As I mentioned in Monday’s blog, we’re celebrating our fourth anniversary this month! To celebrate, we’ve put together our annual Loopy Ewe Anniversary Kit ** to share with you. (Would you like to see the ones from years past? First Anniversary, Second Anniversary, and Third Anniversary.) The one for this year has to be my favorite so far, because we have included things that you haven’t seen before. Very special yarn, an extra special tumbler, and of course a great anniversary pattern.

The Yarn – You’ll be the first to get a brand new yarn base from Dream in Color called “Smooshy With Cashmere”. It’s luscious! This fingering weight yarn is 70% Superwash Merino (in the regular Smooshy twist/ply), 20% Cashmere, and 10% Nylon. We had them dye this color to match the happy blue paint color that you see when you walk into the shop. Since it makes us happy when we get to work in the morning, the colorway is called “Joy in the Morning”. It has turned into one of my very favorite colors.

The Tumbler – Are you familiar with Mary Hadley Pottery? This 70+ year old pottery company has used specially trained artists to hand-draw the fun, whimsical figures in their line since Mary Hadley first picked up her brush. We thought the style would lend itself very well to Loopy, so we had him “Hadley-ized”. Isn’t he cute on there? Since each one is hand-drawn by an artist, they may differ slightly from one to the other. The artists have also hand-drawn “The Loopy Ewe” in our font on the back of the tumbler, and look what’s at the bottom of it: Baa. These tumblers are lead-free, and are microwave and dishwasher safe. You can use them for hot beverages, cold beverages, or knitting needles, notions, pens and pencils.  The stoneware is made from clay, and then painted, glazed, and kiln-fired at 2100 degrees fahrenheit, making it highly resistant to chipping and scratching. Due to the time involved in drawing on each tumbler (and the large number of tumblers we ordered), the Hadley artists have been working on this order since February for us! (The Spring Flingers may have gotten a sneak peek in April….)

In keeping with tradition, we sent our anniversary yarn to Debbie O’Neill who came up with another great anniversary pattern for us. The semi-solid colorway lends itself to this beautiful pattern that creates the look of movement across your feet and around your ankles. You’ll have fun knitting this up.

The kits are available for purchase here. We have lots available, but if we run out, we may be able to pull together a few more. We’ll keep you posted. For our international customers, we’ve ordered special boxes to ship this kit to you. We can’t guarantee no-breakage in transit, but I can tell you that these are heavy-weight tumblers (hard to break) and between that and our packaging, I don’t anticipate any troubles.

We have a couple more things in the works with those Hadley artists that we’re excited about, too. We’ll keep you posted!

Sheri whowillbehappytohavethesekitsoffinthemail.
However,themailmanfeelsdifferently.Hehasalready
beeneyeingtheboxesandplanningvacationtime.

**Edit: because these sold out in 24 hours, we will put together a few more for you. I’ll announce on the blog when the last batch is ready. Thanks so much for such an enthusiastic response to them!

It’s time to update my lists. I keep adding projects. It’s not my fault. I have to walk by shelves and shelves of yarn every single day at work. It’s a job hazard. But I decided something. There are some single socks that are going to stay single socks for a long time. That’s just the way it is. I like having them up on display and if I make the match to it, I’ll just have to knit another single for the wall. That’s my theory. But there ARE some socks that I want to wear instead of having on the wall, so those are on my list.

Do you keep a list of ongoing projects or “soon to knit” projects? And do you update it? Mine looks like this:

Need to Finish – in no particular order:
1. Malabrigo Silky Merino Green Grey scarf
2. Shibui Knits Ivory Cable Rib Wrap
3. Schaefer Anne Girasole shawl
4. Noro Silk Garden Worsted sweater (just one sleeve left – come ON!)
5. Zoe Cardi in Universal Cotton Supreme (worked on it all weekend. Still not done.)
6. My Sunshine Socks in Lorna’s Laces Butterscotch.
7. Froot Loops in Spud and Chloe Fine. (I initially typed Froot Loopy – my fingers work independent of my brain sometimes and I think I’ve typed out “loopy” too many times…)
8. My second sock in The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga. (we have more of this yarn going up next week – another big order for you!)

Need to knit: 4 different yarn lines that I’m contemplating adding in at the moment.

Want to start, not necessarily in this order:
1. Tesni Shawl in …. undecided. Maybe the new Cascade Eco Duo?
2. Seaside Shawlette in one of our new Loopy Line colors (coming in June!)
3. Clothilde in a gorgeous skein of handspun that Lynn from Denver gifted to me at the Fling. (And she is the best spinner I know. I am tempted to just save that handspun skein and put it on a pedestal, but she made me promise to use it, so I will.)
4. Ishbel in Blue Sky Alpaca Silk.

(Please note that anyone with 8 things on the *To Finish* list and 4 things on the *Need to Knit* list, has no business coming up with a *Want to Start* list. I know.)

