How was your weekend? What did you eat and what did you knit? I’m hoping you had a relaxing time. I love 4 day weekends and we don’t get nearly enough of them here in the States. We had a whirlwind of travel (and made it a 5 day weekend – even better!)  First, we drove up to Chicago on Wednesday for the wedding of one of Web Guy’s friends. He and Sarah have been good buddies since early elementary school, so of course we wanted to be there for her wedding. What a special way to start the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. (My photo of the happy couple is blurry, so instead you get a photo of Web Guy and Sarah!)

Then we drove over to my mother-in-law’s house in Clinton, Iowa, for a nice Thanksgiving dinner and a few days of rest and relaxation. Here she is with Web Guy and College Daughter:

And a photo of the kids with me and hubby.

This is the town where WH and I grew up, and one of the best things about Clinton, Iowa is Eagle Point Park. My house was about a block from here, and we rode our bikes through this park (and visited this stone tower in the park) just about every day in the summertime.

You get some great views of the Mississippi River from up there.

The other great thing about Clinton, Iowa is Rastrelli’s Sausage Pizza – nothing like it in the world. We have it every time we visit, but I didn’t get a photo of it. You just have to taste that sausage in person!

I did some knitting and revised my to-knit list (which happens all the time. How often do you revise your list?) We got back to St. Louis last night and suddenly the Fall decorations around my house seem hopelessly past their prime. Time to get the Christmas things up. But first, we’re working on ALLLLL of the orders you put in here at The Loopy Ewe over the long weekend, and then the new stuff we have for you in tonight’s update, including a new indie dyer! As always, we’ll have details on Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry tonight when the new things go up.

But what I really want to know is this – is your house decorated for the holidays, yet? Am I already behind for the season?

Sheri wholovedthecoldChicagoandClintonweather

Did you know that today is National Coffee Day? I think you’re allowed to celebrate by drinking coffee, or by buying coffee-flavored ice cream, or by ordering some lovely coffee-colored yarn for a new project. (Or hey – all three. Why not?) I celebrated by getting a new coffee mug. Well, not really. I bought the mug a month or so ago. Kind of a PRE-celebration, you know? Because I knew I’d need it. The thing I like about this mug (from my very favorite pottery place on etsy) is that it holds a Venti-sized coffee, and the mug keeps it much warmer than the paper cup that my Venti coffee comes in. It’s shown here with a regular sized mug, which holds about 12 oz.

The coffee story goes that an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi (way back in the 9th century) noticed the interesting effect that a certain berry (coffee berries) had on his goats. He began experimenting with the berries. From there, coffee made its way to being roasted and traded in Indian and European markets, with the first Starbucks coffee shop being opened in Constantinople in 1475.  Nowadays, we consume 400 billion cups of coffee a year. It’s a world commodity second only to oil. I hope Kaldi bought stock in all that.

I asked you to tell me about your favorite mug one time. (Note – that’s another mug from the same potter. Remember my mug problem?) Today, in honor of National Coffee Day, tell me about your favorite coffee. (Or if you’re a tea drinker, share your favorite tea.) On Friday, I’ll share a cookie recipe that would go very well with either tea or coffee.

Sheri headingouttocelebratebygettingabigcupofcoffee

We’ve talked about stashing before. Some of us you do have a yarn stash, some of you don’t. Some of us you wonder how people get along without a stash. Some of you wonder why in the world people want extra yarn sitting around. I went through my stash last weekend and pulled out a bunch of yarn that I no longer want or need in there. (Four big Loopy bags full. Gracie looks horrified by the whole thing, doesn’t she?)

The yarn that came out of the stash typically fell into 3 categories:

1. Yarn that someone gave me from their great aunt’s old stash. (Or their friend’s stash. Or their grandma’s rejects. Etc.)
2. Yarn that I bought on sale because “it was too good a deal to pass up”. (I’ve learned. Last weekend just reinforced that.)
3.  Yarn that I bought to see if we wanted to carry that line here at Loopy (and then decided against it).

I have a lot of sock yarn stash. It used to be THE thing that I loved to knit. Socks. Of course I still love to knit socks, but I have branched out. I really like all of the new shawlette patterns that use 350-450 yds. of fingering weight. It’s a perfect use for some of these colors that I still like, but will (realistically) probably not knit up into socks. Now I’m just as likely to look at a skein of fingering weight yarn as a potential shawl, instead of just as potential socks. Here’s one stash picture just so those of you who buy yarn from us every week, know that I’m just like you. I like having lots of choices and I love having a stash. (No, that’s not all my stash. I also have numerous plastic bins of it. I’m just not sure WH needs to see all of that in my blog. I have it strategically separated in different parts of the house so that one never sees the full extent of it. I think it’s better that way.)

Look what I found in my stash – one of the first skeins from Madelinetosh, when Amy was truly an indie dyer, doing this on her own. See – she even handwrote the label! This, I am keeping. Along with plenty of other skeins. And I found something else I like to knit – sweaters. So now I’m starting to stockpile yarn for future sweaters. Just this week, I took skeins of this and skeins of this for someday sweaters. (Yes, I realize they are both green. What can I say?) And guess what? I’m going to do a legitimate swatch for both sweaters. See? I did learn my lesson.

So I’m curious. For those of you who do have a stash of one kind or another, what do you figure you have the most of – Laceweight? Fingering weight? Sport? DK? Worsted? I’ll have a related question for you on Friday, along with our Sweater Challenge winners.

