It might just be the perfect fall day, today. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing a bit, and there is a nip in the air. Not too much. Just enough for you to know that it’s fall and not spring. I think I’ll call it “National I Love Fall Day” today. That means you should get out and do something to celebrate fall. Jump in some leaves. Enjoy a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Take a walk before dinner. (It’s ok if you don’t have fall weather where you live. Celebrate anyway.)

Or we could call it “National I Love Yarn Day”, as The Crafty Council has suggested. That means you get to buy some new yarn, start a new project, and leave work early to celebrate and knit. I suspect we might need to extend that throughout the entire weekend. How can you celebrate all of that in just one day?

As long as we’re making holidays, let’s also call today “National I Love Chocolate Day” so that I have an excuse to share a decadent dessert with you. (Not that I need an excuse to do that, I know.) I found this on Pinterest, and it comes from Kevin & Amanda’s blog. I do like the way she stacks two bars for each serving. Not sure I could eat that much since it’s so rich, but it looks impressive!

Oreo Brownie Chocolate Chip Dessert

1 brownie mix (for 9 x 13 size pan)
1 batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (or 1 tube of slice and bake)
1 package of chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreo’s)

Press the chocolate chip cookie dough into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. (Or, if using slice and bake – slice the cookies, layer them so that they cover the bottom of the pan, and then press them together to seal any openings.)

Put a single layer of chocolate sandwich cookies on top of the cookie dough batter.

Mix the brownie mix as directed and pour that over the top of the chocolate sandwich cookies.

Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes.

Let cool slightly and then slice and enjoy with ice cream.

There you go. A triple dessert celebration for a triple national celebration day. Fall, yarn and chocolate. Yum.

What else should we be celebrating today? Since I made up two days (chocolate and fall), you get to make some up, too.  National I Love …. what?

Sheri  hopingyouhaveagreatweekend!

1. One of the fun things about moving to a new town is that you get to discover new shops - new grocery stores, new gifty stores, new eye-candy stores. And in those new stores, you might discover a new love. Like Noosa Yoghurt. My latest obsession. (I like it even though they say “yoghurt” instead of yogurt.) Wish it wasn’t so pricey. Do you have Noosa near you?

2. There is an elementary school about 4 blocks away, and we can hear the school bells. I should follow them and break for lunch and recess every day, don’t you think?

3. Our mail doesn’t come until 5 pm on weekdays. I’m not a fan of that. And I think the mail lady hates me because I get packages from Loopy and she has get out of her mail truck to walk them to the door.

4.  The Aspens are absolutely beautiful right now. Can you pop in the car and come see them in person this weekend? Because you ought to. WH took this up near Breckenridge this week. If you click on it, it almost makes you dizzy. I was going to use it as my screensaver, but I think I’d feel like I was being sucked in. (As if I didn’t already feel like that with computers from time to time.) I’ll share a couple more of his fall photos next week.

5.  I made this soup and it was a big hit. Perfect for a chilly fall evening. And it does not taste at all low fat, which I like. I should have photo-ed it in a colored bowl so it would show up better. Although I don’t have colored bowls. I might need to go shopping.

Creamy, Low Fat Potato Soup (from Monica at The Yummy Life)

4 baking potatoes (2.5 lbs.) OR 4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2/3 cup flour
6 cups 2% milk
1 cup low-fat extra sharp cheddar cheese (divided)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions (divided)
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

If you are using baking potatoes, bake them (400 degrees for 1 hour in the oven, or microwave them). Don’t forget to poke them with a fork before baking. Peel and mash. OR use leftover mashed potatoes.

Add flour to a large pot or Dutch oven. Whisk in the milk and stir until blended. Cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken (about 8-10 minutes).

Add in the mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup of cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is completely melted. Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup green onions.

At this point, I used an immersion blender to thicken it up a bit. (Love that blender. Also good for smoothies.)

Serve in individual bowls and garnish with green onions, shredded cheese, and bacon.

You might want to serve this with Monica’s Cheesy Jalapeño Cornbread – also yummy.

6. I will be working on a Cladonia Shawl and the little Hexapuffs this weekend. Speaking of the little puffs, thanks to ALL of you who entered to win a free Mini Skein kit in last week’s blog contest! The random number generator picked Iris in NY for a free Lorna’s Laces Mini Kit. We’ll let you know as soon as the kits are in stock and ready for everyone.

So back to the mail-which-comes-too-late  - what time does your mail come? And does your mail person hate you, too? I think I need to bake her some cookies and do some brown-nosing. Or stop ordering yarn. (Yeah. Like that’s going to happen.)

Sheri hopingyouallhaveawonderfulweekend.
Andthatyourmailcomesearly.

Are you participating in Project Three for Camp Loopy? And if so, were you up late last night, finishing the last bit of your project, like me? Time’s UP! I am so happy with the way my blanket turned out, and (like many of you), I’m still stunned that it got finished in one month. I’ll show you photos next week. Remember, the deadline for the project to be done was last night at midnight, and you have until Saturday (the 17th) at midnight to upload your photo to the Loopy Photo Gallery for Project Three. I’ve been having fun, seeing all of your finished photos!

