Are You Ready?

I am anxious to see how tonight will go after taking last month off. We are going out the the LEAF grounds for a little shindig tonight, so I probably won't be home all evening to answer questions. I thought that I'd do a little sum up of how this thing works for those who won't get any answers via email after I am gone for the evening.

Here goes:

On the first of each month I open for a limited number of custom orders. It used to take me all day to fill my list, but now you crazies (I say that in the most loving and appreciative way) have started staying up until midnight to try to be first in line. This has turned my monthly customs list into kind of a crazy midnight emailing free for all. I always sell out right at midnight (EST) taking as many orders as I think I can handle in that month and put whoever is left on a waiting list. I have yet to make it to anyone on the waiting list, though. Longies usually run from $68-80 and shorties $48-60, the higher end being XL sizing and custom designs, which obviously take a bit more time. You can use the info@crankypantshome.com email, or some of you have gotten my personal email, which I won't post here, but that works too. They both go to the same place. I am going to try to stay up and send out all of the custom list notices before going to sleep, but I have a designated driver and don't have to wake up in the morning so I'm not promising anything! If you do get a slot, you'll have 3 days to give me your design, measurements ans shipping preference so I can send you an invoice. After that, you have 3 days to pay the invoice to secure your place on the list. After 3 days, your spot will go to someone on the waiting list, unless we have made another arrangement. I know that sounds harsh but I have had trouble in the past with people taking weeks and weeks to come up with a design and people not following through with payment which leads to a wasted spot. Oh, and I don't do ruffles, lol. Nothing against them, they just aren't my thing.

I think that is everything. I am going to go get ready and head out. If any of you experienced Crankypants experts see any newbs asking questions on the boards I'd appreciated if you'd post this link or give them the run down since I won't be able to. Or, I suppose, you can tell them you know nothing in hopes of thinning out the competition. But would you feel good about yourself in the morning?

A Hard Raaaaiiiiiiin...

It has been all thundery and gloomy here for an hour or so and I can't wait for the sky to open up and just pour rain on us (and our tomato plants). I hope it isn't one of those all bark and no bite afternoons. Grey and thunder filled skies with no rain is just so unsatisfying.

I finished Shannon's striped monster redux and it will be going in the mail this afternoon.



Can you tell I am obsessed with PhotoShopping the backgrounds out of things?

I want to do a big post with some customer pictures that I have gotten over the last few months, but I don't have time right now. I am trying to prepare myself for the beginning of this month's madness tomorrow. I have some really cute ones, too. And if YOU have a picture of your wee beastie in some Crankypants, send 'em on! I am redoing the site sometime before the holidays and I'd love to use some customer pictures.

It seems like there were a bunch of things that I wanted to write about but I am so lame that they have all slipped right out of my head.

OH! Speaking of customer input... the theme for the Fall FEAST stocking is all things literary. I picked it, yay me! I have some ideas floating around, but I wanted to open it up to you guys, too. If anyone has any lunimary literary longies ideas, let me know. Harry Potter and Pippi Longstockings are in the works...

Hyena Cart

Phew! The preview is finally up. There are 2 auctions (one pre- and one post- midnight craziness), a regular custom slot, some Pirates Booty Wash and a bunch of super cute tees that Jess from Quilt Baby made just for Crankypants. WooHoo!

Also, I was excited to see that Cool Mom Picks discovered and did her daily feature on Hyena Cart today. How cool is that?

Not much else is going on here. I made some kind of crazy sizing mistake on poor, patient Shannon's multi-striped monster booty longies so I am in a super rush to finish a replacement pair and get them in the mail Monday morning. I am about 1/3 down the first leg. Wish me luck!

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

...man, do you remember Picture Pages with Bill Cosby? That little pen thing was my favorite thing in the world at one point. I am going to have that little jingle in my head all day.

Okay, Blogger is officially chapping my hide. Every time I upload pictures I get html (which might as well be Vulcan or something) and not a view of the actual picture I uploaded. It makes it much more difficult to organize and label everything. I am going to have to open a preview in another window and figure it out that way. Bah.

First things first, here are Mandy's rainbow Jolly Roger longies, which went out in the mail today:



Jess was kind enough to let me borrow her baby again so I could take some shots of the classic monster booty longies:




While I was in Ct I also started a big ole batch of monster bags. I finished the last one this morning. Here they are:












Let me know what you think! And make sure you enter my contest a few posts back to win one of them.

I will have a bunch of other pictures tomorrow as I am hoping to get my Hyena Cart preview up by the end of the day. We'll see if that actually happens. For now I have to go to bed. How on Earth did it get to be 12:27AM anyway? Damn you, Flickr!!!

