Fall. That’s what. Lots of color (despite too much rain). We have reds and oranges and yellows.

Love all of these great colors which make the trees look like they are ablaze! Fall is my favorite time of year. (Although I might say that about Spring sometimes, too. I’m fickle.)

And there is knitting going on. Remember last week when I said that I wanted to make these cute mitts next? Here they are and I love them. Since I can’t keep my hands off of the skeins of Cascade Eco Alpaca when I walk by those shelves, I thought that I ought to make a pair of mitts to put ON my hands this winter. I made them extra long on both ends, because I like my wrists to be warm, and I like most of my fingers to be warm. (But I also like having my fingers not wrapped up in wool, in case I need to use my phone while I’m out and about.) In the “when will I learn?” category, I had to frog the first mitt when I realized that I didn’t pay attention to the cables and had one going one way and the next going the other way. Then I had to frog the second one when I realized that I paid no attention to the fact that I was supposed to be knitting the RIGHT one, not another LEFT one. (I tried just ripping out down past the thumb, but the yarn is so wonderously fuzzy that I was pretty sure it would be easier to just frog the whole thing and start over.) Really, I don’t know where my head was while I was knitting this week. Luckily, the end result was worth it and I will be wearing these all winter long. Need some quick gifts? The pair will only take a couple of evenings to knit and you’ll be done. Just pay attention to your cables and your thumbs. (Note – even with adding in extra length on both ends, it still only took 1 skein of the Eco Alpaca, with some left over. This would also knit up beautifully in Cascade 220, Malagrigo Worsted, Shibui Worsted, and Dream in Color Classy.)

There is a lot of yarn in the photo room today, getting ready for Monday night’s update. We may have filled up the whole UPS truck yesterday. I’m sure our driver was delighted to get all of those boxes out of his way, once he had made the delivery to Loopy Central!

Is anyone going to see that really scary movie that is coming out this weekend? Sometimes I like scary movies, but I think this one would cause me too many nightmares. I’m thinking I’ll pass on it. What’s another good one that is recently out? I’m in a movie-going mood and need some suggestions.

Sheri CollegeDaughterwenttovisitWebGuyinFLforherFallBreakthisweekend.
Betthey’rehavingfun!

We need some color here in St. Louis – how about you? It has been raining for days and will continue to do so until Saturday. Now you know that I like rainy, cloudy days, but this is getting ridiculous. So I thought I’d share a fall photo that my hubby took last weekend. Click on this indian corn photo to make it big, and check out the kernals on the ear third from the left. Amazing! I’ve never seen a colorburst like that before.

Good news – because I’m within a day’s delivery from Dream in Color, we’ve been able to re-stock all of the Knitosophy line already. (And our wayward box of the BOLD colorway arrived. I took a quick photo of it here – beautiful blues – but I’ll make sure that the “official” photo gets taken later this week, too. I did add them to the site. I didn’t want you to have to wait on ordering it, as several of you have asked about it.) This new dye method turns out gorgeous colorways. If you were in our sock club in 2008, Veronica experimented with this method on the Spicy Kisses colorway that she did for us that summer. I’m having trouble deciding which colorway to knit up first. I like Butterfly and Superhero because of the color mixes. But Blossom is so tangy that you can almost taste it. And I love the thought behind Strength and Laugh. (Come to think of it, those would be good colorways to use for socks or shawls or scarves for people who need a little of that in their lives.) Hard to decide. I know you all had the same problem, because so many of you bought several of them! It will be fun to see your projects as you finish them up.

While I’ve been knitting at night, I’ve been watching the Food Network. Big mistake. Now I find myself wanting cake when I go to bed. I used to like white cake with chocolate frosting, but then I tried Kirstin’s Chai buttercream frosting on a spice cupcake and that immediately moved to my favorite spot. Although now that I’ve seen this “Decadent Chocolate” photo, I think I might need to try one of those for comparison. (Photo used with permission.) Unfortunately As You Wish Bakery doesn’t ship, but I will let you know if that ever changes. I’m definitely ordering platters of her cake balls for next year’s Spring Fling. I have an “in” with her mom, Janice, who comes down to help me with the Fling every year. I’m sure she’ll deliver. This month’s blog contest question – what is your favorite flavor of cake and frosting? I’ve saved some skeins full of color for prizes and we’ll draw for them next week, so leave your comment below to be entered!

