S.E.X. at SAFF???

So, I'm sure you are all wondering if I participated in any S.E.X. during SAFF. Why yes, yes I did. Not too much because we were so busy but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of things. I had really wanted to go visit the Knitting Notions booth and pick up a few things and I was planning to do that on Sunday. However, since Mr. Man got sick I really didn't leave the booth too much that day.

First up - Bugga!!! Gryphon was kind enough to trade me a skein of Bugga! for a yarn bowl. I picked "Blue Lobster" - you know I am such a sucker for blues! The picture has been shamelessly swiped from Gryphon's website but I don't think she will mind too much since I am giving the the address to go over there and shop HERE. However, poor Gryphon never seems to sell anything so she never has any Bugga! on her site for you to buy.

Here's a cute story for you. On Thursday when we were setting up Gryphon and Kate (of Dragonfly Fibers) needed some help setting up their booth. We were happy to help so Wayne, Katey and I went over there and helped them to get everything all set up. Katey went over first and as a joke I gave her one of our shopping bags (that has Knit Witch and our logo printed on it) and told her to tell Gryphon to hang this up in their booth. It was a joke of course.

Wayne and I went over there and we joked with them about the bag and I started to get it and take it back to our booth. Gryphon was like "Oh no you don't! We are keeping that here!". Ummmm - why? She then took the bag and wrote in big purple letters on it "WE LOVE KNIT WITCH AND HER SEXY MAN!" and then proceeded to hang it up in the booth. It was hilarious. I don't know why no one seemed to think about getting a picture of this.

So, the bag stayed and people actually came to our booth looking for "my sexy man". Of course, Wayne hated this - poor thing. They left that bag up there all weekend. On Sunday I went over there and I told them that some day, when they hit it big like Knit Witch and have their very own printed bags that I would return the favor and hang one of their bags up in our booth. This was, of course, hilarious because I don't think there is a knitter anywhere who does not know about Sanguine Grypon and her scrumptious yarns and why she sells out of stuff as soon as she puts it up on the site!

On Saturday night there were drawings for all kinds of prizes at the Fiber In at the Holiday Inn. The first prize up for a win was a Knit Witch yarn bowl! Guess who won?? ME! How ironic, right? I was allowed to choose another prize - so all quick like before it got snapped up - I grabbed the lone skein of Miss Babs yarn that was present - YAY! I got a skein of Yummy in colorway Crazy S. I had to actually take this picture because I didn't see one to snag off of Miss Babs website darnit.

SAFF - Day 2

First of all - a shop annoucement - Some of you have written to me and let me know that there are some problems with the discount page on our website. Thank you SO MUCH for letting me know. I updated the page yesterday with lots more goodies but I can clearly see that there are issues with the page. I feel certain that this is because I tried to update it myself since my poor hubby is still sick. So, as soon as he is up and among the living a little later this morning I will see if he can help me get it straightened out. In the meantime - if there is something on there that you are interested in please email me and I can invoice you directly - that way your stuff won't get sold once the page gets back up and running properly.

Now............back to your regularly scheduled SAFF post:

Saturday was a lot of fun!! I was actually surprised that Saturday was not as busy as I was expecting it to be. It seemed like Friday was much busier which I find a little unusual for one of these shows. The other vendors agreed. But, we still had a great day and had a little time to have fun too so that is always nice!

Saturday night Wayne and I were going to get together with Hockeymom and Hockeydad for dinner. That is 4 people, right? Well, we ended up with about 30 people there by the time it was all said and done! Ironically, we didn't go to the Asiana dinner because we wanted to opt for a smaller scale dinner instead!!! Silly us. We had a BLAST at dinner.

Isn't that picture of Gryphon awesome?? I think she should use that picture on all of her yarn labels from now on.

The highlight of the night was definitely telling the staff that it was Gryphon's birthday (which it was not) and watching that whole thing go down. Here's how my conversation with Katey went:

Katey: We are going to tell the wait staff that it is Gryphon's birthday

Me: OK - great!

Katey: Think we should do it?

Me: ??? Well.......yeah?

Katey: Gives me weird look

Me: I mean, if you are sure it is her birthday and all.

Katey: Smiling - No - we are sure that it ISN'T her birthday!!

Me: lightbulb goes off - OHHHHHHHHH - Then YES, in that case, you should definitely do it!

It was awesome! That girl is hilarious and such a great sport!