New Auction For The Professor

Some of you might remember the auction that I participated in with The Fiber Arts Avengers last year for a little boy, Nat (aka "The Professor" because of his inquisitive spirit) who was fighting brain cancer at age 3. It was a great success and it was so nice to take action (however small) in the face of such powerlessness. Shortly after the auction, Nat lost his battle with cancer. He was almost the exact same age as Henry at the time. A year later, Nat's family is faced with trying to pay his final expenses. Once again, The Fiber Arts Avengers have put together an auction for the family. Being in and out of town all month I couldn't participate this time around, but I would looooove for everyone to go and check it out. There are tons of cool things over there, including some pretty amazing hand dyed yarn that I am going for so hands off! No, no, no, I kid. Bid high and buy as many raffle tickets as you can. So many times people get support in the midst of the trauma and are then forgotten and left to pick up the pieces alone. Let's not let that happen this time, guys. It isn't just about money (though that is nice, too) it is about letting this family know that people are still thinking about them and still thinking about Nat.

Fiber Arts Avengers

Crankypants Stuff Later

Let me start off by saying that I have Mandy's rainbow Jolly Rogers all done and ready to mail out tomorrow. I am finishing up a bunch of monster bags that I need to photograph as well, so I will post pictures of all that jazz tomorrow.

Second, a bit about the subscribe button. In order to use it you need to use a blog organizer site. I use Bloglines. It is really easy to set up and use and it makes checking my 17 blogs I read daily mush easier because it shows you all at once who has updated instead of checking each individual site. Check it out.

I am so excited to introduce you to a couple of new monster-y friends of mine. They were made just for me by my most favorite monster maker Voz, from Fishcakes . I am planning to make a whole lot of neat gear with these guys so keep an eye out.



This is Fancypants. She is the girly girl of the monster world, but don't let her pink and purple get up and tiara fool you. I have seen her change a tire, reprogram the computer and make Hulk hogan cry- all without wrinkling her tutu.



This dapper fellow is Smartypants. He can often be spotted cleaning his glasses or alphabetizing his massive monster library. He also has an extensive collection of rare vinyl 33s.

They are patiently awaiting the arrival of their little brother Crankypants. He should be along shortly.

Since I am so excited about these guys joining the team I am going to run a little contest. Leave me a comment and complete the sentence "Fancypants loves..." or "Smartypants loves...". You can help construct their personalities. Try to think about it a minute and make sure it fits. It'll be fun! At the end of a week I'll pick a winner who will get one of my new monster bags I've been posting pictures of lately. Come play!

Hoooooooome!

Alright so we are finally home and I have all 75876 pictures uploaded to the computer and ready to post. Here goes...

Oh poop. When I upload to Blogger I can only see the gobbldeegook coding stuff and not the actual picture. I was going to try to organize them in order and whatnot but if I can't see the picture that won't really work, will it? I guess a blob o' pictures will have to do and I'll make a separate post about Crankypants stuff later.

Okay.

I think I (okay, okay, Kirstin did it) fixed the problem with the blog feed, so try it again and see if it works. I use Bloglines to organize the blogs I subscribe to, but I'm sure there are other ways to do it, too. Actually, I don't know if it's fixed. I hate computers. I would rather write everything out by hand and send it to each of you individually by courier pigeon. But then I wouldn't have time to knit. Ah well. I'll be over here crossing my fingers and hopefully someone will give me a thumbs up soon. I can't even really say why I want this subscribing thing to work so badly. I only started subscribing to blogs myself last week and I got along just fine. Maybe this is how Kyle feels when he sees a new video game or piece of camping equipment that he all of a sudden will absolutely die without.

Kyle, if you read this, no this doesn't mean you will ever be able to talk me into getting the PS3 so don't even think about it.

*yaaaaaaawn*

The guys are all playing Tiger Woods golf on the Wii. I can't imagine anything more boring than that. Except maybe watching them do it. Kirstin is trying to shush and pat baby Sam back to sleep. Poor babe. Poor mama. Teething is no fun for anyone.

I was hoping that I would be able to post a bunch of pictures from our trip thus far: The Boston Cchildren's Museaum, Boston Harbor, blueberry picking in Glastonury and many "New England-y" shots for my friend Melissa who is recently enamoured with the idea of the Northeast. but alas, my Papa's photo software was not being cooperative last night and I don't have the heart to go through it all again on my brother's Mac.

Today we woke up bright and early and hopped in the car to make the 4 hour drive to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Burlington, VT. We got here just in time for both boys to go down for a nap. At the same time. And angels sung from on high at the miracle that it was. We had an hour and change to visit before they woke up and it was tiem to entertain once again. We walked on down to a nearby park and took turns making our hair go all static crazy on the twirly slide. After we had our fill of that, we walked downtown for dinner at a local Irish pub called Ri Ra. Then back home to hang out and chat a bit before putting the boys to bed. And now I'm ready for bed, too.

OOOOH! I almost forgot! Up in the top left hand corner of this blog I tried to make a little button you can click to subscribe to it. I have the computer skills of a 6 year old rhesus monkey, so will someone please drop me a comment and let me know if it works? I don't know if there is anyone out there besides my mother who would really feel the need to subscribe, but I thought I'd give the option just in case.

Sweet dreams...

Here!

After a long day of travelling yesterday we are all in CT safe and sound. I spent the whole trip rereading the last Harry Potter so that I am prepared to read the next one on the way home. Henry is in the kitchen with Memere telling her all about the differences between the "good frog" and "bad frog" on the Rice Krispies box. I think he woke up already talking. Memere is loving it, of course.
I got myself a tiny treat yesterday that will be waiting for me on my doorstep when I get home. A set of fancypants dangle free stitch markers from Hide and Sheep on Etsy.

