Wild Kingdom

The other day Wayne and I were sitting on the porch when we noticed these 2 pileated woodpeckers goofing off. I can't imagine this would be a mating ritual this late in the year - playfulness? Territory wars? Practice? I don't know. But we got a few pictures and a couple of cute videos of them. I have never seen them do this before - it was so funny! It's like they were playing hide and seek or something. We have lots of these guys around here and we love them!










Cute, eh?

It's hard to believe but...........

I actually have a finished object to show you!

This is the "thisisageorgiatechscarfnotapittsburghsteelersscarf". I just sort of made up the pattern as I went along. I did the entire scarf in 2x2 ribbing and did the yellow stripes in probably 8 rows and 12 rows or something like that. I'm not entirely happy with the bind off edge - I really should have done a sewn bind off. But, for something that is going to live in a dorm room and go to GT games to get beer spilled on it I just really wasn't all that worried about it.

Now, if I ever get to see my kid again I can give it to him!

Over the weekend we went to go visit my dad in Atlanta. We hadn't been there in a while so I figured we had better get out there for a visit! Going to my dad's is always a lot of fun. He is getting ready to do a huge renovation on his house. He has a farm with a little farm house on it that is about 100 years old. The house is very cute and nice as he has done a ton of work to it but it is really small - like 5 rooms small! He has been wanting to do an addition practically since he moved there (about 10 years ago) so I'm really glad to see him move forward with finally doing it. They are just about ready to get started. Here is the back of the house as it looks right now.

He'll be adding a breakfast room, a great room, a master bedroom suite, a laundry room, a muck room and a 3 car garage with a full apartment over the top of it. He is also doing renovation inside the existing house to put in a nice kitchen. They are also moving windows and doors and all kinds of crazy stuff. This should be an interesting experiment!

More Updates

We have really been cranking out the yarn around here lately! This will be the last of it until after SAFF at the end of October.

We have a couple of additions to the Celestial Twist line:

Ursa Major


Autumnal Equinox



We also have a new yarn line up and running - Witch's Brew! This yarn is a 100% Superwash BFL and this has become my new favorite sock yarn. The yarn is soft with a great twist but is smooth (not "pebbly" looking like the Celestial Twist).

Brewtopia



Local Brew



Pale Ale



Black & Tan



Don't forget - we have FREE SHIPPING on all yarn this month. Also don't forget to get your orders in BEFORE TOMORROW if you want your shipment to go out before the week of September 21st. You are certainly welcome to order after tomorrow - just remember that your product won't be going out until the week of September 21st.

Also don't forget about the contest we are running in our Ravelry group HERE. People have already shared some really great vacation photos!

Happy Labor Day!!

I hope everyone is going to have a great day off! Today we are headed downtown for the big Labor Day BBQ that they do every year. I won't be eating any BBQ obviously but it will still be fun. I bought a plate last year for $10 figuring I would just eat whatever vegetable matter they had. I ended up with a large plate of coleslaw. Seriously, you can only eat so much coleslaw so, I'll just save myself the trouble this year.

These little country towns don't exactly cater to vegetarians. In fact, people are generally shocked when I tell them I am a vegetarian - as if they don't even understand what I am trying to say. And to a lot of folks up here that means that I don't eat beef but that I will still eat chicken or sausage or pork chops. Ummmm.....no. It's pretty funny. One time I asked a waitress if the gravy had meat in it. She said "oh no - no meat in the gravy". Then I got the gravy and it had huge chunks of sausage in it. I then proceeded to tell the waitress that her gravy did have meat in it, just in case she didn't realize that and she said "Oh yeah - well it has SAUSAGE in it". Ummm......ok. Then, I had a woman several months ago say to me "You're a vegetarian? But you look so.................healthy!". Ummmm, yeah, that's kind of the point!

People are funny.

Speaking of funny - here are a couple of cute videos for you. We regularly have "Hummingbird wars" on our porch. These little guys are so territorial that they really make a fuss anytime another one is around. I tried to capture some of their antics but wasn't really all that successful. The third video is of the geese coming in and landing - I think I shot that movies last fall. Have a great day!!