I even got to wear my new February Lady Sweater! This is JP and I.


Here is a shot of me and Mr. Man - right before he started feeling like death warmed over.

Seriously, I have no idea how I went the entire weekend without a single picture of Cristi!!!

SAFF - Day 1

On Friday the market opened finally! We were actually REALLY busy on Friday so that was great! Cristi helped us in our booth and unbelievably, we didn't get any pictures of her even though we spent an entire 3 days with her - we didn't get any pictures of her! What's up with that? Two bloggers - no pictures - go figure.

Here's a couple of shots of the market.

And a sneak shot of Jen and Miss Babs. We had a bird's eye view of the Miss Babs booth all weekend!

Fatimah stopped by to show off her socks she made out of our Orion colorway.

Later that night we went to the "fiber-in" at the Holiday Inn after Mr. Man and I snuck away for some yummy Thai food! It was a lot of fun and we met some great people! Thanks so much to Carrie and her mom for putting this great together!

There were lots of prizes donated and my number was the first one called! Guess what I won? A Knit Witch yarn bowl! Hahaha! They were nice and let me have the next prize down on the list - some Miss Babs yarn! Woo hooo!!!! I'll have to get a picture of it later for you. At the bottom of the picture it is the second skein from the right.

SAFF - Day 0

SAFF started with our drive to Asheville. Check out this gorgeous sunrise that we saw on the way. We had to stop the car and take some pictures.

We got there and checked out our fancy new indoor booth space!

We started unloading the trailer and it wasn't too long until I started hearing some loud expitives from Mr. Man. We suddenly realized that we had forgotten the cross pieces for our displays that the yarns hang on!!!! CRAP! I had taken them out to the trailer to pack them and then Wayne took them into the shop to drill better holes in them. Then, we forgot about them and never got them into the trailer! We were faced with making a 6 hour round trip drive back home to get them. I asked if he couldn't just go to Lowe's and get all the stuff he needed to make them again. That prospect sounded much better to him than a 6 hour drive (after we had just driven 3!) so he went off to Lowe's while I unloaded the rest of the trailer and started working on the booth. He then turned the parking lot into a mini-workshop and got busy.

Katey stopped by to help us put the booth together.

By the end of the day we were all ready to go!

Later that night we joined Katey, Amy and Laurie for dinner and drinks at Carraba's (why yes, I did feel like I was cheating by eating at another Italian restaurant thankyouverymuch). It was a lot of fun and the food was actually really good. Not as good as Provino's though you understand.

WHEW!!

We are back from SAFF! We got in late last night and are trying to get things back in order....you know...."find things". We had SUCH A GREAT TIME!!! I just can't tell you how many wonderful people we have met through Knit Witch. We love what we do and weekends like this just make it all worthwhile. SAFF is such a great show. The vendors are great, the people are great and the alpacas and sheep are so cute!!! We didn't really have time to do much walking around though.

Cristi helped us in our booth all weekend which was an absoutle blessing! We were so happy to have her help and her expertise with us. She *may* have come away with a few "thank you gifts" for being there to help us!!

THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by our booth! We managed to make it indoors this year (WOO HOOO!) and we had a GREAT spot! Next year we know to bring a bigger banner so that everyone will be able to find us a little easier. The fact that we weren't on the map since our booth change was last minute didn't help. But, plenty of people managed to find us and consequently, we had our best show yet!

I have a few custom orders to fill, several wholesale orders to get busy on, a trailer to unload, some inventorying to do and some pictures to download! I haven't even looked at our pictures yet (mainly because I haven't managed to find the cameras just yet) but when I do I will have some pictures of the festivities for you. I have some VERY entertaining pictures of Gryphon (of Sanguine Gryphon) for all of you!

The only downside is that Mr. Man has managed to get "the ick". He is asleep on the couch right now and feels like crap. He spent Sunday at the show feeling like crap, running a fever, and just generally feeling like probably doing anything but breaking down a booth and driving for 3 hours. But, we are home and he is resting. He will be getting on some custom orders as soon as he is feeling better.

Oh Deer!!!

First of all - don't forget about the Ghost Story Contest going on over in the Knit Witch group on Ravelry. You have until October 31st at midnight to enter the contest. We have already gotten some great stories!!! I even put one of my own up the other day. The contest rules and regs are in the first post so check that out for all the details.

