Wow – what a fun weekend we had with all of the Spring Flingers! The best part for me was getting to meet so many of the people that we have come to know and love over the past 18 months at The Loopy Ewe. What a fun group of women. Here is our group shot (missing a few people who were …. ahem …. busy rolling in the yarn that they had just purchased on their Loopy Central Trip….) By the time they arrived here for the weekend, they had all become great friends through the Ravelry Loopy Spring Fling group and it was like a reunion of sorts. We had fun knitting, taking classes with Wendy and Cookie A, eating great food, making Starbucks and Coldstone runs, and having everyone over to Loopy Central. They have already informed me that they want a spot at next year’s Fling. 🙂 Of course there are soooo many others of you that we want to come, too! So we’re working on how we’re going to make that all happen. We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, here’s a photo-summary of some of the highlights!
We started on Thursday afternoon with registrations and goody bag handouts. (I’ll photo the goody bag for Wednesday’s blog. Remember, I’m giving one away to the randomly selected winner of the April Blog contest. Did you do your 3 random acts of kindness this month? I’ll have you post them on Wednesday’s blog for a chance to win.) We had knitters knitting all over the hotel lobby, confounding the other hotel guests as they wandered by and wondered about all of the people laughing and talking with sticks in their hands.
Then Leslie arrived with cupcakes from an amazing cupcake place here in St. Louis and pandemonium broke out. Don’t mess with knitters trying to get at their cupcakes.
That night, we started with a Dessert Reception and there were many wonderful choices to select from. (Because, you know, the cupcakes didn’t fully meet our “dessert quota” for the day. And besides, that was hours ago.) Here you see Claudia talking with Adrienne. Claudia doesn’t like to be in pictures (that was her in the group photo behind the Spring Fling sign) but she’s ok with people taking her backside.
We had a large room with comfy chairs, tables and room to spread out and knit. One of the things I loved was that most people moved from table to table at different times of the day, so that everyone got to know everyone else.
Capi brought Crocs for Claudia. I think Claudia has worn them every day since then, and we’re off to shop for more today. (I asked her if she’d rather do some sightseeing or some shopping and she quickly voted for shopping!) Remember Capi’s Limelight Interview where we had a photo of her Croc collection?
There were classes going on all day Friday and Saturday, as well as scheduled trips to Loopy Central. I went on the trips to Loopy with the shuttle bus and it was so fun having everyone here in person! The last group in on Saturday afternoon was so worried that there would be nothing left for them to shop from and they soon discovered that the shop stays well-stocked, even after lots of dedicated Loopy Groupies have been there in person. 🙂
After they finished shopping, people sat on the red couches or in our entryway, knitting while everyone else checked out. One thing about knitters, you can always count on them to entertain themselves with their knitting if there is ever wait-time.
Everyone had a great time shopping and went back to the hotel with full bags at the end of their trip. They all wanted to know which group spent the most money at Loopy – are they competitive, or what? I’m not telling!
Even though we have switched to Loopy Peppermints for orders now that the weather is warm again, we still keep a full bowl of chocolate kisses at the shop. (In fact, Little Loopy likes to swim in them.) I thought you might also like to see Claudia’s socks. She likes to wear mis-matched pairs. With this pair, she carried over a little color from one to the other. We loved her socks!
On Saturday’s Loopy Central visits, we had these cute cupcakes for the shoppers! Susan-the-awesome-assistant’s sister and niece made these for us.
One evening, a few of us went to the Japanese Steak House for dinner and were entertained by the waiters/chefs who prepare your meal at your table. Here you see (left to right) Kelli who was here all the way from New Zealand, Cookie A from CA, Capi from AZ, Wendy from VA and Sharon from CA. (Claudia and Janice are hiding….)
Because knitters are all alike, we wondered what size needle the chopsticks might be, so Wendy got out a needle gauge to check it out. There was a gal at the next table who noticed this odd behaviour, and said, “Hey are you knitters? I am too!”
Back at the Knitting Lounge, there was lots of fun going on. Adrienne shared spinning with several people. Here she’s giving a demo to Kelli. Stacy, of Tempted Yarns, also brought her wheel and inspired us with her spinning.(I didn’t take nearly enough photos this weekend. I missed several opportunities. Next year I must do better.)
Leslie got a group of knitters together before the Fling and 16 of them made squares for an afghan for Claudia. It turned out beautifully and Claudia was so touched. I have offered to ship it to her, but she won’t give it up. I’m not sure she trusts me not to keep it …..
