Just in case you thought I was kidding......

When we put new bowls up they go FAST! It's really amazing and I am so appreciative of everyone who has patronized our little business! There are only a couple more of the new ones left. This is what Mr. Man took to the post office this morning.

Do YOU have a bowl in this pile?! Some of these packages even have 2 bowls in them. And, there are some buttons going out too! We have had so much fun packaging and shipping all of this stuff for everyone! We love it!

This one went out as a prezzie!! :)

In other news, I was actually able to do a little spinning last night amazingly enough. This is an alpaca/merino/bamboo blend that I got from Georgia Mountain Fiber. I LOVE spinning with this! It is so smooth and easy to spin, especially for a beginner such as myself. Mr. Man fixed my spinning wheel last week so now it spins perfectly!!! It did have kind of a "hitch" to it that I didn't even know is not the way it is supposed to be until Hockeymom sat down to use it and was like "Why is it doing that"? Amazing what you can fix once you actually realize that it isn't working like it is supposed to! Thanks to my wonderful hubby for fixing it for me!! :)

See the blue in it?

Who's going to Harlot on Sunday?!?!?!?! Leave a comment if you are!

PS - I don't know why I can never get the spacing to act right after I add the pictures!!!

Just a Quickie

Just wanted to let everyone know that the new yarn bowls are up on the site! Unfortunately, we had a few fatalities with the fair isle bowls so only two survived the firing. So, if you see one you like you better grab it because there won't be more for several weeks. Here is a sampling:

In other news, things are just plugging along. Wayne and I are doing LOTS of busy work involving newspapers and yarn. We are going to bed dog tired every night but it is ALL going to be worth it in the end. Wayne and I won't be the only ones enjoying the fruits of our labors either - all of you are going to LOVE the surprise coming up! Seriously, how do you feel about alpacas anyway???

Almost Halfway

With the master's swatches that is. I have been trying to push them along and keep them moving but I simply have had almost no time for knitting lately.

Here's the lot of 'em:


I have done through #8, though 8 is not blocked yet. I'm really glad I changed yarns even though it has been a pain in the neck. The blocking is coming out MUCH better! Amazing how that works when you actually DO use 100% wool instead of just pretending that you are using 100% wool!

Yarn bowl update - We just need to glaze a fire them. I'm hoping to get them glazed tomorrow and have them done no later than Sunday. Everyone who has emailed me to be on the notification list will get an email when they are ready. We actually have two kiln loads to do so hopefully we can do one on Friday and then another on Saturday night. It's always fun to see what's in store when we open up the kiln!

Hint - if you see one you like, go ahead and get it because it is going to be a while before we will be churning out any more batches. There will be a lull for a little while.

In other news, keep your contest guesses coming!! Don't forget so that you can win a $20 gift certificate to Knit Witch!!

Contest Button

Here is the contest button for anyone who would like to promote the contest on their blog:

We are trying to get more bowls up on the site - I have had A LOT of requests over the past few days so hopefully we will have some up by next weekend. Sometimes it's like moving mountains around here trying to keep up with all this stuff! The new bowls have been made though so they are well on their way through the process.

Thanks so much to everyone for their emails and Knit Witch purchases! We are stunned at how well these things have been selling and we are loving making them for everyone. We are having a great time. Thanks for buying handmade and for buying things that are Made in America!!

In other news, I have completed two more master's swatches so that brings me up to #8. I need to wash and block the last two I have made. I will take pictures of them soon, I just haven't gotten around to it as of yet. Luckily, no more of them have hit the frog pond!!

Keep your contest guesses coming folks - they are hilarious!!!

Again??

I know, you have already heard from me today. Just a quick note to let you know that we finally got the ceramic buttons up on the site! Enjoy!

Contest Time!!!!!

Why not make a fun contest out of the guessing game right?? Here's the deal, the person that comes closest to guessing our "secret" will get a $20 credit to the Knit Witch store! That way you can use the money towards a yarn bowl or a spindle bowl or a linen bowl or some buttons or whatever you want. Sound good?!?! I think I will also extend a $10 credit for the most outragous story. That gives you TWO chances to win. If more than one person guesses both parts of the secret correctly then the first person to get the correct answer in wins. This way, even the folks that don't know that much about me can happily participate

You can use your credit whenever you like so if you don't see something on the site right now that floats your boat you can wait until we put on more stuff.

Before I go any further, I do have to exclude a couple of people, unfortunately. Turtlegirl, you are excluded and you need to keep your mouth shut even though you only know a part of the secret! And Melissa is excluded even though she does not remember that I have already told her the secret (gosh darn menopause!). Finally, Hockeymom, you are also excluded because you know too much! None of you know the whole story but it's not fair to include you so - no sharing information! All of you have already gotten previous prizes from me anyway in one form or another.

