Happy April Fools day! No tricks or fooling today. Just lots of pretty yarn up on the website. Just up: 

- Juliespins Superwash Merino Lace – These come in 960 yard skeins on a 100% Superwash Merino base. Julie very rarely repeats colors, so if you see one you love, get it now. These will knit up into gorgeous shawls and lightweight scarves or stoles. Need some pattern ideas? Swiss Cheese Scarf, Radiance Shawl, Longfellow, Citron, and Vostok. (I’d also add in Nuvem and Viajante, but I just talked about those last week.) Shown here in Holly.

- Malabrigo Rastita – This single-ply DK weight yarn is wonderful for creating warm hats, cowls, mittens and shawls. You’ll love working with it and wearing it. The colors are Malabrigo-Marvelous, as always. (Of course if you’re doing a multi-skein project, you’ll want to alternate skeins. Hand-dyeing creates a beautiful mix of colors that are hard to repeat exactly from one skein to the next.) You might try this with Flow, Sidetracked Cable Mitts, Yarnster Hat, Honey Cowl, and A Grey Loop. Shown here in Indiecita.

- Skein DK – This is our first time to have this base and it’s a fun one. 100% Superwash Merino with 280 yards in the skein. You’ll find it great for shawls and scarves, sweaters and hats, mittens and cowls. The firm twist gives great stitch definition. Check out these patterns for possible options: Chinook Scarf, The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, Arbutus, Spiral Cowl, and Sea Beanie. Shown here in Ayame.

- ChiaoGoo Needles – more re-stocks in some of the sizes that were backordered the last time. You all sure love these needles. (We do, too!)

- Loopy Cakes – two new sets (Sizzle and Shakespeare’s Garden) and two re-stocks (Whisper and Doll Parts). My favorite project with the Loopy Cakes is my Cowl. Free pattern on this blog post. Wouldn’t it be fun to make that cowl out of Sizzle for the winter? It would really brighten any gray day. Shown here in Sizzle.

- Schacht Spinning Bobbins – these fit the Matchless, Ladybug and Sidekick wheels.

- Cricket 15″ weaving looms – Great for weaving scarves, towels, placemats and tablerunners. (Please note, due to the size, we’re only able to ship these to addresses in the U.S.)

Have fun checking out the new things and we’ll get your Boxes of Fun shipped out to you tomorrow!

Sheri onceagaindrawninbyprettyyarncolorstonight.
Stashcontinuestogrow.Icontinuetobehappyaboutthat.

I like having friends who knit. Knitters are fun friends to be connected to. It’s always fun to see what they’re working on, and sometimes they even let me borrow their beautiful work to show to you (and display in the shop). For example, this gorgeous shawl that my friend Sheryl made. (Sheryl’s hubby Michael is a Loopy Elf.) This is the Dandelion on the Meadow, done in Madelinetosh Prairie in the Violin color. Isn’t it pretty? I wish you could feel it. It’s almost weightless. The nice thing about making a shawl out of lace is that it’s very lightweight, but very warm (if you’re knitting with wool or silk).

And a closeup:

I’m working on a Nuvem (“working” meaning I started it last Thanksgiving and haven’t worked on it since that week. But hey, it’s in my knitting bag, ready any time I want to get back at it!). It’s another shawl that calls for lace weight yarn and is going to be very warm to wrap up in. Viajante is another new pattern done in lace that you might like.

Speaking of connections, are you connected to us in all the ways you can be connected to us? (Because we love connecting with you! And also, I’m trying to see how many times I can use connected/connections/connecting in one paragraph….)

You can find us on:

Facebook We  post on there about what has gone up in the Monday Update, what I’ve blogged about, what might be happening in-store on a certain day, questions I’d like your input on, and then yesterday we posted a fun video taken around the shop – go check it out!

Pinterest I have boards on there for Project & Pattern Inspiration, Colorwork, Crochet, Yarn Bombing, Tips, Ambitious Projects and Unusual Projects. There are so many fun things to find and share on Pinterest. I’m going in and adding to the boards every couple of days and there’s always something new!

Instagram This is our newest project, so watch for that to grow in the days to come. We’ll be adding photos from around the shop, photos of incoming shipments, photos of the Elves being silly, photos of Loopy being silly, and anything else that will give you the flavor of things around here.

Ravelry The Loopy Groupie board is the best. Seriously. If you have any knitting question, you can pop it up there and have an answer almost immediately. It’s awesome. You’ll also find pattern ideas from other Groupies, product sharing, finished-project photo sharing, and Loopy Swaps going on from time to time.

