The Sisterhood of the Traveling Crankypants...

The good news- giraffes:









The bad news:

Earl-eye tomorrow morning, we'll be heading on up to the (hopefully cooler) Mitten State to spend the 4th by the lake with the fam. Nope-that isn't the bad news. The bad news is that there is no internet access there! Since we will be arriving at our internet-free destination on the first of the month, things might get a little wonky. I'm hoping to be able to do the bare bones customs stuff as on time as possible via my iPhone (standing on one leg in justtherightspot in the front yard) but I will most likey be pretty scarce for the next week. There is a pub about 20 minutes away that has wireless, so I will try to swing by there a few times to check in. I am always available by email on my phone, though, so don't hesitate to drop me a line if you have specific questions or immediate needs.

I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday week!

Wowza.

I am way behind in (everything) my posting.

We have come a long way on the studio, but all that progress means we've been flopping into bed before 10 every night, too tired to keep you posted. The guys are out there right now *thisclose* to finishing the roof. I think that we are going to start painting it tomorrow, so the pictures will start getting good soon. Here is the latest, from yesterday morning:


I also finished a pair of little beachy longies and they put me in a nice, fun, summer-y mood:





I am excited for tomorrow morning, when my poor, neglected-for-building boy of mine and I make our weekly trip to Asheville City Market. We will sit on the stoop, drink sweet tea, eat a local blackberry jam pinwheel and roasted beet/goat cheese pastry star from Bread and Sparrow and catch up with each other. I can't wait.

Station Identification...

We are going to take a break from the studio building updates (it started storming before I could get pictures from the day, but we have 4 walls!) in case our newer readers get confused and think they have stumbled upon some weird amateur construction blog. Let's remember why we're all here, shall we?

Studio Buildin' Day 3.

First off? *yawn*

Today was a busy day over here at Crankypants HQ! We built the whole floor of the studio and got most of the back wall framed out.

Load bearing boards...

Finished floor and back wall...

The view from my porch right now. Yikes!


I was going to try to knit for a couple of hours tonight, but I don't know if I have it in me. My hands are kinda sore from pounding nails all day and I's tiiiiiiiired!

It isn't respectable to go to bed at 8:30. Is it?

Studio Buildin' Day 1.

After an superYUM breakfast at The Sunny Point this morning (isn't visiting family the best excuse to eat at your favorite restaurants?) the Kett men (rawr) got busy making trips to Home Depot and using noisy machinery and pounding on things and whatnot. After lunch I felt like I needed to get in on the action helping to clear dirt out of the post holes. My father in law, Danny, had a fabulous time pretending to point out flaws in my mad post hole digging skillz. You can see Kyle and his Uncle Jim in the background looking like they are getting their Greco-Roman wrestle on, but they are really just trying to beat the auger into submission.

This photo is alternately titled: "The Ketts Won the Most Beautiful Yard Award AGAIN!":


More bossing me around. I think that was the highlight of his work day.


Tomorrow we get the big lumber delivery, the posts go in and building begins for real.

WooHoo!

Update-y Goodness

Happy weekend, all!

I made a few changes to the sidebar over there on the left hand side. If you look under the "Links" heading, I added a link to follow me on Twitter and another for Facebook. If you don't feel like reading all my Facebook updates and just want to keep up with the haps at Crankypants HQ (or if you would like to do both) there is a Crankypants Knits FB Group as well.

I also changed Henry and my "What We're Reading" books. Henry is smitten with the Bunnicula series and has moved on to Howliday Inn, wherein Harold and Chester are forced to spend time at a questionable kennel. I don't think Bunnicula is in this one at all, but Henry doesn't seem to mind. he thinks that Chester (the cat) is pretty much the funniest character ever. I love it. I am going to try to find hima super cool notebook in the next few days to use as his Summer reading journal. My little book club has chosen Persepolis for this month's book so I changed my book as well (even though I haven't actually gotten my copy yet-shhhhh!). I need to go up to the library and pay our enormous fine so we can start making regular library trips. We need a little smooch of structure this summer or we'll all go crazy.