This week’s recipe is a delicious salad that can be served as a meal (just toss in some chicken for protein) or as a side dish. My family loved it, and I hope you do, too. I found this on Pinterest, but it originally came from the Espresso and Cream blog (and check out the Whole Wheat Salt Bagel recipe that she had on there yesterday. Sounds good.).

Fall Chopped Salad

6-8 cups of lettuce (I used a mix of Romaine and Iceburg)
2 medium pears, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped pecans
8 slices cooked/crumbled bacon (I totally forgot to add this in)
4-6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
Poppy Seed Dressing (I always get Marzetti’s)
Balsamic Vinaigrette (I used Newman’s Own Light Balsamic)

Use your judgement on the ratio of Poppy Seed and Balsamic. I used about twice as much Poppy as the Vinaigrette. The taste of the two mixed together makes this salad even more delicious.

Now that my blanket is done, I’m going back to working on my Lorna’s Laces Devon Socks this weekend. I wore my first pair of hand knit socks of the season yesterday (my favorite pair – knit for me by Knitting Daughter) and I was glad to have them back on my feet. Have you started wearing hand knit socks again, this fall?

Sheri ormaybeIshouldunpacktherestoftheboxesinthebasement
this weekend,instead?Nah.

It’s time to vote for your favorites from our Project Two Photo Gallery! I have been so inspired by your projects and your photos. Camp Loopy’s Project Two was mittens, socks or gloves with cables incorporated into the design. As you can see, we had over 700 entries again for Project Two. Get yourself a cuppa coffee (or the beverage of your choice) and take a few minutes to wander through the gallery. Then send us an email (support@theloopyewe.com) and tell us which one is your favorite. We’ll be awarding a Loopy Gift Certificate to the Reader’s Choice (that’s from your voting!) as well as randomly picking some winners to receive gift certificates, too. Thanks for your help in picking one of the favorites.

For those working on Project Three: we’ve been working on the Project Three Gallery this week as well. I knew you all could knit up an 800 yd. project in one month! I’m so proud of you. Remember, all project three’s are to be done by 9/15 (internationals 9/22) and photos are due in by 9/17 (9/24 for international projects). For those of you who completed all three projects by the deadlines (with yarn bought here during each Camp Store week or after, photos uploaded on our Loopy galleries in time), we’ll be sending you your grand prize – a skein of Wollmeise and a pattern! Next week (starting with orders that are placed on Monday, 9/12), we’ll start sending the Wollmeise to project completers who have placed orders during the week (and who have had their Project Three photo approved already). Please note – you do not have to place an additional order to get your prize. We’ll eventually get prizes out to everyone who earned them. We’re simply starting with the easiest ones – ones where we can add the prize into an order that we currently have in-house. Reason 1 – We will be shipping a lot of skeins out, and we thought we’d start with the ones where we’re already sending a box out to that address. Reason 2 – While we have some Wollmeise here for Camp Loopy, we also have a lot of cases of Wollmeise stuck in Customs, fees and duties paid for, but not yet shown up here at Loopy. This has been going on since they were shipped in mid-July. We’re not happy with the post office at the moment. We’re also not happy with the Customs office. But we’re on it and we will get those boxes. It just means that some of you will have a bit of a delay before getting your rightly-earned, highly-coveted skein of Wollmeise. But you’ll get it. I promise. (Did I mention that I’m not happy with the Customs Office and the Post Office right now? Because I’m not.)

Again, you do not have to place an order to get the Wollmeise you have earned. We hope to have the rest of the skeins here and turned back around to you sometime late this month or early next month. The website is keeping track of who we owe yarn to. If you’re wanting to verify that you earned a skein of Wollmeise, check the order note on your August Camp Loopy Project Three Yarn order, once we have approved your project photo.

I wanted to share something that we’ve been having fun with this summer. My friend Monica tempted me one too many times with her Raspberry and Velvet Hot Fudge Sauces, and I finally gave up and ordered this ice cream maker. I love it. You freeze the compartment 24 hours ahead (we just keep ours in the freezer now) and then pour in the recipe and turn it on. In 25-30 minutes, you have 2 quarts of soft-serve ice cream. That plus some of Monica’s wonderful sauces makes a great dessert for family or company. I won’t tell you how many different recipes we’ve tried, but each time, I’m still amazed that we get awesome home-made ice cream in just a half hour (no salt, ice cubes, or hand cranking required.) Here’s the latest recipe we made:

Oreo Cookie Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups milk (it calls for whole milk, but I use 2% and it works just fine)
3 cups heavy cream
1 Tbl. vanilla
1 cup sugar
15-20 Oreos, cut into bite-sized pieces

Mix the sugar into the milk and stir until it is dissolved (about 2-3 minutes). Add the cream and vanilla to the mixture and pour into the maker. Process for the recommended amount of time (usually 25-35 minutes). Add the chopped Oreo pieces during the last two minutes.  Enjoy as soft-serve ice cream, or freeze an hour or two in the freezer to firm it up more.

