It was interesting to read your thoughts on getting a puppy in last week’s blog post. I appreciate all of you taking the time to weigh in. I broke down the cons:

1. “It’s a lot of work.” Having raised a puppy before, I do agree that it’s a lot of work. (But a lot of fun.) And I also agree that it makes more sense to train a puppy in the spring. Definitely.

2. “You and WH like to travel.” True. We do go off a bit on the weekends. Mostly we just do day trips for fun and adventure, but we do have the occasional weekend away to visit the kids. Fortunately, my folks and my brother all live in St. Louis and do great pet-sitting.

3. “You can’t leave it home all day.” Right. I would have to bring the dog to work (maybe I ought to find one that looks like Loopy?) and I know there are varying opinions on a dog in a yarn shop. This is a big place, though, so no one would be tripping over the dog. There is a dog who comes to work with one of the guys who works upstairs in our building. (Archie. He’s a Welsh Corgi, I think. The dog. Not the guy.)

4. “What would your cats do with a dog?” Gracie and Zoe like dogs. Well, Gracie would hide for a few days, but then she’d get over it. Actually, if she was out on the screen porch birdwatching when the dog arrived, she wouldn’t even notice it. She loves her birdwatching. She sits in that chair and watches the birds land on those birdfeeders a couple of feet in front of her, and her day is complete. And Zoe would put that puppy in its place the minute it walked in the house. She’s a 5 lb. bundle of  ”Alpha Cat”, which would then translate to “Alpha Pet”. No worries at all about Zoe.

But …. I’m thinking we won’t get one. At least not at this point in our lives. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and the cons still outweight the pros. (However, if I show you a photo next week of “our new dog”, please play along with me and don’t remind me about this conversation.) I really am more of a cat person, I think. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person? I know some of you are both!

Now I’m off with my knitting and my recipes, to visit Web Guy in Florida for a long weekend. (Woohoo!) We have some 2010 website planning to tackle, and I’ll be doing some cooking to fill up his bachelor freezer. I’ll be back with you next week, and will tell you how it went.

Sheri sothankfulthattheElveswillbeheregettingyourordersout
whileI’mgone!IlovethoseElves….

We are celebrating Veteran’s Day here in the U.S., a day to honor all of those who have served in the military. Whether you live here or in countries far from here, most all of us know someone who has been a part of serving their country at one time or another.

I was curious as to how this day came to be, so I did some research. Back in 1918, World War I ended with the implementation of an armistice (temporary cessation of hostilities until the final peace treaty could be signed in 1919) at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November.  In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the first official “Armistice Day” to honor those who had died in service to their country. The idea was that all businesses would stop for two minutes at 11:00 am on 11/11 to honor these people.

In 1921, Congress passed legislation declaring 11/11/21 a legal Federal holiday to honor all who had participated in the war. In the 20’s and 30’s, most states established 11/11 as a legal holiday, and the President gave an annual proclamation to observe this at the Federal level.

In 1938, Congress passed legislation making 11/11 a permanent legal Federal holiday, Armistice Day. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed legislation to change the name to “Veteran’s Day”. During the 60’s and 70’s, the observance varied between state to state, from the 4th Monday of October to November 11th. In 1978, the celebration was moved back to November 11th for everyone.

I’m sure that I learned about the history of this day as I went through school, but I didn’t remember how it came to be. I’m glad that we have a day to stop, remember, and honor.

Sheri includedinthisFederalholidayisnomailservice.
We’llgetbacktothattomorrowforyou.

Ok. I’ve always said that I like rainy, cloudy days. I’ve always thought that I’d like to live in Seattle with their ratio of sun to cloud (and good coffee stands). I’m hereby declaring that I’m done with rain and clouds. Possibly forever. Our annual number of rainy days is 111. Seattle weighs in with 150. (And if you go to Quillayute, WA,  you get 209 days.) I couldn’t find it anywhere, but I’m pretty sure we have already flown by 111 and it’s still October.  I’m actually tired of rain and clouds. I never thought I’d see the day. So far this week: Sunday? Cloudy and rainy. Monday? Cloudy and rainy. Today? Cloudy, no rain yet. Tomorrow? Cloudy and rainy. Friday? Cloudy and rainy. Saturday? Partly sunny, but we’re driving to Ohio for a wedding. The forecast there for Saturday? Cloudy and rainy. It’s enough to drive a person batty.

