I Stink.

With Henry and Kyle home and bored all day I found myself with the options of either getting all my longies out in the mail today or taking pictures and getting them in the mail tomorrow. They went out today. No pictures. Sorry guys, I hope you like surprises! I just couldn't manage to pull it together. Also, Kyle informed me today that while he is going back to school on Wednesday, he doesn't think Henry goes back until Thursday. Gah! I love the kid, but I am ready to have my house and my routine back.

So tomorrow is customs day, woohoo! I might throw some little surprise things up on the HC tomorrow, too, so check in there 'round about 10am EST after you send me an email.

Does everyone have big plans tonight? I kind of wish I was still doing the midnight madness thing so we could have a little Cranky party to ring in the New Year. In reality, I'll be watching a movie and probably fall asleep on the couch. Kyle said that in his grandmother's nursing home they set the clocks ahead 3 hours so they can ring in the New Year at 9pm and go to bed early. I'm thinking it over...

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh...

I know I promised wooly pictures yesterday but it is so miserable here I couldn't drag my butt out into the grim to take any. They would have been ick anyway. Tomorrow Asheville is supposed to be back to her bright and sunshiny self so they will be up tomorrow. Pinky swear. The good news is that I have 3 pairs of longies done and ready to ship in the AM. The black, lime and aqua monsters are done, the hippo is done and Mr. Beaver is done. The last little custom for the month, the little brown bear, is on the needles and I am still holding out hope I can ship them on the first. We'll see.

Since that time is rolling around again, it's time to revisit the whole customs dealio...

I open for custom orders via email (info[at]crankypantshome[dot]com) on the first of each month. All you have to do is email me on the first between 10am and 12 noon EST (an important tidbit I forgot last month) letting me know that you would like to place a custom order. I take as many orders as I can for the month (using a random number generator) and everyone else goes on a waiting list. It starts all over again each month. I know it is crazy, but it is the only way that works for the time being. Crankypants longies run from $78-90 and shorties from $50-65 depending on measurements and design. I do my very best to complete all custom orders the month the order is taken so, depending where you fall on the list, turnaround time is anywhere between 1-5 weeks. I do ship anywhere in the world for an additional charge depending on destination.

The boys got home safe and sound last night. I was so relieved when Kyle knocked on the door. It had been rainy and gross their whole trip and they had been in the car for 16 hours, so I was having visions of Kyle falling asleep at the wheel or some other awful thing happening. Mom panic. Since it was so rainy and grey all day and Henry deserved a special treat for being an amazing little traveler yesterday we went to a matinee of Bee Movie today. I'm not really a Jerry Seinfeld fan so I had pretty low expectations, but it was alright. Now what we are going to do with him for the next 3 days until he goes back to school, I don't know. He has been spoiled by grandparents and beaches and pools and things. Time to give those new Christmas toys a good workout I guess.

I can't believe tomorrow is New year's Eve. The chances of me actually being awake to ring in the new year? Slim.

Oh, and Go Pats!!!

Home!!!

Whew! That, I can honestly say, was the drive from Hell. Kyle and Henry couldn't tear themselves away from the sunny beach and I had to get back to the mountainous pile of work waiting for me, so I decided to make the 12 hour trip back by myself. It was totally fine until Atlanta. There I sat in stop and go traffic for 2 hours and then it started to rain. And got dark. Ick. I won't give you a blow by blow, but let's just say the only things that got me through safely were about 753 tiny little cans of Starbucks Espresso Doubleshot from gas station coolers and the album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, which I can't get enough of and am actually listening to right now.

But now that I'm home I can post some pictures! We didn't take a ton, especially in Miami. Kyle was in charge of the camera, so all the shots we have from there are of sports cars (which I hate) and architecture. Not a single picture with one of us in it. Oops.




I did make him take a picture of this 10 foot tall dreidle made entirely of sea shells. It was paired with an even more gigantic sea shell menorah. Now that, my friends, is some serious commitment to a crafty idea.



And from Kyle's folks' house:










I'll be back later with wooly pictures. I need to wait for some decent light...

HoHoHo...