Twitter We mostly use Twitter for announcing Monday Updates and Wollmeise Updates. If you don’t have Twitter, you can still get a text to your phone when we post to Twitter. Just text “follow theloopyewe” to 40404 and you’ll get our texts on Mondays and Wollmeise days.

Come connect. We like having you around! 

Sheri whocan’tbelieveit’stimetogohomealready.
Wheredidthisdaygo?

Happy Monday to you. We just put lots up for tonight’s Monday Update! 

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted - a worsted weight yarn that is 100% Superwash Merino. When people walk down our Worsted aisle feeling the yarn, they always stop at the Shepherd Worsted and comment on how soft it is. I’ve used it for fingerless mitts and scarves, because I want it close! It’s also great for sweaters, vests, and baby items. Here are some pattern ideas: Abalone, Linen Weave Boomerang (love this – just added it to my favs), 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf, Katrina Ballerina Lace Layering Cardigan (maybe I should make this, since I can’t seem to finish a sweater), Deephaven, Abate, or Sunset Shaw. (Shown here in Sheridan.)

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock -a fingering weight that is 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon, with 430 yards in the skein. This makes it great for socks, as well as shawls, cowls and scarves. Need some ideas? Level Up Socks, Mojo (fun textures in there), Old Joe, Rivers of Mars, or Ananke.

Shalimar Breathless - a fingering weight yarn that is 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, and 10% Silk. You can use it for socks (and they’d be luscious), but many people are using it for things like cowls, scarves, and shawls. It’s so soft. Equally wonderful to work with and wear. I think it would be beautiful in Imagine When, Tempest Shawlette, Bryce Canyon Shawl, Elowen Shawl (two colors – gorgeous), or January Scarf. (Shown here in Melba.)

ChiaoGoo Interchangeable Sets - More of the Large, Small, and Complete Twist sets. The Small set has needle sizes 2 (2.75) – 8 (5.0), the Large set has sizes 9 (5.5) – 15 (10.0), and the Complete set has everything.

Sajou Scissors - If you want something truly beautiful to add to your notions case, check out these scissors. They’re pricey because of the labor that goes into each one. It takes a dozen people to make each pair! We have them in several styles. (Shown here in Tortoiseshell.)

Clover Beading Hooks - I don’t know about you, but I always have a hard time figuring out hook sizes. To add to the confusion, some hooks seem to have different sizing than others. We have added in two sizes of hooks for the two sizes of beads that we carry. You’ll want the 1.0 mm for the 6/0 beads (that’s the size bead that fits well on fingering weight yarn) and you’ll want the .75 mm for the 8/0 beads (that’s the size bead that fits well on laceweight yarn.) I ordered every one of the hooks they had in stock and put more on backorder. So if we run out, just know that we hope to have more again soon.

Namaste - re-stocks in Boardwalk Bags, Hermosas, Harlows, Laguna, Mini Messengers, Monroes, Zumas, Buddy Cases, Circular Cases (some of those colors are on backorder), and Oh Snap bags in Eggplant.

Soak - Handmaid Creme (in the perfect size for purses and knitting bags) in Aquae, Celebration, Lacey, Yuzu and Scentless. Soak Wash in large and small sizes in Aquae, Celebration, Lacey, and Scentless, as well as Yuzu in the small size and Travel Kits that contain 8 mini Soaks.

Blue Q Bags - We continue to have a lot of fun with these bags! We’ve re-stocked and added more. You’ll find them in the Handy Totes (the perfect project sized bag, although I’ve heard some of you are using these as gift bags, too), Shoulder Totes (the perfect multi-project sized bag with a zipper on top), Messenger Bags (great for one-skein shawls and scarves), and Large and Small Pouches for your notions and DPN’s.

Have fun checking out the new stuff, and we’ll get your orders packed up and shipped out asap!

Sheri lookingatnewprojectbagsagain,asusual

One reason we offer a lot of different knitting/project bags here is because I love bags. They’re practical, they help keep you organized, and they look pretty. What’s not to love? We received Jordana Paige’s new Cezanne Bag a few weeks ago, and I wanted to show you pictures of the insides. I know the color looks really different from one photo to the next. Teal – a pretty color, but so hard to photo. This first photo is actually the closest to the real color, and it also shows you the size of the bag in relation to the mannequin.

One thing Jordana Paige really knows is pockets and places for organizing. Pockets on the outside. A place for your phone, camera, iPod, keys, or whatever.

Pockets on the inside. Pockets for credit cards, knitting needles and crochet hooks, and a loop to run your yarn up through to keep it from tangling.