This morning I woke up and thought that I really need a pair of yellow socks for a day like today. There might be no sunshine outside, but there ought to be sunshine in the knits. I found lots of options (and hey – look – they fashioned themselves into a sun!). Yellow is definitely a “Frank” color for me. I wear more “Marthas”. If St. Louis is going to pretend to be Seattle every year, then I will need to add more Franks to my sock stash. I do have a beautiful pair of red/orange Wollmeise socks that a friend knit for me. Those are my favorite Franks. But I still need to make Sunshine Socks for these cloudiest of days weeks months. And I think I need to carry them around in this sunshine-y bag. What is your most favorite BRIGHT pair of Frank socks? Or do you live in one of those near-constant sunshine areas and you need more calm/cool/Martha pairs?

Sheri goodthingitissobrightandcolorfulhereatLoopyCentral
Thatmakesthingscheerfulevenonthegrayestofdays

I’ve learned some things this week. That’s always a good thing, right? I’m trying to be on top of the techno-stuff, because I think it’s important. Consequently, we’ve had some construction going on (inside and out, as it turns out). Here are a few things I’ve learned:

1. A “Group” and a “Page” are different on Facebook. Our “Fans of The Loopy Ewe” that I told you about earlier this week, is a Group. Web Guy pointed out that I should have an official “The Loopy Ewe” Page on Facebook, because “we can do more with it”. So as of this morning, we now have an official Loopy Ewe Page! This Page will be good for me to talk to you and for you to talk back to me. This is the place where I will do the postings about things going on at Loopy Central. (Sneak Up Previews, knitting woes and wonders, and anything else going on in the shop.  I’ll do an occasional contest there, too.) You do have to click and become a fan of the page if you want the updates to show up, even if you’re already a member of the other group that I mentioned the other day. I’ve already added in some news about recent arrivals! (My own Facebook page has a little Loopy stuff and a lot of regular life stuff. Feel free to friend me on there if you’re interested in that, too!)

What I learned: Talk to Web Guy first before jumping into something….

2.  You can hide things on your Facebook homepage. (My friend Janice showed me that last weekend.) It’s not that I’m not interested in your Bejeweled Blitz level or what color M&M you are, but all of those apps do take up a lot of space on that page. Now I’ve closed the apps and I get to actually read about YOU and your status messages. I like that!

What I learned: I really know so little about Facebook.

3.  Twitter continues to be a big thing. I don’t really get it, but I get that other people get it and like it. Therefore, we’re linking The Loopy Ewe Facebook page to our Loopy Ewe Twitter account. (Remember, I said I’m trying to stay on top of the important techno stuff.) If you like getting status updates via Twitter, feel free to add us to your Twitter list.

What I learned: Twitter is important to many people. Maybe I’ll eventually get it. But we’ll be on there for those of you who like it.

4. While we’ve been busy making these technology changes inside Loopy, the street crew has been busy making changes on the street outside our building. (Remember this summer when they cut through our phone lines? Yep. It’s still the same project going on out there.) Now they are breaking up the entire street. With this. And I swear, they drill down several feet, then they bring the jackhammer head up, move it over 6 tiny inches, and repeat. Consequently, it took them the entire day yesterday to do about half a block. Our brick building shakes like we’re having earthquake tremors.

What I learned: Jackhammers give me a headache.

(Edit – for those who were concerned: I will continue to blog regularly and participate in the Loopy Groupies on Ravelry – no worries!  Facebook and Twitter are additions, not substitutions. I promise.)

This month’s contest question: What’s one lesson you have learned lately? Leave your comment below and I’ll draw the winners next Wednesday. I saved some Wollmeise for the prize!

Sheri nowtiredfromallofthistechnology.Imayneedanap.

We had a fun weekend in Chicago! We met our favorite friends Steve and Janice for the weekend, so that Janice and I could go to Stitches Midwest to celebrate my hubby’s birthday on Sunday. I love Chicago. I spent my first two years in college in the Chicago area and there is lots to do and see. We decided that we don’t travel up there often enough, so we’ll be back! Here are a few photos from the weekend.

On the way up, we stopped at an antique store somewhere in IL. This was the statue out front. (??) He was about 3 stories tall and … eating an ice cream cone. I still don’t understand it.  Maybe I’m not supposed to. I found a nice shelf (formerly a drying rack of some sort) for my office. I’m running out of places to put yarn samples in here.

Up in Schaumberg, we stayed in a hotel that just happened to be near the Ikea store. (And I love Ikea!) In fact, this picture was taken out our hotel window. I zoomed in a little, but not much. I was happy to be so close. We made that our first stop of the evening, followed by dinner at Big Bowl. Yum.

