Cascade Archives - The Loopy Ewe Blog

Shalimar Breathless DK, Desert Vista Dyeworks, Cascade and More!

by Sheri BergerApril 22, 2013April 24, 20135 Comments

Guess what it’s doing again here? SNOWING! What a blustery day. I am kind of hoping that this is the last one. (Me. The snow-loving-person. Now done with it this season. Bring on the sunshine and warmer days.) Despite the snow and cold, we have plenty of fun things to warm you up in tonight’s Monday Update! Just up:

– Desert Vista Dyeworks – we have a new indie dyer for you! Susan does amazing work and we are so happy to share it with you. You’ll find it in 12 multi-colors and 16 different self-striping colors. Shown here in the Dia de los Muertos colorway in a sock that Loopy Office Manager Lynn knit up.

– Cascade – we’ve re-stocked 220, 220 Superwash, Heritage Sock, Heritage Silk, Eco Alpaca, Ultra Pima, Ultra Pima Fine, and Fixation (just in time to start in on some summer socks). The bins and shelves are overflowing with colors!

– Shalimar Breathless DK – you’re heard me say (often, I know) that Shalimar Breathless is one of my very favorite fingering weight yarns. Now I’m happy to tell you that we can offer it to you in a DK weight as well! Same gorgeous colors, same wonderful feel, same beautiful fabric knit up – just a bit heavier. Perfect for warmer shawls and of course you should make a sweater out of it, too. 🙂 Shown here in Asilomar.

– Christmas at Downton – we’re re-stocked this very popular colorway from Lorna’s Laces again. We have it for you in Shepherd Sport, Shepherd Worsted, Shepherd Sock, Solemate, and Sportmate. (Do we really have to wait until next January for the next season of Downton??)

– Knitter’s Pride Needles and Addi needles were re-stocked a few days ago, in case you’ve been waiting for a certain size.

– Wooden Yarn Caddies – George also brought down more small and large yarn caddies, in time for our Spring Fling this past weekend, so those are up on the website as well. We have them in Ash, Cherry, Oak, Walnut and Red Cedar in the large size, and Cherry, Oak, Walnut and Red Cedar in the small size.

Enjoy the new stuff and we’ll get your orders packed up and shipped off asap!

Sheri needingabout12straighthoursofsleep,post-SpringFling

Second Quarter Challenge

by Sheri BergerApril 3, 2013April 3, 201337 Comments

We’re ready to jump into our Second Quarter Challenge! Join us for some knitting fun. This quarter, we’re working on simple colorwork projects.

Project: Use two colors of yarn, 500 yards total or less, for this month’s project. Your pattern needs to mix the colors with stranded work (so just doing solid stripes doesn’t count).

Dates: You can start as soon as you have your yarn. All projects must be completed with photos uploaded to our Loopy Ewe Second Quarter Photo Gallery by July 1st.

Yarn: If you need to buy yarn for your project, we’re offering a 20% discount on the yarn if it’s purchased between today and Wednesday, April 10th. Yarn must be Sport, DK or Worsted Weight, and the discount is valid on two colors, up to 500 yards total for your project. In order to get the discount, you must leave us an order note telling us which two colors you will be using for this project. We’ll apply the discount after your order comes through to us. If you’re going for free shipping in the U.S. (over $75), please make sure your discount won’t take you below that amount.

Need some fun ideas?

Mittens & Mitts: Snowfling Mittens, Northman Mittens, Houndstooth Check Mittens, Flocked Mittens, Bird in Hand, Bird and Vine Mitts, Vanamo Mitts, Rigmor’s Selbu Mittens, Meta Mittens, and Bacon Mittens (ha!).

Hats: Norwegian Star Earflap Hat, Marius Hats, Flora, End of May Hat, Moose in the Woods Hat, Sequence Hat, Double Diamond Argyle Hat, Diamonds on the Mind, Modjeska Hat, Min Ulla Hat, INSULATE! Hat, and Opus Spicatum Hat.

Other: Luvbots, Snowflake Boot Cuffs, Norwegian Star Slippers, Gyre Cowl, Snowflake Christmas Stocking, Easy Fair Isle Headbands, and Japan Cowl.