Another group, led by Tammy’s beautiful voice, wrote a song and sang it the last night we were there. Guess what? You can hear it on Flickr right here. It was so funny!
All too soon our long week-end was over and we had to say our good-byes. (Kelli and Claudia were roomies, so you get another backside photo of Claudia in her very cute Wicked Sweater made from her own Peppermint Prince colorway.) We left with fuller suitcases, more projects on our “must knit” list, more yarn for our stashes, less sleep, more food, and more friends than when we arrived. And we all want to do it again. Next year, y’all have to join us. (Allen – it ought to be “all y’all”, right? I had some southern-speaking lessons from Allen of Numma Numma this weekend.)
Special thanks go out to Janice, my dear friend from Iowa who held down the fort at the hotel while I was back and forth to Loopy, to Cookie A and Wendy for classes that everyone raved about, to Claudia for making her first trip to the US, to Web Guy for driving down from college to help out and meet everyone, to Wonder Husband who made a gigantic sock blocker for everyone to sign (I’ll show you on Wednesday), to Knitting Daughter who helped here at Loopy Central, to the Elves who put in a lot of overtime last week and over the weekend, to my mom for making brownies for us, and to all of the rest of you for such a fun weekend. We miss you already!
(And Claudia wanted to add a few sentences – see below.)
Sheri nowheadingofftoshopbecauseClaudia’ssuitcaseisn’tquiteover-stuffedenough,apparently
From Claudia: Hi Ladies it was a pleasure and great honour to meet you all. Next year, same place, same fun, wouldn’t that be cool? Thanks for all and I didn’t expect to get such a warm welcome. Love you all, American knitters, American beef and your comfy beds (not your swimming pool toilets with too much water, it scares me)
Claudia
Thank you for the best vacation I’ve had in a very very long time!! I came home to the hubby and kiddos still alive, so there time sans mommy was a success as well 🙂
My only regret is I wish I’d bought more! (shame!)
I’m so glad you had a blast! I wish I could have come! I’m with Claudia, sometimes our toilets freak me out too!
But this weekend, rain or shine, is Maryland Sheep and Wool – hey Sheri, why aren’t you a vendor there, or even just travel there????
Oh, it looks like it was a wonderful time! 🙂 I’m bummed that I had to give up my spot, but my reason was good – we brought our son home from Korea a couple of weeks ago. Couldn’t run out on my boys, now could I? Thanks so much for letting us share vicariously!
I’m soooo jealous….looks like y’all had a blast!!!!! 🙂
Sounds like a fabulous time was had by all. I’m so glad, but of course I would expect nothing less from Sheri. Have enjoyed the pictures and reading your blog, Wendy’s blog and Rave! I so wish I could have gone. The pictures of Loopy were great and seeing everyone so happy made me happy. You are an exceptional person Sheri, no wonder everyone thinks of you as a personal friend. Hugs
I knew that was Claudia behind the sign.
Oh, I’m glad it was such a huge success, Sheri. Maybe after my back surgery I’ll be mobile enough to think about going another year. It looks like such fun!
Joan
Hi Sheri! Thanks to you, Janice, Wendy, Cookie, Claudia, Loopy Elves and my
60 + new friends for such a wonderful time at the Spring Fling! Everything was just great!!!!!
Hi Sheri. So happy to see you all had a great time. Enjoyed all the photos and details you shared in this post. Like so many others, I hope I’m there at a Spring Fling in the future. Hugs to all.
Dynna
I am so jealous!!! Next year, please leave some spots for locals. I would love to partake in the fun, but need to go home at night to my own bed.
Hi to Sheri…I want to thank you soooo much for encouraging me come to the hotel for the entire experience, even though it was only 20 minutes away from my house! It was fantastic, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. ..it was truly a great vacation-in-my-own backyard! We were so busy knitting and gabbing and eating and spinning and playing with yarn and visiting and making new friends that we never even turned on a TV or hardly came up for air!
Hi to all the >60 Flingers too…I was so excited to meet all of you and have an instant list of 60 new BFFs! By the way, the first draft of the contact list is done and sent to Sheri…check it out and let me know if there are any corrections needed…and I’ll revise and send you all a final one.