Pretty soon I’m going to try some of these recipes. (So far I’ve just had fun reading the book from cover to cover.) I’ve been to Jeni’s in person and her Salted Caramel Ice Cream is amazing. I was so happy to find the recipe in the book. She is known for her unique flavors, and even though some combinations sound strange, you try them and you’re hooked. Her main store happens to be in Columbus, OH, where we go for Market each summer (to find more yarn and accessory lines to add to The Loopy Ewe for all of you.) And to eat Jeni’s ice cream, which is a must for most everyone at Market.

What’s your favorite dessert, if you are going to splurge on something? Any plans to do some dessert eating this weekend?

Sheri hopingtofinishupProjectThreethisweekend.
Andmaybedessert.

It’s time to pull out the fall decorations and get into the spirit of things! (Well, first I need to find all of the fall decorations. They are still in unpacked boxes in the basement. I guess that’s good motivation for me to get down there.) I think Fall is my favorite season of all. I’m usually so tired of the heat and humidity of summer, and it feels good to get the house changed over to a cooler season. I try to stay out of cute shops until I’ve decorated the house with the things I already have. Otherwise, I tend to practice selective amnesia and think I actually need to buy MORE fall decorations. (Because, really, there are such wonderful fall decorations out there, and each year seems to get better than the next.) Do you decorate for Fall? And have you started doing that yet?

Here’s a wonderful recipe to throw into the crockpot on a cool day. This originally came from kalynskitchen (great recipes on her blog), and I stumbled across it on Pinterest.

Balsamic Pot Roast with Onions

3-4 lb. boneless chuck roast
1-2 Tbl. steak rub (I used McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak)
black pepper to taste (I will leave this out next time. The steak seasoning was enough.)
1-2 Tbl. olive oil
1/4 cup water
2-3 large onions, cut into thick rings.
1 cup beef stock that you then cook down to 1/2 cup
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Rub meat on both sides with steak seasoning (and black pepper, if desired). Add olive oil to a heavy skillet and brown both sides of the roast. Searing the meat will help to develop the flavor. The sugars and proteins on the surface undergo a change (called Maillard’s Reaction) that creates a richer, more nutty flavor. I browned each side for about 8-10 minutes.

Add the onion slices to your crockpot. The onions will help to hold the meat up out of the liquid for most of the cooking time, which is why you want to cut them so thick.

When the meat is done, add it to the slow cooker on top of the onions. In the pan where you browned the meat, deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of water, scrapping off all of the browned bits. Add the reduced beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and tomato sauce to the beef stock. Pour on top of the pot roast and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until meat is tender.

I made that a couple of weeks ago, and typing up the recipe makes me want to make it again. Yum. Off to the store for ingredients.

Have a great long weekend! Remember, Monday is a No-Mail-Monday here, so we’ll be busy getting all of your weekend orders out to you on Tuesday. I’m not sure if we’re doing a Monday Update or a Tuesday Update next week. I’ll blog on Monday if we put new things up, so keep an eye out.

Sheri whomightstealProjectThreefromGracieandworkonitthisweekend

We’re still celebrating our anniversary month! Since not everyone can win Wednesday’s blog contest, we do have a gift for each one of you today. We’ve had pattern designer Debbie O’Neill (from Nutty Creations) design an exclusive anniversary pattern for us each year, and this year is no exception. The new pattern – Banyan Tree – can be found here on my blog page under the Free Patterns section. I love the pretty lacy “leaves” at the top, turning into cabled “roots” going down into the foot. You’ll find the pattern has instructions for three sizes of socks. It’s written top down and includes a chart. We hope you like it! The design reminds me of all of the growth that has gone into The Loopy Ewe over the past five years, thanks to all of you and your support. We couldn’t do this without you and we promise to bring you fun new things and continued growth in the next five years, too. In the meantime, enjoy our fifth anniversary pattern!

I tried a new recipe this week and wanted to share it with you. So easy, so pretty, and so fun for summer.

Fruit Sugar Cookies

1 tube of slice and bake sugar cookies
(or your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
1 (8 oz) box of cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbl. frozen lemonade concentrate
fresh fruit

Slice and bake the cookies and then let them cool completely.

Whip together the cream cheese, sugar and lemonade concentrate until smooth. Spread some on each cookie and top with fresh fruit slices.

Note – you can make up the cookies and cream cheese ahead of time, but don’t spread the cream cheese mixture onto the cookies until about an hour or two before serving. Refrigerate until serving.

We have winners to announce for our Camp Loopy Project One participants! We had 754 photos uploaded, which still astounds me. Such gorgeous work. The Reader’s Choice Award goes to Shannon for her Starlight Shawl. Then we used the random number generator to pick four more winners and they are: Tami (Camp Loopy Daybreak), Debbie (Camp Loopy Project #1 Deer Cape), Elizabeth (Camp Loopy Project 1) and Jennifer (Taygete). Each of the winners has received a $25 Loopy Ewe credit and I know they’ll use it well.

Have a great weekend. I’ll be working on my Project Three throw. How about you?

Sheri kindofantsytoknitupanewpairofsocks,though