Goooooodies!!!

I came home last night to my favorite chair flowing over with packages. I am lucky I have a faithful mail getter while I'm out of town and not someone like me who agrees to get your mail but then forgets until the day before you come home. I stink. Tommy rocks. Thanks Tommy!

Henry got the painting that the fabulous Ms. Kimya Dawson did for him in trade for a pair of longies for Panda. I told her that he was into space and robots and ta DA!



How awesome is that? He also got three pairs of flannel jammie/lounge pants made by Amy over at Angel Wraps. She specializes in cloth diapers, but she can sew pretty much anything under the sun. I asked her to pick out the prints and I am so happy with what she chose. Henry might actually want to actually change out of his jeans tonight (he usually insists on sleeping in his jeans. Yeah. I dunno.) when he sees them.



I also actually got something for myself! Imagine that! This sweet little case is from Tiny Meat, designed by Emily Martin over at The Black Apple. It is the perfect size to put business cards (which are in for a redesign) on one side and stickers on the other. I am way too excited about it.




Last but definitely not least was a big box of yarn from Cestari Farms. I am thinking of switching to Cestari's merino wool for my custom work, so I ordered 10 skeins to try it out.



There are pros (squishier yarn and supporting small farms-YAY!) and cons (more limited colors and ordering online as opposed to a local store I can just pop over to, BOO!) but I'm hoping to make it work. It is ultimately going to depend on you guys, I guess. I'm excited for a change. I have been unhappy using my current brand for a while, because it is mass produced and thinner than I'd like, but most people seemed fine with the status quo and changing is more difficult than staying the same. I'm hoping this will be worth the extra bit of effort.

FL Knitting

It was hard to muster up the motivation to knit while all that sun was shining down south, but you knew I wouldn't let you down, right?

Home and Stuff...

Whew! That was one. long. drive. We left FL at about 7 yesterday morning and, after 3 hours of stop and go in GA, made it home just before 9 last night. Henry did great but I could tell he was miserable most of the time. Poor kid. I am so glad to be home! And it is much easier to come home when right inside the front door is a pile of goodies waiting for you. But that's another post. I'm in a time crunch (is it really the last day of the month???) so I wanted to make a little business post before I forget.

First off, a few folks have expressed concern about multiple people in a household emailing me on the first for a custom slot for the same child. Since I had previously requested that people don't enlist stalking help, they wanted clarification of the "rules". I've been thinking about it all month and I still don't really know how I feel about it. I really don't want this to be a popularity contest. I don't want a bunch of emails all going for a custom slot for the same child. But who am I to say a papa can't have his own idea and want to go for his own slot, too? I think that everyone knows the intent of my "one email per kid" rule. If we could respect that intent, that would be awesome. If your partner (or mom or whatever) has their OWN idea for a custom slot and they want to go for it independently of you, fine. But I expect to be working with them on the order, not you. As with all "rules" that aren't carved into stone, if I see people starting to abuse this grey area and take advantage, I will have to reconsider and make a strict "one email per child, no exceptions" policy, which stinks. As far as 2 (or more) kiddo families? It seems fair to me that you can send one email per child. Just put the different kids' names in the subject line so I know it isn't a duplicate email. And if by chance you get picked for more than one and you have 2 Crankified siblings running around? I need pictures. Seriously. And, once again (and I hate that this needs to be said), if I find out people are making up siblings for their children so they can email more than once for the same child (I know it seems ridiculous, but believe me-it does need to be said) I will change this, too. You know what's right. Just please don't try to get away with something and play fair so we can all have fun with this and keep any drama far, far away.

Also, since I was out of town last week, auctions are starting a day late this time around. The first one is today and 3 more will follow through the 3rd.

And since tomorrow is the first of the month, here's the custom ordering blurb for the newbs:

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 $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. Please note: Insurance is ALWAYS offered. If you choose not to get insurance, I can't be responsible for anything that might happen between my hands and your doorstep. I do not currently and do not plan to sell the Crankypants pattern. It is all in my little head and to translate it from Amyspeak into language that is actually understandable would be a chore I am not up to tackling.

If you have any other questions please feel free to email me at info@crankypantshome.com

There will be a bunch of updates today, so jump back!

We Goin' to the Rock Show!

*Okay, I've tried to finish this a bajillion times. I am going to rushrushrush while the boys are at the beach. Hurry!*


Monday night we left the bean with the grandparents and headed out on a fabulous date of dinner and a show by the most fabulous Kimya Dawson, who just happened to be playing in Ft. Meyers while we are down here. The show was sold out super quick but she was nice enough to make sure we could get in on the list. Unfortunately, the bridge to Ft. Meyers was closed and we got hopelessly lost and ended up at a grody Steak and Shake for dinner, since we were hungry and frustrated and couldn't find anything better with a half hour until doors opened. Fortunately, the show was so awesome that we didn't care about our bellies showing their disapproval of our dining choice.

Angelo Spencer started off the show as a strange and interesting one man band. He reminded me so much of my old friend Alex Goldman that all I could think of was that time Alex prerecorded all the parts to his whole album onto a little keyboard thing and then pushed the buttons with his toes while playing guitar and singing at a house party forever ago. I miss me some Alex Goldman. I hear he is a fancy DJ in the city now. Anyway. We both loved it.

After he was done there was a little lull and Kyle said he could see Kimya's hair at the merch table through a crack in the door, so I decided to go say hi.

[I just have to insert here that as I am typing this I can hear Henry crying and wailing "Nooooooo! I don't WANT to have FUUUUUUUUUUN" outside on the porch. Weirdo.]

I was really nervous meeting her because I just like her so much. I said a bunch of idiotic things, I'm sure, and she was sweet and gave me a tee shirt for Henry (which he is wearing right now) and said SHE was starstruck meeting ME- so bizarroland. Panda was running around the lobby and is pretty much the cutest little person on the planet. The table was getting backed up at this point with people actually wanting to give Kimya money and stuff (CDs and shirts and whatnot) so I got out of the way and went back to find Kyle.

I forgot to mention that this show was at the Fort Meyers Planetarium. So while people were playing there was a constant changing background of stars and planets and ateroids and sea monsters and things on the planetarium dome. Surreal and wonderful.

The second guy to play was Paul Berabeau (which I probably mangled, spelling wise. I am horrible with names and can only remember the last part because they were talking about being un-Berabeau but you get the gist). He was sad and funny and sweet and we loved him.




Kimya was amazing, of course. It was a nice, small venue and the planetarium was the perfect place to see her. She actually dedicated a song called "Little Monster Babies" (from the forthcoming kids' album Alphabutt-I can't wait!) to me and Kyle was suitably impressed with my vast coolness. I chatted with Kimya a bit after the show, but she has a line of hipster kids a mile long, all wanting a bit of her time and an exhausted Panda in her arms, so I tried not to ramble and let her go. Not before snapping a picture, though...



And Henry modeling the awesome tee shirt Kimya gave him.



I have a million other things I should blog about but this is reeeeaally long and I managed to finish it, and you managed to finish reading it so let's quit while we're ahead, shall we?

Sunny (or Incredibly Rainy) Florida!

Yeah. It started pouring pretty much the minute we pulled up in front of the house. Ah well.

Henry did manage to get in a quick beach walk and dip in the pool in between showers, so he was a happy camper. So I am a happy camper. He's been cracking me up lately and I'm becoming more and more convinced that he is the coolest kid on Earth. First off, we drove 9 hours yesterday and we stopped a grand total of twice. Nary a peep from him in the backseat as he sat and played with LEGO. Guy who invented LEGO? I pledge my eternal undying love to you for ever and ever, amen. He's also been doing this thing where he tries to work big words into his sentences. He's started saying things like:

"Mommy, if you turn off the light I will lose the ability to see" and
"I suppose I'd like a juice box" and my favorite today
"I was so impressed that you won a coffee mug at LEAF".

Never mind that LEAF was in October and he's never mentioned that coffee mug before today. But he was mighty "impressed" by it tonight (while it is sitting 750 miles away at home in Asheville). He's a little weirdo and I love him.

We also dyed eggs to leave for the Easter Bunny after dinner. I was anxious to use the new macro lens we got for the camera, but we haven't mastered it yet.








I thought we were going to make it through the whole night without ruining the Easter magic for the grandparents. I shouldn't have pushed it by reminding him that we would have to get up and find baskets and eggs left by the Easter Bunny, to which Henry replied "I think he must be just a man. Just a silly man with funny ears on. Sooooo silly [insert eye roll here]". So much for that...

Sunshine State, Here We Come!

Kyle and Henry are on their way home from school and then we are hitting the road, Jack! While I'm not looking forward to the long drive, I can't wait to get in the warm sunshine. Asheville has been uncharacteristically grey and rainy for the past couple of weeks and I need some rejuvenation!

I have been running around like a headless chicken all morning packing everything we own (or so it seems) and trying to get the house clean enough where I won't go into a deep depression upon walking back in the door in 10 days. Not too much knitting going on around here.

I am going to try to update from down south but I'll probably be scarce. I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Monster Booty Times Three!!!

Okay, okay, I admit it. I am putting off getting dressed and getting things ready for our trip tomorrow. I am trying to sit here at the computer, where the heating vent blows warm air on my shivering toesies all the live long day. But I knew you'd appreciate another adorable customer picture.

Triplets. In Monster Booties.





I know.

Baby Cheeks!

A while back one of my wonderful customers sent me some photos of her tiny man in his custom Monster Booty longies. Shamefully, I have let them sit in my inbox without sharing the cuteness with you guys. I'm so glad she followed up with me and reminded me to put them up. I love action shots! Unfortunately, when I get overwhelmed, the email and posting and things are the first to go so I can concentrate on staying on top of the actual knitting. Anyway. Here's Mr. Cameron in his Crankypants (although he doesn't look very cranky). Those squishy baby cheeks make me all warm and fuzzy. So cute!




Thanks Valerie!

Sweater Day

Today would have been Fred Roger’s 80th birthday. In honor of him and his amazing work, today has been dubbed “Sweater Day”, when we all wear our most favorite sweaters and remember Mr. Rogers. I’ve typed out and erased about a million things here, but none of them seemed to do justice to how I feel about the man. He was one of the good guys. And he didn’t need a cape, or Spidey sense, or guns and light sabers to prove it. All he needed was a simple cardigan sweater and a wish to help create a safe world community for kids to grow up in. He is sorely missed.

Bleeeeeeehhhh...

I'm sick. Yup, again. Henry and Kyle both have immune systems of steel since they are around germs all day at school. I, on the other hand, am home by myself most days without major contact with the sickies. I have an immune system of wet noodles. And so every time they drag a germ home, I'm in for it. Bleh.

Put that together with the downright grey and gross weather outside my front door and you have a bleh of a blah day. This is unfortunate since we are leaving for FL in a few days and I have an insane amount of work to get done before then.

I think I am going to take an insanely hot shower and curl up under a blanket with my knitting needles and some tea for a while.

Henry's Staircase

Tiny man took this picture at the Greenville Zoo this weekend. I thought it was pretty awesome.

Already?

In a handful of hours we'll be dropping my folks back at the airport so they can fly back to the Great White North. We had so much fun this weekend and, as always, we are super sad to see them go. Especially since I know I'm going to have to take over playing Star Wars with Henry. My poor dear mother has logged about 40 Star Wars hours since she arrived last Thursday...

Here are some pictures of what else we got up to!

The Arb was having an awesome gross bug exhibit so we went to check it out:





Yesterday we heard (false) rumors that it would be nice and warm and sunny so we headed back down to the Greenville Zoo. It was a bit chilly, but we still had a blast.







Any similarity between those last two pictures is purely coincidental.