Santa's not the only one with a belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly after yesterday's eat-a-thon. YWCA, here I come!

Yesterday was Henry's for Xmas where he was really old enough to get the whole Santa thing. I was so excited to have him revel in the mysterious wonders of Santa and Christmas morning and presents under the tree and wide eyed wonder and all that jazz. Uh...no. Not my child. I have managed to raise a four year old pragmatist. I hopped into bed with him a little after 7:00, after a restless night of sleep, thinking about how excited he'd be about the day's upcoming events. Curled up in the blankets, I said "Hey Henry-I think I heard Santa's sleigh bells and reindeer hooves on the roof last night", trying to get him excited about running down the stairs to examine the cookie crumbs and celery bits left behind by the big man and his right hand reindeer. "Mama", he replied impatiently, "I think that was probably just the sounds of the ocean" (which can indeed be heard quite well from his bedroom windows). No wide eyed wonder for me. Nor was he willing to indulge in the paper ripping, present opening glutfest that I remember from my childhood. He opened a few presents well enough, but when he made it to Marble Run, he insisted that he was done. When we wildly gesticulated to the massive pile of gifts still left to be shucked under the tree, he kind of shrugged his shoulders, turned back to his beloved Marble Run and dismissed us all with a quiet "Eh. I don't need those". Secretly, I did a little happy dance that he was content with one gift he loved and didn't feel the need to get moremoremoremoremore. Unfortunately, this is not what grandparents who have spent the last 3 months shopping and dreaming of this morning want to hear. So we had to have Daddy remove Marble Run to "read the directions" while he finished opening the rest of his packages. Of which there were many.
As soon as he is back at school I am going to have to go through his room and get rid of a bunch of old things he doesn't play with anymore.

For dinner we went to a friend's house who was hosting a huge Christmas get together. We ate. And ate. And ate. There was turducken involved, need I say more? Then we came home to a giant tray of chocolate covered nuts and sours and white chocolate pretzels that someone had left as a gift for the family. And, though I don't particularly like any of these things and I was already stuffed full of turducken and cheesecake, we ate more. I fear my stomach may never make a full recovery.

Today will be spent trying to catch up on some work until tonight when we go to a tiny little converted post office/shack in El Jobean for the best fish and chips ever. Get ready stomach, here we go again!

It looks like we will be departing for the long trip home early Friday morning, to arrive back in Asheville sometime Friday night. Saturday is going to be a workfest, so if you are waiting for any kind of communication from me-Saturday's the day. I am still planning on putting up my auctions on time and January and Februaury are big months for me, stocking all over the place. I am running a little behind on my December list because of all the traveling and being away from home and whatnot, but I'm hoping to come in pretty dern close. I don't have my custom book right with me so I can't remember names, but for a quick update for thsoe in the know: I am all done with the beaver pants but the finishing, I am on the second leg of the black monsters (maybe an hour and a half away from having all the knitting on them done). The last two haven't been started yet and both feature designs I've never done before, but I'm going to do my derndest to come in as close to the first of the year as possible. Can you believe it is the end of the year? How the heck did that happen?

Kyle's grandmother is no longer driving and Kyle's Jetta is one commute away from leaving its transmission on the Patton Ave. bridge, so his folks were kind enough to sell us her car (a Lincoln Continental-ha!) at a deep discount. This means we'll be driving home in seperate cars. 12 hours of driving alone with Henry should be... interesting. Wish me luck!

I Know Where the Magpies Go...

You know how they say that Magpies collect and hoard shiny shiny things so they can look all flashy and attract a mate? Apparently the magpies have decided to take all their shiny things and collectively move them to South Miami Beach! Either that or there is a seriously deranged Bedazzler maniac on the loose down there. We are back from our mini adults only vacation in South Beach and still recovering from sparkle overload syndrome. I have never seen so much sparkle in all my life. Shiny sparkling belt buckles as big as your head. T shirts with skull and bones designs all outlined in sparkles. I am so NOT Miami Beach it is kind of laughable. We walked about 7,000 miles and poked around a bunch. We loved the feel of Espanola Way. We had horrible disappointing Cuban food at this place we heard was awesome but was depressing and bland-pretty much the opposite of what we expected from Cuban food. We had amazing pizza at Spris and great breakfasts at The Front Porch. I wanted so badly to get Henry a "My Parents Went to Miami Beach and All I Got Was Lousy T Shirt" t shirt but I guess they don't make those anymore. I missed the little man so much and came running up the stairs to snatch him up and twirl him lovingly in my arms as he beamed at my return and told me how much he missed me, but all I got was a vague look my way and an "Oh, hi". Pttttthhhhh...