And this is why the quote above the Cascade 220 Wall is so appropriate for me. You, too?

Here’s the blog question for you to answer in the comments (to be entered into the contest. Prize? Wollmeise. Awarded? Next Monday.) When do you do most of your knitting? For me, I knit more on the weekends than at any point during the week. I’d probably double my output if I could find more time in the evenings to knit.

Just in case you need to add to your *Want to Knit* list, tonight’s update included: Cascade Eco Duo (new!) and 5 new Eco Alpaca Twist colors, new Cascade Heritage Solid colors, 8 more coloways in Madelinetosh Vintage (including Tart – your favorite), Sajou Scissor re-stocks, Dream in Color Smooshy re-stocks, HiyaHiya needle re-stocks, as well as more of those cute Puppy Snips, Needle Gauges, and Interchangeable sets, and finally, a re-stock of Marie Mayhew patterns, including a new Woolly Sheep and a new Woolly Sheep Kit.  Enjoy!

Sheri myknittingprojectslistwilllookcompletelydifferentinaweek
I’mgoodattweekingandaddingtoit

These three. They did it. I walked into one of the classrooms on Saturday night at the Spring Fling, and found “The Adventures of Loopy” drawn out on the easel. Since these three had been in there preparing Cakeball Trays, they are the ones to blame. Or credit. I think K-the-Cakeball-Maker on the left was the artist, while the others no doubt gave input and spurred her on. (Personally, the whole wordless comic strip made me laugh. But then again, I’m partial to Loopy and felt a little sorry that he had lost his fourth red sock….)

Loopy’s Lost Sock

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who have a mother, are a mother, or know a mother.

Sheri wishingIcouldbringyouLoopyCartoonseveryweek!

I’m having a great time seeing the different patterns you all have chosen for our 6 week Mini Challenge! (And apparently a lot of you are like me – you do better with a shortened time period. It keeps us focused, right?) You can find some pattern links in the comments on that post, and you can find more under the Mini Challenge thread on the Loopy Groupie board on Ravelry. Remember, we’re offering a 20% off discount on the yarn for this challenge (details here on how to get the discount), if you don’t have something suitable in your stash. I’m making the Zoe Cardi with Universal’s Supreme Cotton and can’t wait to get it done. Come join us!

We had over 1100 entries in the “win a Spring Fling Goodie Bag” contest – wow! We let the Random Number Generator do its thing and it picked 6 names from the comments section to win the bags. We’ll be sending them out to: Sandi O. in MA, Ruth Anne D. in OH, Sara B. in CA, Monica D. in CA, Theresa T. in Italy, and Mary Beth O. in MO.  A big congratulations to the lucky winners and thanks to all of you for sharing your favorite pattern designers!

One of my favorite parts of attending Maryland Sheep and Wool is seeing all of the beautiful sheep. It’s just a good thing we don’t live on a farm, or I’d be bringing some home. I wish you could click on each picture and hear their loud “baaa’s”. Some of them were downright funny! Like this guy – I caught him in mid-baa:

This one was too tired to be talking:

You want to see that sweet face up close, don’t you? Here he is:

These two looked like twins:

And maybe these two, too? I loved the markings on their heads:

This sheep had such pretty colors – mocha, red, black, tan:

The Black Sheep seemed very mild. Not at all prone to cause trouble, as black sheep do.

The sheep that made me want to eat Oreos:

The one that was too hot and tired to prop his own head up:

The Evil Dude:

Sheep Curls:

And a clear indication that some four of these sheep were supposed to go home with me:

I’ll add a few more sheep photos into Friday’s post. I took too many!

Sheri whodidn’tseeanyangorabunniesthisyear.Weretheythere?

Before I start a new contest, I wanted to announce the winners from the April Blog Contest (where I asked you about the weirdest thing you have ever cooked with or eaten.) Some of you have eaten some rather disgusting interesting things. YUCK. Wow! I used the random generator to pick 3 winners, and will be sending skeins of Femme Fatale (the color that Claudia dyed up for the Spring Fling) to Betty in Calgary, Marji in NY, and Catrina in NC. Congratulations to all three of you! I have a few extra skeins of this colorway, so you’ll have another chance to win it in our May blog contest as well.

Speaking of the Fling, when people first arrive and check in, we give them each a Goodie Bag, filled with fun things. Since I’m such a bag and mug kind of person, I have fun picking these out especially for the Fling each year. And then filling them! Here is a photo of this year’s bag and contents. (I was a little into Apple Green this spring – can you tell? It’s such a happy color. I got our new travel mugs in that color as well.) I liked this bag so much that I may order them to sell here (only it won’t say Spring Fling). I liked the mugs a lot, too, but since we have a hard time shipping mugs because of breakage, I probably won’t have those for sale online. But I do have some filled Goodie Bags to give away, and I thought a blog contest would be the way to go. Included: the cute bag (it has an over-the-shoulder strap, pockets under the flap, and water bottle holder), 1 skein of Wollmeise’s Femme Fatale, the Loopy mug, two patterns, a Little Loopy, a post-it holder, a Spring Fling stitchmarker, and a mini skein of Baby Boom. Retail value is $65. We’ll use the random generator to pick the winners from the comments section and I’ll pick a winner for every 200 or so entries. My question for you to answer in the comments is: Who is your favorite knitwear designer?  (It’s ok to say “I don’t have one”. I want everyone to be eligible to get in on this contest. But if you do have one, tell us!)