The other day Wayne was walking over to the computer to put some bowls on the site. All the sudden I hear him whisper - "BRITT - get over here QUICK!". So I run over to the window where he is looking out to see this at the top of our driveway:










A mama and her two babies. Everyone looks pretty well-fed don't you think?!?! How cute are they?!?! This is the first time we have seen deer actually on our property. We have seen a few of them around but never on the property. We really don't seem to have that many around us considering where we live. Maybe there are just plenty of woods around here for them so they don't have to come out into the open too much, ya know?

Anyhow, I am very glad that Petey was not outside as he probably would have freaked out and run down the driveway barking at them and scaring the poor things to death. He wouldn't have hurt them - just barked. I would love to see the look on the cats faces when they encounter deer. I bet their eyes get as big as saucers.

A couple of weeks ago we were out on our walk on the mountain behind our house. All of the sudden Wayne says "STOP - don't move!". I looked up and at first I didn't see anything but then I saw that there was a doe and fawn standing right in front of us on the road! We just stayed still and watched them. They didn't seem too terribly alarmed - they just walked across the road and made their way back into the woods.

Interesting though how sometimes it takes your brain a minute to see things that are clearly right in front of you. I always find that fascinating and wonder what else we miss because we don't think it is "supposed" to be there - know what I mean?

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope you are coming to see us at SAFF!!!

APB!!!

The Knit Witch booth has officially been moved inside the arena! We are located on the upper level in booth #37. See you here at SAFF!!!

Getting ready!

Yes, the February Lady Sweater is done! I will just need to find a few buttons for it at SAFF. It is overdyed and blocked and ready to go. However, it is already packed so I'll just have to get some pictures of it at SAFF for you. Unbelievably I don't have another project going yet. I am feeling very lost about that! I want to start some fingerless gloves but I don't have the right size DPNs if you can believe that. So, I suppose that will be another purchase I'll be making at SAFF (Hellooooooo Hanks - I hope you have more DPNs for me!! Size 4 addi bamboos please kthxbi). Sooooooooooo - what's next? I want something challenging and big - like a fair isle sweater or something. I'll have to poke around on Rav and see what I can come up with.

Now, for your entertainment - here is a video of Petey playing with his new toy from the Humane Society thrift store. This is Petey and ET engaged in battle.




We are on the road today heading for SAFF. If you are coming we'll see you there tomorrow I hope!!

Knit Wish Kits

We have finally gotten our Knit Wish Kits together just in time for SAFF! We have one kit for each of the 7 chakras. These kits are for "intention knitting" sort of like a prayer shawl. The object is to knit good intentions into your project for the recipient. Each kit has it's own range of good invocations based on the chakra.

Each one of the kits contains:

- 1 - 3.5 oz skein of our luxury Esoterica yarn (70/20/10 Merino/Silk/Cashmere) dyed in one of the 7 chakra colors (of course additional skeins are available at the regular price of $28 if you need more than one)
- 1 - 4 oz colored, scented, hand poured candle that is poured into the matching chakra symbol
- 1 - 0.5 oz bottle of essential oil in a scent that matches the chakra invocation

Each kit is packaged in a re-usable organza bag. Here is a picture of the kits all ready for SAFF!



Each kit will sell for $40 and they will be available at SAFF. Once we get back and get a few more made they will be available on the website after that.

Yes, I know

that the blog is off kilter. I know you have been anxiously awaiting my posts that go up at 5AM every morning and you are starting to think that Knit Witch is a bit of a slacker. Well, I really have no excuse other than the fact that we are trying to put the finishing touches on everything and get the trailer loaded up for SAFF.

We are so excited about going to SAFF this year!!!! We love SAFF and how laid back it is and you can stroll around and pet animal heads when you have time (which isn't often as it tends to be a really busy show). We have what seems like a million errands to run tomorrow to get us, the house and the pets ready for our departure. My son and his girlfriend are staying here in our absence so we have to have plenty of pizza here to feed the kids! Of course, we have to have all of the "house instructions" written out too - you know, don't leave the heaters running, no glass in the hot tub, don't run with scissors, that sort of thing. Good thing our neighbor will be here for some mild supervision - haha!

No, really, they are GREAT house watchers while we are gone. We love having them come. It is so nice to have the house be all in order and nice and clean when we get back and knowing that we don't have to worry about anything while we are gone is REALLY a nice feeling.

