Posts Tagged "The Loopy Ewe"

These are the first pair of socks I’ve made using the Wollmeise 100% wool yarn.

The bottom sock looks darker in the picture but it isn’t.  I had read that the yarn was a bit splitty so I paid closer attention to what I was doing  and didn’t have any trouble with it splitting.  It feels great.  The twist is very tight and it gives a great definition to the stitches.  They feel fantastic on my feet (so says my feet!).  I agree that this is a fantastic yarn and worth the effort to find it!

The only problem with this yarn is that it is really, really hard to get!  The Loopy Ewe has it every now and then or you can order it directly from the dyer in Germany.  She updates here website twice a week . . once at 1 a.m. my time.  She doesn’t always have the sock yarn and when she does, it’s gone in a matter of seconds!  Of course, there’s sometimes someone selling it on ebay or someone who has it in their stash will sell it every now and then.  Maybe its scarcity is part of what makes it so fun to get but it really is great to knit and great to wear.

Stashbusting so far this year has been so easy.  I haven’t even been tempted to get online and buy fabric.  I surely haven’t been near a quilt shop.  I feel so strong . . where fabric is concerned.   I know . . don’t be bragging yet . . February isn’t even halfway over!

But what about sock yarn . . oh, a definite weakness.  But I think I’ve crossed the threshold on that too.  When I’m asked how I’m being so strong with the fabric issue, it’s because I realized that there’s a good chance no matter how many quilts I make, I may never use all my stash.  Think of the fabric you’ve been given from someone else’s stash . . some lovely quilter who gave up quilting or passed away.  Do you love it as much as you love the fabric you bought?  Probably not.  It’s outdated or not the color or pattern you would have chosen.  Do you want that to happen to your stash?  Do you want your stash given to the guild’s charity table? Do you want it sold at a garage sale for 5¢?  (Remind me to clean that “alt” key!  It’s still sticking . . Dr. Pepper is never good for a keyboard.)  No, you don’t!  No, I don’t!  I want to use my stash.  I want to make quilts with it.  I want to use every crumb of it!  So, that line of thinking has given me the determination to use my stash and not add to it til I absolutely need to do so.

Now . . about that sock yarn.  I always wind the yarn into balls as soon as it comes in.  But lately it’s been coming in faster than normal and I haven’t taken the time to wind it.  It was piled up on the ironing table, on the computer desk, on the sewing machine . . and I dumped it all in the floor, sorted through it to find a couple I want to use soon and here’s what I saw:

52 skeins of yarn in the last couple of months!  If I make one pair of socks each month, which is about what I do, that’s over four years of sock yarn right there . . not counting what I already have . . which means I have enough sock yarn to last the rest of my life.  I don’t want it sold at a garage sale for 10¢ (darned “alt” key stuck again!).  Unless there’s yarn out there that I absolutely cannot live without, I’m laying off the sock yarn too.

Now I have to make a decision on which yarn to start next.  I’ve narrowed it down to these:

This is Bugga “Love Bug”, a special color for Valentine’s Day.  Bugga is 70% superwash merino/20% cashmere/10% nylon.  I’m really wanting to knit Bugga . . haven’t done it yet.

Also Bugga.  The color is “Northern Purple Gold Beetle”.  Love this deep purple!

This one is String Theory’s Caper Sock which is 80% superwash merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon.  The color is “Mardi Gras” which makes me really want to get these knitted so I can wear them next week!  I’ve never used this yarn either.

This one is Wollmeise 100% superwash merino.  The color is “Skandal um Rosi”.  Normally I wouldn’t knit the same yarn back to back since I just did a pair in Wollmeise but this color intrigues me.  I think it will stripe but I don’t know how well it’s doing to look in socks.

This is Fiesta’s Baby Boom.  It’s 90% extrafine superwash merino/10% nylon.  The color is chocolate strawberry ganache which was dyed for The Loopy Ewe for their valentine’s packets.  Just seeing this yarn makes me hungry for strawberries dipped in chocolate so knitting this might not be a good idea.