Yarn possibilities: Cascade 220, Cascade 220 Superwash, Cascade Superwash Sport, Stonehedge Fiber Worsted, Stonehedge Fiber DK, Amy Butler Aran, Amy Butler DK, Blue Sky Worsted Hand Dyes, Spud and Chloe Sweater, and more. Just be sure to use solids or semi-solids so that your colorwork shows up well.

See that mitten up there? That’s my attempt at colorwork, awhile back. There is a reason the mitten is not on a hand. It turned out way too big! I might just re-do that same pattern (Flocked Mittens) for the Challenge. I really want to get this colorwork skill down. There are so many fun things you can do with colorwork. I figured starting out with a two color project is best.

Sheri who,admittedly,didnotdoagaugeswatchforthatmittenupthere

Lorna’s Laces, Cascade, and The Fibre Comapny

by Sheri BergerFebruary 18, 2013March 4, 20135 Comments

Happy President’s Day! We had a nice day off today (since it’s a no-mail Monday), but we’re ready to get back in the shop tomorrow to ~~play with the yarn~~ get your orders packed up and shipped out. In tonight’s Monday Update we added in:

Lorna’s Laces – Christmas at Downton is back in stock in Solemate, Shepherd Sock, Sportmate and Pearl. (Fitting, considering the season finale of Downton Abbey was last night. Did you see it? Oh my.)

Lorna’s Laces – We’ve also re-stocked Shepherd Sock, Shepherd Sport and Worsted. We get orders from Lorna’s almost every week. We always have a big list of colors and bases on order with them and they add them to their weekly dye rotation and send us the colors as they come up on the dye schedule. That’s why it seems like you see Lorna’s Laces on the What’s New page two or three Mondays a month! In tonight’s Update, we have their new spring colors as well. (Daley, Harrison, Mason, Medill – shown above, Ogden, Washing, and Byrne).

Cascade – two bits of good news on Cascade. 1) We have re-stocked almost everything, so the shelves are full up! 2) The price has gone down on several of the Cascade bases, which is always a welcome (and rare) turn of events. We’ve lowered the price on 220, 220 Superwash, Superwash Sport, Ultra Pima, and Ultra Pima Fine. Now is a good time to stock up and get some sweater quantities.

Cascade – in addition to the re-stocks, we’ve also added in Ultra Pima Paints (their beautiful Pima cotton in multi-colors – these would make a cute summer sweater) and Cascade 220 Superwash Paints (fun for easy-care baby and kid clothes). Shown here in Ultra Pima Paints Blues Mix.

The Fibre Company – we’ve re-stocked Tundra (their beautiful bulky weight yarn, perfect for quick-to-knit cowls, scarves, sweaters and mittens) and Road to China Light (their luxurious Alpaca/Cashmere/Camel/Silk sportweight yarn, great for drapey scarves, cowls and shawls – shown here in Malachite).

Dream in Color February Dream Club – we put up the last of our skeins of the February color – a gorgeous hot pink in their DK Everlasting yarn base. Your yarn purchase includes a free pattern for the Trinity Scarf, but it would also make a really fun pair of happy socks. This is the last installment of this round of Dream Club. We hope they offer another round again this fall. We’ll be sure to keep you posted.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to enter our Spring Fling Contest on last Friday’s blog, be sure to throw your name in the hat (or, rather, your comment in the comment section). We’re giving away a spot for you and a friend, and I know you could use a fun knitting weekend getaway this spring, right? We’ll announce the randomly drawn winner at the end of the week!

Sheri whohadfundoingalotofknittingwithKnittingDaughterthispastweekend

Inspiration Focus on: Sothia

by Sheri BergerSeptember 26, 2012March 5, 201316 Comments

We have had so many wonderful photos shared in our photo galleries throughout the past two summers of Camp Loopy, that I thought I’d highlight some of the patterns that have been a popular choice. I love seeing the same pattern done up in different colors and different yarn. Today, I want to highlight the Sothia Shawl. This is one that came up several times in last summer’s camp photos, and I thought it was so beautiful that I knit it up myself last fall. I did mine in String Theory Caper Cobalt and Hand Maiden Casbah in Smoke. What I love about this pattern – the shape (it makes it easy to keep it around your shoulders) and the cool ruffle. Yardage – this striped version takes about 750 yards of the main yarn (the blue, in my shawl), and 250 yards of the other color (the gray, in my shawl). Here are some of your shawls, that inspired me!