RAK Reporting Archives - The Loopy Ewe Blog

The Geese are Gathering & RAK Reporting

by Sheri BergerDecember 21, 2012April 30, 201368 Comments

We sure seem to have a lot of geese here in Fort Collins. They fly overhead in the mornings, honkinghonkinghonking trying to figure out who is supposed to be at the head of the V formation. They waddle up and down the sidewalks in different spots. And they swim in the local lakes and ponds. Paul (WH) took some great photos that I wanted to share with you. (Does anyone cook a goose for Christmas dinner? Never mind. I probably don’t want to know.)

And just so the ducks don’t feel left out:

We have had two Loopy Elf parties in the past two weeks. The first one was a dinner that included spouses, and that was a lot of fun. Then we had a fun lunch with everyone bringing something, earlier this week. Cathy brought a warm beverage called Cranberry Bog that we all enjoyed. I’m going to have a pot of this simmering on the stove on Christmas day. Yum.

Cathy’s Cranberry Bog

3 cups boiling water
2 tea bags
2 cups cranberry juice cocktail
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar

Steep tea for 3 minutes in the boiling water. Combine all other ingredients and heat. Serve with cinnamon sticks.

It’s time for our final RAK Reporting day. Did you do something fun for someone else this week? Leave a comment and tell us about it below and I’ll draw the winners and will announce them on Monday’s blog. If you need ideas so that you can squeeze in a Random Act of Kindness before I draw winners on Monday, check out our first two blog posts here and here. The randomly drawn winners will receive a skein of The Loopy Ewe Seasonings Series of their choice. Thank you for all of your participation this year in our RAK’s!

Do you have guests arriving this weekend? My mum-in-law arrives today and we always love having her here with us for the holidays. I really lucked out in the mother-in-law department. Have a great weekend!

Sheri hopingyougetallofyourlastminuteknittingdone,too

RAK Reporting Day!

by Sheri BergerDecember 14, 2012March 5, 201382 Comments

It’s Week Two (of Three) for reporting the Random Acts of Kindness that you may have participated in this week! I so enjoyed reading all of your comments on last Friday’s blog post. I know you don’t do these things for the chance to win a skein of our Seasonings Series (although that’s a cool prize!). You do these things because it makes your day to help make someone else’s day, right? And all of us get to benefit from your RAK’s because we read them and it inspires us with new ideas for additional ways to help. So thank you again for all that you’re doing and for sharing back here on the blog. Like last week, I’ll draw 1 name for every 50 comments and I’ll be contacting those winners to pick the Seasonings Skein that they’d like.

I wanted to share one story with you that amazed me. Denise in New York works as a nurse, but in her spare time she makes teddy bears to distribute to kids in shelters at Christmas time. Here you see her sitting in the middle of the 850 9″ teddy bears that she sewed up from September until now. (This year’s work brings her total made over the years to 6200!) They are made with muslin on the front and a pretty fabric on the back, with matching bow around the neck. She then pops each bear into a brown paper lunch bag and makes that pretty by tying ribbon on the top. That way, each child gets to open a package. Some of the bears go to Hour Children, where her husband dresses up and gets to play Santa each year. The rest of the bears are distributed to shelters in her area. Denise has also started knitting up hats, scarves, mittens and slippers to share with women just entering the shelter system. I can only imagine how the work of her hands blesses the hearts of so many. Thanks for letting me share your story, Denise!

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to leave your RAK report below. We’ll draw winners on Monday.

Sheri likingtheideaofknittingforwomen’sshelters

Madelinetosh, Socktopus, Shibui and More!

by Sheri BergerDecember 10, 2012March 5, 20135 Comments

Happy Monday to you! We just added lots of things to the website for tonight’s Monday Update. Pop on over there and you’ll find:

Madelinetosh Pashmina – the lovely sport weight 3-ply that is 75% superwash merino, 15% silk and 10% cashmere. Since this feels so wonderful, it’s great for scarves, hats, cowls, mitts, gloves, mittens and shawls. (Shown here in Jade.)

