We’re lucky to have the best people working with us here at The Loopy Ewe, and we wanted you to learn more about them today. I added Susan in to help here after we’d been open for about 10 months or so (before that, my family did all of the helping with orders!). Within a few months, we had added in Vicki and Anna and Sue. One day, James stopped by to shop and commented on “The Loopy Elves” and how busy they were, and the name just stuck. We’ve been fortunate to find a few more great people to help out here in the meantime. They work hard and they work fast and we are so thankful to have them here, helping get all of your orders out in a timely manner. I asked them all some questions and have used different answers from different people to put together the interview for you today.
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Loopy: Hi Elves! You all came to be with us in different ways – tell us how some of you ended up working here at The Loopy Ewe?
Elves: Most of us have Susan to thank for letting us know about the job openings! We’re neighbors and friends of hers (or know her from our kids’ schools) and she is always one of the first people to know when The Loopy Lady is looking for more help. Of course Donna and Marianne have different stories. Donna says: “I was shopping at The Loopy Ewe and overheard Sheri telling Susan that they were going to be shorthanded, since someone was leaving. ‘I would love to work here!’ just flew out of my mouth!” Marianne was with Donna that day and says: “I was an innocent in-store shopper (first time shopper, mind you) and the next thing I knew, I was wrapping 300 skeins of Smooshy!”
Loopy: You just never know when we might be adding new Elves in, I guess! What is your favorite thing about working here at Loopy Central?
Elves: We all like the other people who work here. As Vicki says, “Several of the people who work here are neighbors and friends of mine, so it gives us an opportunity to see each other more frequently. The others are very fun to be around.” We all like the flexibility of the job, too. People are always willing to fill in when we need to be off. Mary added: “Driving to work today and seeing all of the kids going back for the first day of school made me realize that I am able to work without affecting my kids that much. My family is the one reason I was always hesitant about working and the main reason I will always appreciate The Loopy Ewe!”
Loopy: Now that you’ve all been here awhile, have you all learned to knit?
Elves: Not exactly. Donna and Marianne came to us as knitters, so they are the experienced ones of the group. Susan says: “I’m a beginner. I’m on Ravelry as ‘Loopyme2’ and have just a few scarves done. Sheri taught me how to knit and Marianne just gave Mary and I ‘purling’ lessons the other night!” Sue came to us as a crocheter, and is starting to knit as well, and Karen considers herself a “rusty knitter” and is looking forward to starting up again. Anna had one knitting lesson with her daughter a few years back and said, “The instructor was very nice and taught us the knit stitch. We set to work. As the instructor walked around the table, she complimented my daughter and then she came to me and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I thought I was knittting – I mean I had a product hanging off of the needles. She very nicely told me she had never seen a stitch like mine. I actually have not tried since that time.”
Loopy: Hopefully we’ll get our “Knit Night” started soon and no one will have an excuse for not knitting any more! Are there certain things you like to wrap in orders, and other things that you don’t?
Elves: This is pretty unanimous, I think! Most of us love wrapping Wollmeise (we like Claudia’s nicely done skeins. Donna calls it “5 minutes of pure bliss” when wrapping those orders) and most of us love feeling the soft Dream in Color yarn, but the tags drive us nuts because they’re always poking through the tissue and ripping it. And we all have fun when Little Loopy goes into an order. Anna started posing him in orders and we’ve all begun doing that. He usually likes to hold on tight to the Loopy Kisses. Smart little guy.
Loopy: What are some fun things that we need to know about Life at Loopy Central?
Elves: Susan says, “Everyone who works here is a little loopy, so that makes it fun!” Karen likes the way everyone experiments with names as they check off the products on the orders (how can you not have fun saying “HiyaHiya” a few times a day?). And all agree that Anna breaking into song over yarn names is one of the most entertaining things of all. (Note – it’s not just yarn names. When The Loopy Lady goes home at noon to let the dog out, Anna needs to break into song – “Who let the dog out?”, too.)
Loopy: Is there anything hard about working here?
Elves: You mean besides the noise and mess of the demolition going on at the moment?? 🙂 Marianne says it’s difficult to stand there and wind half-skeins of Jitterbug because it makes her stand and stare at the wall of Lorna’s Laces and wonder which color she ought to knit next. (Which then causes her to think that she needs to live to be 150 to knit everything, and at that point, will she even be able to find all of her stash?) Susan says the hardest part is leaving at the end of the day because there’s always still so much to get done. Karen wishes she was taller or the wrapping island was shorter!
Loopy: Is there anything you’d like to tell all of our great Loopy customers?
Elves: Just a big THANK YOU for our job security. You really spoil us and it was fun to meet some of you at The Spring Fling!!
Photos: Top photo, L-R: Vicki (VM), Mary (MG), Susan (SK), the rest in order: Anna (AP), Sue (SG), Donna (DW), Marianne (MM), and Karen (KB).
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Sheri wanttoknowwhopackedyourorder?Lookfortheirinitialsonyourorderform!
You guys are the best! It’s the personal touch that makes all the difference. Thank you for all you do.
Nice to meet you, Elves! Loved the ‘how I came to be here’ stories. After seeing some of the photos, I want to be you. Swimming in all that beautiful yarn has to be heaven. And welcome back Sheri!
What a wonderful post! I just love the Elves and all that they do for us! Glad you all have such a great time at work – you deserve it! : )
Hi Elves, thanks for loving our yarn and for having fun sending it to us. It makes it more fun for us knowing that you love being Elves. If I were a non-knitting Elf, I’d have to learn to knit. I wouldn’t be able to see and feel all the yarn and not be able to use it.
