Have you seen this? This nice picture of the Mona Lisa…

… was made from 3604 cups of coffee (with differing amounts of milk added to each cup to create the different tones and shades.) It measured 20 feet high by 13 feet wide and was created for The Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia – a coffee-lovers event.

And look – apparently you can paint with coffee, too. Who knew? (I think I’ll stick to drinking it while I knit.)

We received another batch of ChiaoGoo Lace needles in yesterday and put them up on the website – just in case you’ve been waiting for them.

Sheri nowsuddenlyneedingtobrewacup.Andknit.

We’re busy getting things pulled together to move the shop cross-country, and we decided to put all patterns and all Mary Hadley Pottery on sale this week for 20% off. We’d rather ship it to you than ship it to Colorado! (We’ll re-stock the patterns and pottery again once we get everything moved out here. We’re not dropping those lines.) If you’ve had your eye on some interesting patterns or a cute Hadley Loopy Groupie pin, mug or yarn bowl – now is the time to pick one up.

We also have a new exclusive colorway from Studio June for you called Loopy’s Colorado Christmas. Jill did this on her 8-ply Eight Bells base – a heavy fingering weight with 400 yds. to the skein (shown here). I love how it turned out. This would be great for socks, a one-skein shawl, or a pretty hat and mitts.

We put the rest of our second batch of The Sanguine Gryphon’s anniversary yarn up (shown here – Colorado Hairstreak). This is our very last batch of Sanguine Gryphon, as the two partners are stopping that business at the end of this year and moving on to pursue their own things. We still have a few more colors of Bugga, Skinny Bugga, and Mithril Lace in stock, but when that’s gone, there won’t be any more.

We won’t’ have an official update next week (or for a couple of weeks) but we will be adding a few more re-stocks in the next week or so. I’ll post on Facebook when we add those things in and will also add it to the blog.

Sheri whosnuckthisblogpostinLATEtoday.Shhhh.

Today is Veterans Day – a day in which we celebrate the people who have served our country in war, for the freedoms that we enjoy. Here is a picture from Arlington National Cemetery.

From the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs comes this explanation, which I have paraphrased: World War I officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. However, fighting actually ceased months earlier when an armistice (or temporary cessation of hostilities) went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918 is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars”. In 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11th as the first commemoration of Armistice Day, honoring the veterans of World War I. In 1954, President Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation, making the November 11th holiday a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John F. Kennedy

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” Cynthia Ozick

“Freedom is never free.”  Unknown

“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.” Jose Jarosky

“It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.”  Unknown

“Lord, bid war’s trumpet cease; fold the whole earth in peace.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

If you have served, have a family member who has served, or have someone currently serving – thank you.

Sheri

(This also means that there is no mail today. We’ll get orders out on Monday!)

9/11 taught me:

- to think about, pray more for, and honor those families who daily make sacrifices for our freedom.

- to appreciate the firefighters and policemen who work tirelessly to protect our lives.

- to treasure each day as it comes, because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

For me, it’s not about one day to remember. It’s about the lessons that terrible day taught me and the way that it has changed my outlook, every day of the year.

For ten years now.

I know that it has done the same for many of you. We remember.

Sheri

I loved being back at Loopy and shopping for yarn last week. (I mean shopping for yarn for ME. Of course I have continued to do a lot of yarn shopping and ordering for all of YOU while I’ve been in Colorado.) As predicted, I picked up 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Solemate, 3 skeins of Madtosh Pashmina, 2 skeins of Madtosh Sport, and a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock. You know all of those order notes you leave us that say, “Please pick a colorful skein” or “Please match these really well, I’m making a sweater”? I actually emailed the Elves with a couple of these requests (like the LL Solemate in our exclusive Colorado color, since I knew they’d sell out) and found myself adding the same thing to my notes. “Please pick me a good one!” Which is silly, because one thing the Elves ALWAYS do is pick out good skeins and match them very very carefully, whether you leave an order note or not. But I fell right into that trap and added a note. I know they rolled their eyes at me. They don’t roll their eyes at you, but they know that I know better.

Here is the start of my sock out of Devon, that has completely derailed my Project Three work. (Pattern is Vog On). When the sock is done, I’ll be sure to take a photo that shows the striping going on in the plain knitting along the back of the sock. I love how it’s working out. (Remember, it’s hard to capture teal correctly. This makes it look a little more yellow than it is. The photo I showed on Monday’s blog is the correct color. And it’s also the reason that I pay someone else to take our official website photos and spend time color correcting them….) I haven’t knit a sock in forever. The last one I knit and blogged was back in February. I did make another one after that, however it’s still under cover and unbloggable. But it was right around the same time. No wonder I was in the mood to knit some socks.

There’s another reason that I have laid aside my Project Three. While I love the yarn and the way it’s working up, so does someone else. Every time I turn around, there’s Gracie, snoozing on it. I kept it in my project bag for awhile, but she would go to the bag and try to dig it out. She doesn’t do this with merino or cashmere. It’s always alpaca. She has a thing for alpaca. (Hmm – I wonder what she’d do if I introduced her to a real one?) The next time I want to make a blanket of any kind, I’ll turn away from the Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes, and will head for the Cascade 220. FPS. Given the fact that I’m having fun on the sock and I have a whole new stash of yarn to play with, Gracie can claim dibs on the afghan-in-the-making for a bit longer. I guess I could always make one for her, but that would make her even more spoiled, I think. If you have pets – have you ever knit for them?

Sheri Zoelikesblanketstoo,butshedoesn’tlimitherselftoalpaca

I’ve had fun collecting old sock blockers for several years now. I have them in several spots around The Loopy Ewe. I’m to the point where I look for longer and more unusual ones when I’m poking around in antique stores these days. I’m not sure how many I need, but I probably have close to enough!  Here are some of my favorites:

I also like the hand carders in that last photo. Those belonged to my husband’s grandmother, so they’re even more special. Here’s a good video, if you want to see how they are used.

Another thing I like – unusual old wooden hangers. These have found their way into displaying shawls and sweaters here at Loopy. I like the combination of old wood and bright new yarn.

For those of you who like old things, do you have any favorite items that you’re always watching for? (And more importantly, am I missing out on any old knitting items that I ought to be collecting??) I think old sock machines and old wooden winders are cool, but they take up more room and aren’t as easy to incorporate into displays.

Sheri noroomathomeforthesecollections.
GoodthingIhaveLoopy.