Little Mr. Independent is napping right now and everyone else is watching football so I really should take this opportunity to catch up on some work. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Later Gators!

In a few hours we will be all packed up in the car and on our way to the Sunshine State. I can't say that I am looking forward to the drive, but I have been scraping ice off of my windshield for the past couple of days, so the warm weather will be nice. We are hoping to make it a bit more than halfway tonight and then we'll finish up the trip tomorrow morning. We are staying at Kyle's uncle's house tomorrow night and then we'll be in Miami until Sunday (barring any emergencies that come up with his grandmother) so I will only have internet access through my phone until Sunday evening. If I have service I'll try to answer super important stuff (if there is any) right away, but otherwise you won't hear from me until at least Sunday night. I have my knitting gear all packed up so I am hoping to get some work done while I'm gone, but I probably won't be able to post photos or ship until I get back.



I hope everyone has a great week!

Wee Little Blue Crab

Here are Rebecca's wee little blue crab longies. Dear Rebecca's husband: I know you had a lot of input on these and I love that, so I hope they turned out how you wanted them. I think you made the right choice with the blue. Go Dads!




Wee Little Blue Crab is the first of many critter longies coming up this month. I have a beaver, a hippo and a bear in the works as well. Since I've never done any of these before in my life, it should be interesting.

And I realize I havent' posted any Henry pictures in a while. We have been so busy traveling that I haven't really been taking any pictures lately.




I also have to share an amazing find I made over at Etsy. Henry is tall and skinny so we have a pants problem (especially since drawstrings are apparently a grave choking hazard to 4 year olds and so I keep buying drawstring pants only to find that the drawstrings are "decorative" and don't actually draw. Annoying). If the pants are long enough, they fall right off his skinny bum. If they don't fall down they are 2" too short. So I went on The Great Belt Hunt of 2007. I wanted something cool that he could get off quickly so he didn't have accidents while trying to manipulate some silver buckle or something. I found nothing. And then (as usual) Etsy came through for me and I found Hipsqueaks. I would generally not spend that much on a kid's belt, but I had been looking for so long that I just bought it. PayPal be damned. I am soooo glad I did. The belt rocks. It is way cuter even than it looks in her pictures and he can get it open no problem. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it on him yet, but I wanted to post before I forgot because my brain is a sieve.

A note about Crankypants stuff:

Kyle's grandmother fell and had to have emergency surgery on her hip this weekend. We decided to move our holiday plans up a bit so we can go see her. So we'll be leaving this Wednesday afternoon and driving all evening and most of Thursday morning. We'll be in Miami Friday evening through Sunday afternoon and I won't have access to a computer. After that we'll be at Kyle's folks' house, so I'll have computer access again, but I won't be home to ship again until late next week.

Sally's Blue Monster With the Little Purple Stripes

Ms. Sally's Blue Monster With the Little Purple Stripes are done and heading into the mail Monday morn.



I have been given a little list of strange critters to do this month by my various December folk. It is going to be a little menagerie around here for a bit. Stay tuned...

Tagged! I'm it?

I have been tagged by Jess over at Quilt Baby, so here goes.

The rules ::
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Random and weird, huh? I think I did this once before and I can't remember what I wrote, so forgive me if I repeat myself. I tend to do that...