Which do you think I’ll choose?

I do not need any more sock yarn! I do not need any more sock yarn! Please Vince . . don’t be reading this post!   The last week or so, my mail lady has been my best friend!  I can’t wait to see her.  That’s all going to change though.  Two more packages and I’m done.  Really .. no more sock yarn.  I mean it this time.

It’s all the fault of those folks over at The Loopy Ewe.  There are yarns that people just rave about and I’ve never even heard of . . and surely haven’t seen or touched.  Everyone knows that the webpage is updated some time on Monday so half the knitters in the world camp out on The Loopy Ewe’s website all day Monday.  I never get anything done on Monday any more.  When I am lucky enough to get some of this can’tlivewithoutyarn, I never even know what color I’m getting . . I’m just sticking it in my shopping cart as quickly as I can and hoping for the best.  Sounds like I really do need a 12 step program, huh?

First, it was the Wollmeise Sock Yarn.  Getting that yarn is harder than getting a 12 point buck!  As soon as it shows up on the website, it’s gone!  If you’re lucky enough to get a few skeins in your cart, you’d better be real quick about checking out because it isn’t yours til you’ve paid for it and if there’s one skein left and someone pays before you do . . it’s going to their house . . not yours!  I got a few more skeins of Wollmeise Sock Yarn so I was happy.  I don’t need any more.  No . . really!  I don’t!

Then I heard that the Wollmeise Twin was heavenly for socks.  After several tries to get that from The Loopy Ewe, I heard that Claudia in Germany (the dyer) updates her web page on Friday mornings at 1 a.m. my time.  I managed to get some Twin straight from Germany!  Goofy me .. I left the invoice on the table and it was all in Euros. Vince looked at it and gasped and said . . doesn’t it take something like two dollars to make one Euro??  Hmmm . . not sure about that!  Let’s talk about something else!

Then there’s the String Theory yarn!  They have one called Blue Stocking and one called Caper.  Caper has 10% cashmere so it makes it a lovely sock yarn.  I’d never heard of it til those evil, evil ladies at The Loopy Ewe put it on their website.

Surely that was the end of the can’tlivewithout yarn!  Oh, no!  There’s Bugga! And it has 20% cashmere!  My feet will love me . . if ever I get socks made with it.  When it showed up last time on The Loopy Ewe’s site, so many of us were trying to get it that we crashed the server.  It’s all named after bugs and it’s as hard to get, if not harder, than the much desired Wollmeise.  In this picture:  Barrens Tiger Beetle, Tarantula Hawk, Sooty Dancer, Black Witch Moth and Death’s Head Hawk Moth.

Good . . I have all the can’tlivewithout yarn there is.  I can stop stalking The Loopy Ewe’s website and maybe I can paint new letters on my F5 key because I’ve worn them off.

What?  Not yet?  Monday I heard . . actually read on Ravelry . . that the update that night would include Numma-Numma.  What the heck is that?  Well, I managed to stalk the website long enough that I got some of that ordered. And then I heard that Sanguine Gryphon would have more Bugga in their Tuesday morning update.  I managed to get a special color called Love Bug and a very hard to find Northern Purple Gold Beetle.

Why can’t I be as disciplined with sock yarn as I am with quilting fabric lately?  It’s the hunt . . it’s knowing that if I don’t grab it now, I may never have another chance to get it . . ever!  I’m done .. really!

You quilters think shopping for fabric is a job . . try buying sock yarn!  Yesterday, for a brief moment (very brief!), I thought to myself . . I’m giving up ever trying to buy yarn again! Do you remember how much I went through to get the infamous Wollmeise yarn?  Tha was not even one week ago.

The other much desired, hard to find, stay up all night stalking The Loopy Ewe’s site, sit by the computer all day and still miss out yarn is something called Bugga Sock by The Sanguine Gryphon.  What is it about something you can’t get that makes you want to walk across hot coals (or sit and hit F5 all day) just to get it?

