That Time of the Month...

The first has rolled around on us once more, so I'm going to post my little customs blurb for the newbies:

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 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). 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 $75-90 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.

I will do my best to do whatever design you have in mind, but I can't promise I can do any design you can come up with. Someone once asked me to do the cover art from Pink Floyd's Animals album, so I have to put that disclaimer in there.

After I pick the customs list tomorrow I'll also let you in on some of the cool stuff I have coming up in February. It is going to be a big month of many stockings, so keep your eyeballs peeled.

LOST!!!

Today's the day, people. LOST is coming back! Not only is LOST coming back, but it is bringing Jeremy Davies with it! I love Jeremy Davies. It took me about 5 years to figure out that Jeremy Davies (Million Dollar Hotel, CQ)and Henry Thomas (Suicide Kings, ET) aren't the same person, but now I just love them both. I can't wait to see what craziness he brings to the LOST table.

Thanks for your recommendations for hand salve. I rummaged through my medicine cabinet and found a sample tin of Burt's Bees Res-Q stuff. Henry saw that I had a band aid out and he insisted on lovingly putting the salve on my burn (I ironed my hand in a freak monster eye attaching accident), putting a band aid on and giving it a little "mooch" before heading off to school this morning. Remind me about that little kindness when he kicks me in the head and tells me he's never going to be my friend again when I make him go to bed tonight...

ETA:

Note to Self: If you are dumb enough to allow your 4 year old to provide medical attention, make sure they line the band aid up correctly so the sticky part does not rip blister off affected area upon removal. Ouchie.

Oprah Wants to Know...

What your dream baby shower gift would be. *coughcrankypantscough*

Whew!

I justnow remembered that I am supposed to have auctions up starting today. They're up!

Henry woke up feeling much better this morning so he is back at school, leaving me to sit and survey the sick day damage. I'm feeling a bit better too, so I think I am going to ignore the disaster area of a house and make a trip across town to the only fabric store on Earth that carries black, white AND red terry. I need some more monster bib fixins. If I manage it, I'll be stocking some in a few days at one of the shops. I'll let you know when they are going up. If sales keep going well they'll make their way over to the main site for good.

Does anyone have any recommendations for amazing hand salve? My hands are in the absolute roughest shape right now. I have been horribly abusive to the poor dears between dry yarn, pointy sewing needles and very hot irons, and they need some serious attention.

The Sickies Strike Back

Henry woke up coughing and warm this morning so he has been hanging out with me all day in lieu of infecting all the other wee beasties at school. Our big adventure was a trip to the grocery store, other than that we've been homebodies. The highlight of our day was when we discovered a ladybug in the bathtub and decided to keep him for a little while in our happy bug house full of leaves and grass. Henry has been playing computer games and being generally very agreeable (except the 20 minutes of wailing and gnashing of teeth before I made him take a nap, where he is now happily sleeping despite insisting he was "not even tired one little bit") and I have managed to get a little bit of work done.

Here is a new batch of hungry little monsters waiting for some tasty tidbits to fall into their eagerly awaiting mouths:



I am planning on hanging onto them until the monster themed stocking I will be guesting at over at K&F Shops in early February.

I am feeling a bit under the weather myself so I think I am going to curl up with a blanket and some easy knitting on the couch until the bean wakes up from his nap.

So Long January!

I finished my last custom order of the month this morning, Tiffany's little blue crabs. She really liked the color scheme of the popular black, green and blue monster, but she also really like the crab design so I smooshed the two together to create her longies. I had to modify the crab a bit because they are for a brand spankin' new little guy, but I think they turned out awesome.



I am going to try to spend the next few days regrouping, making some monster bibs and getting ready for the upcoming stockings at Venus Vanguard and K&F Shops.

I only ended up seeing one school today after all. I thought it was going to be more of a 20 minute dealio so I decided to get some work done before I headed out. I was at that school for an hour and a half! By the time I was done, the open house hours were pretty close to ending. I was hoping to see the other two tomorrow but Henry's teacher said he ran a low grade fever and had a pretty bad cough today so he might end up staying with me tomorrow. I thought he had licked that cold, but apparently not. Poor little guy.