Sheri wholikesbeingsurroundedbycolorathomeandwork

Do you have any stitch dictionaries in your knitting library? I am somewhat of a stitch dictionary junky. I think I have most of them. I always have grand illusions of designing, and then I get bogged down with too many wonderful choices to play with. That didn’t stop me from being really excited when designer Debbie O’Neill told me that she was working on a new book – a stitch dictionary. I have always loved Debbie’s designs and knew the book would be great. (One of my very favorite Debbie designs is Celebratory Chevrons – free here on my blog. It’s one of the few sock patterns that I’ve chosen to knit more than once.) Last week, her publisher kindly sent me a copy of the new book – The Stitch Collection – and I dove in. Actually, it’s a slipcase with 5 smaller volumes tucked inside – Knit & Purl, Rib, Lace, Cables, and Specialty. 225 patterns in all. There are several things that make this one of my new favorites, and one that I will use frequently.

- I love the smaller sized books. Most stitch dictionaries are filled with every possible combination and they are big and heavy. Not something I would tuck into my project bag or take along on a trip. And a bit overwhelming to leaf through.

- I love that each page gives you a skill level and a drape level. Sometimes you don’t know how it will work from the photo, and I haven’t seen these ratings in other stitch dictionaries.

- Also different (and a real benefit), I like that each stitch is explained, along with particular characteristics: “It pulls in dramatically, but is very elastic. It will lie flat along the cast-on edge, but will tend to curl along the side edges.”

- I also appreciate the suggestions for use: “… can be used as an edge stitch for sweaters, hats, mittens or gloves, or as a panel or an overall pattern in an elaborate sweater.”

- And a few warnings on some, like: “This stitch pattern comes off the needles looking slanted, and a good blocking evens it out nicely. However, you may want to avoid using it across large areas because the larger the area, the harder it is to block out the slant.”

My only wish? I wish these were spiral bound. I think I will pop by Office Max and have mine done. (Do you do that with your favorite knitting books? I think it’s so handy to be able to open books all the way and have them lie flat when in use.) Also, there are no charts. But as someone who seldom knits from charts, that wasn’t a big deal for me. When I want to take written directions and turn them into charts, I’ve been using this program. Very easy to use, with great tutorials.

So all of this (stitch dictionaries, designing software) leads to the contest question of the month – have you ever tried to design something of your own to knit or crochet? Does the thought of it sound interesting, intimidating, or invigorating?  Leave your answer in the comments and we’ll use the random generator to draw winners for $30 Gift Certificates to The Loopy Ewe next week!

Sheri whothinkssomeofyouaredesignersandyoudon’tevenknowityet!

Kathy from MO had the best reason for not finishing her challenge sweater in time. Chickens. She wrote, “The summer challenge sweater was almost done-a short cardigan crocheted from DIC Classy Butter Peeps.  Then I discovered the chickens LOVED to watch me crochet.  So this past week, every day I did a few rows on the back as I sat outside with the flock.  The night before last I joined it all…and the back was twice as long as it should have been. I still cannot believe I over-crocheted the back because I was entertaining the chickens by crocheting.”  She even sent me pictures as evidence. I think that’s probably the best excuse I’ve heard yet, for not finishing by the deadline!  Note how one is particularly determined to get right into the middle of the situation. Or rather, on top of the situation.

I have the same problem. No, not with chickens. With Zoe, my cat. She loves curling up on my lap when I am knitting. If, heaven forbid, I should have my laptop on my lap for a bit, she sits on the arm of the chair and gives me the evil eye until I move it off to the table next to me and she can reclaim her spot. (Really – she can be quite intimidating with her eyes.) This photo was taken last summer while I was knitting my 100% Alpaca Girasole. There’s nothing quite like having a large throw on your lap, made out of 100% really really warm Alpaca, along with a furry, warm, purring cat, in the middle of 100 degree weather and 90% humidity. Special times.

So do you knit or crochet with pets that feel the need to be RIGHTTHEREWITHYOU while you work?

Sheri Idolikehavingalapcatinthewintertimewhenit’scold,though

Busy. And crazy. And then you throw in several appointments with yarn reps and a bunch of orders in and out, and getting ready to be gone for a week, and you have busycrazytothemax. That’s what this week has been so far. (On the plus side, I’m seeing and ordering some fun yarn for summer and fall. That’s always good, right?)

I did take time out to watch LOST last night. Of course there is no knitting during LOST. It’s too dangerous. I always end up messing up the pattern in one way or another. I am sad that this show is coming to an end on Sunday night. But on the other hand, it IS fun to see some of the quirks of the show coming together and making a little more sense, now that the end is near. Do you watch LOST? Or have you completely avoided the whole thing? We have watched it from the first season and I’m still not sure how it’s all going to end. It has never been predictable!

Next week, Knitting Daughter and I are going to Germany to visit Claudia, the Wollmeise and her family. We are so excited! We’ve been planning the trip for a long time and if anything like a volcano spewing ashes interrupts this, I will not be a happy camper. She has promised me a visit to her workshop (dye lesson, maybe?), and hanging out at her Wollmeise store next weekend. (Pretty sure I’ll find some yarn that I need. See those red couches? I’ll be sitting there, knitting.) We’ll also get in some shopping and some touring. My grandparents are from a town just a couple of hours from there, so we’re looking forward to visiting that. I’ll take pictures and tell you all about it when we get back. In the meantime, I’m working through this busycrazytothemax week and trying to maintain some semblence of order. I’m not sure it’s working.

Are you having one of those weeks, too? Or are you floating through a relaxing few days and enjoying the peace and quiet?

Sheri whohasacutenewbabysweatertoshowyouonFriday