Have you joined our groups on Facebook and Twitter? We just finished up one of our 24 Quick Quizzes over there. I think I need to start doing those on our Ravelry group every once in awhile, too. We love connecting with you in other places, if you have time for those things in your life. (They can take time away from knitting, though. Ask me how I know….)

I‘m heading off to MDSW this weekend and hope to see some of you there! I never did come up with a good meeting place or time for Loopy Groupies. Instead, I’m just going to carry this big red bag, because it’s the ideal lightweight shopping bag, and I do intend to fill it up with purchases. If you see me walking by, grab me and say hi!  I’ll be back to blogging on Monday with pictures of SHEEP. I love all of those sheep.

Sheri whowouldbringafewlambshomeiftherewasanywaytodoit

Whew – what a weekend! I wandered in at noon today (I might’ve slept in just a wee bit this morning) and it seems a little quiet here after having 125 of you shopping with us all weekend. We miss you all! Here is a re-cap, with Monday Update information at the bottom.

For the Fling weekend, everyone flies/drives in and check-in starts Thursday afternoon. Our first scheduled event is on Thursday evening, with a Dessert Reception and knitting time. We certainly don’t lack for good food and snacks all weekend long.

Since the instructors are teaching classes during the Loopy Shopping Trips on Friday and Saturday, I always run them over to Loopy Central on Thursday evening for a private shopping hour. We loved having Gryphon Perkins (The Sanguine Gryphon), Wendy Johnson (Wendyknits), Anne Hanson (Knitspot) and Jared Flood (Brooklyn Tweed) teaching classes this year. From all reports, they did an awesome job and people went away with full brains!

Friday and Saturday are full of classes and shopping (and food – did I mention the food?). You can find knitters knitting all over the place. On Friday night, WH (that would be Wonder Husband) did a half hour presentation on how to improve your photos for blogging and Ravelry (or whatever else you use photos for). It was a popular topic, judging by the packed audience! (And I missed taking photos of the full knitting lounges this year. We had two different ones and that ended up working out great.)

Here is one of our bus drivers in a hall-of-shame pose. The paper behind him says “No Sheri left behind.”  Friday afternoon’s two bus drivers decided to take off to Loopy almost 15 minutes early in the afternoon, with two buses full of knitters, who took me at my word when I said “be there by 1:10 so we don’t leave you behind!”. I walked into the lobby at 1:05 (for the 1:15 trip) and it was eerily empty. I knew this could not be good. Yes – they had left without me. FPS. (FPS!!)

The Elves always love having everyone come to Loopy Central to shop. This year they even found aprons to wear, so that people could find them quickly when they had questions. (Here you see Anna, Karen and Susan.)

This is why I leave each Spring Fling with a whole new list of things that I want to make. People walk around all weekend with the most beautiful handknit shawls and sweaters around their shoulders! This is one of the most inspiring things all weekend, for me.

On Saturday night we gave away a bunch of doorprizes, did some special “sneak peek” announcements, and then enjoyed homemade cakeballs. Janice’s daughter K made 300+ cakeballs and then she and Knitting Daughter dipped them on Saturday afternoon. I think Web Guy even drizzled the tops of a few of them. Photos of the cakeballs? They are gone. Gone gone gone. They were so good.

I think we have maxed out the stair-step approach to taking the group photo. I missed people on both ends, when taking the “full group” view!  What a lovely group of knitters. For me, it’s SO fun to put names with faces during these weekend events.

All in all it was just a wonderful weekend with some of the nicest knitters on the planet. We are so glad that you all made the time to come, and we’re already planning for next year. (Signups in early December!)

Check in on Wednesday’s post, as I’m going to announce the winner’s from last week’s monthly blog contest, as well as putting up a bonus contest for a chance to win a Spring Fling Goody Bag!

Now – back to the Monday Update - tonight we had The Sanguine Gryphon Eidos go up, as well as ArtYarns Cashmere Sock yarn (holy cow is that yarn ever amazing), Wants and Kneeds DPN holders, a cute new set of Loopy stitchmarkers and the red polypropylene Loopy shopping bags that we use here at Loopy Central, because several of you have asked us to sell them. (Perfect for fiber festivals, because they hold a LOT and they’re really lightweight. Also great for the beach or your favorite Farmer’s Market.) Enjoy it all!

Sheri whowanderedaroundLoopytodayfindingyarnforallofthe
newprojectsIaddedtomylistovertheweekend.It’sneverending.