Loopy Love

The US is full of wonderful yarn shops, some right here in central Ohio and many others I've been lucky enough to visit during my travels. But it's pretty impressive when any one shop can stand out from the crowd and develop a following of fans from throughout the US and beyond, as is the case with The Loopy Ewe in Fort Collins, CO. 

Although I've not yet had the chance to visit, I've become familiar with the shop online through an excellent internet presence via their website www.theloopyewe.com, Facebook, Twitter and of course, Ravelry. 

Owner Sheri and her "Loopy Elves" (store staff) run a bustling destination yarn shop bursting with a huge selection of goodies for fiber fans. The shop website offers much of their merchandise online, and even has a live web cam so you can see the action every day - I love this idea. 

The shop's Ravelry group, The Loopy Groupies, has grown to be one of the largest groups on the site, offering everyone a chance to feel as if they are part of the friendly culture of the LYS. The group's annual "Camp Loopy" KAL is a big draw for Ravelry knitters.

Of course I was thrilled when I heard from my pal designer Tina Sanders (thanks for the notice Tina & Cheryl!) that The Loopy Ewe blog had a post featuring many lovely shawls their customers had knit from my Sothia pattern for Camp Loopy! 

I was happy to have such a terrific shop feature my design and blown away by the many gorgeous color and yarn combinations Sothia had been knit in, including this beautiful version by Sheri.

You can read the full Inspiration: Focus on Sothia post if you get a chance. And thank you to Sheri and everyone at The Loopy Ewe, you have also inspired me in many ways.

Have a great weekend everyone, I'm preparing for a trip so I'll be away from the blog for a bit but will have much to share when I return. I'll also be announcing the winners of the Amethiste shawl pattern giveaway contest then too!

Getting Loopy - or Knot

Very often, instructions for a cast on begin by telling you to "make a slip knot and place it on the needle," providing the first stitch from which to cast additional stitches, as shown in the photo above.

But did you know you don't necessarily always have to start with a slip knot?  The next time you begin a new knitting project, try simply looping the end of the yarn over the needle.  I almost always use this technique when casting on in long-tail, by starting with the tail end of the yarn in front and the ball end yarn in the back.

Loop the yarn around your fingers as you normally do for long-tail method, hold it down snug over and around the needle, 

add a twist, then make the first cast on stitch and proceed as usual.  

This photo below shows how the loop stitch (on the right) and the first cast on stitch (on the left) look.

Looping the first stitch instead of using a knot is just one tiny way to finesse your knitting; however,  looping the first stitch does not work equally well for all methods so you will want to experiment to see where you like it.  

Speaking of getting loopy, awesome St. Louis, Missouri yarn shop The Loopy Ewe is holding Camp Loopy, a fun KAL version of knitting 'summer camp' with various challenges and rewards.  Some of the Loopy Groopies on Ravelry have chosen to make Sothia for one of their Camp Loopy projects.  Camp runs until July 15th, so there's still time to sign up and join this fun adventure. 

Many thanks to everyone for the abundant well-wishes and congratulations on my first 'blogiversary' post last week, and thanks for all my new Ravelry 'friends' too!

That post outlines the free knitting pattern and yarn give-away contest I am holding all month to celebrate my first year of blogging including some of my patterns, like my newest shawlette pattern Sothia. It's easy to enter, just leave a comment to any post between now and then, and the contest will remain open through July 21st, 2011.  I look forward to hearing from you!

My sister and her family recently visited from far, far away, and since it's been a few months since we've seen each other, we had a lot of catching up to do.   

 

One day during that all-too-short week, we packed into cars and drove over to Beavercreek, Ohio to meet up with my cousin and tour some local tourist sites, mainly centering around the inventors of flight, Dayton brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright.   

The national sites and museums offer a fascinating look at the amazing accomplishment of these men, who were acquaintances of my grandmother!

The Wrights' first endeavors included printing and bicycle building.  

Inspiration for knitting and crochet is all around, if you look for it, even at a historic site...

Take a little time, wherever you are, to really 'see' your surroundings and you will likely find all sorts of shapes, textures, colors and lines to inspire you.