Sock Monkey Politics

Reporting almost live from Asheville, NC this is Indiana Banana bringing you the latest important-type news. First off, Mom has been busy creating the mysterious sock monkey dream date for her secret swap and I'm real jealous of his outfit. I had to go with her to work today pretty much nekkid except for my hat. In related news, work was pretty cool because I met these really tough chicks, one is called Liz Viscious and the other one is Annie Knuckles. Annie is a knitter which you can tell from her awesome tatoos. They like to skate around and bash other girls up and act tough. Honestly I think Mom was charmed. They are doing roller derby in Asheville tonight at the civic center. Go roller derby! Later in the afternoon Mom and her friend L were having lunch when some nice people stopped by with a humongous camera so we went out to say hi. The nice man who was all dressed up decided to interview us on tv. He asked Mom about stuff like Asheville being "quirky" and he seemed kind of obsessed with golf. Mom told him how cool Asheville is and how excited everyone is that our President has decided to vacation here and that it seems like a good idea for him to demostrate fitness and love of the outdoors by relaxing at golf. She also invited Obama's wife "flotus" to come downtown shopping and offered to teach her to knit. Maybe she'll make a sock monkey! Would that be SMotus? Anyway after the camera was off we posed for pictures till Mom found out who they were. This guy in the picture with us is called "Ed Henry" and Mom had to sit down on the floor after L told us that Ed would show our interview on CNN to "millions" of people. Gee I hope my friend Noah will watch us! Mom hopes that Obama sees the interview. I am not sure I want the POTUS to see me nekkid though. Maybe Mom should knit me some pants in case I get my own fan club or something. Love, Indiana B.

Birthday Seriousness Oh Noes!

It took me a week to figure out what I wanted to say on my birthday this year. I'm not very exciting in person, not a terrific knitter, a particularly good parent or that great of a wife, but somehow online I seem to have a knack for making and keeping some really fantastic friends who are very creative, talented, funny, and loving. With these friends in mind, I am blogging as if I have something important to say. Possibly no one will read this and thats ok too, but just in case my tractor girls peek or the terrific Asheville crowd is following me, these are my birthday thoughts.

I have been concerned with a few things this year. Chiefly, this earthquake in Haiti. I wonder, every day, how those people are doing without shelter, living there with family dead or missing, children, animals left to fend for themselves. I worry. Let's not forget them.

I have a new hero this year. A good friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have watched her slog through the ick and the fear and the whole terrible ordeal with a determination that I cannot even convey. I'm so very proud of her.

Just this week I witnessed another epic battle between good and evil when the horrible landlord of the Miles building downtown decided to get nasty with the owners of the Humor Shop. These are good, decent people with children to provide for, making do as best they can, and that landlord is trying to grind them under her expensive heel. I keep wondering how I can help.

This year has definately been epic. I'm turning 42 today, no big deal at all, yet I've been fussed over and spoiled so much that I'm embarassed. This is a positive thing, being so rotten. I have a theory that until your loved ones really make a big deal out of your birthday, until you really feel that people are celebrating your life on the planet, you'll need the party and the songs and the cake. This year, when I was asked "what do you want for your birthday?" I thought about Haiti, and my friend recovering from chemo, and my new friends from the humor shop, and I thought about how I'd love to help them all, heal them all, no more fevers, no more worries, a new job for Brenda, for Bruce, and I thought about my family, the loud boys and the crazy dogs, this unique city that I've come to love, and I don't need one single thing. I'm grateful for everyone, everything. Im lucky to be here.

42 is no big deal but Im so blessed to have these beautiful people thanking me with their gifties and their love. What else can I say? That is all.

Cupcakes, Mardi Gras and Ravolympics

Tons happening as usual here, and February is packed full of shenanigans. I missed the fetish ball because I got overexcited about my new teapot Cheryl. No lie. I was taking sexy pictures of the teapot late that night when it dawned on me that I was supposed to be at the ball. Is this a sign? I'm turning 42 later this month. I think yes. It doesn't take much to get me going these days. HA!

TeamSockMonkey is casting on tonight when the Olympic Torch is lit, and I have already ordered goodies for the team through our shop on cafepress. I set it up so all swag proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. Urbangypz is our official prize sponsor, donating her luscious hand dyed yarn to our winners...go team!

Meanwhile, the shop has been jumping, Lindsey finished her chemo and THAT is great news. My lil recycled magazine stitch markers are starting to sell too- yay!

I'm linking to BlogAsheville because she has some really cute valentines day pictures and info about local stuff happening for Sunday and even mardi gras!