1. I knit backwards. Or left handed. Or Continental if you want to get all fancy about it. I have no idea how this happened as my mom is the one who taught me and she knits with her right hand like a normal person. I think it is kind of the same thing as "goofy footed" in skate/snowboarding. It makes it so I never have to teach anyone how to knit because they can't figure out what the heck I'm doing. Which is good because, not being a technical knitter and using complicated knitting jargon like "whosamabob" and "whatsis" (e.g. "Take that whosamabob and wind it around that whatsis to make a short row") makes it difficult for me to explain myself anyway.

2. I am addicted to horrible teen dramas and various bad movies. I DVR Gossip Girl and watch it when the boys go to school. I have seen the movies A Knight's Tale and Drive Me Crazy about a million times a piece. It kind of carries over into music, too. I just made Kyle download the new(ish) Justin Timberlake CD so i can listen to it when I go to the gym. It's a sickness, really. And it's in such opposition to the rest of my personality that it is kind of laughable.

3. I once rear ended a cement truck in such a way that it released cement all over the hood of my car. Yeah. really.

4. I have a mad crush on Ira Glass from This American Life on NPR. I'm sure I've talked about that before. I just adore him. And he has admitted to being a huge fan of The OC, so we are all set on that front. He'd probably sit and watch Gossip Girl with me and follow all of the juicy plot lines (Is Blaire really sleeping with Chuck Bass? Ew.) instead of teasing me mercilessly like Kyle does.

5. I am the lightest sleeper on Earth. If the sheets are too wrinkly or the blankets are messed up I can't sleep. If I can hear the murmur of the TV on in the other room, I can't sleep. If there is the smallest bit of light coming in the room, I can't sleep. My dearest son seems to be following in my footsteps and he wants me to lay with him for a while every time he wakes up at night. No, I can't sleep shmooshed into the 3" space between the safety rail and my darling dearest 4 year old who takes up way more space than he should. Needless to say, I don't get much sleep. Hence my unabashed adoration of all things caffeinated. Especially coffee, sweet sweet coffee...

Okay, those are my 5 things. Now I have to tag 5 other folks. Ugh. I suck at this, especially since I would usually tag Jess, but I don't think tag backs are allowed. Dern it.

1. Liz over at Cozy Blue. I know she said she's taking a blog break, let's she if she can resist...

2. Joyce from Ellie Belly, who dyes up the prettiest yarn in the universe.

3. Kirstin, my loverly sister in law, over at Bless Our Mess.

4. Parikha at {the brown sheep} whose blog I loooove reading and pictures I oogle over.

5. The mama behind Joey and Althea because even though I don't even know her name she totally seems like someone I would want to hang out with.

Tag. You're it.

Big 'Ole Charity Doantions

Alrighty. I have been going back and forth on whether or not to address this here and I am going to do it on the most basic level. Most of you know that last month Crankypants, Good Mama and a ton of other super awesome mama artisans raised about $4000 for a charity called Miracle Diapers. Due to circumstances I really don't feel like getting into again, Miracle Diapers is no longer the beneficiary of this money. The money has been donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, The Ronald McDonald House, The March of Dimes (I thought about your Henry while doing this one, Sarah) and The Real Diaper Association. I am happy to provide receipts and/or confirmation numbers to any of the donating mamas who ask, just email me. I was super bummed at the drama surrounding the whole charity event, but ultimately, it isn't about me. I'm happy the money is going to help some kids. That's all we can ask for, right? And $4000 isn't peanuts. Next up- I am planning to do the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in 2008 so be on the look out for fund raising events for that in the new year.

In other news, I ended up with a pair of 4/5 Ooga Booga undies still available if anyone wants them. I was holding them for someone who inquired, but she was looking for a set, so they are back up for grabs.

The end of year sale was a rousing success yesterday and I am in full on shipping mode. I am hoping that everything will go out this afternoon, so watch your mailboxes.

And check out our friend Liz from Cozy Blue all over the latest issue of Small Magazine. Go Liz!!!

Ooga Booga Undies!!!

Sorry guys, they are all spoken for :(

Holy Camoly!

It's been a while, no?

CT was wonderful. It was so nice to see the fam, especially my little tiny nephew getting all big and walking around getting into everything. I have to admit that it was nice to land in Asheville where it was 75 and sunny, but I wish I could have brought everyone else back with me, too.