So, post or email me your best guess and/or most outragous guess. You can enter as many of each type of guess as you like and then we will choose the one that meets the secret the closest as the main winner. The bold words in red are some clues. Look for these clues in future posts. The contest will run until April 30, 2008 at which time I will be able to reveal the secret and the winner! All that anxiety about the contest will then just become water under the bridge. Here are a couple of other clues:

1. This is a TWO part secret.
2. Neither portion has ANYTHING to do with me being pregnant - EVER. Seriously.

Mr. Man will make a contest button so look for that in the days to come so that you can pass along the info in your own blog.

Nuts.

That's what all of you are. Are you kidding me?!?! If you know anything about us you know we have three GROWN children and there ain't NO WAY I'm starting over with that mess. E-V-E-R!!! Ain't gonna happen, no way, no how, uh-uh.

I have absolutely no pictures for you, no knitting for you, no crochet for you, nothing. Why in the heck are you guys hanging around this boring 'ol blog anyway? Well, I DO occasionally have fun stuff here but it just ain't happening right now. We haven't even been able to get the buttons up on the website yet!!!

I still can't spill the beans on the secret but MAYBE by the weekend I can. We'll just have to see what happens. Hmmmm.....I should have a contest and everyone should guess what the big secret is and the person who comes the closest wins!! Hmmmmm..............what do I have around here that I could give away???? I bet you guys would come up with some crazy responses too! That would be fun.

(Going off to think about next contest..........................)

Long absence.........

..............so what do I have to show for it you ask?? A big fat nothing. I have done SOME spinning but not much. Here's the latest 2 skeins. Getting better but the 100% alpaca (the solid one) came out much bulkier than I had anticipated. I was actually trying to spin a little thicker, since I tend to spin very thin naturally, so I guess I succeeded. I wasn't trying to succeed that much though. Call me an overachiever I guess.




That 100% alpaca that I got from Georgia Mountain Fiber spins like a DREAM!

MUST. HAVE. MORE.

I have done absolutely NO knitting on my master's swatches so I have got to get going on those.



I have done some work on the alpaca blanket. I have 5 crochet squares done so far. 58 more to go. These are fast and easy and I can easily do one of them while watching American Idol (don't ask, I have to watch otherwise I have nothing to talk to my dad about on Thursday - he is a total AI addict).



I am EXTREEMLY anxious to share with everyone what has been taking over mine and Mr. Man's life lately but we can't let the cat out of the bag just yet. Trust me, it is great news though! Let's just say that he and I are in for some big life changes very soon - soooooooo exciting!!

A is for Alpaca

Remember that bag of roving my wonderful friends at Georgia Mountain Fiber gave me several weeks ago? You know, this one:

Well I started spinning it today and I think it is turning out pretty darn good! I am actually starting to play with the thickness and the amount of twist I am putting in the yarn - instead of just acting like I meant to spin it the way it turned out. Here it is so far:

This alpaca is SO soft and it is wonderfully easy to spin (yeah, that gets a BIG plus in my book).

And.........drumroll please...........we got some buttons out of the kiln yesterday! Melissa and I worked on these several weeks back. I think most of them turned out pretty darn good for a first attempt at ceramic buttons. Mr. Man will get them on the website soon but here are a couple of my favorite sets:

Mr. Man and I spent the whole day up in the N. GA mountains yesterday. We putzed around for the day and then we visted Deb and Michael at Georgia Mountain Fiber and went to dinner with them and that was a blast. Even though it was kind of rainy it was nice to get out of the big city for a while and slow down and enjoy country life for a bit!

Oh Yes, More Bowls!

There are new yarn bowls up on the site. We STILL haven't been able to fit in any ceramic buttons but they are coming, I swear. They are ready to go we just haven't been able to find space in the kiln yet. We also have new spindle bowls up AND we have linen bowls which hold your water while you spin linen. They are made so that you can tie a string around them and tie them to your spinning wheel. They are too cute! Here's a picture of my favorite one:





I finished 2 more Master's swatches but I haven't taken pictures because that just isn't very exciting to view.


Here's my cute pet photo for the day - We have pets stacked on the stairs. They have a rough life don't they?



Of course, not to be left out - Petey has to get in on the action too:

Remember me?

Yeah, yeah. I know. I have fallen off the face of the earth. We have been so busy these last few days I haven't done much knitting, read ANY knitting blogs, posted (obviously) or even BEEN ON RAVELRY! I know, my husband is thinking this is a serious disease.

Over the past few days I have managed to finish my latest spinning.

And I finished another swatch and did some blocking.

Well yeah, they look great, right!! Well crap because the cable one is supposed to be 4" and after I blocked it I discovered it is 5.5". I couldn't even try to sqish it up enough for it to work SO (sigh) I will have to knit that one again.

I have crocheted a few squares for the blanket I am making out of the alpaca from my dad's. That seems to be going pretty well so far.

Ceramic buttons should be going in the kiln tomorrow so we will have those and several new yarn bowls and linen bowls coming out over the next day or two.

We have LOTS of exciting stuff going on here all involving some big changes so as soon as I'm able to let the cat out of the bag about a few things everyone will be brought up to speed!!