…. you go to Starbucks and see that Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back on the menu. (And Pumpkin Spice Scones!)

…. you see big yellow buses driving through the neighborhoods.

.… the air has lost a bit of “humid” and gained a bit of “nip”, even if it’s not enough nip to require long sleeves or a coat, yet. (Believe me, I’m so ready for nip that I’m hyper-aware of it sneaking in, a few degrees at a time.)

…. the tree in the front yard has a yellow leaf. Not a bunch. Just one. But that’s a sign. 

…. the idea of an evening walk around the neighborhood sounds fun, (well, ok, as fun as exercise ever sounds) instead of sounding like a trip to the sauna.

…. the newspaper starts talking about flu vaccines.

…. the school supply aisles are full of brand new things (and you might feel compelled to buy a new box of crayons, even though you’re forty-something too old to color.)  Although this box did make me think that having a good yarn stash full of beautiful colors is just as important as an artist with a palette full of paints, or a five year old with a new box of crayons – preferably the big size. 

…. the list of “what I’m knitting for people for gifts this year” gets pulled out and doodled upon. Note: knitting doesn’t have to be started yet. Just the list. Does anyone have their list done yet? What’s on it?

How do YOU know when Fall is coming to your part of town?

Sheri thecrayonswereonlyaquarter,ofcourseIhadtobuyapack.

We’re in Portland! We arrived on Tuesday evening and got up early Wednesday morning to ….. run errands. Well, we couldn’t get in to start setting up our booth until 1 pm, so we went shopping instead. It seemed like a good use of our time.

When we found our booth space, it was almost impossible to get into it because of all of the boxes of stuff that we shipped out there. We blocked the whole thing. (Which led me to believe that we would never fit it all in the booth, but I was proved wrong. We have those red tables full of re-stocking yarns and accessories underneath, but we did manage to fit it all in!) We spent 9 hours setting up on Wednesday and a few more hours today. Here is the finished booth (with Susan and Knitting Daughter posing.) Loopy Groupie Lou saw it and called it “Loopy Lite”. Lou has been at Loopy Central for Spring Fling shopping and she thought it was like we had taken that and recreated it in a miniature version. I think she’s right. It feels very “Loopy” to me, from the red carpet to the red and white shelves, to the socks and Loopy presiding over all!

Last night the Marketplace was open for just two hours for students (people who were signed up to take classes) and teachers. It was crazy busy and the two hours were over in a blink. So far, the best part of being here has been meeting our awesome Loopy customers in person! It was like a family reunion at times, as we recognized so many names. The other fun part is seeing all of the famous sock designers in attendance. Nancy Bush, Charlene Schurch, Barbara Walker, Meg Swanson…. and a whole bunch more. And of course we always love connecting with Mary-Heather, Sarah, Casey and Jess from Ravelry.

I wish I had time to take all of the classes. (I did joke with Claudia in Germany that the next time I ought to just bring Wollmeise, sell out the first day, and then take classes and play the rest of the time – ha!  And then I realize what I’m saying and wise up. I’d fear for my life with a booth full of Wollmeise.)

Today is a long day at the Marketplace. The shopping is open from 8:30 – 6:30 and we’re looking forward to meeting a whole bunch more of you. I’ll post again when I can.

For those of you waiting on orders, remember that when we do a sale like we’re doing this week, the orders can take an extra day or two to ship. (And the poor Elves we left behind are working like mad to keep up with them all.) Just know that it’s all in process!

Sheri headingoutforStarbuckstostarttheday

I hope you all had a great weekend and got some knitting time in. I feel like I lost my knitting mojo for a week and it bothered me. Have you ever lost your desire to knit?  What did you do to get it back?  I’m thinking that a week isn’t anything to worry about, but still. It was weird. I knit yesterday again and was fully into it, happy to be back at it.  But all last week? Didn’t feel like it. At all. I had time in the evenings to knit, and I never picked anything up. I think what snapped me out of my knitting-stupor was playing with yarn at Loopy on Friday. We’re always re-arranging the yarn to make room for something that has just arrived, and I was doing a bunch of that. I kept thinking, “This is such GREAT yarn. I need to make something out of this!”  It wasn’t one particular yarn that I was comtemplating, but every single yarn that I was moving. (Because, you know, we don’t stock any yarn that I don’t love!) So I think that playing in your stash (yet another reason to HAVE a stash), or poking around The Loopy Ewe (whether in person or on line), is a good way to un-stupor yourself.

It’s going to be a nice calm week here at Loopy. We finished up Sock Summit stuff last week (more on that in a minute) and we have a week of peace before we head out to Portland. We’ll be working on getting all of your Anniversary Kit orders out in the next few days.  Thank you for such a great response to the kit! I’m so happy that you like it and also happy that they lasted through the weekend and so many of you had a chance to get one. We had 600 available and we have less than 5 left as I write this.(So if you’re still pondering, ponder quickly.) Edit: Now gone. Since it lasted a few days, we won’t have to do a re-run. It’s always my desire to have things last at least a few days, here. I have high hopes that one day the Numma Numma/Bugga/Wollmeise knitting wells will be filled enough for us to be able to actually STOCK those lines, and not just have them visit briefly for 10 minutes, every month or two!

My hubby was in charge of shipping our inventory and fixtures to The Sock Summit last week. It all had to be crated and put on palettes, and we needed a dock for the truck to pick it up. His work location was a perfect place to do all of that. He said that when he called to schedule the pick up, they asked what was in the shipment and he had to repeat “yarn” three times before they got it. Finally the lady said, “Wait – you mean yarn …. like KNITTING yarn??”  People continue to underestimate knitters, don’t they?