Ritual de lo Habitual

Our recycling gets picked up every other Monday. Every Sunday night I think about putting the recycling out, poke my head out the door to see if my neighbors have theirs out and then decide it can wait until morning. Every other Monday morning I am startled out of whatever task I am performing at roughly 7:30 by the most dreaded sound on Earth: the sound of the recycling truck coming around the corner when you have forgotten (again) to take it out to the curb. Every other Monday morning at roughly 7:30 I start the mad dash of running outside with armfuls of cans, bottles and cardboard, chucking them into the appropriate bins and dragging said bins to the curb before the recycling truck passes my house and I am stuck dragging them back inside for another 2 weeks. I look across the street and see my older and seldom seen neighbor doing the very same thing. Every other Monday morning at roughly 7:30, we beat the recycling truck to the curb, look at each other and say "We made it this time!", we smile widely at each other and we go back into our houses. The tiniest little things can make a community, no?


I took Henry out for a little adventure on Saturday morning and he was getting antsy in the car so I let him play with my iPhone. It has Tetris and a little Etch a Sketch thingie on it, so that usually keeps him occupied fairly well. I didn't even think anything of it until I tried to check my email on it later only to find that the little bugger had locked it up tight and set a new password! It took Kyle about 3 hours to restore it and unlock it. He had to reset my carefully forwarded, 17 account, totally rigged up email system and it still isn't working right-which brings me to an important note:

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you need to get a hold of me, please use info@crankypantshome.com. I know some folks have my personal email from past exchanges, but that address is no good now. I've been using a forwarder to send email from there to my new personal account, but I'm trying to simplify this crazy Habitrail of email accounts that I have, so I just got rid of it altogether. If I don't answer you right away it isn't because I don't love and adore you, it is because amy and computers are unmixy things and my poor, dear, put upon husband has finally tired of fixing my snafus and thrown the devil box out the window...

OH, I almost forgot today's most perfect song. I think it will be "Autumn Sweater" by Yo La Tengo. It has such an amazing feel to it and is one of my favorite Yo La Tengo songs ever, second only to their cover of Prince's "Pop Life". I got to see Yo La Tengo twice- once at a smaller venue, The Magic Stick, with The Magnetic Fields and once for a bigger New year's Eve show at The Majestic Theater (I think with Slumber Party and Chicks on Speed), both in Detroit.

Off to open house!

Today is One of Those Days...

...where I feel like someone came in my house and stole this:

and left me with this:

Brr. Bzz.

This morning I awoke to find the house, shall we say...chilly? I futzed with the thermostat for a while, but no amount of wiggling and cajoling made the heat come on. The oil tank runneth dry. This is our first time with oil heat and we miscalculated how much we'd need, especially since this has been such a frosty winter. Don't worry about us, there are no Crankysicles over here or anything. We built a fire in the fireplace and hung around in jackets until we found a lovely oil company that would deliver on Sunday (for a modest fee, of course) and help us turn the furnace back on. 5 hours and just shy of $600 later, we're back in business. I am a little bummed because we usually run the heat on biofuel, but we couldn't get a hold of the lone biofuel company in town and I wanted to get it filled up today because I'm not going to be around tomorrow. Ah well.

Last night while dorking out in of Battlestar Galactica (Kyle made me do it) I was able to finish Bianca's Bumblebee Longies. The are really different for me because I've never done anything double sided before. Bianca sent me a little marker drawing of the face and asked for concentric circles on the bum to represent the business end of the little guy.




I have one little pair of crabby longies left and then I am going to take a few days to whip up another batch of monster bibs for the shop. And it will be customs time again!

Tomorrow is Kindergarten open house. Since the informational meeting I've had time to digest the presentations and am about 85% sure I know where I want Henry to go. I am hoping that tomorrow solidifies that for me instead of making the choice more difficult.

It is actually shaping up to be a pretty nice day. Henry and I goofed around outside for a while but he was less than cooperative when the camera made an appearance...

Valentine's Ahoy!

Last year at Christmas time I was horrified when Henry brought home little goodie bags that all the other parents had brought in and handed out. Candy canes, pencils, stickers, you name it. I don't know if I missed a secret memo or what, but I felt pretty "bad mama" about sending Henry to school empty handed. When Valentine's Day rolled around, I was bound and determined not to let that happen again. I made darling little packages filled with stickers and tattoos and organic cherry fruit bars (Ha! Not only do I recognize holidays, but I care enough not to send your child home full of corn syrup in the middle of February when you can't kick them out the door and let them run it off. I'm the Best. Mom. Ever!) and wrapped them all up in heart bags with ribbon and the whole 9 yards. Well, Henry was the only one who brought anything in and I looked like a crazy Valentine obsessed freak of nature. Bah.

