All of a sudden the line of stitches shows small loops pulled up and is not just a perfect line of stitches. Sometimes the needle pings the fabric so that there is a pulled line. This has not happened before this week. Does it need a new needle...just put in a sharper type that I bought at the sewing shop.

I would say if the needle is pinging, change the needle. That is the first thing I do when I start having trouble with the stitches.

Are you using a ball point needle? That could be it or if you've sewn over pins you may have a burr on it and it will need to be changed no matter how new it is.
As far as the stitches you've got a tension problem. Try lowering the upper tension a tiny bit at a time. If the loops are fairly large it's your bobbin tension. Your bobbin may not be wound tightly enough or the tension somehow has gotten wonky. Be very careful when adjusting a bobbin tension, the tiniest adjustment may work just fine.

you may need to clean your machine, take the bobbin out and clean that area well, if there is lint built up in there it can cause tension problems...i would clean the machine, put in a new needle (making sure it is a universal or sharp/not a ball point) make sure the needle is inserted correctly and try again. you may not have to mess with the tension, if it 's an issue with lint built up.

If you have a manual for your machine, check the "troubleshooting" advice. My machine was noisy and the stitches didn't look right. The manual troubleshooting tips said to change the needle and to make sure the bobbin was the correct size for the machine. The needle looked fine, but I changed it anyway. I had used a 15 bobbin because I had some already wound, so I changed to a 15J bobbin that came with the machine. It sounds fine and works right now.

Also try rethreading the machine. Sometimes the thread can jump out of its assigned place without you realizing it.

If the needle is pinging, somehow it has either gotten bent or gotten a burr on it. There are any number of ways this can happen and it doesn't matter if you just put in a new one 5 minutes ago!

Just changing out the needle may take care of you loops as well. If not, then rethread your machine both top and bottom, making sure you have the bobbin in correctly and securely, and that you've tightened the new needle in securely as well.

Most likely this will take care of both the pinging and the loops.

yup, sounds like a bad needle to me, too. Even if it is a new one, change it. Sometimes you can look at a needle and get a burr on it.