Almost here...

As stocking time approaches, I can feel myself getting nervous. At this point I have had many mamas ask if they can email me just after midnight tonight. Since it is technically the first, I told them that as long as they wait until it is the first of the month, it doesn't matter what time it is. While I secretly love the idea of people liking my things so much that they are willing to stay up to score a slot, I also know that I am going to have to tell a lot of people 'no'. The 'no' word is not something that comes naturally for me and I hate having to say it. Unless it is my son asking to listen to The Wiggles, then the word 'no' trips right off the tongue. The Wiggles are far worse a fate than using the word 'no'. Anyway, I promise that I am working very hard to find a way to meet the needs of my customers. Here's how:

Some of you are probably familiar with the yarn maker "Peace Fleece", which is owned and operated by the most kind and fabulous Peter Hagerty and his wife Marty way up yonder in Maine. I am currently working with Peter and his Russian staff to have the most popular Crankypants designs knit up for me by a small group of Russian artisans so that I am able to have an in stock selection in addition to my custom work. Peter is so awesome and dedicated to bringing economic development to this group of artisans that he doesn't even mind that I won't be using Peace Fleece for the longies. We are still looking for a merino wool or blended yarn available in Russia. When I set out on this journey to find a way to expand I never really considered getting Crankypants made abroad. After weeks of searching, I was unable to find an American knitting mill willing to make them for me. I wasn't interested in ordering from an overseas factory where I couldn't be sure of the wages and working conditions, so I was at a standstill. My husband suggested that I contact Peace Fleece, which I did not expecting a reply. Peter not only replied, but has been so giving of his time and experience that it humbles me. I am excited to have the opportunity to expand Crankypants in an ethical and responsible way, and in a way that is helping other artisans support their families. Please bear with me during this little growth spurt. It will be a while before we can hammer out all of the details (Man are there a lot of details!) but I will have this plan in action as soon as humanly possible.

You should all click that link above and go check out the Peace Fleece site if you ahven't already. In addition to some pretty amazing yarn you will find hand made and handpainted knitting needles and buttons, some really cool knit kits (yup, even for beginners) and a lot of wisdom.

Good luck to everyone who is hoping to score some longies tonight. I'm knitting as fast as I can. Pinky swear.

Hyena Cart... check.

Alright ladies (and gentlemen, I suppose, on the off chance that some wayward Papa has found this little blog) I have finally stocked my Hyena Cart. To clear some space in my NEW OFFICE I put a whole big ole bunch of sale items up today. There are bibs, changing pads, tee shirts and some other stuff, all discounted. There is also a preview of a couple fo things stocking on the first-2 Anything Goes slots and a pair of LOVE/HATE longies that I feel in love with and would be keeping for myself if I had a teeny babe. I tried to space the Anything Goes slots out so that everyone would have a shot regardless of time zone or sleep schedule, lol. I hope it works out.

Several mamas have also emailed me asking me just how early they can email me on the first to grab the few custom slots I'll have available that way for February. Anytime after midnight (yes, 12:01 is fine) EST works for me. It might take me slightly longer than usual to get back to people since I'll be moving that day, but I will do my best to let you know if you got a slot as early as possible. I might wake up an hour or so early that day to answer email before I leave for work at 7:30. I think you in advance for your patience if you don't hear from me until late that night, though.

In February I am looking forward to tinkering with my knitting machine and possible cranking out some knitting gear: stitch markers, needle rolls, project bags, etc. We'll have to see how it all goes. I am not mechanically inclined, so it is very possible that my poor dear husband returns from work to find that I have, in fact, knit myself to a major appliance. Let's hope that's not the case, shall we?

Melissa and Lacey... and moving.

Boxes, boxes everywhere... I forgot how much I hate moving. We use most of our things on a daily basis, so packing days in advance is more difficult than I had thought. This puts us firmly in the "purge" phase of moving. I have been going through everything we own and deciding whether or not I really need to drag it to the new house. I even thinned my yarn stash! You know it's serious when I touch the stash.

In the midst of the purging I had the realization that I am opening back up for custom orders and stocking my Hyena Cart on the very day that we move. Yeah, that wasn't the smartest move on my part. I am going to have to cross my fingers and pray to the technology dieties that my internet is actually hooked up in the new house on the first like they promised. Otherwise I am going to have a pack of angry hyenas on my hands. I'll just have to go downtown (where the whole area is wireless) and do business from there. Oops.

ANYWAY...

Here are Melissa's girly monster shorties. I just finished the other girly monsters in pink and purple and Melissa told me to pick the colors, so I went the other way around for this pair.



Any Lacey wanted some "blueberry" monster shorties, so blue they are...



I am currently working on a tiny pair of caboose longies for a tiny little caboose, and then on to the last pair of Mahar longies of the month. I am looking forward to hearing from everyone on the first, I know there are some fun ideas out there I am going to get to work on. I was going to try to do a few in stock pairs of Valentine's Day longies, but it looks like I am going to run out of time yet again. Ah well. Maybe next year.

Heidi, Mahar and Erika...

It's been almost a week since I've updated y'all, sorry! I've had busy little fingers, though, I promise.

