
Leigh Anne: I do! I have many treasures that my grandmother made for me – a beautiful blanket she knit that was used on my “blessing day” at church, an elegant crocheted tablecloth, hand knit Barbie doll clothes, stuffed animals, sweaters and more. But the one thing that I treasure and remember more than any other item my grandmother knit were her “loopy” mitts. (Pretty appropriate to be sharing on the Loopy Ewe - don’t you think!) I am sure my grandmother made 100’s of pairs of loopy mitts during her life – everyone wanted a pair of loopy mitts - all my friends had them. We even sold them at the church bazaar to raise money to build a new church. My grandmother invented loopy mitts and to my knowledge there was never a pattern left behind. They were actually made with four needles and I remember how fast my grandmother’s hands would move when she made these mitts – amazing! I grew up in Wisconsin so I loved these mitts because they kept my hands so warm with all the little yarn loops on the inside – thus the name “loopy mitts”. As you can see from the picture these mittens were well used and loved. These are the last two remaining pairs I have.

Loopy: So you really haven’t been inspired to get knitting again in your life?
Leigh Anne: Well, no. Not yet! But Sheri has inspired me in many other ways. One of those ways was to start a blog of my own. I loved visiting Sheri’s blog so much I decided I wanted one of mine own so I began www.yourhomebasedmom.com – a blog where I share tips and ideas for women who run a homebased business and I even share recipes too.

Loopy: We love good recipes. What did you pick our for us today?
Leigh Anne: Three things I know about Sheri – she loves to knit, she loves to shop and she loves chocolate. So the recipe I am sharing is for “Nordy Bars” They were originally made and sold (unfortunately they have stopped making them) at the Nordstrom Café - a place I know Sheri likes to shop. They are also rich, gooey and full of chocolate! So I hope you enjoy them!

Loopy: YUM! These look wonderful - thank you for sharing them! One last thing - can you share with us a good book recommendation, a good (already out on dvd) video recommendation, and a good music recommendation? (Because knitters like to knit to music and movies and books on tape.)
Leigh Anne: A good book - this is a hard one because I do read a lot and have a lot of books I love. My favorite genre is historical fiction - some of my favorites are “Women of the Silk”, “Snowflower and the Secret Fan” and my most recent read is “Moloka’i” - the story of the leper colony on the Hawaiian Island of the same name - a tragic story yet one full of strength, fortitude and courage. I have also had fun this year reading the vampire series - Twilight, New Moon and Ecllipse along with my teenager daughter - who wouldn’t fall in love with a vampire!? See I knew I couldn’t recommend just one book! I am also a huge Jane Austen fan - have read Pride and Prejudice many times! Favorite movie is Gone with the Wind and Mrs. Potter. Favorite music - I am a Broadway Musical Soundtrack fan - my favorites tend to be those songs my children are currently singing for whatever production they are in! I love to sing along very loudly in the car to the Mama Mia soundtrack and Wicked is another current favorite My cell phone ring is “Love Shack”!

Nordy Bars
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg. butterscotch chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows

In medium sauce pan melt butter, add butterscotch chips and brown sugar. Stir until melted (this may look a little strange but it will be o.k)

Remove from heat, add eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add vanilla and set aside and cool.

When cool stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts if desired. Spread in an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350. Remove and cool - they will be soft and gooey when you take them out - they will set up as they cool. Enjoy!

Sheri hopeyouenjoyedmeetingLeighAnne-gocheckoutherblogformoregoodrecipes!

Yes, it’s true. I’m outta here! But I’ll be back on Monday. Right now I’m winging my way to California for the TNNA Market in Long Beach. I can’t let an opportunity go by for finding us some lovely new things to carry at The Loopy Ewe, right? I’ll keep you posted on what I find there. In the meantime, the Elves are holding down the fort and shipping orders out to you, so you don’t have to worry that there will be a delay. (Have I mentioned how awesome those Elves are?) I’ll be back to answering emails next week, so I’ll talk to you all then.

Another new recipe for you that we tried over the holidays. It was a hit with my family! I hope you like it, too. (I know the photo is kind of orange-y. It was an orange-y dish because of the French dressing, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t quite that orange. Food styling/photo-ing is just not my gift. Obviously.)

Dad’s Favorite Chicken Casserole (I have no idea who this particular “Dad” is, but that was the name of the recipe)

4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
2 cups celery slices
2 cups toasted bread crumbs
1 cup French dressing (or more, if you want it creamier)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1 (8 oz) package Swiss cheese, cut in strips
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Combine all ingredients except nuts. Spoon into greased 2 quart casserole. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Can be made ahead. (Refrigerate covered, bake with cover at 350 for 50 minutes, then remove cover and bake 10 more minutes.)

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Have a great weekend and get lots of knitting done while I’m gone.

Sheri hopingtohaveknittingtimeonthisweekendtoo,inbetweenproductscoping…

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