There was an incident

Last night there was a scary thing that will forever be called "the Mini Purl incident" in Bowman family history. Without getting into details, let's just say that it woke the entire famdamily @ 4am, and I have a healthy respect for Truelove, who gave me the pumpkin cure for pug poo. God Bless her. So this morning son #2 and I went off on an aromatic adventure with Dharma the visiting sock monkey, to get the blankets washed.
We had a blast (after the blankets were safely out of the van) in South Asheville. We found pg tips at Ingles! Woot! We went to a cool new thrift store on Sweeten Creek Road and I scored some acrylic paints, an ink pad set and a great belt, and son #2 wasted, oh excuse me, spent, ten bucks on fricking candy. Hey, it was his homework in the summertime bribe money. We took Dharma into 12 Bones, the frickfracking BEST bbq I have ever tasted OMG!!!! I think Obama ate there when he was in Asheville. It's really interesting too, I think it used to be a jail? I want to go back and eat in the cell. (see pic of Dharma next to the flying pig).
At one point we drove past this random field on Sweeten Creek Rd and someone had mowed a giant smiley face into it. That was such an Asheville moment for me. Lots of knitting to catch up on!

Ahevegas Tractor Retreat 2009

As Borat would say, "great success." Since my peeps requested it, here is a rundown of what all we did... Friday I drove to the Atl to pick up Knittymac at the Needle Nook. Great yarn store! Small, but has tons of great yarn including a huge wall of Dark Horse Fantasy, lots of patterns and accessories. We browsed. Then we got stranded at a Cracker Barrel right outside of Atlanta when the van overheated. It could have been so much worse! We were in a/c, with food, iced tea, and they sell both sock monkeys AND John Deere merchandise. The people were extremely nice to us and right before I had a nervous breakdown we were randomly approached by an angel disguised as a fat redneck woman who both diagnosed my car trouble and gave me fifty bucks out of a clear blue sky. So we waited there for five hours, the hubs rescued us and we made it, hot n steamy in his car, to Asheville by 11 pm. Meanwhile the hub's Uncle knew a guy who fixed the van for free! Knittymac and I met up with ILSM at the Holiday Inn and they gabbed till 4am. Lizabee was thrown into hostess mode and they had a tea party at Purl's and dinner at Early Girl Eatery.
Next morning we met at Mast with sock monkeys in tow and began a memorable shopping/touring spree. These gals were going on three hours of sleep! After Mast (more sock monkeys, tractors, cute totes, candy, and silliness) we headed to Haywood. We went to Malaprops and looked at craft books, then we went to Earth Guild. Earth Guild was a big hit, and books, yarn, needles, wheels and roving galore were fondled and purchased. Then it was lunchtime, so we ambled over to Woolworths which is an art gallery with local artists and has an old fashioned soda fountain. We strolled and ate lunch. Sock Monkeys had an impromptu party on the counter, and Knittymac had a free ice cream sundae for her birthday! Afterwards we went to Purls and shopped more yarn goodies! Then we decided that it was naptime but we HAD to visit yarn nook first. Naptime was forgotten in a flurry of more yarn. Linda (yarn nook) was overjoyed. The sock yarn in there is to die for. We had a short rest afterwards then it was off to the Fiddling Pig for a wonderful dinner, with lots of sock monkeys who loved the live bluegrass, clogging and fried pickles. Dharma was reunited with Noah, and all the kids were there. After dinner we sang happy birthday to Knittymac and she opened presents and we had mocha choc cake from Lizabee. Then the hardcore girls went back to Holiday Inn to knit into the night, and drool over ILSM's awesome color choices and stash. Sock Monkeys partied at the hotel, even the annoying thing was invited. At 1am I left and went home to grab some sleeps. Oh! ILSM got to meet the puggles that evening too!
Sunday I tried to get up in time to get the Mac to church but we ended up playing hooky at pug palace drinking coffee and looking at yarn, which the hubs thought was somehow funny. We got ILSM and met at World Cup, eventually taking over our back room hangout and knitting with glee. ILSM handed out her first batch of hand dyed sock yarn which, guys, is astonishing and you need to keep an eye peeled for her etsy store. She also made us all stitch markers! Lizabee and I handed out the goody bags and everyone seemed to like/love those! We had treats and coffee and ended up with a very sweet, touching ending ritual that included all of the tractor girls, even the ones we love so much that couldn't make it. Pixiethief was there! She's adorable, and added to the fun. We ended with tears and hugs, and I got gifted with nunderwoman which is another post for later. Some of us parted ways then, and the rest went for MORE shopping at the hippie store and later ate hotdogs before ending with a bang at the home store, which has yarn! Big surprise. Pixiethief got me the Hansi Singh book (!!!!!) so I got sort of stuck there on the sidewalkk drooling for awhile over knitted loch ness monster and angler fish patterns.
So that was the gist of it, I think- I know I left out things like Lizabee's homemade peach pie, sock monkeys riding pugs, and lots and lots of wonderful sharing of life stories and knitting talk. We thought of you all very often, talking about Pgurl, Manitoba2ct, Amandaleigh, Unforgrettable, 8ntfrogn, TiredM, Sugarmomma, Gramma, MarySK, Sillyfru, and many many others. Were your ears burning? We love you all and met in your honor, and it was as wonderful and loving and silly as you'd expect. I'll let ILSM tell you about her trip to the sock monkey shelter, but we took tons of pictures and the monkeys made friends and (mostly) behaved. That's all folks!