I can't wait to use them. They look so pretty. Now if someone could figure out a way to do a fancy and pretty split ring marker I would love them for ever and ever. I don't know how you'd do it, though.

Today we are taking a family field trip to Boston. We are going to take Henry to the Boston Children's Museum and then poke around a bit. Kyle has never been before, so we'll do Quincey Market/ Fanieul Hall and some of the other touristy stuff. Kyle wants to go to the harbor and look at all the boats and things. When Henry and I woke up and came downstairs I caught my mom on the laptop with a "Boston yarn store" Google search open. Gotta love my mom.

And now it is time to rescue her from Henry, who still has her trapped at the kitchen table telling her all about every random little thing that pops into his head...

Packin' and Repackin'

I am almost all packed up and ready for our early trip to Ct tomorrow morn. Our friend Tommy is going to pick us up at 7 to go grab some coffee and a bagel and drop us off at the airport. I am so excited! Henry can't wait either. He was a total spazmatron as I was trying to wrestle him down to bed. I had to sing Sweet Baby James aaaaand the Nocturnal Animal song before he'd even put his head on the pillow.

While Kyle was giving him a bath tonight I whipped up some more bag pieces so I hope I'll have more monster bags finished soon. Yay monster bags! I have to admit that I am going to have a hard time letting those guys go.

Henry got his birthday present from Auntie B yesterday and I finally got pictures of it. These will no doubt launch Henry's illustrious career as a child model. You can see how gleeful and cooperative he is while getting his picture taken. And I took out the other 53 pictures where he is either waving his arms around so much that he is just a blurry blob or completely covering his face with his hands. That's m'boy.


Note his monogram on the front. And yes that is a giant TV in the background. Kyle bought it as a wedding present to us when we got married. He said "It looked smaller in the box". Wha? I always feel weird about owning such a big TV.

Super cool red robot on the back of the hoodie. How many 4 year old have hoodies specially designed for them? He is going to rock preschool this Fall. Thanks Auntie B!!!

And I'm off to bed. Morning is going to come early. Oh wait! Christopher Walken is on The Daily Show! Maybe I can stay up just a leeeeetle bit longer...

Almost There...

I was hoping to have the whole list done by the time we leave for CT tomorrow but it looks like eI'll have one pair left to do while we're there.

Here are Nicole's bright red monsters:




They will go in the mail today. Now I am off to get dressed and run Henry over to Jess's house so we can do a mock up of our booth for the Crafting Patch Fair, hash out some details about the (hopefully still happening) W. Asheville holiday craft fair and maybe do a little photo shoot with Ethan and some of my baby gear. WooHoo!

Oh and I forgot... for those of you who have asked, I WILL be selling the little monster bags eventually. I am making them for the Crafting Patch but do plan on having them in the Etsy shop, too. I hope to have a bunch more done later this month.

Well.

We just got back from getting dinner and seeing Harry Potter and a I just have one question... How hot is Gary Oldman??? Geez, Louise! He has been on my laminated list since I saw him in Prick Up Your Ears way back in the day. My friend Carrie and I used to have Gary Oldman film festivals. But as Sirius Black??? A girl could swoon.

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I have my life insurance physical. I am not looking forward to the blood taking portion of that program. Needles + amy = bad news.

Another monster bag:





Notice Henry throwing the devil horns.

Rock.

Happy Anniversary!

To me. Today is Kyle and my seventh wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long. I'm not old enough to have been married that long! I wish I had pictures to post so I could take a little walk down memory lane, but it was so long ago that I have actual prints of the affair and not digital files. If I had a scanner I'd do it up, but alas, no. To celebrate we are going to leave Henry with friends and go to see Harry Potter and go out to dinner. I'm really crazy excited about the new book, but I am looking forward to seeing the movie, too. Even though after seeing certain internet pictures of a certain young wizard with all of his business blowing in the breeze it might not be quite the same.

Only a few more days until we leave for CT. Henry said he is "very happy to be going to see Memere and Pepere". When pushed to say why, he noted that Pepere "is the silliest guy of all" and Memere lets him "throw squishy balls at her". All true.

I made this cool monster bag over the past few days. I knit it on the Bond and then pieced it together. Then hand felted it (since I have a front loading washer) and let it dry overnight. After that I used heavy duty iron on adhesive stuff to stick this kick booty monster patch from Fishcakes onto the front and then sewed all around with some red embroidery floss to give it that extra little fanciness.



Worst. PhotoShop. Ever. But I hit "Save" accidentally and don't think I can get Henry to model for me again.

I made it so that it is a good size for a small shoulder bag for an adult or and across the chest bag for a wee beastie. I like across the chest bags for Henry because he can run and stop and bend and jump and put things in and take things out without having it fall off of his shoulder every 5 seconds. It is just the right size for a wallet, sunglasses and a Blueberry Morning Luna Bar, or... a sock knitting project, or... 27 rocks, a pine cone and an emergency juice box.