Hey Stranger...

I know it's been a while since my past update. I've been a busy little bee, though. Pinky swear.

We had a great weekend with a soccer game, a birthday party and some quality time with some old friends we don't see nearly enough any more.

Can you believe it is the end of the month again? It sneaks up so fast I can hardly believe it! I am not going to finish one time, but I'm coming in close! I had to order some yarn for my last April order (which is on the needles now) so I fell behind, but I did make the most of my time.

James' Red Dragon Booty Longies:




OOaK Monster Booty shorties from the Farmers Market stocking, made with BBR merino hand dyed by Teresa at in Stitches:




I have also been doing a bit of sewing. I have a couple of new bib designs to unveil...

My new Sock Monkey Snap Bib:





A new batch of Monster snap bibs:




I also worked out a new design for baby bibs-especially little droolers who want a little something different...

Monster Baby Twins:



Baby Sock Monkey:




I got that cool sock monkey fabric to make some washies for the kitchen since we've decided to go paper free in there, but it looked so cute with that Baby Sock Monkey Bib, I thought I'd do a bib/burp cloth set.

Here's the little pile of washies:



I told you I was busy!!!

I have two other wee tidbits of Crankypants news, the first being that the first box of cooperative made Crankys left Peru yesterday and is on its way to the US! This means I should have it in my hot little hands sometime next week if all goes well. The second is my super cool new woven labels! I am way too excited about them.



They went off to the printer/weaver/productionist yesterday so hopefully they'll be along soon as well.

How fancy am I?

Grazing...

This is turning out to be the month of landscapes. First Colorado Nights and now some grazing sheep. These pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit because I am used to doing goofy characters and things, not landscapes. I am pretty happy with both of them, though. And really. Who doesn't love sheep?

You'll have to pardon the strange light- it looks like it is going to be a lovely day!

Parent Hacks!

One of my favorite blogs of all time is called Parent Hacks. Parents submit their tips about a little parenting trick they've learned and then other folks add their experiences with similar things and/or expand on the original idea. It is an amazing resource. I really recommend poking around there for a bit. Parents have the best ideas! Anyway, I was psyched when I woke up to find a hack I submitted on the page this morning!



It is my manicure-tool-as-LEGO-crowbar hack. Too bad I had to write Asha back later and tell her that since I submitted that hack, Henry had broken a bottom tooth during a LEGO separating incident. I guess in order to make the hack work you have to actually get your kid to use it...

Flat Stanley Pt. 2

Yesterday was Flat Stanley's last day in town. We tried to go to the West End Bakery so I could get a picture of the little guy baking some muffins or something, but they were having a huge Fair Wages event there and it was too busy to bug them with Stanley. It wasn't too busy to get one of their super yummy blueberry muffins and a giant cup of coffee (made and served by workers being paid a fair wage- Yay West End Bakery!), though. We headed out to the big WNC Farmers Market instead, where Flat Stanley posed with a gorgeous display of honey.



The old woman who ran the honey stand declared Flat Stanley's zipper to be "mighty suspicious".

After poking around the market a while (strawberry season is close!) we went to do our civic duty and take part in early voting for the Democratic Primary, which is officially held May 2.



Then we headed downtown to get pictures with a couple of Asheville's quirky statues. The Flat Iron:



And the Bluegrass Players:



Flat Stanley got one more taste of "The Land of the Big Sky":



and then it was time to get all tucked back into his envelope and start the trip back to his first grade classroom in Minnesota.

Safe travels, Flat Stanley!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is a children's book that has spawned a bajillion elementary school projects across the country. The idea is that the child mails a flat version of themselves to another state to have adventures, then he is mailed back home with documentation of his/her journey. When a mama friend asked for someone to take her first grader's Stanley on an adventure I volunteered immediately.

I know that first graders are not typically known for their exacting style of representation in art, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I pulled this little guy out of his envelope.



Yeah. That's a zipper.

I got a few pictures yesterday and will finish up and get Flat Stanley back in the mail this afternoon.