Favorite Vacation Pictures

Since we were talking about favorite vacation pictures yesterday, here's a few of mine:

This is probably my all time favorite picture that Wayne has ever taken. He took this picture one misty morning while we were staying at the military recreation area in Valdosta, GA. This is Grassy Pond.


One of us took this picture while we were snorkeling in the Bahamas - isn't he so cute??


This blurry picture is from our first visit to Key West. We had about an hour off of the ship to walk down to the Southernmost point, get a picture and then get back. We'll have more time in Key West on this upcoming visit!! Lemme tell you, that black platform we were standing on was SCORCHING hot!!!!


This is our "formal night" picture from a cruise in 2006. You'll probably never see us so dressed up again! Of course, I had to borrow the dress because I generally do not dress in formal evening attire! It was a lot of fun though. Look mom! No ponytail!

This picture cracks me up every time. We were somewhere in FL and we pulled off the road to go to a little nature preserve. At the beginning of the trail there was a big sign that said "ILLEGAL TO REMOVE DRIFTWOOD". We didn't really think the sign was all that funny until we saw the size of the driftwood!!


Seriously? Lemme go grab my 18-wheeler so I can take some driftwood.........

September Contest!!

It's time for a contest in our Ravelry group don't you think? We think so too. Since it is Knit Witch vacation month (that has sort of a holiday ring to it don't you think?) it is only fitting that our contest be about vacations, right?

Go HERE to our Ravelry group and post your best/favorite/most interesting vacation picture! Feel free to give us details about where it was, what it meant to you, why you love the picture, etc. On October 1st we'll draw a winner from all the entries. The winner will be drawn by random drawing - everyone who submits a picture will be entered. As per the usual Knit Witch MO you can earn one extra entry by posting about the contest on your blog (just send me an email to let me know that you did it at theknitwitch@gmail.com). Be sure to email me though because otherwise I won't know to enter you again!

So, what's the prize you ask??? The prize is a $25 gift certificate at Knit Witch!!!!

More legal speak:
- You must be a member of the Ravelry group to win
- You must post a photo and/or repost the contest to gain entry (not just a story)
- If you need help posting a photo you can email me or the other moderator and we'll be glad to help
- If you win, let me know when you order so that I can refund $25 of your purchase price (don't forget we can't do coupons on the site so we'll refund your prize once you order)
- Feel free to post more than one picture but each person who enters gets one entry no matter how many photos they post and one entry for reposting the contest

You KNOW we have to have a contest in October (since we're Knit Witch and all) so there will be another contest in October that will give you another chance to win fun Knit Witch prizes!

Speaking of favorite vacation pictures, I'll post some of mine tomorrow.

September Specials!!!

As you all know, we'll be going on vacation this month (woo hoo!!). Unfortunately for you all that means some delays in shipping since obviously we can't ship while we aren't here! BUT, because there will be some inconvenience associated with that we have decided to offer FREE SHIPPING on all yarn for the month of September!!!

Now, you all know the drill, right? We use Paypal for our shopping cart buttons so I can't do a "coupon code" or anything fancy like that unfortunately. So, if Paypal does not calculate your shipping charges (or lack there of) appropriately I will refund any shipping charges for you.

We'll have our laptop with us so we'll be checking in daily or so to refund shipping and deal with any problems that might arise. You might think "Knit Witch - it's your vacation - don't do that stuff then!" but really, it is easier to spend 10-15 minutes on it everyday rather than deal with 4 hours of it when I get home. Therefore, we'll be checking in rather frequently.

Now for the legal speak:
- This offer is available for those that reside in the US only
- This offer DOES apply to any yarns on the discount page
- This offer ends September 30, 2009
- This offer applies to yarn only - not pottery or other items

We just wanted to offer this as a thank you for waiting for your products if you order while we are gone. Anything that is ordered BEFORE September 8th will ship out before we leave and anything ordered after that will go out the week of September 21st.

Also, we are going to run a contest this month in our Ravelry Group! Tune in tomorrow for more details.

We'll do the Charity: Water donation giveaway in October so don't think we have forgotten about that either! Have you looked at the total lately? We have already raised $582!!! We are also working on another fun project for October where you will get a super-duper-fabulous prize for donating. We'll announce that when we have all the details together. We have lots of fun stuff coming up over the next few months!