On Saturday, Janice and I headed over to the Convention Center to shop at the Stitches Marketplace. Lots of booths, lots of yarn, and lots of fun people to see. I didn’t buy a single skein of yarn, but I did find two cool baskets and a sweater patttern.

While we were shopping, the guys were spending the day downtown. It was gorgeous weather. If you click on the Cloud Gate photo here to make it bigger, you’ll see Paul and Steve taking pictures of themselves in the reflection.  They were having so much fun downtown that Janice and I beat them back to the hotel and got in a couple of hours of knitting before they showed up to take us out to dinner.

Sunday was Paul’s birthday and we celebrated by going out for a great breakfast at Richard Walker’s Pancake House. I wish we had those in St. Louis.

After telling Steve and Janice goodbye, we headed over to the Renegade Craft Fair and scouted out the fun items for sale. There were over 300 vendors and it definitely wasn’t your typical craft fair. Lots of unique things.

Today we’ve been busy getting out your weekend orders, unpacking a ton of boxes that UPS and the mailman brought, and getting things set for the update tonight. (Check out what just went up. New colors of Mini Mochi, a new cool yarn that I love – Panguipulli – from Araucania, Wendy’s shawl patterns, and more.) Later this week I’m doing a big Cascade restock, so if you’ve been waiting on some colors to return, they’re coming.

Lastly, come join our “Fans of The Loopy Ewe” group on Facebook. I’ll keep you updated there on things as they arrive, and we’ll have some fun Facebook contests as we go along.

Sheri didyoudoanythingfunthisweekend?

I was reading through Twist Collective again, and read Ann and Kay’s article on Stash. (Read it here – great article). Sidenote: am I the only one who clicks through the patterns and sometimes forgets to read the articles? I’ve been thinking a lot about stash lately. From how I want to store/display it, to how much I want/need to have and how it ought to be organized. Ann and Kay’s article helped me to figure out what I did right, what I did wrong, and where I want to go from here, in terms of stash-building. Here were their points:

1. “Don’t buy single skeins.” As a sock knitter, my stash is full (full full full) of single skeins. Not only are single skeins great for socks, but they also come in handy for scarves, mitts, cowls and hats. Single skeins are great. Having said that, I did purchase an expensive single skein of fancy-yarn-with-beads while on a trip, and it continues to sit in my stash more than a year later. I still love it, but I ought to have purchased two skeins in order to make something out of it. (It was too expensive. I would never have purchased two. Instead, I wasted money on one, because I’m smart that way. FPS…) I think Ann and Kay were speaking about this exact problem. Single skeins of sock yarn are A-ok. Single skeins of pricey yarn “because it’s so pretty and wouldn’t it be fun to make something with it but you have no idea what” – not ok.

2.  ”Figure out what your flour and sugar yarns are.” Now this was a great point. What are the yarns that you will use and knit for the rest of your life because they’re just that perfect for you? I have a good list of what these are for me. Each of us will have a different list. I do find that I tend to put more semi-solids on my list (or those yarns – like Dream in Color and String Theory – that have other colors in them but they knit up looking more solid than stripey or pool-y.). I will always like these colors, and you can’t go wrong with the yarn bases, either. I’ll go heavier on these in my stash, and a little lighter on the “seasoning yarns” – those that have multi-colors that might be popular now, but I might not like in 3 years. (Well, heck – if you hold on to your stash for 20 years, you know those colors will come around again eventually. Can you believe that 80’s styles are coming back into fashion this fall?)

3.  ”Don’t buy discontinued yarn.” I agree. Unless you really really love it and have plans for it right now. I’d go a step further and say that you ought to be very careful of sale and clearance yarns, too. (Unless it’s one of your flour and sugar yarns.) When I look at the yarns that I’m no longer happy with in my stash, 80% of them were purchased on sale and I bought them because they were “such a good deal and I know I’ll figure out something to use them for.” It’s never a good deal if they just sit there, taking up space.  I’ve learned that the hard way.

Now that I have a game-plan, I am going to spend time figuring out how to make a better stash for myself. I have plenty to get rid of, some that I want to expand (I love the flour and sugar idea, and I’m always up for single skeins of sock yarn), and some that will be tucked into a “use or lose” bin for another 6-9 months. Now I need to do the same figuring with knitting patterns, books and magazines. Any ideas? And what are your flour and sugar yarns? Have you ever given it a thought?

Sheri ifIgetridofsomebadstashyarnitmeansIcanaddinmoregoodstashyarn,right?