This year I vowed not to buy into the whole prove-you're-a-super-cool-mom thing. I sent Henry with humble little candy canes and boring cards for the winter holidays. Then I saw these Valentines at The Mayberry Sparrow and my nonchalance fell apart as I pressed the Buy It Now button and declared aloud (to an empty house) "Henry is going to ROCK the Valentine's preschool party!". I might have even done a little demented version of the Ray Lewis victory dance.



Okay, you're right. I'm a gigantic dork and not a single one of Henry's 10 classmates will note the awesomely vintage look or care that were HAND printed with HAND CUT wooden block stamps on recycled card stock, or that they put money into the pocket of an indie designer instead of the Disney/Pixar/etc. superstructures. Whatever. I'll tape a few conversation hearts to the back and they'll fall in love with them.

The perfect song for today is Strange Powers by The Magnetic Fields. I think that Stephen Merritt is pretty much the best lyricist of all time, and this is such a bizarre and amazing love song. I got to see The Magnetic Fields play with Yo La Tengo (who I'm sure will be along on this list sometime soon) at The Magic Stick in Detroit and it was mind blowing to be sharing space with someone I have so much respect and love for. Two days in a row of songs by bands I've seen live, I think I'll try to stick with it for a while.

Sleep Deprivation, Boo! Indie Coffee Roasters, Yay!

Henry decided to wake up at the ripe old hour of 2:45 this morning. I laid down with him to try to get him to go back to sleep and he tossed an turned for a while but every time I tried to get up he woke up and cried. Bah. I spend the hours of 2:45-5am snatching sleep in 3 minute increments with my face smushed up against the safety rail and two decidedly pokey knees digging into my back. I finally snuck back to bed at 5am for exactly 11 minutes and then Henry was up for the day. *yawn*

Thanks goodness for...

Uber Geek Coffee Roasters!!!

I have been hearing buzz about this coffee from a lot of my hard workin', hard (coffee) drinkin' mama friends so I finally splurged on a pound of their Kenya Ruiru Oaklands Estate Peaberry whole bean deliciousness. It somehow managed to peel my eyelids open one at a time this morning. I even made Henry a wholesome and tasty lunch instead of sacking out on the couch and forcing him to eat whatever horrid, fried-something-on-a-biscuit they are no doubt serving for lunch at school. Now if that isn't a testimonial for a damn fine cup of coffee, I don't know what is.

Uber Geek, I give you the Special Agent Dale Cooper Award for the best coffee I've had in a really long time.



Now.

Anyone know where I can get a nice big slice of cherry pie?

Monster Bibs at Etsy

I went ahead and listed the first batch of monster bibs in my Etsy shop.



Today will be day 2 of trying to pull the house back together after having the boys home for almost a week. It seems like there are hundreds of little things that have been neglected and need to be done. Just in time for the weekend to roll around and the house to get trashed again...

My most perfect song for today is Judy and the Dream of Horses by Belle and Sebastian. If you click that link you can see a clip of them performing it live. I dare you not to jump around like a 5 year old when the horns kick in. I was lucky enough to see them at The State Theater in Detroit slightly pre-Henry. It was amazing. Their tour manager had a daughter born that day so they were passing around huge bottles of champagne and they did a cover of the Detroit classic "Baby Love" by The Supremes to commemorate the event. It was magical and wonderful. That was the last big show I went to before mamahood pushed going to shows way down the list of priorities and I haven't been since (Dan Zanes doesn't count). I can't think of a better show to have as my last. For a while.

Monster Mess Eaters...

Mess Eating Monsters...Monster Mess...Mess Monster...Cool Monster Bib Thingies...

Okay, I'm not great at the whole naming thing. But my new monster bibs are done! I got my snap press yesterday and set right to work finishing them as I watched The Wire. (Any other Wire fans out there who want to smack Jimmy upside the head?)












They are made of 3 layers: a top layer of cotton print, a soft and thirsty terry backing, and a layer of natural cotton batting in the middle for extra juicy munchers. The bottom lip is a pocket to catch all of the food that invariably misses the mouth (it's a fairly small target, no?). It has sturdy snaps that undo when you are ready to empty it but are strong enough to keep little hands from undoing the pocket mid-meal. When you snap down the pocket you will find the monsters little red terry heart. The eyes and teeth are also terry. There is a snap closure at the neck.

