Olympic Update

Yes, I have actually been knitting on my Ravelympic project. I'm maybe a little less that half done with the back. My ribbing totally sucks because I used the opportunity to practice my continental knitting. 1x1 ribbing goes WAY faster done continental style. Here's the progress thus far.


On Saturday we visited the farmer's market and got these:


And then came home and picked these:


So, needless to say, I was busy all weekend making jam and canning. I also made an awesome fresh salsa. So far we have picked 8 pounds of blueberries off of our two blueberry bushes!! We got this is the mail which has been an invaluable resource!

Progress

Oh yeah, that's 91 cast-on stitches baby!!! Woo hoo! I am really making progress now! (Geese added in background for dramatic effect). So, I started Hey Teach! this morning for the Ravelympics and that's as far as I've gotten thus far. I have a really hard time knitting during the day (which is why it takes me forever to finish projects) so I am usually an evening knitter when everything else around the house is done. During the day I don't like to be still long enough to knit! So, getting this project done is going to require day time knitting which is going to be a challenge for me.

Take a look at the geese (I know, they are hard to see). Those are the babies! You can't even tell them from the parents now. They just started flying and I thought one of them was going to smack into the house yesterday. Their aim for landing is still a bit "off" shall we say. I looked out the window and I saw this goose honking like crazy and heading for the house with his wings all spread out and his feet flared out right in front of him. I wish I had a picture of it! Luckily, he missed the house and ended up in the backyard. Needless to say, he seriously overshot the pond and I had to go chase him out of the back yard so he could figure out that he was going to have to fly off the hill to go get back to the pond and the rest of his family. They flew in this morning and I believe everyone actually hit the pond so their techniques seem to be improving.

I know it's small but take a look at this Kingfisher that landed on our umbrella yesterday! I had to take the picture from inside the house because I knew that as soon as I opened the door he was going to take off - and he did.


And, anyone ever seen a velvet ant? I didn't have time to go get the camera so I swiped this picture off the net. I have never seen anything like this before! Unbelievable that Mr. Man knew exactly what it was!

OK - back to my Olympic event. Good luck to everyone who has entered!

Ravelympics 2008

I joined. I think I must be nuts but I did. I joined Team Hopelessly Overcommitted because I felt that best fit with my current circumstances. I only signed up for one project "Hey Teach" but I have some other small projects like dishcloths and stuff I can add. I don't usually add my projects into Ravelry so I had to kind of navigate doing that too!

So, I guess I need to go poke around in my stash and knit up a gauge swatch or two because I don't happen to own the yarn that the pattern calls for but I feel certain I have something similar that will work just fine.

We have another big announcement too but I'm waiting until it is absolutely confirmed before I share it with you. I tend to be one of those people who does not like to let cats out of the bag until everything is in place and certain. So, stay tuned!

Contest - again, not mine...........

Head on over to Phyl's blog to do some pet guessing for some yummy prizes!!! It's really easy and it won't cost you a cent. She is celebrating her birthday!!!!

As for us, not too much going on today. Mr. Man is installing wiring so we can start using our much bigger kiln! Woo hoo!! It's going to be great to be able to fire more stuff at once. New bowls will be on the site shortly and one lucky recipient will be receiving this in the mail:


The mug turned out awesome don't ya think??

Midnight is late

I know, you guys can call us woosies if you want to but it's true - midnight is LATE and that's what time we got home last night. We drove down to Kennesaw (about an hour away) to go see my son play his first gig with his band!!!! It was fun. The music was loud, there was a lot of screaming vocals, the place was about 110 degrees (no lie) with no air and no seating but we still managed to have a good time! I'm surprised they don't regularly have kids passing out and hitting the floor in that place. Here's a picture of Nathan jamming on one of his guitars:



On the way there we stopped in Canton to partake in some of the BEST FREAKING ITALIAN FOOD ANYWHERE! Not that I am biased or anything...........heh.............the divine powers that be definitely put me into the right family. We sure do miss living close to a Provino's or Scalini's but it's probably better for our waistlines that we don't.

This morning we got up and picked about 5 pounds of blueberries in our backyard. So, I made these:


One batch with reduced sugar and one batch with honey. There is WAY too much sugar in the average jam recipe so I got rid of some of it. I gotta say, I'm getting much better at the jam and it is so cool to go pick blueberries out of your own yard and make jam! We love it!

Here's my cuteness kitten pile picture of the day:

Cocktails anyone?

Mr. Man embarked on a new project on Saturday and here are the results so far:


I wanted a nice big cabinet to put on the covered deck to hold various items. He just has the cabinet doors left to do. Right now, it allowed us to unpack all of our liquor. Liquor that we have carted around from house to house in moves and never consumed. BUT, should we have guests, they have a wide variety of cocktails to choose from!!! We aim to please around here.............

In other news, I did a little knitting this weekend. I made a couple of dishcloths that I am planning to put in little baskets for Christmas along with homemade jams and soaps and other such cutesy items. Obviously, I have a lot more to go but at least it's a start! (Dragonfly dishcloth will not post correctly for some reason known only to Google Blogs)



I ordered some organic cotton and bamboo from Knit Picks just for this purpose. These yarns are SO SOFT and are a dream to work with. The bamboo feels like silk. I may have to go order more before you all beat me to it!


The kittens are ticked off at us again because we gave them the second set of their vaccines yesterday on the kitchen table. As for now though, they are resting comfortably keeping the newspaper warm.


Oh yeah, big Knit Witch announcement this week - stay tuned!

And the Winners Are....................

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest! We had almost 150 entries! Without further delay here are the winners. They have all already been notified:

The grand prize of 5 Skeins 100% Alpaca sport weight yarn in colorway "Butterscotch" valued at $140 goes to: Calista

The second place prize for a $40 off coupon at AYC goes to: Elaine

The third place prize for a $20 off coupon at AYC goes to: Dawn

And the fourth place prize for free shipping on any purchase at AYC goes to : Sherrill

This contest was a real success and I thank everyone for taking the time to enter. Don't forget - Amia Yarn Company is still running a 15% discount on all purchases over $50 until the end of August! Use the code GOPROMO to collect your discount at checkout. We also have a new feature on the sites thanks to Mr. Man. If you would like to be added onto the Amia Yarn Company or the Knit Witch newsletter list, head to each respective site to get signed up. I'm working on putting together some newsletters and Knit Witch has some exciting new stuff coming out soon!