We have gorgeous naturally-dyed Earthly Hues and brilliantly colored Spirit Trail Fiberworks going up in the Sneak Up tonight. YUM.

Sheri flowerphotofrommyquicktriptoFLtwoweekendsago 

I know, I know. You’re supposed to bring your kids up so that they have wings to fly on their own – and that’s a good thing. (That’s a good thing. That’s a good thing.) I really appreciated all of your comments on last week’s blog (and all of you who sent personal emails about it, too). Each new stage takes a little getting used to, but I know that things all work out in the end. Like many of you, WH and I are pretty attached to our kids. I remember when it was hard to send them off to camp or on a mission trip for a week in the summer. (FPS. Now that seems so laughable!) Then we had to get used to having them off to college and “only” getting to see them every month or two when they had a break or a long weekend. (FPS. Now that seems like a luxury.) Having Web Guy move 18 hours away and not having the chance to see him as often is sad. But I know we’ll all adjust. (WH and I will adjust. Web Guy has already completely adjusted just fine, of course.) I think of all the situations that we could be facing instead, and I know I’m lucky that this is how things are. He has a great job (Deerfield Beach, FL area, for those of you who asked), he has a nice apartment to live in (and I’m really glad that I got to see it this weekend), and he’s happy. It’s all good. And he will definitely continue on as Web Guy at The Loopy Ewe. We couldn’t do this business without him!

I kept my mind occupied on the flight home last night by immersing myself in a murder mystery. That kept the tears at bay! (Crimson Eve by Brandilyn Collins. I read the first two books in the series in Colorado.) Have I mentioned how much I love the Kindle that I got for my birthday this past February? I’ve read more books over the past 5 months than I have read in the past 5 years. Wendy told me that I can also download my knitting patterns onto my Kindle, but I haven’t done that yet. It’s great to be able to take a bunch of books on a trip, and have them all fit in that little Kindle. It’s also great to not have books to store in my  house any more. I was out of book cases, and this seems like a very tree-friendly alternative.

Now that I’m back, we’re in full-tilt Sock Summit mode. We have boxes and boxes (and boxes) of fun things to freight out there. The truck leaves on Wednesday. Then we’ll turn our attention to boxing up anniversary kits. When we get back from the Summit (the first weekend in August), we’ll have our Third Anniversary kits ready for you, as well as a few other fun things. It’s going to be a great Fall around here, so get ready!

Wednesday – check back for our July Blog Contest and to vote on Challenge Socks. I’m still approving photos for that gallery. I love seeing all of the socks that you have done to challenge yourself!

Sheri alsoworkingonSneakUpStuffalittlelatertonight 

This week, one of my friends and I were having a conversation about the fact that …. well …. people are weird. Not me and not you, but “people”. The others. Take, for example, this article that I tore out of the St. Louis Post Dispatch awhile back. I knew I’d need to share it with you eventually. It was entitled, “Bugs: Don’t squish ‘em’; live with ‘em.” The premise of the article is, “Why can’t people and bugs coexist? Isn’t there room for everyone?” Here’s one excerpt:

“Consider the cockroach. Traditionally despised, squashed at every opportunity, they are in fact easy-going and intelligent with distinctive personalities, and not at all difficult to train. Once you show them your intentions are friendly and you have tasty food to share they’ll actually come out from their hiding places when you call them. With very little encouragement they’ll give back as much as they take.”

Who knew? Cockroaches can be trained to come when you call them. (Seriously? Who figured that out? That’s WEIRD.)

Then there is this paragraph, which was even more disturbing:

“Mr. G.H. of Abilene, TX writes me about an ant training experiment he’s been working on for the last five years. Every evening before bed he spreads refined sugar over his stomach, being careful to leave a thin trail of it from his bed to a known ant colony behind his baseboard. At first the ants were shy, but now when Mr. G.H. comes into his bedroom the workers rush out excitedly. The colony has grown quite large, and recently sent out a flight of queens inside the house – a sure sign of trust.”

I think that pretty much confirms my “people are weird” statement. (And it probably confirms that The St. Louis Post Dispatch has some weird articles, too.)

Anything weird going on around you today?

Sheri whocouldn’tstandputtingaphotoofacockroachorantonthepost
soyougetaphotolessposttoday…Iknowyouappreciatethat

We’re working our way through two seasons of Numb3rs while we’re out here. Does anyone else watch that show? I want to move right in to Charlie’s Craftsman house. (Um, not for Charlie. Just for the decor. I’m a Craftsman/Mission Oak kind of person.) When the guys aren’t around, Knitting Daughter and I are knitting our way through the seasons of Seventh Heaven, this summer, too. Great show and it’s the longest running “family” show ever. It was on longer than The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. I like to watch movies or series when I knit. Right now I’m working on something that takes a little more concentration (my Challenge Socks) so I’m kind of in and out of what is going on. It doesn’t matter too much with Seventh Heaven, but it does matter when you miss sections of a Numb3rs episode. Oh, well. I keep thinking that I’ll listen to books on tape sometime while I knit (or knitting podcasts), but that never seems to happen. Do you prefer to just sit and knit, or listen and knit, or watch and knit, or none of the above?

Back to the Challenge Socks, the challenge was technically over yesterday (June 30th), but until I make a “last call” on photos for the Challenge Gallery, keep knitting. Photos will probably be due by 7/15. It has been really fun to see the incredible socks you all are coming up with.

Have you heard about Knit Grafitti? Check out this website. My favorite is the abandoned gas station. The bus they ride around in is not very subtle, is it?

Sheri HappyCanadaDaytoallofourLoopyCanadians!

P.S. Namaste’s new Hermosa Bags, Mini Clutches, and XL/XXL Pouches are up – check them out!