I did manage to get a little bit of work done while I was there...

The bit lottery winner's butterfly longies:



Melody's wee monster longies:



Some folks haven't gotten their measurements and design specs to me yet. I really need them before I go BACK out of town next Thursday, so get on it, mamas!

Also worth mentioning- I decided on a whim this morning to clean out anything and everything that has been sitting around here a while. Some of it was meant for sets that never happened, some of it was knitting gear I decided not to sell, some just bits and pieces that have been sitting. I decided to have a little yard sale on my HC, so go check it out. Lots of last minute gift ideas over there. Click Here.

Yesterday was a mad dash of shipping and scrambling to catch up and it seems that today is more of the same. WooHoo!

Crankypants on Cool Mom Picks!

I am so psyched that the wonderful mamas over at Cool Mom Picks decided to run an awesome little feature on Crankypants today! They asked me if I would be willing to sponsor a little give away as well and, since I am so honored to be in such good company over there, I agreed. Run on over and enter to win a pair of Classic Crankypants Longies! The winner of the give away can choose one of the 3 Classic designs in one of the 3 standard sizes.

I Found Her!

Alright, my customs list is complete, sorry mamas. My first email must be sitting in spam land somewhere...

During the tiny smooch of time I had between finishing my last November custom and starting my first December one, I managed to squeek in a wee bit of personal crafting.

A hat I made for Henry out of "Sky Monkey" yarn from Natural Home Presents. It was originally a pair of small longies, but I accidentally knit them on a 9 needle instead of an 8 so they were too loose. I adapted the pattern really quickly and made them into a hat with short rows so it covers his neck in the back. I put it on his head briefly last night to see if it fit, and he reacted by screaming "It feels terrible!" and ejecting it from his head. Nice. Now, this thing is the softest BFL yarn ever, there is no way it feels terrible. When we get up to CT in the 20 degree snowiness I think he will be changing his tune. It looks much cuter on him, though, I assure you...


Tommy and Lisa are very good friends that live down the street. Henry adores them and so do we. One of their favorite things is to go to the tailgate market, so I got a little red tote and embellished with with an extra big super cool Fishcakes patch.



Back to the needles!

Genius!!!

Last time we visited my folks, they bought Henry this little set of card with questions on them, I think they are called Brain Quest. He loves them. All the toys in this house and he is constantly asking me to "do questions". Lately he's been showing real interest in reading, asking what specific words are, trying to sound things out, etc. When we read books together he'll read some words, but we've read all his books a million times so I figured he just had them memorized a bit. Well, on a whim last night I sat down and made him some word flashcards, thinking they'd be kind of like the questions he loves so much. I figured we'd go through them and sound them out together and talk about beginning and ending words and whatnot. He. read. them. all. On the first try. Whipped right through them. door, foot, car, drum, go, yes, cat, up, down, red, sun, mom, Henry, girl, no, dad, one, water, cup, all, stop, blue, boy, do, and of course...yarn. Then he asked me to make more. I swear I have to idea where this kid came from. No thanks mom, I don't want to play with my cars-but can you quiz me with the flashcards again?


In other news, I still haven't heard from the last person on my customs list. I've never had that happen before! I'm unsure of what I should do. How long should I wait? Hmmmmm...

Hmmmmm...

I've only heard back from 2 of the 4 custom slot mamas so far. Jessica and Sally, are you out there? Shoot me an email even if you don't know what you want just to let me know that you still want the spot. Thanks guys!

In other news, the little toadstool bag is going up on Etsy today, so go grab it if you want it!

December Customs List

Here goes:

Melody F.
Jessica M.
Sally S.
Rebecca T.

Congratulations, you make up my December Customs List! Your congrats emails with instructions have already been sent.

Diane, your Girly Monsters with the fancy trim are finally done! WooHoo! I hope they are worth the wait:


I also finished a little girly monster bag for the little lass who doesn't like to be bossed around:


And I will be listing a bunch of stitch markers on HC and Etsy as well today:

Wee Strawberry:


Which came first?:


Wee Toadstool: