Last night was our late-night shopping hours evening. We’re open later the first Thursday of each month. Some Thursday nights are crazy busy, and other nights are calm and laid back. Last night, we had a great group of knitters pop over from Illinois to hang out, shop, and knit. In that group there were experienced knitters and brand new knitters, which is always fun. Some of them were just learning to knit socks and were being encouraged and instructed by the more experienced knitters in their group.
But the unique thing about this group? Some of them were the very first in-person shoppers to visit The Loopy Ewe. Here’s a photo of their first trip, back when Loopy was just a teeny tiny corner of shelves in my basement. They could stand in the middle of it and reach any shelf and any skein of yarn. (I’m not exaggerating.) The thing is, I think they had just as much fun on that first visit as they did on this visit (and all of their visits in between). It doesn’t matter how many shelves of yarn you have – just getting knitting friends and yarn together pretty much guarantees that fun will follow.
I made up a couple of extra Spring Fling Goodie Bags, just so I could share them with you in a blog contest! This year’s bag was a clear vinyl tote with shoulder straps, that came with a yellow-checked Loopy Ewe Mug, a sample of hand lotion, a Loopy sticky note set, and a skein of Wollmeise in a variety of colorways. Would you like to win one? Just leave us a comment below and answer this question: How many years have you been knitting? We’ll draw for the Goodie Bag winners next week.
Sheri hopingyourweekendbringsyourelaxationandsometimetoknit!
I’ve been knitting 10 years now. My mom attempted to teach me 30 years ago, but i didn’t have the attention span then =).
I have been knitting for a couple of years. I love learning new stitches and techniques
every day.
I have been knitting for 28 years. I know exactly because my daughter turns 29 in August, and, as a new mother, I had the idea that a good mother would knit for her child. So, I got a co-worker to teach me. My first garment was a vest with mock cables for said daughter.
I’ve been knitting on and off for close to 43 years!
I learned to knit for the first time in 2nd Grade, and tried to pick it back up in college a couple of times. I only got really into it in 2008, right before my husband’s second Iraq deployment, and it definitely helped get me through. I’ve had something on the needles ever since.
Learned 32 years ago, but just recently started knitting daily!!!
I taught myself to knit about 5 years ago and I haven’t been able to stop knitting since.
I learned to knit 30 years ago. I tried to teach myself and did fine with knit and purl but wanted to learn more so I took knitting lessons. My secretary was an avid knitter and when I was stumped, I would call her into the conference room and said in frot of the other employees, that I needed to dictate a letter and for her to come with me….hehehe that is when she helped me with my knitting problem….LOL
I have been knitting for close to 30 years I think. I probably learned further back than that but that was through a girls club and it didn’t stick.
I’ve been knitting seven years!
Had my mom teach me the basics about 6 years ago. Since then I have self taught a whole slue of other stuff ie. socks, cables. We get together once a month to KIP and it has really helped our relationship. We exchange ideas and help each other with stitches.
Since 1981…so 30 years this year and still learning!
44 years since I started, but with some gaps.
I started knitting almost 40 years ago and then dropped it for a long time. Progress on projects seemed so slow. A neighbor signed up for a knitting 101 class and that’s when i re-entered the knitting scene about 5 years ago. Learned continental two years ago and am really loving knitting now. I know ravelry has played a big roll in keeping me interested in new projects and awesome yarn choices! Great therapy too.
Either 8 or 9 years ago. I learned when I was in between jobs: either in between grad school and first job or between getting laid off from first job and discovering the best job ever – teaching!
Less than five. I have made some wonderful friends and made a few things i am really proud of, and a few things that could/should be frogged. But, haven’t we all?
I’ve been knitting for about 12 years now, wow time goes fast!
i think it’s been about 4-5 years…and my most consistent hobby!
I taught myself to knit last February so I’ve been knitting now over a year and LOVING it!! I’ve even convinced a few friends to give it a go too!
would be 47 years. The fashionable sweaters then were hand-knit, mohair bulky pullovers, and the only way for me to afford one was to buy the yarn and knit one myself. Took a few tries before I could even wear the finished sweater, but large yarn, and needles helped. I don’t think I was so good with the tension then. The yarn was blue and soft, all I remember from my first knitting attempt in high school.
I’ve been knitting off and on since I was a child–so at least 30 years!!
I have been knitting for 54 years, since my grandmother taught me when I was 8!
Holy Cheescake, I just figured it out and I’ve been knitting for 46 years!!!
Boy, do I feel old all of a sudden!. . . . :0
I’ve been knitting for 9 years now. I started while my husband was in law school and had to study all of the time. I needed to find something to do and I was hooked from day 1!
I learned the knit stitch at age 10, and after finishing a scarf, I put away my needles until I got married and decided it was time to knit my husband a sweater. I knew my knitting needed help, and a friend told me about Elizabeth Zimmermann’s camp in Wisconsin. I clearly had more guts than brains because after the first few minutes at Camp, I knew I was in trouble. However, I decided to breathe slowly and deeply and learn as much as I could. I had come all the way from Texas so I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I figured I’d learn more than anyone else in the group. Fortunately, some of the campers “nursed” me through a Camp project. I’ve knitted quite a bit since then and hope my skills have greatly improved.
I’ve known how to knit for more than 30 years, but only seriously knitting and learning for about 6-7 years.
I have been knitting now for 5 years! And I love it!
I’ve been knitting for almost 5 years now! :0)
I have been knitting for about 36 years and obsessed for the last 12. I have taught all three of my daughters to knit. I can’t believe all the fantastic yarns available now.
I find it hard to believe that I have been knitting for almost 5 years.
I’ve been knitting for about 4.5 years, I first learned in 2006 but didn’t get serious about it until 2009.
I’ve been knitting for nearly three years. It seems like it has been so much longer! Sort of sobering to think I’ve amassed all this yarn in such a short time! Eek!
Gosh – a really long tme! Since I was about 7 or maybe 8 years old 🙂
I think it’s been about five years but in some ways I still feel like a newbie knitter 🙂
I’ve been knitting off and on for 40 years. Back in November I started looking at sock yarns and decided to give sock making a try. I had never made a sock before. My third pair turned out nicely. Now most of my free time is spent knitting.
Wow, what an awesome give-away! I am a newbie knitter and have been teaching myself how to knit. So I have only been knitting for about 3 months now but I’m loving it very much! =)
~*Priscilla*~
http://faeriedreamsandpaperwishes.blogspot.com
I’ve been knitting for 6 years.
FPS, I just figured it out – 48 years!
My mother knew how to crochet but not knit – for some reason (was she trying to get me out of her hair?) she asked a neighbor lady to teach me!
I just dont remember when I learned to knit or how but I think I taught myself in high school and I just turned 60. So a LONG TIME> I love how knitting is a life long pursuit with many levels and always something new to learn.. I do remember teaching myself to do socks in the early 70’s when I went “back to the land” in NH
I learned to knit as a child and was knitting on and off for 20 years or so. Then I took up knitting ‘for real’ about 3 years ago. I was following a couple of bloggers that wrote about handknit socks, among other things, and I decided I had to try them myself!
I’ve been knitting about 25 years.
I’ve been knitting for 40 years now. My grandmother taught me and the words she used were a combination of Norwegian and English. I miss her so much this mother’s day; miss my own mother too. SO Happy Mother’s Day to you Sheri!
I keep saying 25 but time has passed and I guess it’s about 40 years. My Grammy Darling taught me to knit one day when I went to work with her. We used a pair of pencils and a ball of string. I think I was about 6. I continued on the pencils and also moved to a loom, making clothes and blankets for my dolls. In college I got a real set of needles and some horrible blue acrlyic yarn and re-taught myself. The project was for a boyfriend long gone and the sweater was never finished. Both my grandmothers knit and although she can knit my mom crochets beautifully still. Yeah MOMs!!! Have a great day all!
I’ve knitting for about 35 years
45 years! So long ago that we didn’t do ssk (we used psso) and we didn’t knit from charts unless we were doing colorwork. I knitted off and on along with cross-stitch and needlepoint. When I hit mid-50s I needed something easier to see so knitting became my passion.
I learned to knit a bit in a 4-H class when I was only 8 or so, I really took it up a couple of years ago and am now a sock maven!
I’ve been knitting for about 3 1/2 years. I had tried, unsuccessfully, a couple of times when I was younger but I didn’t really catch on. On my third attempt it took. And I am so grateful that it did. I love the knitting, the yarn, the patterns and I love that I’ve met so many wonderful people because of our shared passion.
40 years knitting and still going strong.
I learned to knit about 40 years ago, but have only been passionate about it for the past few. So many yummy yarns to play with now!!!
I hate to show my age, but I learned to knit when people were knitting scarfs for the soldiers in WW2.