Sheri thinkingImighthavetodriveuptoIowatohaveoneofthosecupcakessoon

I’m back in St. Louis and so glad that the heat wave we drove away from 2 weeks ago, has left the area. It was 39 degrees when we left the mountains yesterday morning at 5 am, and 82 degrees when we got back to St. Louis around 8 pm. But 82 is do-able, as long as the humidity isn’t overwhelming. I’ll still admit to having been spoiled in Colorado, though. We had a great time! It’s always good to get back home again, and our two cats are certainly glad we’re back.

Since I’m buried in work at Loopy today, I thought I’d share a few more photos with you from our trip. These were all taken by WH and it just goes to show that there is a reason for him to be in charge of photos here at Loopy. Clearly. (Click on them if there are any that you want to see bigger.)

Sheriwhohasnocluehowtomakeallofthosephotosfitallnice&tidyintothepost.
Butaren’ttheypretty?

I was just getting ready to head home and realized …. it’s Friday. I didn’t blog!  And would you like to know why the blog was an afterthought today?

1. I was too busy enjoying the spring flowers. (Ok, this isn’t true. I haven’t been outside all day. But I wanted an excuse to put one or two of WH’s flower photos on here.)

2. We haven’t had a second to sit and breath all day, because we were working on getting all of your orders and Sock Club Consolation Kits out the door. (This IS true. Whew! Our mailman is also glad that this week is done.)

3.  I’ve been engrossed in Wendy’s new book and couldn’t put it down for blogging time. (True and false. The new book is wonderful! I’m can’t remember the last time I bought a book where there were SO many patterns that I could see myself making. I anticipate knitting up several of these designs, which makes the book a steal. And the photos are great. But of course I wasn’t reading it today. I finished it last night.)

4.  We were too stuffed from the Spinach Quiche lunch that 3 AM Keri dropped by for us today. (Well, true. Except it was more likely the M&M’s for dessert that caused the ultimate “stuffing”….)

5.  My mind was overly full of the last minute things that need to be done before the Spring Flingers arrive next Thursday. (And Claudia and her husband and two friends arrive from Germany on Tuesday – whee!)

6.  We spent the last two hours of the afternoon (after the mailman had left) re-arranging yarn and making spaces for the new stuff. (Time to expand the space again??)

7.  I was having too much fun reading about all of your wonderful dreams from this month’s blog contest. (Not true. Although it WILL be fun, and your dreams ARE wonderful, I haven’t been reading them today. I have been saving them to read this weekend, with a big cup of coffee by my side!)

8.  We had too much fun watching the daycare kids across the parking lot, playing “throw the stones at the cars”. (And we were thankful that we hadn’t parked on that side of the parking lot today. Fortunately, the daycare teachers put an end to that game pretty quickly. But it was fun while it lasted.)

9.  I was trying to figure out how James could purchase an intricate  shawl pattern and yarn 3 weeks ago and then show up with it over halfway done today. (Of course he reminded us that we had made bets that it wouldn’t be done until Christmas of this year. Maybe that’s why he made so much progress on it.)

10. We had lots of in-store shoppers today and were having a good time chatting with all of them. (Although one of these busy days, we’re going to nab them and make them wrap some orders before we let them out the door again. Think we could get away with that?)

Sheri didyougeteverythingdoneonyourtodolisttoday?

It can’t decide if it wants to be Winter or Spring here in St. Louis. One day it’s in the 20’s and the next day it’s in the 60’s. Our two cats don’t understand why it’s ok to be let out on the screen porch one day, and not ok the next. (Did I ever tell you about the bell on the back door? When we got our dog as a puppy, someone told me to hang a bell on the back door and teach the dog to ring it whenever she needed to go out. It was GREAT advice, and Casey quickly learned to do just that. No matter where we were in the house, we could hear it and knew that she wanted to be let out. Then the dog apparently taught that to the cat.  After we’d had Zoe for about 2 weeks, I was in the kitchen and watched her walk to the back door.  She reached up and swatted the bell and then turned around and looked at me expectantly, waiting to be let out. Cracked me up!  She still uses that method regularly.  Gracie, the other cat, has never caught on.  Or chooses not to.)