World Coffee Asheville

This oasis of peace is where my friend Lizabee and I meet fairly regularly to knit and hang out. The coffee is pretty decent and the goodies qualify as cake pron. Pictured here are coconut cupcakes and strawberry shortcake. Fru, do I win anything for posting cake pron? I'm hoping it will lure you to Asheville!

LOST PUG

Missing since Tuesday morning in the snow. Wearing a red hoodie that says "Little Devil". Offering a REWARD if found. His Mommy is FREAKING OUT.

I like it that Obama rhymes with llama

We missed church today because we figured everyone was going to be at the rally anyway. I was ambivalent about going because of the huge crowds expected, but sons #1 and #2 both expressed clear desires to attend. We saw two pugs there, although one was a Republican according to her human. We walked for frekin miles, and after we saw what might be the end of the line going into the stadium, we decided to watch from a bluff to the left of the stage, behind a fence in some lovely shade. I liked our spot because I got to knit in the cool, and we had a gang of boys with sticks hooting and climbing trees for entertainment. It was a very easy going crowd, discussing transcendental meditation and smoking pot (away from us thank goodness or I'd have hurled on them). When he got there I got pictures and he waved at us there on the bluff. It was pretty weird to see all of the secret service doing their thing! I liked the speech Obama made, recognizing the beauty of Asheville and joking that the only thing he didnt like was having to pass up the golf course. He says he'll come back sometime. I hope he brings his family, I bet the girls would like Biltmore. Anyways, here's my pics! How was that for a political post with zero politics? I hate politics.

Friday Night in Ashevegas

Tonight I took son #1 and son #3 out for some fun. After dinner we sat outside of the HOP
We listened to live music, saw a lifesize icecream cone, and the boys got balloon creatures and had their faces painted by a very talented artist. I spent my time knitting the caliometry.

Knit Night

Last night I wrestled my social anxiety to a manageable whimper and met my Ravelry friend Lizabee for dinner and knit night at Purls. Liz's house is very cool, hardwood floors and lots of artwork plus she sews her own clothes which I dont think she realizes how talented she is. I mean, I WANT a pair of those flowered pants. Her hubby made a lovely dinner of stuffed green peppers with couscous, which I pretended to eat while being entertained by their adorably precocious son Art. (His real name is Koala but Art is his street name). So we walked to Purl's and had a nice chatty yarny time. Another friend drove us back, and walking towards the car I was wishing I had a camera with me because the night in Asheville was so pretty on Wall Street. Then I remembered I DID have my camera. Duh.

FREAKING FINALLY!!!!!

Here are a few pics of our move to Asheville. As you can see, Boots did most of the driving. We had some trouble getting hooked back into civilization (translation: two weeks with five crazed dogs and three little boys no tv and no internet) EEKS!!!
So basically I heaved boxes around and made LOTS of STUFF. I want to show the stuff but I feel retarded about uploading pics at the moment. However, most exciting news is our ravelry puglovers' swap! First I am almost done shopping for my secret buddy person, I want to add a doggie toy to her package though. I had a hard time choosing the perfect yarn because I went into Purl's in Asheville for knit night (yes adventures abound here) and they had sooooo much yummy color. I ended up splurging on some pretty yarn in a combination of her favorite colors. Can't say much more yet because its not sent yet! I also added a bunch of lil chachkas (stuff) like beads and such, of same colors for craft embellishments, and I made her a square in her fave color. So today I'm waiting on the cable guy alll day...and we got a package! My swap stuff!!! YAY!!! And boy it is dreamy too. She was so sweet, she put a little note in it about how she made me a crochet sock monkey bookmark, isnt that cute?! And I got a great new book of hat patterrns to make, which I am already looking at one for son #2, and three skeins of gorgeous lavendar yarn, just really so luscious!!! Must post pics! AND Bootsie got a squeaky toy which he howled his pleasure (seriously he talks to squeaky toys) and a whole box of the Mr Pugsy treats which lol all of the dogs spit right out since they are healthy snacks and my crew is spoiled rotten on human food. I love swaps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH RAINEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brand New & Already Behind

I finally got tired of putting my crochet projects into a myspace album and decided it was time to do a blog. Probably won't be all drama all the time, just some random life stuff and mostly yarn-related. I try to post to a few crochet-related groups on the web but I get shot down by all the copyright rules (yes I TRY to always say where I get patterns) but I just thought this might be more fun.
So not too witty or whiny, not a lot of mommy-related bragging or hubby-bashing, no politics, nothing but the yarn-infested insides of my tiny brain. Right now I can't really start any big new projects because the whole house is boxed up ready for our big move to Asheville *YAY* but I am compulsively whittling away at my stash and hubbby just bought me a new camera so first duty is uploading all the best stuff I've made recently. If anyone is interested in patterns please email me I'll be glad to share. Thanks!