Head, shoulders, hips and toes, hips and toes.

I have finished three, count 'em, three projects this week! First, the Louisa sequin sweater (now hanging toward the back of the store - LOVE how it turned out, and it fits perfectly). Second, the Bobbi Bear for Billie Anne, complete with its own scarf (hey, if I count the scarf separately, that makes four finished projects) - look for a full blog on BA's shower later this week. And third, my second hat from the "Itty Bitty Hats" book, for the superwoman on my tennis team who has been playing (and kicking booty!) well into nigh her 7th month! Our team is presenting her with a Babies R Us gift card after our last match this week, and it just felt too empty giving her a gift card, so I whipped up this little cutie:

It's called Little Pumpkin, for obvious reasons. Gee, I hope she doesn't read this blog before Wednesday! I love the "Itty Bitty Hats" book. These hats are so cute, they give me an excuse not to knit a sweater or blanket. Guilt, be gone! Plus, the instructions in this book are so detailed as to be almost insulting. For example, instead of saying simply "attach leaf to stem," you get a full paragraph of exactly how to attach it. This pattern was two pages long, but if it was a Rowan or Rebecca pattern, I bet they could have edited it down to about 6 sentences.

So that was the "head" (see title), now on to the "shoulders." We have all been salivating over the luscious Tilli Tomas silk yarn with Austrian crystal beads worked in. My infamous black Tilli dress has sequins, but these beads are completely TDF. Gina just finished a quick shrug that is so very hard to capture with my crummy camera - you really must see this one in person. However, it is traveling with Gina this week so the photo will have to do for now:

And a front view:

And a close up:

The beads are larger than they look in the photo, and color-matched to each yarn. My friend Kristin is finishing up another Tilli in a Stitch Diva pattern using yarn with actual turquoise chunks woven in! Photo coming soon...

Now for "hips," we have an ingenious use of a felted cell phone pattern. Lee Ann used a free pattern and Crystal Palace Taos to felt this darling little pouch - love that Loops button!



But what is so brilliant is that it's not holding a cell phone...it's holding an insulin pump! What a cheerful way to deal with what could otherwise be a drudgery. It doesn't surprise me that Lee Ann came up with this - she is such a positive person, always smiling and full of energy.

Now for the toes...ta da! The new Trekking sock yarn has arrived!

Within a few hours, we were already sold out of the green one that I call "Lizard" (upper left in photo). According to the distributor, this is their best-selling color! Neither Gina Y. nor I really believed it was their best-seller - we were sort of scratching our heads over it - and then lo and behold, it flew out the door! Just goes to show, it always pays to ask the distributor. Anyway, we also have some great "man colors" - if you want to see how they knit up, just look around at the Troops who had their socks cast on about 10 minutes after the UPS man left!

And here are two more "toes" photos:

These are the Christmas stockings you can learn to make in Gina H.'s July class. Click here to check out the new class list.

And what do Loops employees do to combat being on our feet all day on our lovely concrete floors?

This is a plug for MBT sandals. Ugly, yes. Hideously expensive, yes. But incredibly comfortable, good for showing off hand-knit socks or a pedicure, and proven to decrease cellulite, to boot. The feet belong to me, Ingrid and Gina H. You can get the sandals from Kathy at Foot Solutions in Tulsa.

See you this week for the last week of the Prism trunk show!

- Shelley