Madelinetosh DK – a DK weight in 100% superwash merino re-stocked in just a few of the newer colors tonight. This yarn is beautiful for sweaters and vests (and equally fun for hats and scarves).

Madelinetosh Vintage – a worsted weight in 100% superwash merino in a newer-color re-stock as well.

Shibui Sock – re-stocked in several of your favorite colors. Not only is this fingering weight yarn great for socks, but it also works up nice for shawls.

Shibui Silk Cloud – This light-as-as-feather yarn is great on its own. Try Stephanie’s Pretty Thing Cowl, but it’s also wonderful as a held-along yarn. I’m making a Cabled Rib Wrap using Silk Cloud held with Shibui Baby Alpaca DK. It’s so wonderful to work with. (Shown here in Cranberry.)

ChiaoGoo Needles – re-stocked.

Knitter’s Pride Needles and Sets – re-stocked.

Magma Pattern Holders – re-stocked in small and large sizes.

Reisenthel Bags – these polyester bags are great for your knitting projects and your shopping expeditions. They fold up tiny (2.5″ x 5″) to store in your purse, and they open up to 17″ x 23″ and hold 33 pounds when you need them to. 12 happy colors/fabrics to choose from. (Shown here in Bubbles Ocean Blue).

Lavishea Bars – Don’t you love these moisturizing bars? I keep them in my purse and in my knitting project bags. They make a great add-along gift if you’re giving someone a pair of mitts or gloves as a gift.

Loopy Square Tote Project bags – great for sock/scarf/hat sized projects, or shawl and sweater sized projects.

Socktopus Sokkusu – more of one of your favorite yarns! We have a few more colors going up next week again, and then we won’t have more Socktopus until next summer. They are moving their operations and it will take awhile to get set back up again.

Buttons, buttons, buttons and more buttons – I had fun buying more buttons and you’ll see what I mean when you see all of the varieties that we added in! You can find buttons under the Fun Accessories tab and we have them from Arnhild’s Knitting Studio, Buttons, Etc, Durango Buttons, and JHB Buttons.

Did you read the comments on last Friday’s RAK Reporting blog post? Wow – what fun ideas you all have had! We used the Random Number Generator to pick 3 winners for the week. Congratulations to Marilee in MO, Allison in CA and Melissa in IN. I’ve sent emails to all three of you so that you can pick your free skein from our Loopy Ewe Seasonings Series line. Thank you to everyone who participated. I’ve already had several emails from people who were motivated to do something more because of an idea or two that you shared on the blog. Be on the lookout for some Random Acts of Kindness that you can do this week, because our next reporting day will be this Friday!

Sheri whogotseveralnewideasfromyourpostsandwilltrythemthisweek

First RAK Reporting Day Contest

by Sheri BergerDecember 7, 2012March 5, 2013122 Comments

We sure enjoy seeing all of you knitters and crocheters popping in the shop every day. (Some of you pop in via the webcam, and others of you pop in in person). Last weekend we had a group of Loopy Groupie podcasters up here for a meet-up and shopping. If you are in the market for some new podcasts, you will want to give them a try! Leslie and Laura were here from The KnitGirllls. Mel was here all the way from Hawaii, where she podcasts at SingleHandedKnits. And Diane was up from Denver, where she podcasts at Knitabullspodcast.blogspot.com. Others in the photo – Loopy Office Manager Lynn wearing the cute Elf Hat that Laura made for her, and Tami who also came up with them from Denver for the day. It was fun to have them here. I usually only get to see Leslie and Laura at the Spring Fling, so this was a bonus! (Speaking of the Fling – signups go through the end of the day on Tuesday, 12/11. We’ve had a great turnout for signups so far, and are so looking forward to having you here for the retreat.)

Today is our first Friday RAK Reporting Contest. Did you do something fun this week? Share it with us by leaving a comment below. We’ll use today’s comments to randomly draw a winner for every 50 responses, so check back on Monday to see if we drew your name. In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Sheri finishedacutepairofmittensthisweek.
Photosnextweek!