Special zippered parts for little accessories like scissors, tape measures, stitch markers, scissors, etc. The blue zippered pouch there snaps in and out.

And a divider to section off your knitting from your wallet, or one project from another. (The middle zippered part is also a great place to store your iPad or Kindle, if you knit your patterns from an electronic device.)

I also like the fact that this looks more like a purse than a “knitting bag”. (Shown here, L-R, Bordeaux, Teal, Orange Poppy, Stone Gray. Click the photo to make it bigger.).

I picked the Bordeaux color for myself, but only because my last Jordana Paige bag was in that teal. Normally, I’d be all over the teal. In fact, it’s still tempting me. Last knitting project? Teal. Current knitting project? Teal. Someday I need to get past Teal. But right now, I still love it. Are you stuck in a color rut? What’s your color?

Sheri notsureIwillevermovepastteal.
Orred.Redisalsoawesome.

When the Madelinetosh Vintage came in a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed to (immediately – that’s what you would have done, too, right?) cast on for a worsted weight shawl. I’ve really been wanting to do Ashby, but I didn’t want to have to pay that much attention to charts right now. So I chose to make the Amery. It was a leap of faith. There is only one photo of the pattern on Ravelry and it doesn’t show it all spread out. But I liked the ribbing and the I-cord bind-off edge, so I jumped right in.

I love the color (Baltic). The shawl is very heavy, done up in the worsted weight it calls for. And it’s very very long. 76″, without blocking. I can’t figure out if I should wear it like a shawl (with long, long ends) or a scarf (that happens to be deeper in the middle.) I couldn’t even fit the whole thing in a photo.

There’s plenty to wrap up in.

And it’s very warm. If I made it again, I’d probably use a DK or Sport weight. (Like Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport, or String Theory Hand Dyed Merino DK).

A couple of things to note – it calls for a 32″ circular needle, but you’ll need at least a 40″ length. I probably should’ve even gone up to a 47″ length. I spent a lot of time squinching the yarn around and around the needles. (Spellcheck does not like the word squinching. But you know what I mean.) It also calls for 750-840 yards and I used 4 2/3 skeins of Vintage, which is about 940 yards. Don’t run out!

Here’s the thing that really annoys me. Knitting almost 5 full skeins of worsted weight yarn is about a sweater’s worth. If I can make this shawl/scarf in a couple of weeks, then why in the world can’t I whip out a sweater? I must have a real mental block about sweaters. FPS.*

Sheri nowIthinkI’llgopickoutsomeVintageforanAshby

*For Pete’s Sake

Happy Monday to you! I’ve been playing with beads all day. (Ok, not playing. Working. It’s all work ….) We have some beautiful new colors of beads that went up tonight, in both the 6/0 and 8/0 sizes. Adding beads to projects just seems a little magical to me. Not much work to it, but it adds so much to the project. I’ll talk more about beads in a future post. For now, I know you popped over here to see What’s New in the Monday Update.

Miyuki Beads from Caravan – Miyuki Japanese Seed Beads are renowned for being some of the best on the market. They are extremely uniform and consistent in both size and color, and they also have slightly larger holes than Czech beads, making them easier to use. We re-stocked the colors we were low on and added in 8 more colors of the 8/0 beads (typically used on laceweight yarn) and 20 more colors of the 6/0 beads (typically used on fingering weight yarn).

Into the Whirled – We have our first batch of Roving from Into the Whirled, and it’s just as gorgeous as the yarn colors were! (But this time you get to spin it the way you’d like the colors to work together.) This Polwarth Combed Top takes the dye beautifully and the slight coarseness of the fiber makes it easy to spin. (Shown here in Walla Walla.)

Buttons – Lots more buttons and re-stocks from JHB and Buttons, Etc. You’ll find silver, gold, wooden, pewter, and coconut in all colors and sizes.

Fibernymph Dye Works – Hand-dyed by Lisa in her Bounce yarn base, which is 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon (perfect for socks, although these colors are also beautiful as shawls and scarves, too.) Shown here in Primordial Sea.

The Loopy Ewe Totes – more of our clear plastic totes in the Accessories size (for your scissors, stitchmarkers, point protectors, tape measures and darning needles), the Project Keeper size (big enough for yarn plus pattern – a great way to store future projects so you can remember what pattern you had in mind when you bought that yarn), and Red Project Totes (great for one-skein projects like socks, mitts, hats and small shawls).

Have fun checking out the new things, and we’ll be on the webcam tomorrow, packing your orders up!

Sheri countrymusicplayingonthein-storespeakers.
NotsurehowIfeelaboutthat.