Today I am looking forward to heading on out to the Asheville City Market and seeing what we can find. I am hopehopehoping that Farm and Sparrow is there again so I can munch on the amazing beet, chevre and fresh rosemary pastries I got a taste for last week. I know it sounds kind of weird, but man! So tasty.

In other exciting news, Kyle's folks are due to arrive in town tonight and Monday morning will begin the big studio raising week for Crankypants HQ! Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I've posted about this here before. When we moved into this house last year there was a grody old shed in the backyard. The outside fo the shed was fine, but inside... not so much. The folks who lived here before us had a 12 piece mariachi band that used the shed as a practice space. Yeah. They had nailed carpet to every single surface (inclusing the ceiling and over the windows) to try to soundproof the place a bit, not knowing that there was a leak in the roof. You can imagine the sorry state we found that thing in when we pulled off all of the carpeting. Ew. We spent a week knocking it down, and hauling it away (double ew) and are finally poised to start work on a new bitty studio/storage space. I will be able to move all of my Crankypants gear out of the house and Kyle will do the happy dance to top all happy dances that he doesn't have to wade through piles of yarn to get to his computer. We are hoping to get it all framed out this coming week or so while Kyle's folks and uncle (who is a builder by trade, thankfully) are here to help and it will probably take the rest of the summer to finish the inside. I'll be sure to post pictures of the process as we go.

WooHoo!

Stay tuned for pictures of Henry's Kindergarten graduation. Here's a little preview:

Friday Customs!

Vance Cob Shed Dedication!

While I am super excited for Summer vacation, I must admit that I am going to miss seeing all the folks at Henry's school every day. Sometimes I see all the projects they are tackling, all the important things they go above and beyond to help our kids experience and I feel so lucky to have Henry in a public school that is so amazingly amazing. One of the projects that has been in the works for the past 2 years (!!!) is a gorgeous cob garden shed in the middle of the super cool school garden. It is made from a mud/straw mixture and all local materials, and was built by over 1000 volunteers-including every single student at the school. Earlier this week was the big dedication ceremony to mark the completion of the project and to thank all of the grant writers and grant givers for making it possible. It was a great reason to hang out in the garden and admire the work of so many people.

Henry chillin'.

Our fearless leader, Cynthia Selinger-best principal on Earth!

Oliver hanging the horse shoe over the door.

Ben- garden and cob master, explaining the significance of the horse shoe.

Tony- the main cobbing man and the only way this project could have ever been finished!

Henry and Jhakar watching the ceremony.

Jasmine- dressed for graduation- watching Ms. Selinger do her thing.

The amazing artwork on the side of the structure. The 'bubbles' are actually bottles that have been cobbed in, giving a stained lgass look in the inside.

Synthiana schooling Henry on something or another.

Sunflowers and the small garden shelter, roofed with discarded traffic signs.

Checking out the shed.
The awesome front door.

Kids in the garden.

Pretty, pretty.

Henry standing with his class, getting ready for the festivities.


The 'living roof' made of local plants that will grow and create a cover over the entire roof. They will grow big enough for us to clip and share with others!


WooHoo! I am so proud of this school, it does a heart good!

Jolly Roger Shorts Seconds

Happy last Monday of the school year!!!

Late last week I stocked some Jolly Roger shorties in the HC shop but I haven't gotten a chance to post about it until now. Phew! It has been a busy time! This is the first batch of shorties I have gotten in from my fabulous Peruvian co-op and the measurements are slightly off. I'm selling them as seconds at more than a 30% discount! The measurements are right there in the listing. I have sold out of the large, but there are some mediums and one lonely little small left for the nabbing.

Check 'em out!

Sheep and Frog and Moon and Stars...

June Customs List

Happy June!

Congrats to this month's customs lottery peeps:

Angela S.
Linsey B.
Julie M.

WooHoo!

Customs auctions start in the HC shop tomorrow morning at 10!