Most of this first batch are going to be sold as seconds because of wonky stitching at the neck closure, so look out for them on the Etsy and/or Hyena Cart shops soon. I am hoping to stock a nice sized batch for my guest spot in K&F Shops monster stocking next month as well.

Peru and Things...

Wow, yesterday was a crazy day! Kyle is moving into a new classroom so he had to get to work extra early, leaving me the rare opportunity to take Henry to school on my way to my meeting in Charlotte. I love dropping him off because I get to check in with his teachers and see the kids. Last year I drove him every day, so I miss that constant contact with the people he spends his days with. Luckily I checked his cubby, and found a notice that we were supposed to attend a magnet school informational meeting at 6pm last night. All elementary schools in Asheville are magnets (well, there are a few charters, too) so you have too look at their specialties and apply to the school you want your kid to go to. It's like applying to college. Streeeeeeeess!

Anyway, I hopped in the car and drove on down to Charlotte, where my Peruvian contact has his US headquarters. The sample that they knit up for me in Peruvian wool is absolutely amazing! It is super soft and the knitting is impeccable. Sooooo... we struck a deal and I put in my very first order!!! It is a test order so it is relatively small- 6 pairs of each "classic" design in each size for a total of 54 pairs. He is going to Peru on Friday and hopes to get the ball rolling then and get back to me with a time line, so I should have some information for all of my waiting list peeps fairly soon. WooHoo! One of my dear local customers convinced me to go to the fiber arts festival where I met my contact, so Suzannah- I'll have to take you out for a celebratory drink soon!

The knitting cooperative I'll be working with consists of 5 groups of women (group size is from 16-27 women) in different villages across Peru. Each group has its own specialty, so I won't be working with ALL the groups, but they are a part of the same co-op that is certified by the Fair Trade Federation. The women meet once a week to touch base and make sure everything they are doing is consistent and they are on point. After that they are free to work from home, but a lot of the time they choose to meet in groups and knit together. I think it makes it easier for them to watch the children when they are all together. Knitting allows these women to be heads of their households.

My Peruvian contact had sooooo many gorgeous pictures of the women knitting, but I liked that one. I might ask for another one that has kids in it. There were photos of a different group that had a ton of wee ones. They carry the babies on their backs wrapped in these really bright woven blankets and I even saw a few pictures of moms nursing and knitting at the same time. They all wear these hats perched on top of their heads that are modified versions of the bowler hats the British wore when they came to Peru to put a railroad through the country. They use them to spot family and community members while working in the flat, vast fields. The man I am working with also does photography so he had folders and folders of amazing pictures on his computer.

They specialize in baby alpaca, but they got Peruvian wool for me. Since they have a lot of farmers with alpaca he had a lot of alpaca pictures, too. I should have gotten one with the landscape in the background, but I thought this little guy was too cute.


I asked if they had access to any organic yarn because I'm interested in starting a line of organics. They said that the farmers can't afford to spray any of the fields where the animals graze so the yarn should be considered organic, but they can't afford to get certified as organic either. It is almost a ridiculous idea to them.

They do mittens and gloves and socks for kids, all reversible and done in a crazy gorgeous fair isle in bright colors and traditional designs. They are interested in developing a line of coordinating accessories for me, so I'll be working on that this year, too.

I'm not sure when my first shipment will come in and it is a relatively small order (54 pairs) but after that it should start going like clockwork. I am hoping to be able to get a good jump start on the waiting list before April because I just found out I will have a feature in April's issue of Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine. WooHoo! It has been kind of frustrating to be getting great press and high demand and not be able to actually take advantage of it and make any money because I can only knit so fast, so this could be the beginning of me actually being able to carry my weight in this family through the business. I know that people think I make a ton because of the few high auctions and the popularity but that hasn't been the case, so it will be nice to finally be able to contribute a meaningful salary in the near future. This has been over a year in the making so it is really exciting to see a payoff finally in sight. I am paying a much higher price per item than I would if they were factory made so I don't think I'll be able to do wholesale still, but as long as I have help meeting demand I'll be happy. And someday I might be able to go to Peru!!!