Miss you all already. Hope o see you all again next year…
Sheri – I can’t begin to tell you what a fantastic time I had! The Fling was incredible! You not only know how to run a business par excellence, you also know how to host an incredible retreat, down to the last detail. I think I walked around with a grin the entire time. It was great getting to know you, Janice, Wendy, Cookie A, Claudia the Wollmeise (who let me take a pic of her feet), Kellie in person, as well as getting to meet WH, WG, KD, the Loopy Elves, all my cyber-friends, getting to put names (real-life & rav-names) with faces, and to see and admire everyone’s knitting. I thoroughly enjoyed Cookie A’s class (and hope to take a class with Wendy someday). I’m already passed the gusset decreases on the sock I designed in Cookie’s class on Friday afternoon! I loved the trip to Loopy Central, where I was definitely overcome by the yarn fumes (as evidenced by my Loopy credit- we won’t say for how many $)! And as much as it would have been nice to have everyone there who wanted to be, the size group we had was probably about right, especially for the amount of time. Thank you *so* much – again – for doing this!
(Side note to Tanya: Congrats on the new addition to your family!)
WOW–did we have fun!!! Sheri sures knows how to throw a party!!! Everyone was so friendly and fun to be with. We kept moving around and meeting new people throughout the whole weekend. Sheri/Janice/Wendy/Cookie/Claudia and all the elves made it such a special time for all of us. I know it took a lot of hard work to make it run so smoothly and we really appreciated it, Sheri! See you at Rhinebeck–I hope!
What great pictures! I’m so glad you all had such a fantastic time (of course I knew you would, with Sheri organzing the Fling)! I wish I could have been there to meet everyone. Maybe next time….
Oh and Claudia, I understand what you mean about American toilets—I’m used to European toilets now, and the American ones do seem kinda deep and scary to me too!
What a great weekend! Maybe next year…
Wow! That sounds like a lot of fun. I should start saving my pennies to come next year (I used to do cross-stitch trips, mostly local, so it would be great to do something knitterly). I’m bad. It’s the Coldstone that is putting me over the edge. I could eat so much of it that I would have to be rolled onto the plane.
I’m so glad your first Spring Fling turned out so well and everyone had fun! After being at the same sock camp as Capi, I’m amazed she had restored her energy in time for the Spring Fling. ;o) I was SO tired when I came home and promptly came down with a cold.
Maybe I can make it to the next one!
Wow…. Next year, I’m trying for a spot, no matter what. I can drive that far, I know I can! I’ve already told Spouse that I’m going to a sock camp next year – he just rolled his eyes. Hopefully Wendy’s book will be out, and I can get one signed! Whee!
So what size were the chopsticks??
Looks like an awesome time – Maybe next year it can be a hotel takeover! And I can come too!
Wow!!! Sheri, it looks like you put on quiet a party!!! Gosh I’ve so enjoyed seeing all the photos… it really looks like everyone is having a wonderful time! All those knitters in one place-must have been awesome! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Sheri,
It looks like everyone had a very enjoyable time, from looking at your pictures. I really enjoyed hearing all about the Spring Fling. I’m sure all those knitters had a blast! 😀
Thank you for sharing!!! Sounds like you guys had so much fun 🙂
THank you all for sharing your experiences and pictures, here on your blog, SHeri as well as on Ravelry. I just love the serenade to Sheri. How delightful.
I cant say i am jealous, i am not the jealous type, but then again maybe just a little tiny bit. I would love to have been there or be there next year, though how i will explain the expense to my girls I dont know, yarn vs fling…what a decision.
SHeri try to get some rest at least. I know I am still trying to play catchup from the last week prom sewing marathon. Does sleeping through the alarm, when you are a light sleeper say anything? DD #3 missed the bus two days in a row, blush, shamefaced. So I hope you get the chance to get some well deserved sleep.
I taked to Sue on the phone yestureday and she seemed to have loved the little bit of the FLing she got to see, saying she really was sad she missed the serenade, but said she has to look it up on Flikr. I told her it is great. So heres to all the elves for all their great support as well.
After all that work I couldnt believe my order shipped out yestureday. Gauk. Loopy and the elves are outdoing themselves. Everyone gets extra Loopy Kisses!
O by the way did you also get a winter storm warning for Thursday into FRiday? My friends in MN said they got snow again. Geesh and then some of our groupies are dealing with 100 degree weather in April! I prefer the snow in April, though the grass wont like that much i would think.
loveya
PS AM glad there is someone who is as camera shy as i am. Glad you enjoyed your stay here Claudia, even if there were some not so good things to see. Hope you loved your shopping with SHeri!
Ok I GOTTA go next year.
What nice prizes!