Heidi's Jolly Rogers and the Jolly Rogers for Mahar Dry Goods:




Monkeys for Mahar:




And last but not least, Erika's girly monster shorts. I have been calling her Monsterlyn Monroe, because I'm a big big dork:




Now I have Melissa, Lacey and one more pair of monsters for Mahar -oh- and a pair of caboose longies for a new nephew of my best friend. Then I am done for the month and I can start packing for the move a week from Thursday. Busy anyone?

Henry looks like I feel...



He threw a ginormous fit when I tried to get him to go down for a nap, insisting he wasn't tired. I had him sit in the bean bag chair for a minute to calm down and this
is what I found about 45 seconds later. Suuuuuuuuuure you're not tired.

Mssssss. Britton

Henry has decided that our desktop computer is his domain, so I have to update with pictures ever so quickly while he is sleeping. Here are your last 2 pairs of longies, m'dear (sorry about the icky indoor lighting, it wasn't very nice out yesterday):




In other exciting news, we are moving on the 1st! In our new house, I will have a nice, big, office space in the basement. I can't frelling wait! I am going to set up my sewing machine and a knitting machine down there and put dorky knitting pictures and my uberdorky Veronica Mars calendar up on the walls-and not feel bad about it because it will be MY SPACE!!! WooHoo!

I am one leg short of being done with Heidi's Jolly Rogers and then I ahve a Mahar Dry Goods order to do before I get back to my list. We are moving right along, so I expect everything to be going out on time. *knocks on wood*

Sam-alama-ding-dong!

I just had to pop on to post a picture of my nephew Sam in the easy peasy cardigan that I knit for him over the holiday break. He is also chillin' on the log cabin that I knit for him when he was still being carried around in the belly. It is like I am giving him a big, fat, wooly hug from 950 miles away. That is what I love so much about knitting. Auntie K was afraid that he looked like Hitler youth in that second picture, but I think it looks more like a Rebel Yell.




I hope to update tomorrow with some pictures of Britton's 3 pairs of longies that will go out on Tuesday, but I have to finish the last leg of the last pair tonight. We also have a birthday party for Henry's friend Adella tomorrow morning. Here is Henry and the birthday girl playing "monsters" together earlier this week:



Tomorrow evening we are going to sign the lease for the new house we are moving into on the first. Hopefully, I can take a few pictures and post them while Henry is taking his nap in the afternoon.

Night night!

Andrea and Britton...

Ms. Andrea has been waiting so patiently for her peace britches. They are finally done and going into the mail this very afternoon.



I had to hand dye the bright colors, so while the yarn was drying on those, I finished number one in Britton's trio of wool:



I would stay and ramble on and on, but I have to make it to the post office and run about a bajillion other errands before the little man gets home from school.

Later gators.

Andrea's Peace Bum

Well, I finished the bum of Andrea's rainbow peace sign bum last night so I thought I'd pop in and post a picture.



Next up: legs.

In gratuitous "my kid is the cutest thing ever news":



He got to meet his brand spankin' new cousin Sam over the holidays and loved him. No, this does not mean we are going to have another baby (just in case my mom or mother in law should be reading). I thought this was the sweetest picture. Especially considering the fact that in order to get a smooch from the little beast I have to either wait until he's sleeping and sneak one in or bribe him with Dora stickers.

The Big Photo Post

Okay, so I'm sure some of you have been wondering where I have been and why I haven't been taking orders for such a long time. Here is why.

Andrea's Dump Truck and Monster Booty:



Elmo...er..."Little Red Monster" Longies:



4 Pairs for Pari:



Misty's Micky Longies (they came with a pair of Sock Monkey Longies too, but I didn't snap a picture of those):



Adrienne's USC Longies:



And a pair of Minnesota Twins longies for my friends Kate and Adam's baby shower:



Timmi's Logo Longies (they also came with another pair I didn't photograph):



A set for a Fiber Arts Avengers auction:

(shirt hand stenciled and painted by my friend Liz)



Traci's Monster Booty (which looks much cuter on her little one's tukas, but I didn't ask permission to post it here):



I also had a bunch of orders through Mahar Dry Goods and a handful of longies I never got pictures of, so it has been a busy couple of months! I have also been working on a little side project with Robert from Mahar which should be coming to frution soon I hope.

Thanks for stopping by!

January Customs List

You know when you type something and no matter how many times you change it, it still looks like it's spelled wrong? That's how I feel about the word January right now. Weird.

Okay, so all of my January customs slots were gobbled right up on the first of the year! Here is how it looks at the moment:

1. Andrea
2. Britton
3. Britton
4. Britton
5. Heidi
6. Erika
7. Melissa
8. Lacey

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of each pair as they are completed. Yesterday I thought there might be a slight chance that I would have time for more than these 8 slots (and whatever Mahar throws me) this month, but it looks like we are moving February 1!!! It is kind of silly, we'll be moving about 4 doors down the street (if it happens-cross your fingers!) but we'll have a lot more space and a cute little house instead of an apartment. We love this neighborhood, so we'll be happy to be sticking around. It looks like we just have to get through the application process. It isn't like we have anything horrible in our history so it shouldn't be a problem, but we are trying not to get our hopes up until we actually sign a lease.

It really stinks that I have been banished to the laptop because I don't have access to any of my pictures here. I'll have to wait until tomorrow when my IPod obsessed husband is still at work (I only work half days) to update with pictures. I wanted to do it today, but I forgot that I had volunteering after work.

Okay. It's official. I'm babbling. Ignore me. Pictures tomorrow. Pinky swear.