Posing with my friend Robert, the "green grocer". He's like the Mr. Hooper of West Asheville:


With the NC state flower, Dogwood:


Hanging out with another gorgeous native tree, the Redbud, and a few of your state insect, the Bumblebee:


I'll be back later with the rest of Stanley's Asheville stay. I hope the old ladies at the Farmers Market don't get offended when I ask them to pose with Stanley and his overly large...zipper.

SolesUnited!

If you've ever met me in real life you know that I am very attached to my Crocs. I have my warm weather Crocs and my lined Mammoth Crocs, and unless you're buying me a fancy dinner, that's all you'll see on my feet these days.



So I was so happy to hear about the SolesUnited program today! They take old and worn out Crocs, rip 'em up and make new shoes out of them which they donate to people in need around the world. If you go here, you can type in your zip code and find the nearest retailer who accepts used Crocs to recycle, or you can mail them in to one of the two big recycling centers yourself-there is on one each coast. OR you can go here and buy a special pair of Crocs made out of 20% of the recycled material. These special Crocs sport the SolesUnited logo, and for every pair sold, Crocs donates a pair of shoes to the SolesUnited program. It's win/win. Or, if you are like me and you are more likely to spend money on your spawn, they have a kids version, too. Not only will your wee one get a cool pair of shoes, but it is a great opportunity to talk about recycling and ecology as well as community service. You can even work world geography in there if you take out the ole globe and try to guess where the pair of Crocs donated because of your purchase will go.

Contributing to the cultivation of the next generation of global citizens AND getting new shoes? Rock!

Monday, Monday...

We had such a great weekend that it was hard to get out of bed and start another work week this morning.

Friday afternoon Henry and I went out to the garden to "water" the flowers. Give the kid a squirt bottle and he could entertain himself for hours...






Saturday morning we woke up to a light sprinkling of rain, but soccer was ON! Henry insisted that he was only going to watch, but he got caught up in the soccer spirit and made some good runs for the ball after all. He wasn't the MVP or anything, but he had a good time which is all I really care about. He spent a lot of time hanging out in the goal and looking up into the sky, but I think the high point for him was an impromptu pig pile on Coach Tommy in the middle of the game.







I also finished Roxy's Hot Pink Monster Booty longies, which will go out this afternoon.

One Nation... Under Monsters.

I just finished Kori's Monster Booties in the ole Red, White and Blue...





They'll go into the mail this afternoon, mama!

Tonight we are having another, much smaller movie night. Kyle is bringing the projector home from work and we are going to set up the kids in there with a movie and popcorn while we adults get out rock on with some Guitar Hero. I have become a total Guitar Hero addict, it is kind of pitiful. I have to set a timer for myself so I don't get sucked in too much. Sad, sad, sad...

Charity Events! Farmer's Market!

Lately I have been asked to participate in a lot of charity events and, while I can't say yes to every request, it is always an honor to be able to give a little something to a great cause.

Right now The Giggling Guppy is holding a few charity lotteries to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and The Apple Family who have recently suffered the loss of their little boy, Jake. There are a few different baskets full of goodies up for grabs so go check it out!

Coming up on May 1 is the Live This Life event sponsored by Plum Knits to benefit Alisa Diez, a friend and young mother recovering from cancer. There are a ton of AMAZING lotteries going on there. I for one am going to buy a pocketful of tickets for the Rising Sun Earthworks Yarn Bowl. It is so beautiful! I (of course) mailed off my donation late so the preview pictures aren't quite up yet. I put together a little "Monster Lovers Pack" with one of Sarah Jane from Spiderbite's awesome Nightmare Snatchers, 2 monster finger puppets and a wee monster stuffie from Fishcakes, a pair of small Night Monster boxer briefs made by Sonya at Sublime Threads, a set of monster bookmarks and a set of monster book plates.

Last but definitely not least, come to The Farmer's Market with Venus Vanguard tonight! Here's a sneak peek, but you'll have to come and see all the things my sisters in craftiness have to offer as well.

Lovelies...

Here are Alyce's Colorado Nights longies, ready to ship first thing in the morning:





I also got some really amazing customer photos that make me think I might have to change the name to "GigglyHappyPants":