So how did everyone's soda bread turn out? We made another loaf last night and ate it all up for breakfast this morning. I think that will be the end of the soda bread for a while.

I also somehow managed to finish these gender neutral choco-monsters while my folks were here:


I am making a shipping run today, so if you are expecting something from me it will probably go out this afternoon!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

It just happened to sync up with my folks being in town, so me wee Irish mama and I whipped up some Irish Soda Bread to celebrate the occasion.



I hadn't had it (and she hadn't made it) since I was a kid, so it took a little tweaking. We had one "test" loaf that ended up out on the lawn for the birds. The second loaf was devoured almost instantly so we assumed it was a success. After gorging ourselves on Irish soda goodness, we whipped up a couple of smaller loaves to bring to the neighbors. Here's the recipe, just in case you'd like to make some for your neighbors:

3c all- purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1t baking soda
1/2 t salt
4T butter
2T caraway seeds
1c raisins
1c whole buttermilk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir well. Add butter and blend into the dry ingredients. Stir in caraway seeds and raisins.

In a small bowl, mix the buttermilk and egg together. Mix into the dough with a rubber spatula.

Flour a flat work surface, put the dough onto it and fold it onto itself a few times. Shape it into a round loaf and cut an 'X' into the top. Put the loaf onto a cookie sheet (with foil or parchment on it to prevent sticking).

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 and then another 25 minutes on 350. It is done when the top has browned a tiny bit and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the loaf on a rack and eat it up with lots and lots of butter.


I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!! We are off to the zoo.

Drive By

I am going to pick my folks up at the airport right now and they'll be here through the weekend, so I'll likely be scarce until then. Hopefully we'll be out and about having fun with Henry in lovely weather.

I just wanted to at least do a drive by posting of Nic's longies I finished this morning:

Chirpity.

I can hear them outside my window- Spring birds! Henry and I have been peeking out at the Robin Red Breasts for a week or so now (they are his favorite) but we are also starting to see a bunch of Cardinals and things again, too. Very exciting.

I finished Amira...er...Helena's little Monster Booty longies yesterday.

Boo! Hiss!

Yay! Thanks to Olivia who gave me the heads up about posting pictures one at a time. So here's what I'm donating to Giggling Guppy's Big fund raiser for The Leukemia/Lymphona Society on April 2nd. The theme is Red Fish, Blue Fish.


I'll remind you about it again when it gets closer so you can scamper over and buy up all those raffle tickets to support such an awesome organization.

And if you have some money burning a whole in your maternity jeans right now, don't forget that Tush is having a big fat newborn themed stocking this very night, including a newborn Monster Booty collaboration with yours truly. While you're there check out the awesome collabs with Moondrops and Gaelic Knits as well. Lots of good stuff.

In super cool awesome wonderful news, Kyle and I are going to a show in early May! WooHoo! Josh Ritter is coming on down to The Orange Peel and we snapped up tickets lickity split. I know it's a ways off but I am already psyched nonetheless. We are getting a real live babysitter and everything. Does it get any more exciting than that? I think not.

I hope everyone is surviving Daylight Savings Time. I'm about to brew myself a nice afternoon pot of coffee to celebrate the occasion...

Sunday Night Already?

How the heck did that happen???

We had a pretty eventful weekend around here. Friday night we converted Henry's bedroom into a movie theater with a borrowed projector and a sheet hung on the wall. We invited a bunch of kids over, made home made pizza and popcorn and had a blast. We have decided it must become a monthly event. You could tell it was a raging success when we told people to drop their kids off but every single parent ended up sticking around to chat and eat with us. We have good friends.

Last night we went to Jess's to help her ring in the end of her twenties. Happy Birthday Jess! You're now old and crusty...er...mature like the rest of us.

Today Kyle gave me a little work time and took Henry to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the local 3 buck theater. He declared it a "joyless and horrible annoying" movie and seems to have some sort of post traumatic stress thing going on.