You guys package our yarn so beautifull. It screems out love every time a package arrives. Thank you.
Thanks to all of you Elves! You make my life a little brighter every time a box appears on my doorstep. Believe me, you are appreciated!
I to love the way you guys package yarn and other goodies with such care and attention! Loopy packages are the best to get because its like opening Christmas presents whenever an order comes to my door 🙂
Terrific finding out about the Elves….I met some of you at SF and you are so sweet and real. You can tell how much enjoyment is involved with your work. Evryone should be so lucky.
How fun to read about the Loopy Elves. What a great way to put faces to the hands that pack the yarn so lovingly 🙂 Thanks for posting this!
I always love getting my packages, and I would have stayed forever during the fling! You guys have the best jobs!
A big thank you to all the loopies for making our packages so special. Now if only I could get my mailman to like you…
Thanks for the great intereview. I appreciate all the things the Elves do to make our orders arrive safely, timely, and correctly. That’s one of the reasons, I keep coming back.
Hooray for the elves and all they do!!
Nice to meet all of you. You can tell you love your job. Who wouldn’t love to work for Sheri. I can’t think of anyone. I’m glad that we got to meet all of you and thanks for everything you do to make us all so happy. Hope you had a good weekend Sheri. Hugs
OMG, the Elves so totally ROCK!! Nice to see faces behind the initials!
Well, I had absolutely no idea that James was the source of the illustrious title of “Elves”!! You know, I aspire to be an Elf some day too…
I have not had the opportunity to shop (online) at the Loopy Ewe but the first time I saw your banner at Knitty I think it was I had to snort out a laugh. Really funny name. And I found your blog via Google Reader last week I think and catching up now on posts. So this one really makes me 1) smile to see just how much fun your Elves seem to have and 2) jealous of all the lovely yarn and the fact that you have a proper shop where people can go and see shelves upon shelves of yarn and talk to knitters face-to-face. I live in Dubai and just die of frustration and envy because we have no LYS here, I buy everything online. I’ve been thinking about setting up a small LYS and get distribution deals with shops in the US and UK but it costs a lot of money and I am already employed full time plus with a family to raise I just don’t have the time and energy.
I guess what I’m saying is, if I do get up from my backside to do this business thing I will take tips from your success story and pray to God it works for me.
Will be checking out your shop very soon. Husband says I’m forbidden from buying any more yarn until the stash is at least half of what it is now.
We totally love the Loopy Elves. They are wonderful and the personal touches on our purchases are the best. I can’t wait until we are celebrating the 10th Anniversary of The Loopy Ewe.
Thank you, Loopy, for a lovely introduction to the Elves. It’s nice to see the faces behind the packaging! I loved it when I ordered a Little Loopy and he came holding onto the bag of peppermint treats. That made my day!
Wishing you all happiness, prosperity, and many years of The Loopy Ewe!
Love the Elves! Thanks for all you do!!
Donna packed my last order, just got it on Friday. Thank you all of you for the great job you do. It was wonderful meeting all of you.
It was nice to meet all the elves who make it possible for us to get our yarn.
It’s also nice to know that some of them stash just like we do. I am not
well, and use to be a nurse, however, if I could ever get healthy again that’s what I
would like to do; go to work in a yarn shop. Who could be not be happy looking
at all those beautiful colors and yarns. Thank you to all the elves.
Thanks elves, for all you do!!
The Elves are the best–my orders always come through in perfect order with perfect packing. And I think it’s wonderful that the Elves are letting the Little Loopies hug the kisses! I really can’t get over how cute the Little Loopies are, no matter what they’re up to. 🙂
Not sure who packed up my last order….it was the Schacht Matchless, so I will just say thanks to ALL of the Loopy Elves for all you do!
Speaking of the Schacht….I finally got it all set up this morning and began spinning on it….took all of ½ hour to get the hang of wheel spinning (buttheniamaspindler) and I am just now taking a break…already filled up 2 spindles and am ready to ply them…I started with Northern Lights so that was easy peasy anyway….and quiet too.
What FUN the spinning is and I tell you this Schacht is just the BEST ever!
Thanks so much for carrying them.
Thanks for the great interview! Those Elves rock the house!
So nice to learn more about the Elves. They do a terrific job. Thanks, Elves!
Fun entry! I had wondered how they ended up being “elves” instead of, say “lambs” (the Loopy Lambs working for the head Loopy Ewe/You). I like hearing that there still ARE places where “work/life balance” isn’t just some sweat shop marketing term for “we let you go home to sleep occasionally” 😉
Thanks for the fun interview with the elves!
My husband was flying through St. Louis today and I reminded him about the Loopy Ewe (if he had had a long layover at the airport, I would have tried to talk him in to a little field trip to Loopy Central!).
Great interview! Thanks Elves! I got to meet a couple of you in passing week before last. You guys brighten our days with your thoughtful care of our orders.
I am trying hard NOT to be jealous of Capi’s schacht!
(from the comments:P)
The Elves are amazing- I think you have a wonderful team there at Loopy Central……
Glad to get to hear a bit more about them!
Do they get knitting holidays days off?
Oh maybe Yarnharlots’ B-day, Wendy’s b-day… Elizabeth Zimmermans’ B-day…. you know…
Gosh. Breaking into song is something I do all the time (songs about anything… really, I do mean anything). It’s nice to meet another with the same habit. Nice to meet ya!