After my meeting I drove the 2.5 hours back to Asheville and swung by to pick up Henry from school on my way home. I had time to scarf dinner down and then off again to the most boring informational meeting of all time. I am hoping that the open houses we are going to next week will be more helpful because that meeting was like watching 5 infomercials about each school. There were so many buzz words and whatnot that I didn't feel like I got any sense of what any of the schools were actually like. Honestly, I feel like choosing a learning track for my 4.5 year old is crazy. There is an "Arts and Humanities" school, a "Human Diversity and Ecology" school (we're leaning that way actually), a "Math, Science and Technology" school, a "Core Knowledge" school and an "Experiencial Learning" school. I have no clue which one Henry would like better. He loves science and technology, but the kids there use PDAs and have computerized gym and that seems way extreme to me. I also like the Foxfire based experiencial learning model, but they seemed so over the top hippy dippy that it turned me off. The Human Diversity and Ecology one seems the most grounded, plus they have a robotics program and are a NASA school which Henry will love. Ugh. It's like information overload.

In the midst of all this craziness I did manage to finish Michelle's navy blue monster booties. I love the color combination she chose, it is so rich.


On the car ride home from Charlotte I had my iPod on shuffle and a song I consider "a perfect song" came on. As I listened to it I thought about other songs I love and I thought it might be fun if I started a little daily "perfect song" list. So, to kick it off today...

Angel in the Snow by Elliot Smith. If I did that right you should be able to click that and listen to it, and download it if you want to. There is something about Elliot Smith that just stops me in my tracks and makes me really sit and listen. He was what Kyle would call one of my "kicked puppy boys", alluding to the fact that I am inexplicably drawn to damaged boys dead set on doing themselves in (what does that say about him?). Crushingly, Elliot Smith succeeded in 2003.

If you guys have any songs you think are perfect and want to give me a heads up about, I'd love it. Folks have told me they are having trouble leaving comments, so if Blogger gives you any guff just shoot me an email.

Oh, Brett Favre...

It's okay. I still love you.

Today I got my invite to Ravelry. For those of you who've never heard of it, it is kind of like a giant MySpace for knitters. D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S. If anyone is on there and wants to give me any tips, pointers or heads up on cool groups and things please feel free!

Back to the needles. I will be out of town in my super duper important Peru meeting tomorrow in Charlotte, which is 3 hours each way, so I am trying to get a lot done today. I am stressed out about this meeting, so any well wishes, crossed fingers and good vibage is greatly appreciated!!!

The Sickies II: This Time It's Personal...

We had a little respite from the sickies yesterday, so Kyle took Henry out and about to shake off the cabin fever he's had being stuck in the house with me since Wednesday. Mistake! Last night the sickies came back with a vengance. A little after midnight, Henry woke up coughing so hard he was just about throwing up. It had me rummaging through our seldom used bin of over the counter medicine to see if I had anything that would do the trick. I was so excited when I found an old bottle of prescription strength cough medicine with codeine in it that our ped. had prescribed for Henry's last bone rattling cough. Unfortunately, my dreams of a good night's sleep were shattered when I read the expiration date. March 2007. Why do I still have a bottle of cough syrup from March 2007? Yeah. I don't know. This morning when we woke up (after a restful 2.7 seconds of cough free sleep) I put the label information in an email to our ped. and begged him to refill it, but I'm not holding my breath. Something tells me doctors probably don't like prescribing anything with a controlled substance in it without actually seeing the patient. We'll see. Henry has had a bout of waking up at 4:30-5:30 so I'm already a little sleep deprived. What's another couple of sleepless nights in the grand scheme of things?

I did manage to finish up Lindsay's girly Sock Monkey last night. I love the funky sock monkeys you guys come up with. I am going to have to ask Kyle if he can do a sock monkey template along with the monster so it is easy to play with alternative color schemes.


I am working on Michelle's navy monsters while the yellow yarn for Bianca's bumble bee longies dries. The end of this month starts some super crazy busy-ness for me, so I'm hoping to have this month's customs finished up a little early.

Tuesday I am driving to Charlotte to meet with my Peru contact who has some samples from his knitters in merino wool to show me. If they looks good, production will start immediately and I am looking at having in stock really soon. Keep fingers crossed! Next weekend I am going to try to make the trip to Durham to see Kimya play and deliver her panda pants. Then Monday and Tuesday are open houses for Asheville kindergartens and we have to decide where we are going to try to get Henry in. February brings a movie themed stocking with Venus Vanguard (I'm not sure I can come up with anything for this one, so I might sit out this month) and a guest spot at a monster themed stocking with K&F shops. Whew!