I was sewing . . minding my own business.  Time to stop sewing, go upstairs and get the pita bread rolled out for lunch.  Stopped by the computer, clicked on The Loopy Ewe’s “what’s new” button and what do you think was new?  Bugga Sock! My heart was pounding.  My hands were shaking (not really but it adds to the drama!).  I quickly put four or five skeins in my cart.  I hit “check out” and then decided to see if there was another color I might want.  Oh, no!  Something terrible happened.  Every sock knitter in the world had heard that The Loopy Ewe had Bugga and we crashed the website.  Nothing was happening.  No one was getting Bugga.  F5!  F5!  Refresh!  Nothing!

I was kicking my butt for not checking out when I had the chance.  Did I say I’ve never even seen this yarn so I have no idea why everyone across the globe is trying to get it before I get mine.  I came upstairs, I called them.  No, they couldn’t take an order on the phone because they had no idea what had already gone through and if they even had any left! Rolled out a pita pocket.  Hit F5.  Nothing.  Rolled out another pita pocket.  Hit F5.  Nothing.

Finally, it came back up and I was able to checkout.

And, look at Little Loopy right there in the middle of the yarn!  I’m betting he’d love to meet my chickens! 

Do you think I should have to go through all that trouble just to get sock yarn?  I guess if I want the same thing every other knitter seems to want .. yes, I do have to go through all that trouble.   The yarn is 70% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere (yes!  Cashmere!) and 10% nylon.

You don’t even want to hear about the escapade to get yarn directly from Wollmeise in Germany when she updated her webpage at 1:10 a.m.   The good news is . . I have closed my ears and no one is talking me into buying any more yarn for a very long time!

Remember the yarn I was working so hard to get last week from The Loopy Ewe? It’s all arrived now but here are the first three skeins of it.

It feels yummy.  100% wool! There’s lots of yardage . . can’t wait to start knitting on it.

These sheep are covered in wool! I’m betting they have no idea how much a pair of socks cost made out of that wool they’re growing.

Kinda hard to imagine that something so dirty and matted and tangled can later turn into this:

That’s pretty amazing .. from those dirty, stinky sheep to soft, warm wool!  I guess it’s about the same as going from a cotton boll to that yummy fabric in the quilt shop and then into a quilt that keeps us warm!  Interesting!

Most days I have the entire day to do whatever I want.  Some things just have to be done . . no choices to make – cooking, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms.  You all know exactly what I’m talking about.  Yesterday after I’d finished the things that had to be done, I went downstairs and suddenly I realized that for the first time in about two weeks, I had the rest of the day more or less to myself.  No holiday cooking to do.  Vince was gone back to work.  Chad hasn’t gone back to school yet but he had things to do all day . . and I didn’t hear a duck call once!

After having not had a day to myself in so long, I had a hard time deciding what to do:

Would I work on the border blocks for this quilt?  A few of the blocks are made but lots more need to be made.

I’d like to start quilting on this one.  Should I piece a backing and start quilting on it?

Or, I could piece a backing for this one and start quilting it.  Chad wants it and he’d probably like to have it before he goes back to school.

Then there’s a pile of new yarn waiting to be wound into a ball and used!  Oh . . yarn is so tempting.  A new order arrived last week from The Loopy Ewe and I haven’t had time to fondle it at all!

The Kindle beckons!  I want to finish the book I’m currently reading before reading Atlas Shrugged again and I’m really anxious to get started reading it.  It would be so nice to curl up with a quilt and read all day!

There’s a new cake recipe to try.  The carrots and rolls have nothing to do with the cake recipe . . they were part of dinner.  By the way, I was going to fix goose stew for dinner but forgot Chad had taken venison steak out already because he wanted chicken fried venison steak, milk gravy and rice for dinner so that’s what we had, along with rolls and Dilly Sweet Carrots.

Anyone want to guess what I did?

All those choices and I still stuck with my plans to make the border blocks for this quilt:

Got all the blocks done except the corners.  Maybe today I can get this top put together.