In other news - there are some additional bowls on the site that we just got done putting on there. Here's a couple of them. You can find the rest HERE.

Happy Days!

Yes, the Blue Ridge Brewery finally had it's grand opening on Friday and Saturday nights!


Of course, we were there both nights - I mean, we couldn't miss out on any of the fun right?? Pat and Polina are the owners and they are a couple of the nicest people I have ever met. They have done an amazing job turning this former Christmas shop into a great looking pub!

Pat and Polina Walker


I gotta tell ya too - they have hired the MOST AMAZING staff I have ever seen (and I have been involved with the restaurant business for a long time). I can't believe the staff that they have put together. Everyone is so nice, so "people friendly", so excited and so committed to helping Pat and Polina make this place work!

Candle, Pat and Sandy.

Candle.


Polina in the kitchen.



The food is delicious! This kitchen staff REALLY knows what they are doing. I think everyone was very impressed.


Ian's bluegrass band played for the opening on Friday night so that was really fun too!

Rurick, Justin and Ian.


Drew, Ian and me.


Wayne and I on Saturday night.


The people around here are so excited about this place so we are so happy for the owners. This place is really going to change Blue Ridge!! This place is even walking distance from our house so that makes it even better. Here is where we will sit when we are walking Petey - he can join us out on the deck for a beer.


So, if you are ever here in Blue Ridge be sure to check out the Blue Ridge Brewery. You might even see us there! Mom and dad - I can't wait to take you guys here!!! You are gonna love this place! :)

Finito!!!

YAY! I finished knitting the February Lady Sweater! I'll post all the pattern details with the final, final pictures. It is soaking right now for it's overdye job. It ain't perfect but I think it turned out pretty darn good.

My husband was so impressed that I was actually finishing something he whipped out the camera.

Oh, and check this out. I looked over my husband's shoulder to see what he was looking at online the other day as he was so intently reading about it. I had to get a camera shot of the screen for all of you - knitting patterns!!!!

I really must teach the man to knit - I think he is getting the bug! Think about how much more helpful he will be to me in the booth at the shows!! :) Actually, I should not even say that - there is NO WAY I could do these shows without him. He is an immense help. He is so excited about going to SAFF - he's a keeper I tell ya.

Have a great weekend!!

Update on FLS

I THINK I may actually finish this thing before SAFF believe it or not. I am almost done with the second sleeve!!

I will try to get it finished by tomorrow then I will probably overdye it a bit since I paid no attention to lot numbers as I was knitting this. Then I gotta block it and pack it up for SAFF!! I'll have to try and find a couple of cool buttons for it at SAFF.

Here is what our office looks like right now. This is only a small portion of it. I am wondering how we are going to get all of this stuff into the trailer!

Nothing much else to report here. It is raining - AGAIN! I swear - we have had so much rain in the past month it is crazy! We want to start getting the trailer packed but we don't want to do it in the rain. I am hoping that the weather will be nice in Asheville. I don't mind it being cold I just hope that the rain will hold off for a few days!!

I almost forgot

Blood Oaks!!

A couple of weeks ago we made the treck over to Dahlonega (I swear I will never know how to spell that word correctly without looking it up) to see my son's band play. The weather was HORRIBLE for our drive over there but it was fun. They play in this shack like place that, as a mother, I almost want to say "Oh hell no - you are NOT going in THAT place to play!" but - it's all good. It's a scary run down kinda place that I would never eat or drink in but the kids have fun playing there so we go to be good supporters of our kids! They actually even have a CD out now - amazing!

This coming Friday Ian, one of our other kids, will be playing here in Blue Ridge for the opening of OUR NEW BREWERY!! Woo hooo!!!! We are so excited - both that the brewery is opening (and being run by a super awesome great couple) and that Ian will be here playing. He is bringing the bluegrass band, not the jazz band, so I think the people here will really enjoy them a lot. We'll have lots of pictures for you!

Now, believe it or not - February Lady actually has ONE SLEEVE now!!! If I ever get around to photographing it I will actually put some knitting on here. I also have another exciting annoucement for you that I can't wait to tell you about but I want to be sure everything is all finalized before I open my big mouth. Always something new and exciting around here!

Other than all of that we are spending a crazy amount of time getting ready for SAFF. I'll also take some pictures for you of what our downstairs space looks like right now - I actually have things stacked up now so it does not quite look like a hurricaine hit down here like it did yesterday. I should have taken the pictures yesterday!