Kyle is at work getting some things today and has promised me that he will come home soon bearing gifts of junk food and sweet stuff for the massive quantities of football watching that will be happening here round about 3:00. Kyle hasn't made any football watching friends since we've moved down here so I am going to do my best to be involved and cheering and whatnot with him this afternoon. It won't come close to watching with his guy friends back in Ann Arbor, but it's better than nothing. I'll even pull my Brett Favre jersey out of the closet for the Green Bay game.

Best. Wife. Ever.

Monster Booty Template

Kyle made me this cool little Monster Booty template today. It is like a blank little monster booty that I can plug colors into to send mock ups to my custom customers, or to send to them so they can play with colors and things in Photo Shop.



Pretty cool, no? I mean the colors won't be exact or anything, but it will be better than the color strips I've been sending people to see color combinations.

Thanks, hon!

The Sickies

The good news: the boys had a 2 hour snow delay so I got to sleep in until 8:30 (WhooHoo!) while Kyle took care of the beast.

The bad news: Henry seems to have something between a pretty bad cough and the croup. He is a tiny bit warm, not warm enough to compel me to wrestle him to the ground and take his temperature, but warmish. And he has a pretty dry sounding cough. The only time he's had the croup he was about 9 months old and he got it at the same time as he had that god awful hand and and foot (foot and mouth? mouth and hand? one is for kids and one is for cows and I can't remember which is which) disease-coxsakie, I think they call it. Anyway, at the time we had croup and coxsakie floating around playgroup and my little overachiever wasn't happy with just catching one of them. What a nightmare week that was. I'm hoping that it is NOT the croup but just a bad cough from being penned up in our dry heated house. I think he's getting on the old end for the croup, so it could be! I parked him on the couch in front of a Super Why mini-marathon and set up the humidifier, so hopefully that will help. We have fun things going on this weekend and I'd be bummed if he had to sit them out, so we're laying low and seeing what we can do to take care of this cough today.

I told the little man not to touch the humidifier because it blows hot steam so he is currently running back in forth in front of it (about 3 feet away), daring it to blow steam on him, feeling much like Indiana Jones cheating death over and over again.

Panda's Pandas...

I know I say this all the time (Me? Hyperbole? Never!) but these are one of my favorite pairs of Crankypants. Kimya (mama) and Panda (future wearer of panda longies) are touring the east coast promoting the Juno soundtrack and doing shows so I am hopehopehoping I can meet up with them on the road somewhere to hand deliver them and see Kimya play. I mean really, how much fun would that be? Anyway...





They are capri/skater short length and since the bum is white I used the heavy worsted Eco yarn for a little extra durability. I cannot WAIT to see a picture of them on.

In awesomely awesome best bud news: my nearest and dearest, Bam, has a big fat article coming out in the Winter issue of Ms. Magazine about women in comedy. She is equally talented at writing academic articles for countless smartypants magazines and giving witty running commentary to America's Next Top model marathons while downing copious amounts of junk food. What more could you ask for in a soul sister? All she has to do is move to Asheville and she'll be perfect! I'm editing now- since I posted this earlier today, Bam got the amazing news that her book Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America won the Katherine Singer Kovács Book Award! I suspect the award has something to do with the outstanding proof reading and indexing done by a certain overly modest someone who shall remain nameless...Congrats Bam! Use some of that prize money for a trip to these here mountains to do research on the daytime television watching habits of professional knitters with school aged children.

The boys are home on a snow day today and we are expecting another one tomorrow. Am I a horrible person because I can't remember what the heck I used to do to entertain my child all day before he started school? I guess he was younger and easier to please back then. Since he is a big serious four and a half year old now, hangin' with mom doesn't hold the appeal that it used to and he is bored silly by 9am. We took him to see Enchanted this afternoon. It was a little old for him and he got a little antsy for about 20 minutes near the end (before the dragon came, then he was rapt) but it was good. Amy Adams rocks my socks. Luckily we have a birthday party and a football date (Go Favre!) this weekend so he'll have some kid company during our 5 day break.

Oh poop. Remind me to go find an appropriate birthday present tomorrow...

The Humpty Hump

Hump Day. What a horrible thing to be called, but I guess Wednesday is used to it by now. This is the time of the week that I start stressing out about all the things I need to get done by the weekend and have to resist running around like a headless chicken. Henry has been waking up at 4:30am with his rocket ship nightmare again, so my poor booty is dragging all over the place. *yawn*

I finished Meg's Monster Booty longies this morning. She wanted to keep them pretty chilled out an neutral and I think they came out great.