While I felt bad that he is scarred for life, I am happy that I had a chance to finish Emerson's Monster Princess CrankySkirty! This skirty has been in the works for a couple of months now so it is nice to have the first one done. We wanted to show off the stripes in the shorts, and there is enough other stuff going on to keep it interesting, so we kept the actual skirt short, simple and sweet.



And this Princess Monster has a heart full of monster-y lurve to boot.



Also, here is a picture of the wee little froggie longies I didn't have a chance to take pictures of late last week.

High School Hell Cats

As some of you know, Henry's preschool is actually inside the high school where Kyle teaches. Usually this is amazingly convenient and wonderful. Except on days like yesterday when my little man ends up smack in the middle of high school drama. A fight broke out on campus yesterday, that turned into a bunch of fights and before they knew it, it was out of control. I got a phone call that they were sending all the kids home to diffuse the situation, but Kyle told me to sit tight, he was going to get his students out and then go get henry and come home. Then a couple of hours passed. They were sitting in a "debriefing" meeting, but I had visions of rioting teenagers in my head and worried until they pulled up outside. I'll be happy when he's in kindergarten.

Last night I got to go out and make music with some friends. It has been a really long time since I've been in a small space with a bunch of guys playing music and it made me realize how much I missed it. It is also weird playing with new people. The guys up in Ann Arbor are like family. We bicker a lot, make stupid jokes and can read what's coming next just by having played with the person for so long. Man, I miss them.

I finished Ms. Janna's froggie longies and will post pictures later. It is truly gross outside right now so I'm waiting for the sun to (hopefully) come out this afternoon. At least the big rains have helped the flowers. Our daffodils started blooming yesterday! Yay Spring! The rain will keep me inside and working, though, which is good. Next up is Nic's Crankyskrity 2.0. Wish me luck...

High School Hell Cats

WooHOOOOOOOO!

In Crankypants news, I got the date for the big Seussian stocking wrong. Doh! The Seuss inspired stocking at Venus Vanguard will be tomorrow night at 8pm. Everyone has pulled out all the stops for this one and there are some amazing pieces over there. Go check it out! Here is a little peek at the things I'm bringing to the tea party:

Sneaky Peek

I managed to finish a few things for the Venus Vanguard Seuss inspired stocking coming up this Friday so I thought I'd give you guys a little sneak peek.


Organic BFL skater shorts hand dyed by my crafty friend Kelly in a custom "Green Eggs" colorway:


And I thought it was a shame that so many of us mamas love yarn but most of the time our kids get all the gear! So I whipped up a few things for the mamas-

Some felted cuffs:



and iPod/iPhone cozies:



The yellow/blue colorway is "Sky Monkey" by Gigi at Natural Home Presents and the wintergreen is kettle dyed Malabrigo.

If I have time I'll make a few more in different colorways I have in the stash. I will also be listing a very special library bag, but it still needs to be felted and patched so you'll have to wait for those pictures.

I also have to share some amazingly cute customer pictures with you. These are Nicole's little Emerson, aka: Queen of the Crankies.



She is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Crankypants Skirty 1.0, and shortly thereafter Crankypants Skirty 2.0, so I'll be sure to share those pictures with you as well.

And last, but not least, Henry and I have been doing some LEGO building! Look at this crazy T Rex we built yesterday.


How cool are we?

Zoooooooo!

What a beautiful weekend we had! It made it difficult for me to sit inside putting together my customs list and answering emails. Football is so much more fun!



Yesterday morning we decided we needed a little family adventure so we all hopped in the car and headed down to the Greenville Zoo.

The little professor navigating us through the place:


A meditating lemur:


Henry the zoo keeper:


Giraffe!


A ginormous tortoise:


Henry and I looking at an orangutan and her baby swinging around:


Just a reminder that I have one last auction running today. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Goodmama stocking might be the big event today so it might be a good opportunity for some of you to sneak in and win on a lower bid while everyone else is scrambling for a chance at one of those beautiful diapers or bows. Just cross your fingers that the cart doesn't crash again!