It’s a busy week here, with 130+ people flying in for our annual Spring Fling Retreat. (Well, annual except that we took last year off, since we had just moved to Colorado and were still finding our way around here!) Of course since it’s April and it’s Colorado, we spiced things up a little by getting 20+ inches of snow in the past 48 hours. It’s really beautiful out there, and we definitely need the moisture. Here’s a picture of our yard at 6:30 am yesterday morning. Those poor trees are heavy laden! WH went out there and knocked some snow off after this photo. We swept off the deck once yesterday, and it filled right back up. Fortunately, it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow, and the snow will start melting quickly. But we’re enjoying it while it lasts.

I won’t be able to blog on Friday, but I’ll be back with you next week with a Fling report and photos, as well as a chance for you to win one of our Spring Fling Goodie Bags!

Sheri rememberingpastFlingsinSt.Louiswhereiswassohotandhumid.
Ilikethisweatherbetter!

Although it doesn’t look much like Spring (or Mother’s Day) out there, it’s coming right around the corner and we’re ready for it. We put together a special Mother’s Day Kit for you! (Or you can call it a Spring Kit, if you just want to buy one for yourself. Totally allowed.)

For this kit, we had Julie of Juliespins dye up a special color for us on her Glimmer base. Glimmer is a fingering weight yarn with 430 yards, 75″ Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon, and 5% Stellina. It has a little glimmer of silver running through the skein – just enough to catch the light.

We had cute mugs done up, and they come with a little dish that you can use for a coaster, for a lid (to keep your coffee or tea warm), or for a little catch-all container when you’re knitting (beads, darning needles, little scissors, stitch markers, etc). To round out the kit, we’ve added a sweet little sheep notepad and a Happy Spring stitch marker, made for us by Knit Girl in Idaho.

This yarn would be beautiful knit up in a shawl, scarf, cowl or mitts pattern. I’m planning on using my skein with the Little Jazz pattern that we shared with you a few years ago in one of our Club Kits. If you’d like a free copy of that to go along with your kit, just leave us an order note and we’ll email that to you when your kit ships out.

Since we had to pre-box these with plenty of packing to protect the mug, each kit must be shipped by itself and can’t be combined with other orders. For international shipments, we will do our very best at wrapping the mugs carefully but we can’t guarantee no breakage, so just know that you’re taking a risk. Unless you want us to come visit you and hand-deliver your kit? That would be fun.

We don’t have a regular Monday Update tonight, but we will be re-stocking Addi Turbo needles, Knitter’s Pride needles, Cascade 220, and Cascade 220 Superwash in the next day or two, if you’ve been waiting on any of that.

Sheri whohasbeenwatchingitsnowsinceearlyearlythismorning

Sometimes we get samples from imprinting companies, hoping that we’ll place an order for something with our name on it. Last week, we got sunglasses in the mail and a few of the Loopy Elves had fun with them. They wanted to see who looked best (and who got to keep the sunglasses). It was unanimous. We all decided Loopy looks best. He gets to keep them. (Although I think Jody, Cathy and Roberta all look great in them, too.) If you’re following us in Instagram, you saw this last week when we put it up there. We try to find something new to share with you every day on Instagram. Usually just a little peek behind the scenes at Loopy Central.

What else have we been sharing on Instagram?

We showed you the gorgeous Cassidy sweater (by Chic Knits) that Deb made out of Malabrigo Rios:

And Webcam Loopy’s new springtime outfit:

A secret project we’re working on for you:

And photo evidence of Loopy’s fondness for diving into the Tootsie Roll bag (and eating them):

There’s always something fun going on around here!  Have you been doing anything fun at your house this week?

Sheri reallycovetingDeb’sCassidysweater….

Well last week it felt like Spring with temps in the low 70′s. But this week? Not so much. Although our latest predicted blizzard didn’t come through on Monday night, it was just 10 degrees when I woke up this morning. Brrrr. Even though it’s not quite Spring on the outside, it’s spring on the inside here at The Loopy Ewe. (You know it’s official when we change the displays!)

Do you like my flowers? I used the Pompom Tool Kit to do these in a couple of different sizes, but of course you can also just cut a piece of cardboard the width you want it, then wrap the yarn around and around and around. (Much more yarn than you think, if you want the poms to look fluffy. And you do, of course.) I had seen stems made from twigs, but since we have a lot of vintage knitting needles on display around here, I thought they’d make a better stem. I just poked the pointy end through the top of the pom and a flower was born! I tried to make a couple of pom poms on a Christmas gift in December and my make-shift poms were just pathetic. That’s when I decided we needed the little kit. In addition to the flowers, I’ll be making some nice package poms with my leftover yarn bits and bobs, because who doesn’t like pom poms?

Is it feeling springier in your neck of the woods?

Sheri whoalsonoticedkeeled-overdaffodilsonthewaytoworkthismorning.Sad.