The menagerie continues this month and I have a few animals up next. I hope to have the next pair done by the end of the week but they are predicting snow tonight so I might be on Henry duty if they call school. I also feel like I might be coming down with something, but I can't tell for sure if it is cold induced body achiness and tiredness, or if my abdominal and lower back muscles are trying to escape before they are subjected to another round of crunching at the gym.

I have another movie recommendation that is going to sound completely bizarre. It is a documentary called The King of Kong about a guy who is trying to break the world record for high score in Donkey Kong. I know. It sounds ridiculous. I scoffed and rolled my eyes through the first half of the movie but by the end I was seriously rooting for this guy to kick some Kong tail.

The YDub

That's what I've been calling the YWCA like a big dork. Even Kyle thinks it's dorky but I can't stop myself. The eliptical machine could possibly win the-most-boring-thing-ever-in-life competition. Since the magazine rack is sparsely populated with Outdoor Magazine, AARP and 8 month old issues of People, and they are sweatin' to the oldies on the YDub sound system, I find that I need to bring my own fun. Since I started going I've been trying to craft the perfect playlist, the right balance of power and pop to carry me through that endless expanse of time spent running to nowhere. I will happily accept reader suggestions. And I'm not above a little JT or Erasure to pull me through the rough spots. There's no room for "cutting edge hipster" when 70 year olds are kicking your ass on the treadmill and your underwear has migrated to somewhere just below your armpits. I am in love with the old women who walk around buck nekkid in the dressing room. This morning I was talking to a woman while I released my feet from the torment of my running shoes and she pulled her shirt and bra off in one fell swoop in the middle of a sentence. Though I admire and aspire to her comfort with her body, I do wish that the answer to the questions "Where do I look when someone I am talking to suddenly becomes topless?" in the membership literature I received upon joining the facility. As it was, I turned red and made a hasty retreat.

Wimp.

Thanks Blog Asheville!

Thanks to my buds over at Blog Asheville for the little shout out this weekend!

Erica's Stripe-a-Dot Monster Longies

Ms. Erica sent me a sketch of how she wanted her custom monster booty longies to look and I did my best to come close (that waistband color change was made after the picture was sent). I've never done anything like her combination of stripes and dots before so I was a little nervous, but I love the way they turned out. I hope she does, too!




This weekend was a complete anomaly for me. I went out Friday AND Saturday night- can you believe it? Friday night we joined another couple at a friend's house for dinner. Two almost-four year olds and a four and a half year old playing together for hours and nary an argument was had. It was amazing. Great food, great company and adult conversation. Craziness! Saturday night my friend Tommy called at the last minute and asked if I wanted to go see Juno. Since Kyle was parked in front of football playoffs (Go Pats!), I ran out the door immediately. I had pretty high expectations of this movie and it didn't disappoint. It was funny and sweet and the dialogue was wonderful. I also have to give a nod to the kick booty soundtrack by Kimya Dawson. I love Kimya so I am a biased listener, but I thought she was a perfect fit for the movie and it couldnt' have been done better. It actually seems like we've seen a slew of really great movies lately. I think the writers' strike is doing wonders for the movie rental industry.

Now it is time to recover from my awesome weekend and get back to work! The house is a disaster and my needles are calling my name...

Feed Burner...

At a meeting of the crafty minds last night, my sister in scissors, Jess from Quilt Baby told me about a cool little bit of blogging goodness called Feed Burner. It is kind of like Bloglines, but it seems to be more customizable or something. I don't know. She is way more tech savvy than I am so it is going to take me a million years to figure it out because I would still be using a typewriter if I could get away with it. ANYWAY. If you look over there, to the left, under Crankypants Links, you'll see a place you can subscribe to this blog through Feed burner. Someone go do it and let me know how it is.

In other news, HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY ADELLA! Adella is one of Henry's oldest buds and the most artistically talented 4 year old I know. Have a great day!

Oh, My Aching Ache.