The Elves made dinner for WH and I this week and it was such a nice thing for them to do! (Birthday dinner. Tomorrow is my birthday.) This chocolate cake that Karen contributed to the meal was so good that I asked her if I could share the recipe with all of you.  I hope you like it.

Karen’s Chocolate Bliss Cake

1 pkg chocolate cake mix, any variety
1 pkg (4-serving) Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding
4 eggs
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup flavored coffee, cooled (any variety)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (Karen uses Ghirardelli)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan, or a 10″ tube pan.

Beat all ingredients together on low speed, except the chocolate chips. Beat until just moistened, scraping the bowl often.  Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes or until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips and then pour into prepared pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Loosen cake from sides with spatula and turn the pan onto a wire rack, easing the cake out gently.  Cool completely.

Top with Chocolate Glaze (below) or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Garnish with fresh raspberries or strawberries.  Serves 12-16.

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbl. butter or margarine
2 Tbl. corn syrup
1-2 tsp. hot water

Heat chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup over low hear, stirring constantly until chocolate is melted.  Cool slightly. Stir in water 1 tsp at a time, until desired consistency.  Drizzle over the cake.

Can’t you just imagine how wonderful this smells while it’s baking? I think it’s twice as nice to then give the whole cake away, without even getting to taste it.  Thank you again, Karen!

Sheri whospentalldayyesterdaythinkingitwasFriday
GladthatFridayisactuallyherenow.Haveagreatweekend!

I’m going to just start the week off with an apology. I know I’m going to put you over the edge this week with the Sneak Up and …. well, I’m sorry. There are way too many beautiful colors and yarns and choices and I have no idea how you’re going to decide which ones need to come home to live with you. How do I know this? Because I took too many of them out this week to put in my own stash. That’s how I know. I didn’t plan it this way. We always have so many things on order that I am never sure exactly what will show up week to week. This week – too many good choices. (What’s going up? Well, Yarn Pirate, Perchance to Knit, Seacoast Panda, and all of the lace yarns. Overload.) So I hope you enjoy browsing and shopping and know that I feel your pain. (Zoe advises everyone to just take a nap, while awaiting this week’s Sneak Up. Honest – you can see her mid-sentence in the photo.)

I wanted to answer a couple of blog questions – one was, “What is a Sneak Up?” That simply refers to us putting new yarns and products on the website each week. Once in awhile I will re-stock yarns and coloways as the UPS gal brings them, but most of the time I do all of the updating at once, each week. The time and day change from week to week, just because I have learned that it helps make for a more pleasurable shopping experience if not everyone has planned to be on here shopping at the same exact time. Although it’s kind of funny to watch how quickly the word gets out when the Sneak Up has taken place. I think some of you take turns monitoring the site for your whole knitting group, based on what I have heard and seen! (Personally? I’d place my own order and then go spread the word!) Another question is about The Loopy Ewe Seasonal Sock Club and whether or not we still have spots available. The answer is unfortunately, no. Our sock club sold out overnight and ended up being 3 times bigger than I expected, so we’re definitely full this year! However, we would sure love to have you sign up next year and I will give plenty of notice for that. I already have some fun things in mind for the next one. The last question: Why did the numbers go away under your different website categories? Well, because that is one of the things that slows the website down when so many of you are shopping at once. However, with our move to a bigger server and a little re-vamping by Web Guy, we were able to put them back up and we don’t think they will affect the speed to much from now on.

Speaking of fun things – let’s do the April Blog Contest. Tell me your favorite color combination for socks. Not the brand, not the weight, not the price – just tell me what 2-5 colors would make up your very favorite colorway. (And if you want to add “best name for a sock colorway ever”, I think that would be fun, too.) My favorite sock color combination would be hunter, cranberry and mocha. Although I’m fairly certain that after I read your entries, I will have changed my mind a few times. Best sock name ever? The one that is on the Loopy Ewe Summer Sock Club yarn – it’s too fun! Leave your answers in the comments and I’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner next Monday, the 30th for the winner of a fun Loopy Loot package. (And maybe we’ll turn some of your favorite color combinations into new colorways here!) I think maybe I ought to go through more of WH’s flower photos for some good color combo ideas.

Sheri IstartedknittingmylaceshawlthisweekendwithHandMaidenSeaSilk&loveit!