Here it is, a full week into April and we’re expecting 5 or more inches of snow tonight. I love it! We’ve had days of spring temperatures that have been lovely, but I do like the snow. This week will probably be the last week that we get it, so I’m enjoying it while I can. (But for all of your Spring Flingers who are coming here next week – bring something warm just in case!) We just put more pretty yarn up on the website for you. Don’t you love Mondays?  Tonight we added in:

Malabrigo Mecha - a brand new yarn base from Malabrigo! Mecha means single-ply in Uruguayan Spanish, and this Mecha is a bulky single-ply superwash merino. The superwash wool takes the color beautifully, and many of your favorite regular Malabrigo colors are available in this base, as well as a few new colors. You’ll love this yarn for hats, cowls, scarves, and fingerless gloves. We have it in 38 colors for you. (Shown above in Hojas). You might try it for: Iced, Roxy, Shawl Collared Cowl, Chickadee Cowl, Cranberry Sauce, or the Shawl Collar Vest.

Blue Sky Alpacas – we’ve also added a new yarn base. Their Worsted Cotton line is made of 100% certified organic cotton that creates a wonderfully soft yarn in a rich array of 34 colors. It would make a wonderful summer sweater or vest, as well as being great for kids clothes (although it is hand wash). And did I mention how soft it is?? (Shown here in Azul.) Need some pattern ideas? Try the Lotus Hat, Driftwood (which also reminds me of Shellseeker), Owl Hat for Kids, Tiramisu Baby Blanket, Small Things Sweater, or Que Sera.

Malabrigo Finito - re-stocks in a few more colors.

Spud and Chloe - we’ve re-stocked Sweater, Outer, and Fine in all colors.

Blue Sky Alpacas - we’ve re-stocked Skinny Cotton, Alpaca Silk, Worsted Hand Dyes, and Metalico.

Knitifacts Stitch Markers - more of those colorful ring markers that we all love. We have them in 13 different color palettes for you to choose from. They are sealed with seed beads, which means no open edges to catch your yarn. The rings fit needle sizes up to US 8 (5 mm) and come 20 to a pack (2 each of 10 colors). (Shown here in Seafoam.)

We will probably not have a Monday Update next week, since it’s Spring Fling Week here. But if some re-stocks arrive, we’ll get those up on the website during that time. If you follow us on Facebook, I’ll be sure to update there if we’re doing re-stocks.

Have fun checking out the new things and we’ll get your orders packed up and shipped off asap! 

Sheri windispickingup,snowshouldsoonfollow

Do you live near Fort Collins? Would you like to get in on some great classes? We just added our Summer Class Schedule to the website and we’d love to have you join us! We have classes going for beginners (Knitting, Crochet, Weaving, Spinning), and for more experienced knitters (Colorwork in hats and stockings, Double Knitting, Crochet Lace, and Tunisian Crochet). We also have Parent/Child classes, so if you have been wanting to learn with one of your kids, this is a great way to do it.

In addition to the regular class offering, we also have an opportunity for you to get in on some instructors that we are bringing in for our Spring Fling. The retreat is completely full, but we have a few extra class spots if you’re interested in joining us for some awesome classes.

Susan B Anderson is teaching her Fair Isle Hat Design class here at The Loopy Ewe on Wednesday evening, April 17th. The class will run from 6:30 – 9:30 pm, and you will be learning how to do two-handed fair-isle, while creating your own hat with personalized colors and stitch patterns.  Susan is the author of the popular Itty Bitty book series, as well as a former author of the Spud and Chloe blog. This is the first time we’ve had Susan as one of our Spring Fling instructors and we’re very excited that she’s coming!

Wendy Johnson is the author of the popular Wendy Knits blog and is the author of these great sock pattern books, as well as her lace pattern book (for all knitting levels). She has been an instructor at our Spring Flings several times and is always a popular teacher for us. She will be teaching her Sideways Lace Scarf and Shawl Design Class on Saturday morning, April 20, from 9 am – noon at The Embassy Suites, Loveland. She has designed numerous individual patterns in addition to her books, and says she has more pattern ideas than she’ll ever had time to write up. Come learn a great formula for designing your own patterns!

JC Briar is back to teach at her second Spring Fling, because of the outstanding reviews she received at her first Fling with us! (Things like, “She’s the best teacher I’ve ever had!” and “She makes things to easy to understand.”) She is the author of my favorite book about knitting from charts (Charts Made Simple), as well as having designed many individual patterns. She’s teaching her popular Cast-On Cornucopia class on Saturday afternoon, April 20 at The Embassy Suites in Loveland. If you find yourself using the same cast-ons over and over, get in on her class to liven things up a bit.

You can click on this link to sign up for these special classes, as well as our regular classes scheduled for this summer. You will also find the link on the homepage in the blue box under “In-Store Classes”. We hope to see you here soon!

Sheri planningtolearnafewcolorworktipsfromSusan’sclassmyself