Henry woke up calling for me this morning at 5:30. When I went in and bent over him in bed to try to convince (okay, beg and plead might be more accurate) him to go back to sleep for a little while, he whipped his head up and accidentally got me right in the mouth. It split the inside of my lip right open. Ouchie! To add aches to injury I dragged my tired old booty to the gym and I don't know if it will ever forgive me. I am starting to train for the 40 mile breast cancer walk I am hoping to do later this year and I need to drop a little weight to give my knees a fighting chance. Not a ton, just a little. Knitting full time has not been the best thing for my fitness level and I am actually looking forward to having a goal to force me back into the gym.

Hot of the needles are Ms. Nicole's Monster Princess longies. I love this little lady. I think the pointy teeth and color choices give a little edge to the princess idea. Her highness was made using the heavier wetting yarn and hand beaded with a fancypants little tiara.




While I had the camera out I snapped a quick picture of my Monster Bib's little red heart of gold.


Aw!

Meet The Fam.

I know I should wait until they are done to post pictures, but these guys have been begging me for a photo op. They sit and stare at me from my kitchen/sewing table and I can no longer help myself.






They are made out of 100% cotton print fabric and terry with a layer of undyed 100% cotton batting wedged in between for a little extra absorbency. The red bottom lip is a food catching pocket that unsnaps for easy clean up. The idea of doing a finger sweep on a bib pocket makes me gag. I forgot to take a picture of it, but each pocket snaps down to reveal a little red terry heart full of monstery love that says (figuratively, there is no actual voice box in the bib) "Thank you for dropping all of you food into my mouth, you messy little thing". They will also all have snap closures at the neck, I am just waiting for my mail carrier to drop my loverly new snap press on my anxiously awaiting door step.

Look for these guys on my HC and Etsy shops sometime early next month.

Yaaaaaaawn...

With the regular work week since the holidays (except that Henry has Friday off) I feel like I am a big ole grizzly coming out of hibernation. The to do list has been whittled down to a manageable length and things are getting back to normal. Henry is having a rough transition from vacation, but hopefully that will stop soon. We like to call that "vacation decompression".

I finished Bianca's Monster Booty Longies and they are going into the mail today:


I've also been busy working on something totally new that I think is pretty dern cute. I am waiting on a supply to come in and then I will have pictures up. It has been nice to work on something new but I have some kinks that need to be worked out. You can count on a big batch of "seconds" coming out before the real thing is up on the site.

In other awesome Crankypants news, I spoke with my Peru contact today. I am going to meet with him later this month to go over some samples and I could place my first order with the knitting co-op as soon as the end of this month. That would take the biggest load off my shoulders and get the Classic Waiting List cookin'. So keep your fingers, toes and all other crossables, well...crossed.

Friday afternoon Henry came home from school with a very important looking sheaf of papers. Sure enough, it was all of his registration forms for Kindergarten. I can't believe my tiny little baby boy is old enough for this stuff. We have open houses later this month and formal registration is in the beginning of February. Asheville is a little different because all of the elementary schools are magnets and you can send your kid to any one of them. This means I have to look at Henry at 4 years old and track him based on what his learning style is now. It is all pretty confusing. We like the idea of experiencial learning, but Henry also really likes structure. There is a computer and technology based school, but I don't know if that is right for him, either. It just doesn't sound as fun, even though he is a computer maniac. I don't knooooooooow! I hope I'll come away from the open houses with a better idea of where we want our first choice to be.

Finally-Pictures!

I managed to snap a quick picture of my last December custom this morning. It is not the best picture I've ever taken. The snowy grossness outside means indoor lighting and I accidentally Photo Shopped a little chunk out of the leg. I just couldn't bring myself to go back and re-do the whole thing since I am super swamped with beginning of the month madness. I still think they're pretty cute...


Also, Rach was nice enough to give me permission to post some pictures she sent me of
her little one in the hippo Crankys I was unable to take a picture of last week. Thanks Rach!



WooHoo!

Holy Snow!

We woke up this morning to the most snow we've seen since we moved here 4 years ago. Brrrrr! Henry is supposed to go back to school tomorrow but I am fairly sure he'll end up having a snow day. We had fun throwing snow around outside and he even brought a snowball inside to put in the freezer. Goofy kid.

This is Crazy!

I've only heard from one of my 5 custom folks today. Where are you mamas????

January Customs List

Alright guys, here is the January Customs List:

1. Michelle C.L.
2. Tiffani
3. jmtowler (You didn't sign your email, so this is the start of you address)
4. Lindsay K.
5. Joline S.

Emails have been sent, so the folks on the list should have gotten them or will be getting them soon.

Congrats!