College Boy has been busy on our website. We added in all of the photos received so far, and put the galleries up at The Loopy Ewe last night! There are several photo galleries. One is our Socks on Trees (and such). We wanted to make our sock photo galleries fun and a bit out of the ordinary, so we asked you to send us photos of your socks on trees for the gallery. What is the “and such” part? Well, some of you wrote and said that you have no trees, so could you send your socks on plants? And then some of you wrote and said that you don’t have trees or plants, so could you send your socks on rocks? Thus, Socks on Trees (and such). I loved how Janelle was creative with her socks on trees! As I was photographing some of mine, I thought maybe I ought to traipse around the neighborhood and find some other interesting trees. Then I envisioned knocking on the neighbors’ doors to ask if I could photograph my socks on their trees, and, well…. it stopped there. Maybe not such a good idea. (I scratched the idea of taking all of my socks and sock blockers down to the Botanical Gardens, too, although it would have been very fun to use their trees.) I hope you all come up with a lot more ideas for your socks on trees, and keep adding them to the gallery! (Note – be sure that the sock yarns in the photos you send, are socks yarns we sell at The Loopy Ewe. I don’t want to frustrate people by giving them ideas and then not providing them with the supplies!) Click on any photo in the gallery to see it up close and get more information on it.

We also have a photo gallery of things made up from Sock Yarns, But Not Socks. You know, sock yarns are so much fun to knit with, and you can make all kinds of things. Send us photos of the items you have knit up with sock yarns so that we can share them with others for inspiration. (Good books with ideas for just such a thing: Not Just Socks and Not Just More Socks.) Check our Ann’s wonderful shawl from Claudia Hand Painted. You will notice that I have Casey and Zoe in my photos. You can pose anyone (or anypet) with your knitted items in this section. They might become famous.

Have you ever wondered how other people store their yarn? Or what their knitting rooms or corners look like? Our third gallery, Knitting Nooks & Storage Ideas, gives you a peak into some of these knitting areas, and it also gives you some fun storage ideas for your stash. We need more photos, so snap a few pictures of your ideas or space and put them on the gallery.

The last gallery has photos and copies of all the recipes I have shared on the blog so far. Now, remember that I’m not a food sytlist and some of the photos could use some good photoshop work. But – I’d rather be knitting. So for the most part, you get them as I took them. (Unless WH gets a hold of them and just has to tweak colors a bit.) The idea behind sharing good recipes on a knitting blog/website? Well, some are quick and easy – thus allowing you to cut your dinner preparation time and do more knitting. Others are just really wonderful desserts – thus buying you “extra credit” with the family, and allowing you more knitting time because “you deserve it, after that wonderful dish you made for us tonight.” Just sayin’.

Jen in Ohio wondered if I really indeed meant Socks on Trees, or could I possibly have meant Socks on Wii’s?? (And since we’re still trying to find a Wii here as part of an “owed” Christmas gift, I would just as soon she had sent the Wii itself. But it did crack me up when the photo came through!) Back to the galleries – the best part of it is that you can add photos to the galleries yourself. Simply go to your Loopy Ewe Account and click on the button that says “Add a photo” under My Photos. You’ll then be able to add the title (Use the line of sock yarn for the name – Claudia Hand Painted, Yarn Pirate, Lorna’s Laces, etc) and can add a description if desired. You’ll attach your photo and then send it on its way. It stops by my mailbox before being posted, so that I can double check everything, and then it will go up. Easy as pie.

Huge thanks and hugs to all of you who have sent in photos so far! The cute mini sock blockers will begin shipping to you this week. Remember – I’m sending you a mini sock blocker for your submission to one of our gallery categories. I’ll send up to two sock blockers to each person who submits to two or more categories – that way you can earn a pair. Just our big THANK YOU for helping to make our galleries at The Loopy Ewe a fun place to visit! (I have re-posted the photo of Loopy with our S-M-L regular plastic sock blockers, so that you can see how small the mini one is.)

We will also be adding galleries to showcase your Loopy Ewe Quarterly Challenge submissions – this quarter we’re all knitting Franks and Marthas, right? That will be up shortly. And finally – you might notice we have a new “favorite icon” – – that will show up in your bookmarks and blog subscriptions. We wanted you to have a quick way to find us here, and Loopy agreed to let two of his red socks mark the spot.

So go check out the new galleries and let us know what you think!

Sheri nowleavingtotakeCollegeBoyoutforlunchforallofhishardwork:-)

Hi Loopy Ewe people! I have quite the privilege of getting to say hello and introduce some of the new website features. I’m “College Boy” / “Web Guy” / “Danny” and I have been working on some new stuff for The Loopy Ewe which has just been updated. Here are some of the latest ‘features’ for you to discover.

One of the first changes we have for you is a Search Feature! So, perhaps you read something about a “tapestry” skein in the blog a while ago but aren’t sure who made it or where to find it. All you have to do is go to the new Search Inventory on the right navigation and type in “tapestry” to find out it’s made by Interlacements and it has a couple of great photos.

This next introduction is hopefully going to be a popular feature. Loopy Ewe Gift Certificates! Perfect for your friends and stocking stuffers. You can send a gift certificate via email, have us mail it, or print it out yourself to hand deliver. You’ll find a new link for gift certificates on the main right navigation. After placing an order with a gift certificate, they will typically be sent within 24 hours.

One slightly new page on the site is for our Frequently Asked Questions. We’ve put some of the common questions on the page that should hopefully help you with your Loopy Ewe experience. Be sure to let us know if you have another question�we can answer those too!

One thing I’ve learned is that a lot of people have blogs…it’s not just a high schooler thing anymore. So, we’ve added Blog Referrals to our Tell-a-friend Loopy Perks. Many of you have a blog as an easy way to show off your wonderfully knitted works � so we�ve added the ability for you to connect your blog to your Loopy Ewe account. If you link to The Loopy Ewe and one (or more, of course) of your visitors ends up clicking the link, registering, and eventually placing their first order…you�ll get a $5.00 credit! You don�t have to do anything special on your blog, so it�s very simple for you. Just be sure to visit your newly designed account page to add your blog.

While we’re on the topic of blogs�we were thinking The Loopy Ewe needs a fun Blog Button. Now, in the blogging world, isn’t it fun to stumble upon someone’s blog and see they have one of the same blog buttons that you have? Makes the two of you instant friends. So we have The Loopy Ewe blog button. Check out our button to your right…I’ll wait…… That’s our new button…sorta. The one on the right shows one of our many yarns available and we want you to be able to show off your favorite yarn! That means you can pick from many of the yarns we sell and make your own Loopy button for your own blog! You can check out this simple guide about how to put your Loopy button on your blog in minutes.

We’ve also made a couple of minor changes in terms of order email notifications. We no longer will send you a message when we�ve received your payment (PayPal sends their own and we don�t like adding clutter to your Inbox). Typically, after you�ve placed your online order, you’ll only get an email once we ship your order, including a link with the tracking number.

On the more technical end of things, we’ve resolved a couple of issues that affected a few customers including:

• some credit card orders were being declined by our credit card processor � we believe this issue should be resolved (including international orders; we’ve made these issues easier to track too)
• placing an order that didn�t need payment (e.g. with an existing balance or now gift certificates) previously required payment information � we automatically skip the payment step if none is needed

Well ~ we sure hope you enjoy this round of new additions to The Loopy Ewe! If you have any ideas for us please leave a comment, send us an email, or gives us a call � we’d love to hear from you! Until next time, happy browsing and knitting!

« Danny »

(Sheri’s P.S. Cool, huh? Let us know what you think! Also – I added NEW PRODUCTS to the website over the weekend. Check out our Wooden Sock Blockers and our Fun & Funky Red plastic Sock Blockers – both made by Wonder Husband just for The Loopy Ewe. I also added some handy Loopy Ewe totes, and the cute Loopy Ewe Stitchmarker Set. (Update: Loopy and siblings have all gone off to live in their new homes.� We have more of these cute sets on order and they will be in after the holidays. If you’d like a personal email heads-up when the new flock arrives, just let us know.� We’re happy to do that!) All of these new products are in the Accessories Category under The Loopy Ewe……)

Remember last week’s contest on your favorite knitting spot and companion? The winner of that is this JULIE! (As we do have several “Loopy Friend Julie’s”!) Julie, please send me your address and tell me what colors of yarn you like, and I will be sending a great doorprize off to you! Thanks to everyone who entered. It was heartwarming to read through all of your answers. Just made me want to sit right down and knit some more!